Interesting article, unfortunately not fully online, about John Timoney, current Miami Chief of Police. “Timoney today is regarded as one of the most progressive and effective police chiefs in the country,” according to the article; he worked in New York under Bill Bratton. Apparently he had a horrible time with both of his kids, one of whom is currently in jail for drugs. However, both appear to be on the mend. Interesting story of a father who loved his kids but didn’t really know how to show it, or how to deal with their very serious problems.

Miami Blue (New Yorker)

Popularity: 22% [?]

What? Do I put my own kids up for adoption?

Research suggests they invest more time and money in their children.

Grant Koski seems to have what every 3-year-old needs.

His dad calls him Peanut and hugs him when he runs by.

His mom takes him to and from preschool and makes warm lunches.

He goes to Disney movies and to the park.

Grant is adopted. So is his brother, 9-year-old Griffin, who reaps similar benefits from what seems an archetypal household.

But don’t worry parents:

But it’s a “false assumption” that children fare better with birth parents, said Brian Powell, co-author of the study and sociology professor at Indiana University.

If nothing else, this could help quiet the notion that adoptive parents are horrible. Maybe it’ll even help gay couples convince adoption agencies to give them an even playing field.

Full Article (tulsaworld.com)

Adoptive Parents Committee

Popularity: 18% [?]

As in, TALK. Not SHOW.

Couple Charged With Having Intercourse In Front of 9-Year-Old Daughter to Teach Her About Sex (FoxNews.com via AP)

PROVIDENCE, R.I. — A Woonsocket mother and her boyfriend are headed to trial on charges they had intercourse in front of the woman’s 9-year-old daughter as a way to teach the girl about sex.

Rebecca Arnold, of Woonsocket, and her boyfriend, David Prata, have pleaded not guilty to felony child-neglect charges. A pre-trial conference is scheduled for next month.

When questioned by an investigator from the state Department of Children, Youth and Families, Prata, 33, said he and Arnold, 36, had sex “all the time” in front of the child and that “we don’t believe in hiding anything.”

He said the girl would often be on the bed watching as the couple had sex. Though they did not ask her to leave, they also did not force her to remain on the bed, Prata said.

Full article here.

This might be that couple’s favorite joke. And this is their favorite children’s show (note: not safe for work).
Via HowardStern.com (they talked about it on the radio).

Popularity: 40% [?]

What do we make of a boy like Thomas?

Thomas (his middle name) is a fifth-grader at the highly competitive P.S. 334, the Anderson School on West 84th. Slim as they get, Thomas recently had his long sandy-blond hair cut short to look like the new James Bond (he took a photo of Daniel Craig to the barber). Unlike Bond, he prefers a uniform of cargo pants and a T-shirt emblazoned with a photo of one of his heroes: Frank Zappa. Thomas hangs out with five friends from the Anderson School. They are the smart kids.Thomas one of them, and he likes belonging.

Since Thomas could walk, he has heard constantly that he’s smart. Not just from his parents but from any adult who has come in contact with this precocious child. When he applied to Anderson for kindergarten, his intelligence was statistically confirmed. The school is reserved for the top one percent of all applicants, and an IQ test is required. Thomas didn’t just score in the top one percent. He scored in the top one percent of the top one percent.

But as Thomas has progressed through school, this self-awareness that he’s smart hasn’t always translated into fearless confidence when attacking his schoolwork. In fact, Thomas’ father noticed just the opposite. Thomas didn’t want to try things he wouldn’t be successful at,his father says. Some things came very quickly to him, but when they didn’t, he gave up almost immediately, concluding, ˜I’m not good at this. With no more than a glance, Thomas was dividing the world into two things he was naturally good at and things he wasnt.

How Not to Talk to Your Kids (New York Magazine)

Popularity: 35% [?]