Third school stab attack in China

theage.com.au

A jobless knife-wielding man attacked and injured 29 young children and three adults at a kindergarten in eastern China yesterday, in the third school stabbing frenzy in a month.

Five of the children were in a critical condition after the attack in the city of Taixing, according to Xinhua news agency. The alleged assailant, a 47-year-old man, was detained, the report said.

The man burst into a classroom with a 20-centimetre knife and started attacking the children, most of whom were four years old, Xinhua said. Two teachers and a security guard who tried to stop him were also hurt. Various websites said there had been reports of up to four deaths, but an official said it had so far received no such information.

Michael Jackon's children vs. Jaafar Jackson

Wait, wasn't Jaafar the bad guy in the movie Aladdin?

Apparently the name maintains it's infamous reputation now that Jaafar Jackson, son of Jermaine Jackson decided that with his allowance he was going to buy a stun gun. Reports are saying that young Jaafar tested the stun gun on a piece of paper while by himself in a bathroom and that none of the MJ clan was around when it went off.

Even with this being the case family services did come to the Jackson residence to investigate and are probing the incident. Being almost a year later since Michael Jackson died this is definitely one unneeded stress and attention that is coming towards these poor kids.

PBS brings kids shows to the future...future...future

Remember back in the day when we used to watch Sesame Street and Fraggle Rock and we were thoroughly entertained by the magical talking Muppets, some that even co-mingled with humans?

Boy how the times have changed. Now not only do our kids get to watch these shows but they are much more mature. We know about Blues Clues and can appreciate that the old school Steve left the show to go to college and the positivity of Bob the Builder who even inspired the president with his "Yes we can!" slogan. Yet there are still other shows that are totally bringing our kids into the 21st century by introducing what used to be taboo subjects.

How, did you ask? Well let break down some of the shows that are currently on the air:

Curious George

Remember the old school Curious George and the man with the yellow hat who is only known as "The Man with the Yellow Hat"?

Now there is a newer cartoon that is on and this is one smart monkey! He goes on adventures and saves peoples lives and paints murals. The only thing he can't do is speak English.

My favorite episode by far is one where Curious George and the Man with the Yellow Hat are walking down the street and he sees an Easy Bake oven. He pointed to it like he wanted it but the Man with the Yellow Hat said "Sorry man, we broke." (Something like that) So what did George do? He got a job at the corner store bagging groceries! In just a few days he earned enough money to start baking cakes with his new Easy Bake!

Talk about initiative!!

Sid the Science Kid

I think this show is terribly cute. Not only are the characters cute, but the lessons are very informative and the songs are terribly contagious. I am totally guilty of singing the Wash Your Hands song at work which adds more ticks on my "I'm a mom" card.

So what is it about his show that bringing it to the new millennium? Not just that they are talking about the importance of getting flu shots, but more noticeably the fact that Sid is the product of an interracial family! What better way to say "We love everybody." than that?

Dinosaur Train

Ok, so honestly I have no idea what this show is about. I tried to watch it a few times and I'm sorry, I just can't get into it. However, one thing did catch my attention is that PBS managed to bring dinosaurs to the future by filming it through the eyes of it's lead dino- a kid T.Rex who is adopted by Mr. and Mrs. Pteranodon and raised together with his other adopted siblings. Kind of like the Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt of dinosaurs.

And there you go. Cool, huh?


So what's next for PBS? A new show featuring same sex parents? I can't wait to find out!

Yellow Pages Booster Seat

Your kid still can't reach the top of the table yet? Don't spring for that fancy booster seat or high chair (Bloom high chair, anyone?) Instead go with tradition and grab the Yellow Pages! No, not that free one that you've neglected at your front door, the one that's available at Perpetual Kid for $20. This foam formed Yellow Book replica even has a hand-crafted butt-print for your young one to sit comfortably at the table...and with such style!!!

Taga Stroller

While extremely versitile and futuristic looking, this stroller/bike combo is only available in Europe and costs a steep $2,500. But it's definitely fun to look at.
www.taga.nl
Read more here, too.

Healthy = Autism?

Recently at work after updating some friends on my son's 6th month check up and how he braved all of his shots, I was informed by a designer to be cautious of the shots that are given now because certain ones are causing autism in children. He explained that he has a friend that has a son whom after a particular shot the next day he was blank behind the eyes and soon after he was diagnosed with autism. Of course when I asked him which shot his friend is claiming caused it he had no idea, which caused me to be both nervous and weary of this news.

Until...later that day I talked to a co-worker who said that she has a friend who has had that same claim and has even noted that Jenny McCarthy wrote about it in her book Louder than Words: A Mother's Journey in Healing Autism about her son. From what she told me the shot that is causing this is the mumps, measles and rubella shots, the very shots that are needed for children to attend school.

Apparently the worry started in the late 80's and is continuing today though there is no conclusive evidence that they are linked, there is also nothing to prove that the shots do not cause it either. Since 1994 when the shots became mandatory, there has been a raise in autism diagnoses.

I started to look up this information and this is what I was able to find:

Studies cannot link MMR to autism
If MMR caused a significant fraction of the rise in cases of autism, one would expect that its introduction would have been associated with a jump in autism cases. Studies have examined this question in both California and Britain. In neither case has any link been found.

Far from being covered up, the MMR/autism hypothesis has been intensively studied. One of the authors of Wakefield's original paper has recently stepped forward to say that "There is now unequivocal evidence that MMR is not a risk factor for autism -- this statement is not spin or medical conspiracy, but reflects an unprecedented volume of medical study."

The parents of autistic children are some of the most courageous and dedicated in my practice. I can only begin to grasp their level of frustration surrounding the many uncertainties that attend the cause of autism. The studies admittedly cannot disprove that MMR has ever provoked a single case of autism. But they do show, unequivocally, that if this has happened at all, it has happened only extremely rarely, and cannot begin to account for the rise in autistic cases that has caused so much distress. There is no doubt, on the other hand, that the dangers from measles itself are real and well-documented.

What are your thoughts?