In the updated-for-the-digital age version of taking candy from a baby, police in Colorado say an adult couple walked off with a five-year-old’s iPod, you know, just because it was there. Yes, we live in a world where there are people who will steal electronics from a kid. Yes, I meant iPod. Yes, people still have iPods. [More]
kids
A 12-Year-Old Girl Just Made $100,000 By Selling Her Grand Champion Steer
By 8.13.14
When you and I were 12, we were really lucky to make $10 selling lemonade on even the hottest of days. But one very special 12-year-old isn’t making the big bucks on shilling drinks — she’s just sold a grand champion steer for a whopping $100,000. [More]
Restaurant Gives Mom The Boot After She Changes Baby At Table
By 8.12.14
A mom in Texas claims that a local pizza restaurant overreacted when it asked her and her kids to leave because she had changed her baby’s diaper on a table, but the eatery’s owners are sticking by their decision. [More]
Leaving Your Child In A Hot Car: “If You Think It Cannot Happen To You, You’re Wrong”
By 7.30.14
By this point in the summer, we’ve written more than a few times — unfortunately — about children who have died after being left in closed cars on hot days. While some cases point to parents deliberately leaving their children behind, the reason we keep writing about the dangers of doing so is because the reality is that it can happen to anyone. [More]
Ronald McDonald Won’t Sell Burgers At Your Kids’ School, But He’ll Talk About Bike Safety
By 7.29.14
Is it possible to separate a world-famous brand mascot from the products that mascot has spent decades shilling for? Can you look at Joe Camel and not associate him with Camel cigarettes, or stare deep into the terrifying unblinking eyes of second-tier human-baseball Mr. Met and not immediately think of the NY Mets? McDonald’s apparently thinks so, telling consumer advocates that Ronald McDonald isn’t pushing Big Macs and McNuggets on kids when he visits schools to talk about bike safety and other non-greasy topics. [More]
Richard Branson Wants To Introduce “Kids’ Class” Cabins To Virgin Flights
By 7.24.14
Being trapped on a long flight near a particularly loud or fussy child has caused most frequent travelers to pine for adults-only planes. And at least one airline has created “quiet zones” that are free of young passengers. But billionaire guy who owns lots of cool stuff Richard Branson says his goal is to just lump all the kids together into a separate section of the plane. [More]
Doughnut Shop Bans “Rude” 4-Year-Old Boy For Asking Woman If She Was Pregnant
By 7.24.14
Little kids ask questions. Unfortunately, they don’t always realize that their questions may be insensitive or inappropriate. Lots of adults let kids slide for their occasionally tactless queries, but the mother of one 4-year-old says a local doughnut shop is taking a hard line regarding her son’s behavior. [More]
LG Introduces House Arrest Wristbands For Small Children
By 7.10.14
We adults enjoy quantifying our every move with wearable technology like pedometer wristbands and other fitness-tracking gadgets, so why leave our kids out of the fun? Yesterday, LG announced that they’re introducing a wristband for kids that’s a hybrid of a tracking anklet used by the criminal justice system and your child’s first cell phone. [More]
Nanny Learns It’s Illegal To Leave Children In Sealed, Hot Car While She Gets A Tan
By 7.1.14
People throw around the term “nanny state” a lot these days, but we’re going to assume they don’t mean the nanny who was arrested after police found two children locked inside a sealed-up hot car while their supposed caretaker was busy bronzing her skin at the tanning salon. [More]
American Airlines Tells Parents To Not Put Baby In Safety Seat Because It Will Delay Takeoff
By 6.24.14
I probably fly about as much as the average American adult, but even in my modest travels I’ve had some odd, seemingly nit-picky reasons for takeoff delays — a broken coffee machine, a toilet that didn’t have enough “blue juice” in the tank and had to be manually filled — that held up the flight for 30 minutes or more. But the crew of an American Airlines commuter plane recently determined that taking a minute to ensure the safety of a baby was less important than avoiding an FAA fine for a late departure. [More]
Bratty Kids Top List Of Restaurant Diner Pet Peeves
By 5.21.14
In our recent round-up of Bad Consumers, we questioned the parenting skills of moms and dads who let their kids run wild in stores while the adults are busy doing their shopping. But anyone who has ever had a nice meal ruined when an impromptu game of Hide-and-Seek takes over a restaurant can tell you that these bratty youngsters and their self-involved parents also like to dine out. [More]
Study: More Kids Injured, Hospitalized After Gobbling Tiny Magnets Since 2009
By 5.20.14
Magnets. They can be fun toys, cute souvenirs, useful money-saving tools, or a life-threatening health hazard. Yes, it’s rare, but a study that will soon be published in the Journal of Pediatrics shows that in the last decade, strong and tiny magnets have become popular, are marketed as toys, and injuries resulting from magnet consumption have increased. [More]
Detergent Pod User? We Want To Hear From You
By 5.16.14
Do you use detergent pods, the single-serve laundry sensation that small children can’t stop cramming in their mouths? If so, our freshly-laundered colleagues down the hall at Consumer Reports would like some feedback from you on the products, especially if you have small children living with you. Click here to take their brief questionnaire on the subject. [More]
Mystery Diner Pays $485 Lunch Bill For Students With Autism & Their Teachers
By 5.13.14
A group of 25 elementary school students and 21 staffers in New Jersey received a special Teacher Appreciation Week gift from an anonymous customer who volunteered to pay for the group’s entire bill at a Tex-Mex restaurant. [More]
Restaurant Knocks $5 Off Brunch Bill For “Well Behaved Kids”
By 5.12.14
While parents who let their kids run wild in public are often the object of (much-deserved) scorn and derision, moms and dads whose youngsters behave themselves rarely get the high-five they deserve for reducing the world’s general level of brattiness. But yesterday, a restaurant in Canada decided that a family with a non-rowdy kid deserved a break on their bill. [More]
Group Calls On Parents To Tear Kids Away From TV, Computer Screens For A Week
By 5.2.14
Not so long ago, people would have laughed at the idea that elementary school kids would have smartphones, or that every member of a family would have a TV in his/her room, or that potty-training toilets would be designed to hold a computer screen to placate the defecating infant. In an effort to remind people that there is life outside of the LCD screens they hold in their hands, one group is asking parents to go screen-free next week. [More]
Of Course There Are Dance Parties For Kids At NYC Nightclubs
By 4.16.14
When I was a little girl, I dreamed about standing in really long lines to get into a place filled with blaring music and people packed so tightly your ribs felt like they’d never be whole again. That’s not true (my dreams involved drinking legally at the annual summer music festival) but then again, I didn’t grow up in New York City, where kids these days can fulfill all (or most) of their clubbing dreams at a young age. [More]
Walmart Recalls 174,000 My Sweet Love/My Sweet Baby Dolls Because Burnt Flesh Isn’t So Sweet
By 3.25.14
Though a handful of kids’ dolls have been known to become possessed by the souls of deceased serial killers — not to mention the occasional murderous, self-aware ventriloquist dummy — it’s generally accepted that dolls are not supposed to hurt the children who play with them. That’s why Walmart has issued a recall on 174,000 dolls that can overheat and cause burns or blisters. [More]
