And family tourism to the Netherlands drops 90% …

“AMSTERDAM — Pro-paedophile activists have established a new political party in the Netherlands to campaign for the legalisation of sex between adults and children.

“Ten years ago we were ‘on speaking terms’ with society. But since [Belgian paedophile killer] Marc Dutroux there is no more discussion. All paedophiles are being put in the same box. We are being hushed up,” Ad van den Berg, the co-founder of the NVD party, told newspaper ‘AD’” - Expatica (more)

“Doctors in Shanghai on Tuesday were considering surgery options for a 2-month-old boy born with an unusually well-formed third arm.

Neither of the boy’s two left arms is fully functional and tests have so far been unable to determine which was more developed, said Dr. Chen Bochang, head of the orthopedics department at Shanghai Children’s Medical Center. ” USA Today (more)

It’s inevitable that toddlers are going to get sick. Mom’s no longer breastfeeding (hopefully), they’re spending more time in the elements, and kids are walking infectious petri dishes. Below I have outline five illness my son has picked up. It’s as if he finds them at the playground then begs, “Daddy can I keep it? Can I?”

1) The common cold: There’s nothing ‘common’ about it. I’ve lost many sleepy nights to the common cold. The problem is that when my son is up and at ‘em the symptoms subside. This makes it easy for me to forget to administer Pediacare before bed, which causes him to be stuffy, which wakes him up, which leads to some sit up time to clear his nose, some medicine, maybe a late night viewing of something silly, and then, hopefully, back to bed. MORE

2) Coxsackie: Probably the worst named illness a child can get, Hand Foot and Mouth disease (or Coxsackie, for the town in which it was first discovered) comes on like Chicken Pox with water-filled pimples breaking out on the hands or feet, and in most cases is accompanied by canker-like soars in the mouth. He got this from the playground sandbox. MORE

3) Pink eye: The latest in the range of things to afflict my son, the pediatrician raised no alarm about pink eye aka conjunctivitis. She even said, “You know, I’ve been feeling a little ‘pinky’ myself,” then rubbed her own eyes. The treatment is a bit harrowing, as an ointment has to be placed on the inside of the lower eyelid, and doing that is no easy task. MORE

4) The unknown, unexplained, unidentifiable rash: From time to time he’ll get strange rashes on his body. On almost every instance of showing them to the Doc, she simply advises us to “watch it”. So we watch it, it goes away, and we forget about it until it happens again. MORE

5) Boo-boos galore: From busted lips, to black eyes, boo-boos aren’t illnesses per say, but they have the potential of putting the little one out of commission for a while. The worst to befall my son has been a heel to the nose (totally unintentional), but I see older kids coming to the playground with casts and huge bandages and dread the day I will have to rush my son to the E.R. with some major bang-up. MORE

Stylish. Functional. Affordable. In my book these are the three fundamentals of great design, and the Converse Chuck Taylor All-Star has all three.

I initially resisted going out and buying clothing for my son that I had in my wardrobe for fear of falling prey to the ‘mini-me complex’. I’m sure you know what I mean. Moms and daughters in identical Tiffany jewelry, or dads and sons in matching jerseys of the home team.

Then one afternoon at the local baby café (we go there too often) a little youngster took a liking to me. He followed me around closely, watching my every move while my rambunctious son was running around in the backyard.

“My name’s Asa,” he said, or Hayden or Max or whatever other cool hip name his parents had paid the baby name expert to come up with. Almost immediately after his introduction, I noticed that the taste his parents were trying to develop in him, aged no more that 3, were the exact same as mine.

“Hey!” I exclaimed, “we’re wearing the same shoes.” And I wasn’t being slight. He was wearing the exact same style, cut and color of Converse that I was. “Woah!” he responded.

That experience made me decide that if there is a kid out there that has something I have, well, it should be my son. So later that we week, father and son went to Foot Locker and I purchased him his first pair of Chucks, children’s size 9, though a completely different color.

‘The spectacular rise of “Nevaeh” (commonly pronounced “na-VAY-uh”) is nearly unheard of, name experts say. It broke into the top 1,000 girls names in 2001. Four years later it cracked the top 100 with 4,457 newborn Nevaehs - the fastest climb for any name since the Social Security Administration started keeping track of American names over a century ago, naming analysts say.

Nevaeh isn’t in the Bible or any religious text. It’s not from a foreign language. It’s not the name of a well- known celebrity - real or fictional. Nevaeh is “Heaven” spelled backward.

The sudden surge of Nevaeh can be traced to a single catalyzing event: the appearance of a heavily tattooed Christian rock star, Sonny Sandoval of P.O.D., on MTV in October 2000 with his newborn daughter, Nevaeh. “Heaven spelled backwards,” he said. Internet chatboards lit up. Within months, Nevaeh began its ascent.” - www.dvorak.org/blog

Jack Black is the latest celebrity to announce that he is to become a father. The King Kong star, whose first child is due next month, said:
“I think I will be good when it comes to playtime. I don’t know how good I’ll do with the discipline.” So how will he get around working away from home? Simple. “Wherever the job goes, the baby will come with me. It will work out.” (from pocket-link.co.uk)

“Take me
Take me to the water
Summertime, Summertime
Maybe, we can fall in love
In Summertime, Summertime” - Nocera ‘Summertime, Summertime’

“The hip-hop class for seventh and eighth graders at Shady Hill, a private school in Cambridge, Massachusetts, takes place just after lunch on Tuesdays and Fridays. The class, a practicum in the basics of rapping, is taught by a Cambridge rapper, MC Kabir, known in civilian life as Kabir Sen, in non-hip-hop circles as the son of Amartya Sen, who won the Nobel Prize in Economics in 1998, and as Mr. Sen to the third graders he teaches earlier in the day.” - The New Yorker (more)

POP’S PICK: There was something really cool going on this weekend, but I can’t seem to remember what. I guess it doesn’t matter since we’ll be in the wilds of Upstate New York. Have fun doing the do.

FRIDAY
Late evening art:
Snap Judgments: New Positions in Contemporary African Photography
when: Now through Sun 5.28 (Tue-Sun: 10am-6pm)
where: International Center of Photography (1133 6th Ave, 212.857.0000) map
price: $10
links: http://www.icp.org/site/c.dnJGKJNsFqG/b.1432339/k.9484/Snap_Judgments.htm

“With Snap Judgments, curator Okwui Enwezor proposes a dramatic shift toward a more thorough and articulate examination of contemporary African identification, attitudes, and trends. Many of the works on display, such as Yto Barrada’s The Strait Project, a wistful look at life on the border between Europe and Africa, represent a purposeful changeover to the use of cameras as tools of artistic representation. Michael Tsegaye considers psychological attitudes through portraiture, while Mohamed Camara and Guy Tillim round out the exhibition by highlighting the surreal in contemporary cityscapes and home life. (JG)” – Flavor Pill

Note: The ICP stays open until 8pm on Fridays.

SATURDAY
Oh, now I remember what that cool thing was. It was this:
Habana Outpost Opening Party
What: The ecoeatery kicks off the summer with an open-air market; dunk tank; kids corner; and DJs (by day) and fashion show, live performance, and burlesque act (by night).
Why: Summer’s here, todo el dia y toda la noche.
When: Sat., noon-midnight.
Where: 757 Fulton St., at S. Portland Ave., Fort Greene (718-858-9500). http://www.ecoeatery.com/
* above image is from Habana Outpost’s kids’ coloring book Alternative Heroes

Papillons at the Zoo
The butterflies are back with over 1,000 varieties from zebra-striped to checkered and scalloped. To celebrate the return, you’ll find storytelling, live music, crafts, and the Alice Farley Dance Theater’s larger-than-life costumed butterflies throughout the weekend .
When: Sat.-Mon., 5/27-5/29, 10am-5:30pm; All ages; $12/Adults $9/Kids (under 2 free).
Where: Bronx Zoo, Bronx River Parkway at Fordham Rd., 718-367-1010, bronxzoo.com.

SUNDAY
DanceAfrica
This Brooklyn tradition features a a diverse blend of dance, live music, film and art. Catch the gifted and spirited young dancers of the Bedford Stuyvesant Restoration Corporation at a special performance, and an outdoor bazaar featuring crafts, fashion, Caribbean and soul food.
When: Sun., 5/28, 12-8pm; All ages; Bazaar Free/Dance Performance $20-$45 (Pre-order tickets).
Where: BAM, 30 Lafayette Ave., Fort Greene, Brooklyn, 718-636-4100, bam.org.

The Infamous Four Borough Bohemian Beer Bike Bonanza
I know some crazy dads (and crazier moms) are gonna do this, and I’m a bit jealous because I know my wife will think that babies, beer and bikes are a bad mix:
What: Wear something “festive” to cycle through Brooklyn, Manhattan, Queens, and the Bronx — and celebrate at the Bohemian Beer Garden in Astoria.
Why: It’s the beer-master cycle.
When: Sun., 1 p.m.
Where: McCarren Park, at Bedford & N. 12th Sts., Williamsburg.

Willy Bees
302 Metropolitan Ave.
Gustafer Yellowgold Lands at Willy Bee’s
Sunday, May 28th, 11 a.m. - 1 p.m.
Sunday Music-and-Brunch series
“Gustafer Yellowgold’s Wide Wild World was launched from the imagination of illustrator/songwriter, Morgan Taylor. Gustafer is a gold, part-feline, part-alien who comes from the sun, blessed with a magnetism for making friends with some of earth’s odder creatures. Performed live, these vibrantly colored images are projected on a big screen as Morgan and his band play the melodic tunes in sync with the minimally-animated illustrations.” - Serena
For a sneak peek visit www.gustaferyellowgold.com
Suggested admission is $5/adult, $12/family. Please show the band how much you appreciate them.

Labapalooza! Mini-Festival of Puppet Theater
Fri 5.26 - Sun 6.4 (Fri-Sat: 8pm / Sun: 3pm) St Ann’s Warehouse (38 Water St, DUMBO, 718.254.8779) map $20

“Ranging from bizarre to poetic, the annual Labapalooza extends the limits of puppetry with works that draw inspiration from Walt Whitman, Bertolt Brecht, Haruki Murakami, and the ancient Welsh ritual of sin-eating. (CM)” - Flavor Pill

“Ashcroft shares Danzig’s thing for eagles and Condi goes for acid rock and lite classics, but it looks like someone in the federal government has been listening to eurocrunk. According to an April post on M.I.A.’s MySpace page, reported this month by Asians in Media online magazine, the London-based musician has been denied a visa to enter the United States. “Roger roger do you here me over!!!! the U.S immigration wont let me in!!!!! . . . Now Im strictly making my album outside the borders!!!!” wrote the artist, Maya Arulpragasam, on April 7…” - Earplug more

Maybe she should have reconsidered naming her underground collaboration with DJ Diplo Piracy Funds Terrorism.

Live and in living black and white. I’ve finally completed the editing of my latest mad-rush project. Steaks, Spuds, & Casserole! is available for purchase via the link on the right just in time for Father’s Day.

More than simply a cookbook for new dads, it features tips on how to baby-proof the kitchen, what gear to buy, what to do at meal time, and when a dad should simply give in and take the family for a nice dinner out.

You can preview the book by clicking the ‘preview’ included as a feature of the storefront.

HAPPY FATHER’S DAY DADS!

Comments below are mostly from when I asked about the idea on Y! Answers.

According to Dr. Sandra Lipsitz-Bem’s work, sexuality and its roles are learned, not instilled at birth, but I can’t fully bring myself to totally agree with her findings.

In her family, that served as her test subjects, Sandra made stringent efforts to raise her kids in a “gender-liberated, anti-homophobic, and sex-positive feminist” family environment. It was normal for family members to go about the house naked, sex identifying terms such as ‘daddy’ and ‘mommy’ were banned from use, and there was a forced indifference to the females’ menstrual cycle (sanitary napkins were changed in the living room on occassion).

My wife and I aren’t nutty doctors, we certainly wouldn’t go as far as Dr. Lipsitz-Bem did in trying to reduce the impact of societal sex stereotypes, but we did make, and are still making, efforts to not stigmatize our son when it comes to sex roles.

He sees mom pee from time to time, we bought him a doll, and he gets just as much huggy and kissy time as the next kid. But maybe we’re not doing it right, because though he mimics mom when he’s on his potty, he regards his doll with as much disdain as a bowl full of leafy greens (he prefers the stereotypical cars and trucks). He also freaks kids out at playgroups because he’s so gentle and wants to hug and kiss all the time, but has recently taken a liking to our downstairs neighbors’ son, and the two roughhouse like there is no tomorrow. On a recent play visit his friend was doing something the mom thought was inappropriate, “But he likes it,” said the boy who’s almost 3-years-old, and my son (19-months-old) just laughed hysterically.

Since her experiment’s findings, Dr. Lipsitz-Bem has divorced her husband, taken on a same-sex partner and has her children as her most caustic critics. One can argue that every parent’s most vicious critics will be their children, but it would be devastating if my son grew to resent the way he was raised. So for now my wife and I have given up the ‘reverse sexualism’ and have decided to just go about our lives normally and follow his lead, fostering his interests, as much as we can. Plus we have bigger issues lying ahead, raising and interracial child being one of them.

You can learn more about Dr. Lipsitz-Bem’s study via her book An Unconventional Family.

I’m in a crunch to finish that daddy book project. No time to get creative with this week’s ‘Five Things’. The list below is straight from Baby Center:

Water Safety
1) Hazards: The best way to protect your child from accidental drowning is to remove even the smallest source of water from his play area, and if water is present, don’t take your eyes off him for a minute. If you’re at a pool or beach, it’s fine to let him splash and play to his heart’s content — as long as you’re watching.

2) Tub safety: There are several things to remember when bathing your child, but the most important is to never leave him unattended in a bathtub, even for a minute. If the phone rings and you must answer it, wrap him in a towel and take him with you.

3) Day trip: Make sure the water is warm enough, preferably between 84 and 87 degrees. Pool water should be properly chlorinated, and natural bodies of water should be unpolluted and safe for wading. Don’t put a baby less than 6 months old under the water. Although infants naturally hold their breath under water, they continue to swallow. Take an infant/child CPR course. If you have a plastic wading pool, drain it and store it in an upright position after each use. If you have a permanent pool, make sure it’s enclosed with a fence that’s at least 4 feet high, and lock the gate leading to the pool after each use. After swimming, remove any toys from the water and deck. Make sure the pool or lake is equipped with rescue equipment and a readily accessible phone for emergencies, or take a portable phone to the pool in case of emergency — and so you won’t be tempted to run into the house to grab a call.

4) Swim lessons: There are many infant swim and water safety classes offered nationwide. That doesn’t mean it’s a good idea to enroll your child in one. According to the American Academy of Pediatrics, swim classes for children shouldn’t be started until age 3 because swim classes seem to make both children and their parents overconfident. That doesn’t mean you and your baby can’t enjoy the water, it’s just a bit early to enroll him in lessons.

5) In an emergency: When your child is in the water, it’s extremely important not to leave him unattended, even for a second. If he slips under water for a moment during bath time or while playing in the pool, it’s likely he’ll come up coughing and sputtering. If he’s been under water for longer, you’ll need to move calmly and quickly. Follow these steps:

• Lift your child out of the water.

• Carry him with his head lower than his chest.

• Remove any wet clothing and wrap him in a dry, warm towel or blanket.

• Call 911 or your local rescue squad or bring your child to the nearest emergency room immediately. (Even if he appears fully recovered, he may have inhaled water, which could cause lung damage.)

• If he’s unconscious, assess his condition, breathing, and pulse. If he’s not breathing, open his airway and begin mouth-to-mouth and nose resuscitation. If he has no pulse or breathing, begin infant/child CPR.

I’m working on a gift book for Father’s Day. I’ll be posting more details on this project later this week. Keep your eyes peeled and your wallets at the ready.

On Sunday my son and I went shopping for music. It was more an errand run really, since I knew exactly what I wanted to purchase, the new Gnarls Barkley album St. Elsewhere.

Gnarls Barkley is a collaborative endeavor from Cee-Lo of the Goodie Mob and the infamous DJ Danger Mouse. After putting out, then subsequently pulling from records shelves at threat of libel suit, the much downloaded Grey Album, Danger Mouse teamed up later with MF DOOM to release the Danger DOOM album. Gnarls Barkley, to me, seems like a natural progression for Danger Mouse and like his previous projects, I expected this album to be one of my instant favorites.

Only two songs on the album, the tracks Crazy and Just A Thought, live up to my expectations, and since the album cost me fifteen bucks (still less than a pack of Seventh Generation diapers at the local corner store) I am forcing myself to appreciate the other twelve songs.

In retrospect I should have heeded my son’s non-verbal recommendation. On entering the store that Sunday, he started bobbing his head madly to whatever was being played on the stores audio system. He was the focus of much attention in the unusually crowded store and one patron commented that it was great that he was into music at such an early age. As I handed over the cash he was waving his hands wildly, really enjoying the funky hipster-hop beats. On inquiring I learned that the album that was being played at the time was by Spank Rock.

Yesterday, after feeling very dissatisfied with my initial purchase, we returned to the record store and bought the Spank Rock album YoYoYo (I left off some Yo’s). On getting home and popping the CD into the player, I joined my son in a bit of mad head bobbing and wild hand waving as we both danced along. As the name suggests, Spank Rock sounds a bit like stripper music (don’t ask why I know what stripper music sounds like) but it was just what I needed to give me a sound fix.