Triple The Dad

Editor's note:  The following my twitter friend's account of her first time babysitting for brother's triplets: Five hours, three babies. It can’t be that hard, can it? That’s what I told myself the week before babysitting my six week old triplet niece and nephews. But, as the time grew near, the more frightened I was to care for that many newborns at the same time. I’m a seasoned babysitter. My first job, at the age of thirteen, was babysitting a newborn and a four year old five days a week. I briefly worked in a daycare during high school, and I have 18 and 16 year old daughters that I have somehow raised without scaring for life. All my previous experience is exactly why I enlisted the help of three others for this epic babysitting adventure! I learned that the key to caring for multiple babies is a well-kept schedule. Feedings and diaper changes can only be kept up with when written down. My sister-in-law neatly presented the newborn schedule of events in n...

Here is an  article  that caught my eye titled “5 ways milk doesn’t do a body good. It’s a The Week story apparently based on an opinion piece in the  New York Times . The gist is that there are reasons why humans should not drink milk, or at the very least, the downsides to such consumption. But the reasoning is a bit flawed; to say the least. I take down the five (really four and one half) arguments below. “Checks” indicate my support with the argument. “Milk dud” indicates I think the argument falls short. First description of problem:  I’m guessing they put it up top is because it’s the best. Anyway, the article notes milk is high in calories and saturated fat. The article notes that milk has the same calorie load as soda on an ounce for ounce basis. Also: Sugar. Egad! And the story notes milk consumption is linked to type 1 diabetes and that milk contains as much saturated fat as French fries. My thoughts : Since when did calorie load become the absolute ...

Triplet tested; triplet dad approved. I doubt I'm uncovering any type of secret product with one, since it proclaims itself the #1 bottle choice of the UK, but this Tuesday Trip Tip is the Tommie Tippee line of products. My recommendation is limited to the bottles  - the only line of the products that we actually used.  We tried out two or so different bottles with our triplets before settling on this brand.  While each had their interesting and unique aspects, these were by far the best.  They are easy to hold onto (when the kids get to that age) and the nipple is soft and realistic.  And unlike some bottles, putting it together doesn't involve seperate gaskets and complicated procedures - a boon to sleeplessly weary parents.

The big meme on the internet recently – at least on my parentcentric twitter feed – was about a study supposedly demonstrating that spanking leads to a host of mental and behavioural problems. Not an open palm. Not spanking.  Not OK. Yahoo ran a story on the study titled “Spanking Linked to Mental Illness, Says Study.” Lots of other news outlets trumpeted the same message; spanking = mental illness. Suddenly everyone on my twitter feed was posting #Idontspankmykidbecause statements. Which is fine, except that the press misrepresented the study's findings.  This is how we end up at the autism vaccine situation, people! As Melinda Wenner Moyer pointed out in this Slate.com article , the study that got everyone spanking mad didn’t say what Yahoo said it said. Instead, the study in question asked 34,000 adults about their experiences as children with being pushed, grabbed, shoved, slapped or hit by their parents. There is a long road between light corrective measu...