The Chatterbox

The Chatterbox

News and views from the staff of FamilyEducation.
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archives

March 30, 2012
What's Race Got to Do With It?
I'll admit it-- I'm a Hunger Games fanatic. I tore through all three books in less than a week. (Side note: I might catch some flack here, but I was Team Gale the whole way through. Don't hate me!) And I was really sad when I was done. Not because I didn't like the ending, but because it meant I didn't have the books to look forward too anymore. I mean, what the heck was I supposed to do with my time now? I counted down the days until the movie came out, just to finally see if what I had dreamt up in my mind was similiar (or vastly different) from how the producers...
Hunger Games, Racism, Twitter
March 20, 2012
Did the TSA Go Too Far?
A wheelchair-bound child traveling with his parents, siblings, and grandparents to Disney World was recently stopped by TSA agents at Chicago's O'Hare airport. As his father videotaped, an agent gave the boy a pat down and swabbed his wheelchair and cast. (The swabs were to detect any explosive material.) Although the boy was visibly upset, nobody from his family was allowed to touch him or hold his hand. The video shows him fighting back tears, asking for his mom, and squirming in his wheelchair. The TSA agent is seen gently asking the boy questions, presumably to put him at ease. He...
Airport Security, Terrorism, TSA
March 13, 2012
Pink Slime
Have you heard about pink slime? At one time, pink slime was strictly used in dog food and cooking oil. Now, it's used for human consumption under the alias "lean finely textured beef." Fast food giants like McDonald's and Burger King have stopped using pink slime in their products. But it can be found in up to 70% of ground beef sold in supermarkets. It's also found in school lunches. In fact, most of the meat rejected by fast food chains is often purchased by the National School Lunch Program for hot lunches. Some estimates believe pink slime makes up about 25% of each...
ground beef, pink slime, Public Health
March 7, 2012
The Judgmental Non-Parent
Think back to before you had kids-- did you judge other moms? I'm not judging if you did, because if I'm being completely honest with myself, I did the same. Bad behavior? Fast food?? An entire hour of television?!? Pffftttt-- those parents obviously all had it wrong. My kids won't be subjected to those awful things. No processed food will ever pass their lips! No brain-numbing children's show will ever be viewed by their bright little eyes! They'll only eat organic foods! Only play with imaginative toys (none of this princess-y, girly, ruffled stuff!)! And they will sleep...
Kids, Parenting, Tantrums