Weekend Reads: Stop Torturing Shy Kids, Naked Parents, and More Trump Fallout
Happy Weekend Readers, I hope everyone had a fun and productive week. I had a week of persistent bronchitis so that was fun (cough…cough.)
It’s Ok for kids to be shy, and we should be respecting their boundaries rather than pushing them into social interactions they aren’t ready for.
Some fascinating research looks into which children are most effected by parenting styles, either bad parenting or good.
Science may also help us raise kinder, less entitled kids.
Pixar can help us answer the question “What is Math for anyway?” in their own delightful way.
What age should you stop letting your kids see you naked? The answer in our household is “When they move out, if naked Dad accelerates that process, so be it.”
In the third and THANK LORD VOLDEMORT LAST Presidential Debate of the 2016 election they finally addressed abortion. Hillary Clinton provided an answer that shows us why we need more women in politics…
“When moderator Chris Wallace pressed her on “how far” she’d take abortion rights when it comes to late-term procedures, Clinton explained why she voted against a ban on late-term abortions. “I have met with women who have, toward the end of their pregnancy, get worst news one can get,” she said. “That their health is in jeopardy if they continue to carry to term. Or that something terrible has happened or just been discovered about the pregnancy. I do not think the United States government should be stepping in and making those most personal of decisions.”
Donald Trump was less than coherent on the subject….
The third and final Presidential debate focused very quickly on abortion. Clinton defended choice and Trump, not one to be bothered with facts, countered with this doozy of line:
“I think it’s terrible if you go with what Hillary is saying in the ninth month you can take the baby and rip the baby out of the womb of the mother just prior to the birth of the baby. Now, you can say that that’s okay, and Hillary can say that that’s okay, but it’s not okay with me. Because based on what she’s saying and based on where she’s going and where she’s been, you can take the baby and rip the baby out of the womb in the ninth month, on the final day. And that’s not acceptable.”
First of all, we don’t rip anything in OB/GYN. In surgery we use sharp dissection and blunt dissection, but we don’t rip. Some women do tear during a vaginal delivery, but that’s not a doctor ripping the baby out. Even with a forceps delivery I wouldn’t call it ripping. We also don’t rip tissues during c-sections. Perhaps we can forgive Donald Trump for not knowing this as it is hard to believe that a man who bragged that he doesn’t change diapers and said he wouldn’t have had a baby if his wife had wanted him to actually physically participate in its care would have attended the birth of his own children. It’s certainly not for the faint of heart as there is, after all, lots of blood coming out the “wherever.”
Trump’s statement, as incorrect as it may be, supports the fallacy of the due-date abortion. It is a common anti-choice narrative that women come in at 39 weeks and have some kind of abortion for fun or out of boredom and that we doctors are only too happy to comply. I’m sure some people think there are Groupons. The more graphic the description of the procedure the better as it helps to distract from the facts.
Mr. Rogers break dancing and moonwalking is the most delightful antidote to the crappy news we’ve had this week…
Featured Image: I shot the flu!!!
I’m just glad Clinton addressed global warming.
I appreciate how easy the Republicans have made it this year, and that they’ve even put the House in play and are probably going to have a civil war for at least a decade, but I prefer debating substantive issues.
Wasn’t it nice when it looked like things might go that way? =(