The Perfect Baby Blog

Archive for June, 2009

An emotionally draining message about sunglasses from Jon & Kate

Thursday, June 18th, 2009

If you haven’t seen this promo for “Jon & Kate plus 8,” please do so now, so we can discuss. It teases the upcoming announcement of a “life-changing” decision the couple has made. You’d hope their decision is to stop selling their family crisis like it’s a Snuggie (“Act now and get this tearful toddler […]

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Choosing a perfect baby name: A Bonus Excerpt

Wednesday, June 17th, 2009

Readers of this blog have made one thing clear: They love insights into the risky business of naming newborns. This isn’t surprising. While writing The Perfect Baby Handbook, I came to understand how the pressure to select an extraordinary baby name can unhinge a well-balanced adult to the point where he or she considers “Aloysius […]

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New toy lets toddlers start “texting,” if not “sexting”

Tuesday, June 16th, 2009

Okay, so this is disturbingly bone-headed: Tomorrow, the edutainment company Leapfrog begins shipping the new “Text & Learn,” a new Blackberry-like toy that lets kids “ages 3 to 6” pretend to text-message: Text and Learn [says Leapfrog] is designed to let little learners play in a grown-up way! Children can exchange text messages with their […]

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Perfect Baby Handbook curtails indulgent parenting (with a little help from devastating recession)

Monday, June 15th, 2009

The mood was cheerful here at PBH Headquarters today: The Perfect Baby Handbook received lovely complements from both Nicole Feliciano at Momtrends, who praised its “biting wit,” and high-profile father Greg Williams, author of the new dad-lit novel, The Accidental Father, and executive editor at Details magazine, who wrote: Dale’s hilarious skewering of helicopter parents […]

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Troll dolls adopt lavish lifestyle, warp child’s expectations

Sunday, June 14th, 2009

Trolls are supposed to live under bridges. Or in fetid forest dens. They are supposed to be freaks, squat and bug-eyed—tolerated only because they happen to have spectacularly vivid, comb-able hair. Trolls are not supposed to be privileged trust-fund recipients who share a flashy two-story beach house and zip around scoring Ecstasy in their collectible […]

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