Search Results for: blog poor parenting or just stupid

Extreme Parenting or Extreme Stupidity?

No parent takes delight in seeing his child fail at school. However, most moms and dads don’t try to disown their kid when she flunks a test. It’s called being reasonable, rational… sane. Sadly, some parents don’t exercise these gifts and you end up with a story like Tuan Huynh’s. The Pennsylvania dad has been court ordered to move out of his home until he completes a mandatory parenting class, as well as 100 hours of community service. Huynh’s punishment is a result of abandoning his 16-year-old daughter outside of a mall because she received a failing grade at school. … Continue reading →

Busted for Poor Parenting

When it comes to disciplining children, most parents know that sometimes what works for one kid can fail miserably with another. Interestingly, a Staten Island mom recently found out that what works for some parents in the discipline department gets others thrown in jail. Annette Gerhardt… remember the name… because you don’t ever want to end up like her. According to news reports, the New York mom was hoping to scare some sense into her six-year-old by taking her to the police department and threatening to leave her there. Gerhardt thought the idea was out of this world brilliant after … 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 →

Dad in Denial

Can money really solve your biggest problems? A billionaire dad is really, really hoping it can. Cecil Chao is so livid that his smoking hot daughter, Gigi, recently wed her same-sex partner that he is offering a $65 million “marriage bounty” to any man who can get her to change her sexual preference. In other words, the 76-year-old Hong Kong business tycoon is in complete denial that his darling daughter is a lesbian and is willing to pay a pretty penny to any guy who can turn her straight. Denial is not an unusual parental reaction upon learning about a … Continue reading →

The Benefits of Breaking Up

Next week, we find out the name of my daughter’s third grade teacher and get a sneak peek of who her classmates will be for the upcoming academic year. I’m dreading it like a bout of head lice. Truth be told, I’m not too worried about the teacher; rather, it’s the potential classmates that give me the hives. I really, really hope the school took my bullying concerns to heart and decided to separate my daughter from some of the children who spent the better part of last year tormenting her. For my part, I spent the better part of … Continue reading →

10 Ways to Push Your Teen Away: Expect Your Teen to Be Perfect (Part 3)

There is nothing like hearing your teen bring up some of the mistakes you made when you were a teenager. While some may consider this disrespectful, I tend to view it as an urgent cry, “Please recognize that just as you made mistakes, I will too.” This is the focus on this part of my series on “10 Ways to Push Your Teen Away.” Nothing will push a teen away faster than expecting perfection. Not only is it unattainable but it prevents them from feeling comfortable about coming to you when they do mess up. Don’t we all want our … Continue reading →

What Makes a Mother?

(Am I a “real” mom?) “It feels like you’re really officially, really truly a mother when you have two kids.” Really? I’m pretty sure actress Jessica Alba regrets having uttered those words during an interview with PEOPLE magazine. Then again, maybe she stands behind each and every syllable. Alba’s comment went viral months ago, yet whenever I conduct an online search for information about transitioning from a one-child household to a two-child home, the Hollywood mom’s infamous quote still pops up. Seems as though parents of singletons don’t much care for the movie star’s opinion on what it takes to … Continue reading →

Roger Ebert Infuriates ‘Jackass’ Fans

Jackass star Ryan Dunn and a friend died in a fiery crash on early Monday morning. He and passenger Zachary Hartwell, listed as a production assistant on Jackass Number Two, had just left a pub in West Chester, Pennsylvania. Hours before leaving the bar, Ryan tweeted a picture of himself, Hartwell, and another man drinking. Toxicology results won’t be ready for another four to six weeks, but speculation is that speed and drinking were factors in the crash. Early reports are that the Porsche may have been going in excess of 100 mph when it flew over the guardrail into … 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 →

Can Parents Ever Get It Right?

Complain, complain, complain. No, I’m not referring to my kindergartner, who has the ability to find quirks in the most perfect situations. I’m referring to so-called childhood “experts,” who never seem to have anything positive to say about parents these days. Granted, there are a ton of maniacal moms and bad dads roaming the planet, who deserve to be chastised, but I know for a fact that the number of civilized parents, who are just trying to raise decent human beings, far outnumber their crazy counterparts. So why is it that “experts” in the parenting world feel the need to … Continue reading →