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A father has gone viral for admitting that he recently told his "bratty" 19-year-old daughter that she can either start babysitting her cousin or start paying rent. Posting in Reddit's "Am I The A**hole" (AITA) forum under the username u/FunnyChef7259, the father asked: "AITA for making my eldest daughter babysit even though she is 'child-free?'" The post has received more than 10,000 upvotes and has divided over 3,000 commenters. At the beginning of his post, the father explained that he and his wife have three children—Tina, Jason and Ally. Late last year, after his sister-in-law passed away, the couple also...

A single mother faces one year in prison after she let her 14-year-old daughter babysit her siblings while she went to work at the beginning of the pandemic - an act some are calling 'reckless,' and others defend as the act of a desperate mother. Linley was reportedly engaging in online learning and did not notice that her four-year-old brother, Thaddeus, had slipped out of the house when he saw his friend outside and went to play with him in Blairsville, Georgia. Within about 10 to 15 minutes, Linley noticed he was gone and found him at his friend's house...

After President Obama in his 2013 State of the Union address called for a new federal entitlement for taxpayer-funded free preschool or pre-K for all 4-year-olds, we thought his idea would be quickly discredited, not only by its enormous cost, but even more importantly by the overwhelming weight of research proving the lack of any long-term benefit from such programs. Now we are dismayed to learn from Politico that a dozen Republican-governed states are expanding state-based pre-K programs or are planning to do so next year. And in Washington, some Republicans are offering bipartisan support to a pre-K bill drafted...

Nancy Pelosi Wants A Federal Babysitting Service Michael Brendan Dougherty Nov. 18, 2011, 1:30 PM Image: AP Buried in a Washington Post story about Herman Cain calling Nancy Pelosi, "Princess Nancy" is a new policy idea that Pelosi has been pitching recently during her short tour through California. "One of the great pieces of unfinished business is high-quality child care; I wonder why we just can’t do that,’’ she recently said to a California audience. By "we", Pelosi means the federal government. Pelosi clarified that Congress should be “doing for child care what we did for health-care reform.” The Post...

California is still a land of political surprises--outlandish, foolish, and mischievous ones. Consider the latest: The state legislature is about to pass a bill (AB 889) requiring that adult babysitters (age 18 and up) be paid the minimum wage, overtime pay and worker's compensation insurance. In addition, they must have a break every two hours, plus a meal break. This means parents will have to hire two babysitters at the same time, one on duty, the other to take over during the breaks. It's the Nanny State run wild, for the sitters would have to keep time sheets and the...

How will parents react when they find out they will be expected to provide workers' compensation benefits, rest and meal breaks and paid vacation time for…babysitters? Dinner and a movie night may soon become much more complicated. Under AB 889, household “employers” (aka “parents”) who hire a babysitter on a Friday night will be legally obligated to pay at least minimum wage to any sitter over the age of 18 (unless it is a family member), provide a substitute caregiver every two hours to cover rest and meal breaks, in addition to workers' compensation coverage, overtime pay, and a meticulously...

WASHINGTON (AFP) – President Barack Obama's daughters might be growing up in White House, but that does not mean they have to miss out on a rite of passage for American girls -- a babysitting job. Obama, who has the headache of stewarding the slowly mending US economy, said in a television interview that he was also teaching his daughters Malia, 12, and Sasha, nine, about savings, interest and money management. "What I'm doing now with Malia and Sasha is they're getting an allowance," Obama told ABC's "Good Morning America."

TAXPAYERS will fork out more than $1 million on police, security guards and beach fencing to babysit schoolies on the Gold Coast. That Department of Communities alone will spend $610,000 to fund Schoolies week, which starts tomorrow. The money pays for free entertainment for the teenage revellers, security guards, beach fencing, wristbands, support services and volunteer co-ordination. Hundreds of thousands of dollars more will be spent on police and ambulance services for the almost 30,000 schoolies expected to hit the Gold Coast.

[snip] Granholm spokeswoman Liz Boyd said the agency was following standard procedure in its response. "But we feel this (law) really gets in the way of common sense," Boyd said. "We want to protect kids, but the law needs to be reasonable," she said. "When the governor learned of this, she acted quickly and called the director personally to ask him to intervene." State Rep. Brian Calley, R-Portland, said he was working to draft legislation that would exempt situations like Snyder's from coverage under Michigan's current day care regulations. The bill will make it clear that people who aren't in...

Does anyone else think Kris Allen, who was very good won American Idol over Adam Lambert who was great because Red Staters siad "No!" to Lmabert for reasons other than talent? Lambert is the best ever on the show, but I think he was denied because Red State America has had "enough." I hope I'm wrong, just thinking out loud.

Those Hillary people over at HillBuzz are abuzz about a babysitting scandal that is about to break (according to HillBuzz)...

Appearing before a religious conference, Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton (D-N.Y.) told the audience that as a seven-year-old child she would walk 10 miles through snow and rain to Sunday school each week where she would baby-sit the children of workers so that their parents could work on the plantations that were common in her community. "I was fortunate that at an early age, through my church, I was given the opportunity to flesh-out my political resume," Clinton told the 600 adults and teenagers attending the Sojourners "Covenant for a New America" conference. Sen. Clinton (nee Rodham) says she grew up...

At least one girl was seriously injured Tuesday as hundreds of students from Dallas and other area school districts again converged on Dallas City Hall. By midday, buses were arriving to pick up the protesters and return them to school. Witnesses said an 18-year-old Spruce High School student's hand was severed when a van of students in which she was riding rolled over at an intersection... ... Meanwhile, hundreds of students streamed off trains at Union Station and marched up Young Street in downtown Dallas, whooping and hollering, waving the Mexican flag and chanting “Si, se puede,” meaning “Yes, we...

SACRAMENTO (AP) - An unexpected boost in state revenue has given Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger an election-year bonus: funding for the after-school initiative he championed during his initial foray into California politics. Proposition 49 will be funded for the first time since voters approved it in 2002. Schwarzenegger is expected to include the funding in the budget he presents to the Legislature next week. "It's a happy coincidence of his sponsorship of a popular measure and now a favorable budget situation," said Jack Pitney, government professor of government at Claremont McKenna College. "It's one bit of good luck after a line...

DC Watson on reality and dhimmi wishful thinking: The warnings came for decades. The threats of Islamic terrorism in the West, once thought to be empty, have become all too real for everyone living in the civilized world. While it is absolutely appropriate for Westerners to practice tolerance of immigrants, Islamic migrants, not all but many, bring with them a duty to participate in Muhammad’s fantasy of an Islamic planet earth. There is no sense in wasting time trying to “change the mindset” of this culture. They are a driven people. Driven by a backward, racist, sexist ideology, directed by...

Hagar (not her real name) is a divorced mother of two trying to remain faithful to God and work to support her children. Hagar recently hired a young lady, L., from church to provide childcare (at Hagar's apartment) while she went to work during the day. She came home one day and looked in the refrigerator and the boxes and packages of food appeared to be in good supply. She looked in the freezer to make sure her list was complete and the ice cream container looked fine as did some other packages of food. To her chagrin H. quickly...

WASHINGTON (Talon News) -- According to a report released by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) titled "Strengthening Head Start: What the Evidence Shows," Head Start children are not adequately prepared for school, and those who have been in the program still enter kindergarten lagging far behind the typical American child in skills needed for school readiness. Admittedly, the gap between Head Start children and the general population of pre-school age children does narrow during the Head Start year on key components of school readiness. And in addition, Head Start children do benefit from increased social skills...