Newfangled Dad

Sorry, triathlon fans, back to parenting topics today... I'm not in the habit of quoting, making reference to, or even reading The New York Post...it's sleazy. But  this article on Bloomberg's teen pregnancy ad campaign  caught my eye this morning. I have nothing against trying to reduce teen pregnancy. (As the author points out, NYC also hands out condoms, contraception, and morning after pills...perhaps a better solution since, hey, abstinence education doesn't work?) But, in this case, it's the lack-of-nuance, pro-marriage argument that annoys me. The idea being that without marriage these kids are destined for a life of poverty. In the "out of wedlock" crowd, babies who come without a ring on the finger of the mother are shorthand for a whole variety of problems from education to employment to child support. And the author wants to drag churches and talking about the "marriage advantage" into it. Along with the fact that the majority of bab...

Longtime readers of this blog will recall the Great Pigeon Debate here in my village. We wanted to get rid of the rats with wings under the L tracks and were willing to resort...possibly...to killing. I was in the minority in supporting that one. Eventually, the village backed down when animal rights people climbed all over it. The latest feud I've waded into is curfew laws. And I'm apparently in the minority here, also, but in this case I have the law on my side even if not public opinion. So let me explain... Background: Over the summer, a group of 13 year olds were given permission by their parents to stop off at the 7-Eleven on the way to a friend's house at about 1am. Long story short is that police stopped them, called the parents, and they were issued citations for curfew which features 24 hours (a Board member says this is really more like 12 hours) of community service. The parents--who had been told it would be a small slap-on-the-wrist penalty--were surprise...