Search Results for: blog bad dads strike again father poisons kids for cash

What to Know about the Glow

Glow sticks are extremely popular this time of year.  You can find kids sporting them at summer fireworks shows, evening baseball games, backyard barbeques and during bike rides at dusk.  My 8-year-old loves to bend them into bracelets, necklaces and headbands and wear them while we stroll along the beach after sunset. While I’m game for the glow, other parents are not as thrilled to see their kids playing with the popular, yet potentially poisonous neon sticks.  Many moms and dads question the contents of glow sticks.  After all, if the liquid inside the sticks can make plastic light up like … Continue reading →

Score One for the Kids

Since becoming a parent I try very hard not to judge other moms and dads. However, there are some things that I simply cannot reconcile being done to children regardless of circumstances: severe beatings, starvation, mental abuse… and leaving a kid alone in a vehicle. I realize that many, many parents routinely leave their children unattended in vehicles during quick pit stops at stores, the post office, gas station or when picking up older kids at school. I once met a mom who left her 6-month-old strapped in an infant carrier in the back seat of her vehicle while she … Continue reading →

Dessert for Breakfast

Think of the most heinous accusation that has ever been hurled in your direction. If you are a parent, you likely shudder at the thought of being categorized with these derelict moms and dads, who shouldn’t even be free to walk the earth, let alone be allowed to influence a young life. While you may refrain from using an electronic dog collar to shock your young children as a means of punishment and entertainment, attaching your 13-year-old to the roof of the family van to hold down a large cardboard box, knowingly poison your kids in an effort to score … Continue reading →

Reluctant Parents?

The other day I was dashing through the aisles of the grocery store desperately trying to find peanut-free, gluten-free, dairy-free, yet highly nutritional individually wrapped snacks, which tasted good enough that the kids in my daughter’s first grade class would actually eat them. I narrowed my search to the Fruit Roll-Up/Gushers/Fruit by the Foot aisle and stood alongside a little boy who was busily scaling shelves. His parents were no where in sight. After five minuets of watching the kid scatter fruit snack boxes around like they were mini cardboard blocks I softly asked him if he knew where his … Continue reading →

Were You Made to Parent?

Some people are born to parent. Others, not so much. Breeding is one thing, but parenting properly is quite another, and often, according to a new study published in the current issue of Scientific American Mind, one does not beget the other. World renowned child psychologist Robert Epstein is the man behind the new research, which studies the gold standards of parenting. Epstein surveyed 2,000 parents and asked them questions regarding their parenting styles and their children’s behavior. Epstein and his team then used the information to look for correlations between parenting traits and behavior, and a child’s happiness. According … Continue reading →

Mom Robs Bank for Kids

Well, something like that. How many times have you considered robbing a bank in order to score some fast cash? Most of us joke about committing the federal offense at some time or another, especially during tough economic times. Of course, a joke is just that; something to laugh about. I’m sure most people don’t actually make serious plans to carry out the risky and illegal job. That goes double for parents. After all, parents are supposed to be role models for their kids and what kind of example are you setting if you are rotting in a jail cell … Continue reading →

When Okay Is Not Good Enough

I worked in TV news for more than a decade and during that time I encountered (and often had to interview) more than my fair share of despicable human beings, including parents who paid more attention to their cigarettes than their own children. There was the dad who told a courtroom full of people that he loved beer more than his son (which is why he threw the kid down a flight of concrete stairs while intoxicated) and the mom who let her drugged up boyfriend silence her toddler daughter with a sawed-off shotgun when the child wouldn’t stop crying. … Continue reading →

Dumb Move By Dad Makes International Headlines

It went from bring your kid to work day, to have your kid do your work day, to you may not have a job to work at day. I’m referring to the mega controversial incident involving air traffic controller, Glenn Duffy, who allowed his 9-year-old twins to direct planes at one of the nation’s busiest airports. Unless you’ve been living under a rock, you’ve probably heard the recordings of Duffy’s questionable stunt at Kennedy Airport. According to news reports, the 48-year-old dad allowed his two children to relay instructions to pilots on two separate days. Duffy brought his son to … Continue reading →

Poor Parenting Or Just Evil?

People do stupid things… and parents are no exception. However, there comes a point when you wonder where the line is drawn between poor parenting techniques and seriously deranged moms and dads who are inherently evil. My fellow blogger Andrea and I have written dozens of posts that feature parents who exhibit questionable behavior when it comes to raising their offspring. In some cases it’s hard to tell if their actions—-many of which fuel news headlines and land them in jail-—are the result of in-the-moment bad parenting decision making, stupidity, selfishness or a combination of all three. Case in point: … Continue reading →

Bad Parenting: Parents Give At Home Tatoos

In case you don’t know, tattooing a minor is illegal in the State of Georgia. It is illegal in most other states too. In addition, most states also mandate that tattoos be done by a certified professional. Jacob Bartels and Patty Marsh were unaware of these laws. Imagine their surprise when after tattooing crosses on six children aged 10 to 17 when they were arrested and hauled off to jail. The crime was reported by the biological mother of two of the children that the Bartels had custody of. The tattoos were administered over thanksgiving and when a couple of … Continue reading →