One of the most popular sections of the The Perfect Baby Handbook are the tips on finding unexpected sources (such as the Ikea Catalog) for unique baby names on page 6. Here’s another bonus list: Names derived from the annals of motion pictures with single-word titles. (Remember that a source can easily yield both winner [...]

» Continue reading "Insider baby-naming secrets, part II: Movie titles"

Come ye, tanned parents! As you read this, I am flying across the great plains to L.A., where I’ll be doing a couple of book events in your general vicinity. And I’d be stoked to meet anyone who reads the blog. Here are your options: 1) Sunday, May 17: Come ye at 7 p.m. to [...]

» Continue reading "The Perfect Baby Handbook in Los Angeles—Two nights only!"

Here, we have a $92 prefabricated eco-lemonade stand. Made of premium recycled cardboard. What a marvelous, crucial invention. Only a reckless parent would let his child attempt entrepreneurship spontaneously, by herself—possibly suffering injury or embarrassment while improvising a lemonade stand out of, say, a folding card table. Babygadget.com, who ardently recommends this product, has this [...]

» Continue reading "Parenting Essentials: A $92 lemonade stand"

Kids of America, beware! The New York Times has just given your parents the okay to ruin your lives. Op-ed writer/sadist David Brooks, summarizing recent research into the genesis of genius, dismisses Mozart’s innate talent and credits his dad, Mr. Mozart Sr., for whipping the lame young composer into a superhuman: What Mozart had, we [...]

» Continue reading "Newsflash: Mozart was average, just practiced a lot!"

In certain Manhattanish parts of America, parents go nuts trying to get their toddlers into an elite preschool’s two’s or three’s program, a process that’s, at best, madcap and, at worst, soul-destroying. It could be worse. In Japan, you have to start much earlier, at least if you’re one of the notorious Kyoiku Mamas or [...]

» Continue reading "Only babies who can peel tangerines need apply"