Alexis Weeks, 6, of Central, Texas saved the life of a toddler who fell into a pool. She's been swimming for about two years and is very skilled:

But no one could have guessed that dive would save the life of a two-year-old girl sinking to the bottom of a pool. Alexis says she knew exactly what to do.

"I need to go get her," she said.

Without hesitation, Alexis says she dove in the pool and rescued the little girl.

"Well I went under water and got her on my knee and holded her," said Alexis.

http://www.ktre.com/Global/story.asp?S=12983244 via my wife | Image: KTRE-ABC

ALSO: A few weeks ago, Tiffany asked readers if they could swim well enough to save the lives of their children. It's a good question.

This isn't a problem for me because I get all of my parenting advice from Futurama. Anyway, Elizabeth Lindell of Mom Logic writes that the AMC show Mad Men gives exceptionally bad examples of parenting:

Don and Betty Draper's parenting mistakes must be obvious to any generation. Their children ride without seatbelts, play in dry-cleaning bags and were told of their parents' divorce in a scene devoid of any real comfort or empathy. Their young daughter, Sally, can mix a Tom Collins like a pro. There is little nurturing by either parent -- except when one of the adults needs it.

This week, it was Thanksgiving for the Drapers. Newly divorced Betty spent it with her new beau in the home she shares with her children, and Don spent it having sex with a prostitute. While Betty is cuddling up with her new man in the bed she previously shared with her children's father, her daughter is distraught in the hall and attempts to make a call to her father because she misses him. Betty reprimands her, sends her to bed and goes back to her foreplay.

It's not Betty's moving on that I have a problem with. It's the lack of explanation to the children and the Drapers' lack of understanding of the turmoil their actions will cause for years to come.

Link | Image: AMC

Joel Henriques of Portland, OR has a blog devoted to the crafts that he makes with his kids. In a recent post, he explained how children can easily create a marble run using empty cereal boxes:

To make one, first tape the lid of the box shut, and then using a knife, cut off the front panel. Leave a little ledge on the bottom to keep the marbles from rolling out everywhere. Then take the detached front panel and cut it into three strips. Bend them at the ends and cut a notch on one side for the marble to run through. Next I took a little extra cardboard from another cereal box and folded the end of it and taped it onto the bottom (see photos). The folded end makes the marble run tilt back a little bit so the marble goes down the holes and doesn't fall out of the box. Finally, tape the strips into the box and cut a little hole at the top to drop the marble through. Then go find some marbles!

There are more photos at the link.

Link via Super Punch | Photo: Joel Henriques

A Canadian dance studio with facilities in Vancouver and Langley offers pole dancing classes to children as young as five. One instructor argues that it's perfectly fine:

"Children have no (erotic) association with the pole whatsoever," says Morris, arguing that kids would see the same apparatus at a firehall, playground or circus. "Unless you teach someone how to grind and make reference to taking off your clothing, there's nothing wrong with it."

I prefer comedian Chris Rock's goal for parenting daughters: "Keep her off the pole." Really, wouldn't gymnastics classes accomplish the same fitness goals without risking an inherently sexualized context?

Link via reddit | Photo (unrelated) by Flickr user eatantsnotturtles used under Creative Commons license

Pfizer's drug Viagra, in addition to addressing erectile dysfunction among men, may be an effective treatment for a rare lung disorder that afflicts some children. So the pharmaceutical company may offer a version of it for kids:

Viagra, which modifies blood flows, could reduce unusually high blood pressure in a child's lungs, or pulmonary arterial hypertension. Symptoms include dizziness, chest pain and fatigue.

A panel of FDA advisers will determine on Thursday whether to green light the kid's version.[...]

The FDA began asking Pfizer in 2001 to develop ways to use Viagra to treat children suffering from the lung ailment, but the pool of just 600 patients offered limited revenue opportunities.

Doctors who have been using the drug on children say it is well-tolerated and doesn't have as many side effects as other treatments.

Link via Ace of Spades HQ | Photo: US Department of Health and Human Services

A teenager named Ashton Stark converted a 1972 Volkswagen into an electric car:

The vehicle is driven by a single cylindrical drive shaft connected to the original shaft of the Volkswagens transmission. It is powered by nine separate 8 volt golf cart batteries, with five in the rear and four in the front of the vehicle.

“We are running 72 volt through it,” Stark said. “Interstate battery made a deal with us to test their new line of golf cart batteries and collect data on the batteries.”

http://www.argusobserver.com/articles/2010/07/25/news/us/doc4c4baada89ae8840277920.txt via GeekDad | Photo: Argus Observer

Charles Hughes and Anne Norris, professors of respectively computer science and nursing at the University of Central Florida, are developing a video game. This game will teach middle school-age Latinas to resist peer pressure to have sex:

“Our ultimate goal is to reduce pregnancy and sexually-transmitted disease among the young Latina population,” Norris said.

The schoolgirls will interact with realistic computer-generated characters that speak and respond to them in real-life scenarios. To make the game as realistic as possible, the avatars are controlled by the actions of a skilled “interactor” using motion-capture technology. The interactor remains hidden, often in a remote location, during game play.

Norris cites many reasons for focusing on young Latina adolescents, age 12-15. Low-income Latinas have higher teen birth rates and higher rates of HIV and other sexually transmitted diseases than their white peers. The best time to teach girls abstinence and peer-resistance skills is during middle school — those approaches are less effective once girls become sexually active. And many Latina girls may lack role models who can help them learn how to resist peer pressure.

Link via Kotaku | Photo: UCF Today

Marie Miracle Seignon had every reason to believe that her baby had died in the 12 January 2010 earthquake in Haiti. She was wrong:

Landina was plucked from the rubble and flown to Britain for treatment after a charity was unable to find her family.

But the mother was eventually tracked down six weeks ago and, following DNA tests, was flown to the UK yesterday for an emotional reunion.

Speaking via an interpreter after they were reunited at Chelsea and Westminster Hospital yesterday, Ms Seignon cried: ''I thought she was dead, so my feelings were very, very strong.

''But when I saw her I was amazed. I couldn't believe she was alive - this is a very happy moment.''

Link | Photo: PA

Allen S. Rout put a picture of his 10-month old son Stephen on the Internet. Somehow it became a major meme, especially in Japan. At the link you can see selections of how the baby's image has been used in creative (but clean!) ways.

Link via reddit | Image: Kajisoku

Dennis Baron is a professor of English and linguistics at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champlain. In a lengthy post republished at the science fiction blog io9, he writes about how robots are increasingly useful in the classroom -- and that we shouldn't fear them:

We need this invasion of English-teaching robots because, according to researchers at the University of California, San Diego, "an unprecedented number of children in the US start public school with major deficits in basic academic skills, including vocabulary skills." So computer scientists at UCSD's Machine Perception Laboratory designed RUBI, a "sociable robot" who successfully taught a group of toddlers ten vocabulary words in only twelve days. RUBI improved the children's word-mastery by a full 25% compared to a control set of words not taught by the mechanical wonder.

Link | Image: Nathan Stillie

Dave Matthews of Deadspin assembled scenes of dads at baseball games successfully catching foul balls that land in the stands -- even though they're holding babies at the time.

Link via Urlesque

Researchers at the University of California at San Diego found a positive correlation between excessive brain growth during infancy and later diagnosis with autism. This could lead to earlier diagnoses and treatments for the disorder:

Using cross-sectional MRI scans, the U.C.S.D. researchers found overgrowth in autistic subjects as young as one and a half. At two and a half, the autistic subjects’ brains were 7 percent larger on average than the control group’s. Al­though why, exactly, excessive brain growth is related to autism remains a mystery, the new work helps to confirm that signs of the disorder appear early—knowledge that could lead to detection and treatments, such as behavior therapy, at a younger age.

Link | Photo (unrelated) from Flickr user Andrew Ciscel used under Creative Commons license

(YouTube Link)

We're about to start potty-training at my household.

Please tell me that such humiliating songs are not a necessary part of the process.

via Urlesque

Matt Moniz, 12, and his father decided to ascend the highest point in each of the 50 US states in record time. The lowest climb was Britton Hill in Florida, which is 345 feet above sea level, and the highest was Mt. McKinley in Alaska, which is 20,320 feet above sea level. Matt and his father completed the task in 43 days, 2 hours, and 8 minutes, breaking the previous record by 2 days:

Matt's climbing resume is quickly becoming a very impressive one. Not only has he now completed the 50 high points, he has also climbed Kilimanjaro, Aconcagua, and Elbrus, the highest peaks in Africa, South America, and Europe respectively. He has also made the trek to Everest Base Camp as well, and with the completion of Denali, he now has four of the Seven Summits under his belt. Not bad for a young man who hasn't even entered junior high yet.

Link via Digg | Photo by Flickr user raer used under Creative Commons license

Gōjin Ishihara was a Japanese artist whose was in demand in the 1970s as a children's book illustrator. He made graphic depictions for stories that are, uh, a bit different from what you might find in American children's books today. Pink Tentacle has a compilation of 16 such images from his work, such as the above 1975 image from The Illustrated Book of Hell.

Link