Nancy

Member since: Aug 20th, 2006

Nancy's Latest Comments

Blog Activity

Blog	# of Comments
ParentDish	3 Comments
Gadling	1 Comment
Cinematical	1 Comment
Download Squad	1 Comment
PopEater	2 Comments
AOL Travel News	2 Comments

Recent Comments:

John Mellencamp and Wife of 18 Years Split Up (PopEater)

Dec 31st 2010 2:03PM She's still fairly young and now she won't have to change his diapers. Win/win...as far as she's concerned.

Plane Evacuated in Bomb Scare (AOL Travel News)

Dec 6th 2010 7:42PM Seriously, WHO in their right mind (esp someone from the 'free world') would ever take an Aeroflot flight? I'd open a vein before I did. They're not known for their good safety habits...and this harkens back 30+ years.

Continental Caused Fatal Concorde Crash, Court Says (AOL Travel News)

Dec 6th 2010 7:36PM The mechanic was fined? Seriously? How crazy is that? Mechanics aren't the ones who decide what metal is used to design a plane. He worked with what he was given.

The article should have been better-written. Was the mechanic fined because he didn't check x,y,z? If so, I might buy that. But the way the article was written, seems that there's been a HUGE miscarriage of justice.

I'm not a big fan of France, so I can't say I'm surprised, but I'm still deeply disappointed with how the article left a lot of un-answered questions.

Jessica Alba in Elle: 'Good Actors Never Use the Script' (PopEater)

Nov 4th 2010 10:23PM I really can't say I've seen even one thing she's been in, but after seeing her in the tabloids the last few handful of years and looking at the mag covers at the top of the article, that girl has had some work done. What's up with that? She's a pretty woman! She's too young to be doing that mess already. Oi!

Yahoo! Messenger ActiveX flaw fixed (Download Squad)

Jan 24th 2007 7:45PM I was in a yahoo chatroom last week and kept getting booted, so I downloaded the latest version of Messenger (8.1.0.209 Module 8.0.0.1) to see if that would help. Now I can't get into any of the chatrooms! They've also removed the chat button off the main screen - you have to go digging for it. They're "improving" themselves into oblivion.

More People Traveling with Amtrak (Gadling)

Dec 11th 2006 6:25PM I looked into taking a train from southeastern VA to NYC a few years back. The cost was almost the same as flying but it would have taken even longer than if we went by car.

Love 'A Christmas Story'? Visit Cleveland! (Cinematical)

Oct 19th 2006 7:20PM We love the movie. It has so many classic moments. About ten years ago I read the story and it wasn't nearly as good as the movie, surprisingly. I can't recall exactly why, but my general impression was that the book was darker and didn't have as many funny parts.

Are kids getting brattier? (ParentDish)

Aug 20th 2006 1:22PM I hope that managers have been reading these responses and realize how much business they have lost by not insisting that unruly patrons leave.

Starting Kindergarten -- A Teacher's View (ParentDish)

Aug 20th 2006 10:17AM "Our closest elementary school (where the girls attended until this year) decided this year to no longer allow parents on campus.

The protest has already begun."
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My daughter goes to private school and the parents are not allowed to walk the children to their rooms. It's to foster the children's independence and help them learn the school's routines.

As a former public school teacher, I could see a vast difference. Schools have many routines and when parents are wandering/lingering in the halls in the morning and at dismissal it slows everything down, especially when the parents want to speak to the teacher "for just a minute." Morning and dismissal times are very busy. It's much more productive to either send in a note with your concern or set an appointment for a meeting.

The elementary school where I worked finally set a deadline for picking up students in the afternoon. If there was less than 15 minutes before dismissal, the parents had to wait outside. If it was more than 15 minutes before dismissal, the students met the parents in the front office. This helped tremendously.

Of course some parents were miffed but they didn't seem to realize how important the routines were. Kindergarten is no longer primarily to learn socialization skills - there are quite a number of academic expectations and every minute of classtime is precious. Dismissal needs to run quickly and smoothly because the district shares buses. A delay at one school starts a chain reaction of delays for other schools.

Parents were encouraged to volunteer during the day; however, they had to consent to a criminal background check (a requirement for all volunteers). You might want to get clarification from your school as well as the reasons why "parents are not allowed on campus." I would be very surprised if this was the whole story.

Are kids getting brattier? (ParentDish)

Aug 20th 2006 9:13AM I don't think the age of the parents is the key factor, but I do see patterns based on the parents' ages. For example, the older parents tend to be helicopter parents. They don't want "dumpling" to face any discomforts or consequences for their actions. The younger parents I dealt with mostly came from low socio-economic backgrounds. Many were single parents working two jobs. They weren't around to discipline their children. And when they were around, they didn't want to spend their time disciplining their children.

It seems that many parents of all ages don't want the inconvenience that instilling discipline involves. If they take their children to a restaurant, they don't want to have to leave if their "dumplings" act up. Therefore, the children don't face consequences; their bad behavior is rewarded and the cycle continues.

I often recommended the Love and Logic books/cds to parents of misbehaving children (http://www.loveandlogic.com/). If the link doesn't post, just do a google search. They are extremely useful. The problem was that some parents refused to see there was a problem with their child's behavior. Sigh.