Free Republic

Nine out of 10 parents admit that spanking their children is sometimes appropriate. This week, a New York court ruled in favor of a father charged with child abuse, saying that it was a “reasonable use of force.” On Fox and Friends this morning, psychiatrist Dr. Keith Ablow said it’s “never a good idea” to spank kids. “The bottom line is it’s always the end of the discussion—hitting your kids. It’s never the beginning of a discussion. It teaches them nothing,” he said.

The latest version of the company’s Sienna minivan has a feature called “Driver Easy Speak.” It uses a built-in microphone to amplify a parent’s voice through speakers in the back seats. Toyota says it added Easy Speak “so parents don’t have to shout to passengers in the back.” But chances are many parents will yell into the microphone anyway. And the feature only works one way, so the kids can’t talk back. At least not with amplified voices. The feature is an option on the 2015 Sienna, which is being refreshed with a totally new interior. It also has an...

Valeria Tanco (L), and Sophy Jesty pose with their new baby girl, Emilia, at their home in Knoxville, Tennessee April 7, 2014.Several liberal media organizations are reporting the results of a new same-sex parenting study which suggests that gay parents do a better job of raising children than the general population. There are four imporant points to understand about that study, however.Here are a few of the headlines:CBS News: "Children of same-sex couples healthy, well-adjusted, study finds"NBC News: "Children of Same-Sex Parents Are Healthier: Study"The Huffington Post: "Children Of Gay Parents Are Happier And Healthier Than Their Peers, New Study...

Thursday, May 29, 2014                Top 10 Ways to Give Your Kid a 1970’s Summer It is officially the end of May. The Pinterest pages, Facebook feeds, and family magazine features are loaded up with all the activities you should do with your kids summer. AS. IF.   As if we need more activities. MORE I say!  As if I am sitting here, ok, really lying here in my end of school year coma,  thinking, "OMG! I CANNOT wait to tackle that homemade moon sand recipe  we will dye ourselves with the skin of...

Here are 40 images that put parenting in perspective for all of us. 1. The moment they’re born, kids are instantly skeptical.

Mother, Mom or Mommy, the name matters not to me; it's the person who matters. My earliest memories of my mother were of her holding me in her lap, tight against her ample chest and soothing me when I was upset. She was my comforter, even when she was the one who had just disciplined me. In her lap, with her arms around me, I felt loved, safe and secure. When I was a teenager, she played the role of the heavy. "I have broad shoulders," she once told me. "Blame me, instead of yourself, if you don't want to...

A year ago, I wrote a two-part series titled "My Mom's Advice for America." Those columns became two of my most read pieces. With both my mother's 93rd birthday (May 4) and Mother's Day (May 11) on the horizon, I decided to write a two-part series this year on her mother's advice for America. Grandmother Scarberry, whom I affectionately always called "Granny" until the day she died, was an inspirational matriarch in the family, especially in my life. Outside of God and my wife, Gena, my mom and Granny were the two bedrocks and influences in my life. There are...

(Reuters) - A family of four rescued from their sailboat after their infant daughter became seriously ill at sea returned safely to San Diego on Wednesday aboard a U.S. warship that picked them up in the Pacific over the weekend, a Navy spokeswoman said. The parents, Eric and Charlotte Kaufman, and their two daughters, 3-year-old Cora and 1-year-old Lyra, left the Navy frigate Vandegrift after the ship arrived in port around 10 a.m. local time and proceeded to their family doctor, according to Lieutenant Lenaya Rotklein of the Third Fleet. Rotklein declined to give any further information about the arrival...

As a mother, I often dwell on my role and that of my husband in influencing our children. I also think about the roles their peers and their environment play in affecting their growth. Are our children being challenged enough? Are they being taught responsibility, gratitude and manners? Should they be focusing on one activity or many? Are they over- or under-scheduled? The list goes on and on. Recently our 14-year-old daughter Maggie has been questioning me about her talents. Specifically, she has been wondering what those talents might be. My response most often has been to tell her that...

THE EVOLUTION OF PARENTING.. The 40’s.. THE EYES.. If an adult looked at you, you froze.. The 50’s.. THE SILENT TREATMENT.. If they stopped talking, you stopped asking, or else.. The 60’s.. THE COMMAND.. Sit down and Shut up, and that was the last straw.. The 70’s.. THE DISCUSSION.. Let’s talk about this. The compromise.. The 80’s.. THE PAY-OFF.. If you stop, I’ll buy you.. The 90’s.. THE THREATS.. You told the school councilor WHAT? 2000’s.. ..  THE END.. You could do time Behind Bars for placing your kid in TIME OUT! YIKESDoes anyone have the number to a Bail...

A New York City boy was reunited with his family, after leaving home for five days because he refused to clean up after his dog, a family member said. Kareem Granton, 11, disappeared with a friend Wednesday in the Brownsville section of Brooklyn, and his return came after he was spotted by a stranger on a subway train, the New York Daily News reported Tuesday...

The traditional family is dead, so we've been informed. It's been replaced by blended families, cohabitation, single-parent families, and, if the latest scientific controversy regarding mitochondrial DNA pans out, multiple biological parents for a single child. It's not wrong to declare that the face of the American family is changing (even if most of the changes have been for the worse), but it may be overwrought. The only way to sing a dirge for the "traditional" family is to define it exceedingly narrowly -- and even then, it's not dead, just diminished. If you define "traditional" as a father working...

TORONTO – For women, smelling a newborn baby feels as good as drugs are to addicts or cheeseburgers to those just breaking a fast, new Montreal research suggests. A University of Montreal scientist says a newborn baby’s odour lights up the reward centres in our brain in a way other scents can’t. And for women – specifically moms – the experience, a rush of dopamine to the brain, is heightened. The reaction is so strong, it exists even if the baby isn’t in front of you. It’s chemistry between mom and baby. “What we’ve shown for the first time is...

Via Ace. “Not only would parents have to attend” if they want their kid to pass sixth grade, notes Walter Olson at Cato, “but for good measure the bill would require employers to bestow a paid day off each year for employees who are parents to do so.” Sounds good to some New Yorkers, as you’re about to see.Here’s the bill, which you can read in 30 seconds. The state would put together workshops on 12 different subjects with parents required to attend four, one of which must be a workshop on sexual abuse. That’s the bill’s saving grace potentially;...

Max Price's parents Lisa and Martin are raising their son according to the technique known as 'gender-neutral parenting' Toddler is happy playing with his collection of toy cars and revels in wearing his favourite dresses and tutu Mother Lisa said: 'Gender stereotypes can be so damaging' The couple say they hope their decision will help boost Max's confidence Max Price is a happy, healthy one-year-old boy who spent yesterday morning playing with his vast collection of toy cars, planes, tractors, and dinosaurs. Max scampered upstairs to his bedroom with his 23-year-old mother, Lisa, and re-emerged several minutes later wearing a...

A White House Council on Women and Girls was formed in 2009 under the Obama administration to ensure that government agencies were taking into account the needs of women and girls. Warren Farrell, who has served on the board of NOW in New York City and writes books about men’s and women’s issues, was asked to be an adviser to the Council. He agreed, but suggested the need for a White House Council on Boys and Men. He was invited to submit a proposal to create one. Farrell got to work, and over the next 18 months put together a...

YouTube Video Today Tonight : World Exclusive: The story of Savanna Todd At age 20, Samantha Geldenhuys learned some shocking news. And "shocking" is probably an understatement for describing the discovery: The beloved mother who'd raised her was also her kidnapper and had been wanted by authorities for nearly two decades. Shortly after losing custody of the little girl in a South Carolina court, Dorothy Barnett kidnapped her daughter in 1994, taking her on a journey across four continents, and sparking a case that soon became one of the biggest child-abduction mysteries in U.S. history. The story was back in...

CHICAGO, A couple dining at an upscale Chicago restaurant were sharply criticized online when their infant spent the evening crying at the eatery. Chef Grant Achatz of the Alinea restaurant took to Twitter with a question about crying baby etiquette after the infant cried though the dinner service Saturday night at the three-star restaurant, where meals can cost hundreds of dollars, the Chicago Sun-Times reported Tuesday. "Tbl brings 8mo.Old. It cries. Diners mad. Tell ppl no kids? Subject diners 2crying? Ppl take infants 2 plays? Concerts? Hate saying no, but ...," Achatz tweeted. The tweet sparked sharp criticism online for...

New Study On Homosexual Parents Tops All Previous Research By Peter Sprigg Senior Fellow for Policy Studies   In a historic study of children raised by homosexual parents, sociologist Mark Regnerus of the University of Texas at Austin has overturned the conventional academic wisdom that such children suffer no disadvantages when compared to children raised by their married mother and father. Just published in the journal Social Science Research,[1] the most careful, rigorous, and methodologically sound study ever conducted on this issue found numerous and significant differences between these groups--with the outcomes for children of homosexuals rated "suboptimal" (Regnerus' word)...

Columnist Ross Douthat has stirred up a hornet's nest by commenting on a new study suggesting that being the parent of a girl may nudge people toward the Republican Party. Douthat speculated that watching daughters cope with a "social landscape in which sex has been decoupled from marriage" and in which young men cruise through the sexual marketplace, leaving broken hearts in their wake, may cause mothers and fathers to embrace more conservative mores regarding love and sex. Well, based on the sulfuric response, Douthat has transgressed gravely. Ann Friedman, writing in New York magazine, thunders: "Are we supposed to...