Free Republic

Papa don’t panic! New York City can be a terrifying place to raise kids, so some devoted dads are fighting their fears by disinfecting subway poles, logging the weights of poopy diapers down to the ounce, and keeping the plastic surgeon on speed-dial in casejunior gets a bad boo-boo. Heard of helicopter moms? Consider these hovering pops Black Hawk Dads. “It’s just better to be safe than sorry,” says Doug, 35, who hand washes cups and plates because he fears the dishwasher releases harmful chemicals, thoroughly cleans shopping carts before letting his 4-year-old daughter sit in them, and stocks his...

Parenting is a tough job but a lot of people are doing it. In fact, currently there are 150 million active parents in the United States. The big question these people face is how to do it? Does that quote strike you as odd? It was the introduction to an article on parenting trends. Aside from stating the obvious, the opening line puts parenting in the same category as camping, skydiving or canoeing–just another interesting and popular hobby. Assuming the author of said article is not visiting from another planet, one can only attribute the astounding lack of understanding of...

Dad spoke to son in Klingon   By VIRGINIA WHEELER Published: Today         A DAD spoke only KLINGON to his son for the first three years of his life to see if he could pick up the alien language. Linguist Dr d'Armond Speers came up with the idea after watching an episode of Star Trek. He spent days translating phrases into Klingon - hoping his toddler's first word would be "vav" rather than "dad". Dr Speers, of Minnesota, US, battled on with commands like "find the USS Enterprise", - but his wife only spoke English to...