A recent trend at Sina Weibo, China's biggest social networking site, is for people to post their most embarrassing childhood portraits. Kotaku selected some of the funniest to share with us, including children dressed as adults, wearing military uniforms, wigs, or various costumes. And of course, there are the poor babies wearing way too many sweaters. Link
You can make homemade children's modeling clay-like stuff, but you can't totally recreate Play-Doh, because it has some special ingredients to make it last. Nothing dangerous, of course, but the recipe makes it clear that Play-Doh is easier to buy than to make in your kitchen. This video was produced by Giant Ant for Wired's What's Inside series. -via the Presurfer
Do you remember the Eighteenth Century childbirth simulator we featured two months ago? This is a more modern version from Laerdal's Natalie Collection of midwife and birth assistant training aids.
(Photo: Etihad Airways)
Ever been on a long flight with a screaming baby? Etihad Airlines, the national carrier of the United Arab Emirates, is working on a solution:
Etihad Airways is introducing 300 nannies to assist families and help children behave during long-haul flights.
Acting as an extra pair of hands for put-upon parents, it is hoped the nannies will keep little ones amused while on board a plane.
Tricks up the orange-aproned nannies’ sleeves include face painting, puppets, magic tricks and origami. According to the airline, the nannies can help with entertaining children and settling them before bed, but will not be able to take children to the bathroom or off their parents’ hands entirely. For older children there are quizzes and tours of the galley.
Etihad expects to have 500 nannies, approved by Norland, a childcare training college in the UK, bringing order to the skies by the end of the year.
(Photo: Macey J. Foronda/Buzzfeed)
It might almost make a kid want to go to the hospital! The New York-Presbyterian Morgan Stanley Children’s Hospital redesigned its CT scanning room, adding pirates:
“There aren’t scary pirates — there’s a pussycat pirate and one that looks like Curious George,” says Dr. Carrie Ruzal-Shapiro, chief of Pediatric Radiology. “The parents have been really positive too. It makes it less scarier for the kids.”
On average, New York-Presbyterian has about 200 inpatients per day, treating about 150 kids each day in the pediatric emergency room. And every day kids ranging from newborn to age 21 come in for CT scan for ailments from neonatal abnormalities to abdominal pain to head trauma. “Our more adult patients ages 17 to 21 ask for the pirate scanner, too,” Ruzal-Shapiro says.
You can see several more photos at the link.
One day, Mica Angela Hendricks, a professional illustrator, bought a new sketchbook. Her 4-year old daughter liked it and added her own contributions. Soon the two were working together, each, Ms. Hendricks insists, adding essential elements:
Sometimes I would give her suggestions, like “maybe she could have a dragon body!” but usually she would ignore theses suggestions if it didn’t fit in with what she already had in mind. But since I am a grownup and a little bit (okay a lot) of a perfectionist, I sometimes would have a specific idea in mind as I doodled my heads. Maybe she could make this into a bug! I’d think happily to myself as I sketched, imagining the possibilities of what it could look like. So later, when she’d doodle some crazy shape that seemed to go in some surrealistic direction, or put a large circle around the creature and filled the WHOLE THING in with marker, part of my brain would think, What is she DOING?!? She’s just scribbling it all up! But I should know that in most instances, kids’ imaginations way outweigh a grownup’s, and it always ALWAYS looked better that what I had imagined. ALWAYS.
2-year old Alejandro had Spinal Muscular Atrophy. Medical insurance wouldn't cover a powered wheelchair until he was 5 years old. That was unacceptable to Shea, his father, who bought a wheelchair on eBay and modified it so that Alejandro could control it with his feet:
After unsuccessfully trying to repair a broken digital kitchen scale [Shea] was inspired to reuse the sensors as pedal inputs. [Alejandro] has limited foot strength and the sensitive strain gauges are perfect for picking it up. Above you can see the sandal-based interface he built. The two feet working together affect steering as well as forward and reverse. The pedal system is connected to the wheelchair using a Digital to Analog converter chip to stand-in for the original analog joystick.
At the link, you can watch a video of Alejandro maneuvering the wheelchair.
Of course dog loves babies -who doesn't? To be fair, cats love babies, too; they are just less rambunctious and entertaining about it. My cats are surprisingly patient with puppies, kittens, and humans under five years old. Humans older than that may get a lesson in respecting personal boundaries. The dog, however -she just loves everybody! -via Tastefully Offensive
Complaining about the country's education system is a favorite pastime of many American parents, but why don't - or can't - we change the way we educate our children?
Author Amanda Ripley decided to investigate by enlisting "field agents" of American students who studied abroad at Finnish, South Korean, and Polish schools.
Here's what she found out:
“If you want the American dream, go to Finland.” These blunt words from a British politician, quoted by Amanda Ripley in “The Smartest Kids in the World
” [...]
[American student named Kim, who went to a typical Finnish school] soon notices something else that’s different about her school in Pietarsaari, and one day she works up the courage to ask her classmates about it. “Why do you guys care so much?” Kim inquires of two Finnish girls. “I mean, what makes you work hard in school?” The students look baffled by her question. “It’s school,” one of them says. “How else will I graduate and go to university and get a good job?”
It’s the only sensible answer, of course, but its irrefutable logic still eludes many American students, a quarter of whom fail to graduate from high school. Ripley explains why: Historically, Americans “hadn’t needed a very rigorous education, and they hadn’t gotten it. Wealth had made rigor optional.” But now, she points out, “everything had changed. In an automated, global economy, kids needed to be driven; they need to know how to adapt, since they would be doing it all their lives. They needed a culture of rigor.”
Read more over at the New York Times: Link | Ripley's book: The Smartest Kids in the World
Yes, distraction, and an opportunity to show off, works wonders to make a child forget her problems. That works for adults, too, it's just a little harder to manipulate. -via Daily Picks and Flicks
If your baby seems to be getting years older in only a matter of days, then maybe he's actually a 900 year-old hero that is time traveling through all of time and space when you haven't even been looking. If that's the case, then you may as well dress him in a style befitting his exploratory nature with this adorable onesie by Etsy seller cichemom.
Last week my favorite little guy started kindergarten. In his backpack, after the first day of school, I found this little pouch.
Inside the pouch was:
At first I thought the pouch was part of a homework project. Then I read the note. For those of you who can't read it clearly, it says:
Welcome to Kindergarten!
Dear Friend,
I am so excited to have you in my class this year! The items in this bag will help me tell you about your new classroom and classmates.
- The sticker is to remind you that we all stick together and help each other.
- The puzzle piece is to remind you that you are needed to make our class complete.
- The cotton ball is to remind you that our class is full of kind words and warm feelings.
- The eraser is to remind you that we will all make mistakes and that is okay.
- The shining star is to remind you that your future is "soooo" bright!
If you use these objects as reminders, we'll all be winners!
With love,
Your Teacher
Whether you are sending your first child off to kindergarten or your last it is always an emotional event. A little bit, or bag, of extra kindness can go a long way in making the transition easier for everyone. So with that I say thank you to all those wonderful and motivated teachers who have already gone the extra mile to make sure that this year is off to a great start.
Good luck to everyone starting school over the next few weeks.
Why put your little one on a rocking horse when you could put them on a rockin' chopper instead? This wooden rocker by Etsy seller The Wooden Horse is a great modern twist on the classic kid's toy.
If your dog is your little baby, what better way to announce to the world that you are having a new human baby than sending out this adorable little card? Photographers Chris & Adrienne Scott used this photo as their public pregancy announcement.
