In Article <3dr1qq$...@newsbf02.news.aol.com>

They don't have as much padding as real diapers.  As training pants, they're
probably fine, but as overnight diapers for kids who really wet, they're
inadequate.  You'll end up changing pajamas and sheets anyway.  That's our
experience, anyway, with a five year old. We're
still using diapers, even though they're a tight fit, because (the generic
ones) have more substantial padding.

-- Nancy

In Article <3ds31o$bc...@verbosa.ncd.com>

My son likes to read at bedtime.  Some of the RL Stines were too scary
and kept him awake, and some weren't.  He also liked Lloyd Alexander.
(He's in fifth grade now.)  There's a new series of Hardy Boy books,
updates but still clean cut.  For that matter, the old ones are still
good.

-- Nancy

:       Maybe a little too old, but The Choclate War is a heck of a horror
: story.  It's gross enough to make an 8 year-old boy happy, too.  

Hey, I happened to read *The Chocolate War* a few months back, hearing it
had won various awards and beaucoup de critical applause when it first
came out, and...

Yeah, it was well written, but I thought it was SICK.  Most of the
villains should have been in mental institutions long before the hero ran
across them.  Makes the worst horror stories about *ijime* (bullying) in
Japanese schools seem tame.  I wouldn't hand it to my children, or even
to an adult who didn't have a STRONG stomach and an equally strong
conscience:  I DON'T want to meet the person who could read this book and
laugh.

        Michaele Maurer
--

She warn't particular; she could write about anything you choose to give her to
write about just so it was sadful.  Every time a man died, or a woman died, or
a child died, she would be on hand with her "tribute" before he was cold.  She
called them tributes.        --Mark Twain, HUCKLEBERRY FINN

As a bookseller, I hear this question daily.  Most parents seem to be
upset that their children are reading horror and/or series books,
both of which seem to have become dirty terms.  I'm probably going out on
a limb here, but...
        I think that reading is reading, and the worst thing you can do
is DISCOURAGE a child from it.  I can't tell you how often I've seen a
frustrated child want to leave the Children's Dept. because his/her
mother, father, or grandparent is criticizing a book choice.  Be glad
that the child wants to read - eventually the novelty of a series will wear
off, and he/she will move on to other things.  
        Too many people worry about "good" books versus "bad" books - to me,
that's a rather subjective thing.  I would rate _Tuck Everlasting_ far, far
above most of the standard "classics," but that's just my opinion.  Children
are often more discerning than we give them credit for - they will often pick
books based on entertainment value (and there's nothing wrong with that), but
many will seek out things which impart information or deal with
intriguing subjects.  
        This is not to say that a parent shouldn't try to point out
alternatives to children - just don't FORCE them.  Most importantly,
remember that what YOU read as a child is not necessarily what your child
is going to want to read.  Similarly, you may never be able to fathom why
your child enjoys a particular series, genre, book, or author - just
accept that they are individuals too, and be happy that they enjoy to read.

(All of this IMVHO)
Jesse Ephraim
Borders Books & Music, Dallas  

Hi, my name is Evelyn Pollins, and I may be only twelve, but I've read more
books than you can count, the most being R.L.Stine.  I don't see much of a
problem with it, but I can see your concern.  His books are a little gory, but
it gets me reading.  I've also read alot of the authors that were suggested as
alternatives.  I read many books by Bruce Coville and liked them, Brian Jaques
is a differant story.  I've read only one book by him and only liked it a
little.  The books length was a little bit to long for my taste (376 pages)
and it was at a much higher reading level than I think any 8-year-old could
handle.
My suggestions:
Scott O'Dell, my little brother liked a book he wrote and he is also an avid
R.L.Stine reader.  The book's title was "Island of the Blue Dolphins".
A book I read at the age of 8 was "The Westing Game" by Ellen Raskin.  It's my
favorite book now and because of that I have read many other boks by her and
enjoyed them all.

Hope you find this advice from this avid R.L.Stine reader helpful.

I was a lurker for years on misc.kids and now have a 2.5 year old
daughter.  As usual, misc.kidders have been a wealth of knowledge.  I want
to take this opportunity to thank all of you and wish you a very happy
1995!

Marty

Daddy to Erin (2.5)

Hello, my name is Brian Bevirt. I am posting this to help a friend.
The following description of the problem was written by the troubled
teen's grandfather. Their family is seeking information, leads, any kind
of resources to help the teenage boy overcome his behavior problems and
become a productive member of society. If you have any information about
programs for troubled teens or research that might be helpful, please
respond by e-mail to me (bri...@ncar.ucar.edu) or post to the newsgroup.

Thank you very much,
Brian

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

Please help the parent of teenage male who is a potential threat to society,
his family, and himself. The parent is searching for anything available
on grants or scholarships to help the teenager who has behavior problems
diagnosed as attention deficit disorder. This teen needs more
structured discipline than public schools can provide.

Public school resources, including ADD counseling, have been exhausted.
Mother needs scholarship and/or grant support in the immediate future
because her son shows evidence of gang-related drug and alcohol abuse.

When his behavior is controlled (ritalin plus strict discipline together
improve his behavior), the teen performs as an excellent student. He shows
interest in computers and sports.

Thank you for your consideration.

This is probably the most frequently asked FAC in the newsgroup, so sorry
in advance.... it's just that I'm getting tired and bored of thinking
about labor and delivery.  I'm ready to think about having a new baby
around the house!  But what is that going to be like? Would anyone care to
share a war story or two?

For example, what's the deal with sleeping vs waking?  I read somewhere
that a newborn is "alert" only one hour in ten.  Does this mean the rest
of the time the baby is asleep, feeding, or fussing?  

I am assuming that the most important stuff we'll be doing will be to hold
the baby a lot, learn how to diaper, bathe, and breastfeed, and adjust our
schedules to the baby's sleep patterns.

Well, anything you can tell me will be really helpful!  I don't have any
experience being around babies for any length of time, so it feels like
we'll be stepping off a cliff in 2 months!

KeziaK
due 2/25/95

From article <3e4e8c$...@newsbf02.news.aol.com>, by kez...@aol.com (Kezia K):
  As it was for us. Yeah, I was told this nonsense about a newborn being
  "alert" only one hour in 10, so I thought I'd nurse ever 4 hours (HA!)
  and write out my thank you notes for all the nice baby gifts I'd be
  getting in my copious free time. Reality was quite a bit different.

  First, I hope your labor goes well and you don't come out of it too
  bruised. I was a wreck when I came home, having great sympathy all of
  a sudden for people who have been hit by trucks. Our baby did not nap
  for more than 15 minutes at a time. She wanted to be held all the time.
  She wanted to nurse all the time. When I wasn't nursing (and I had
  problems with that for reasons other than the usual reasons but didn't
  know it at the time) I was diapering, trying to comfort a constantly
  crying baby, trying to move around slowly and with conservation of
  energy so that I didn't start bleeding fresh blood again with the
  lochia, doing a minimum of one laundry a day down in the basement 'cause
  the baby would soak through her diapers at least twice a day and spit up
  generously after every single meal by about three weeks.    

  The first night we were all together at home she finally was convinced
  to go to sleep at 3:30. She was up two hours later. And again two hours
  later. Then 30 minutes later. Then 15 minutes later. Then that would be
  it until the next night, with 10-15 minute naps scattered throughout the
  day at distant intervals. With every wakening, it took at least an hour
  to get her back to sleep during her night sleeps. Sometimes longer. We
  watched a lot of CNN and the early bird news from a cable station the
  first few weeks. Learned a lot about the murder rate in Detroit.

  When the crying and fussing finally go to be too much, I would
  bundle her up and go outside (it was still rather crispy out) with
  baby in a front snugglie. There I learned the magic of "outside", where
  my daughter would fall into a deep sleep so fast I at first worried that
  she'd gone into a coma. We spent a great deal of time "outside" for the
  next few months, which is where she would take all her naps that would
  last for as long as I had the strength to keep on walking with her slung
  around me, or pushing the carriage.

  We ate a lot of TV dinners.

  Some nights, I ate stuff cold from the fridge because I was even too
  tired to heat it up in the microwave.

  I was surprised at how "unmaternal" I felt, although I went through the
  motions dutifully.  

  That's about as detailed as I can get. The first month was a sleepless,
  exhausting blur. Thankfully, I didn't get the baby blues, although
  everyone expected me to be depressed. Through it all, I always felt
  grateful that we had the baby even though our lives were currently
  in turmoil, and that everyone promised (although I didn't believe them
  at the time) that "things would get better, they really would".

  This may be one of the more severe scenarios. Nevertheless, things did
  get better, and by 6 weeks, she was sleeping 6 hours straight at night for
  her "long" sleep. That helped a lot.

  Don't get spooked. It's a rite of passage, and it doesn't last that
  long.

                                        Caren Feldman

: This is probably the most frequently asked FAC in the newsgroup, so sorry
: in advance.... it's just that I'm getting tired and bored of thinking
: about labor and delivery.  I'm ready to think about having a new baby
: around the house!  But what is that going to be like? Would anyone care to
: share a war story or two?

: For example, what's the deal with sleeping vs waking?  I read somewhere
: that a newborn is "alert" only one hour in ten.  Does this mean the rest
: of the time the baby is asleep, feeding, or fussing?  

: I am assuming that the most important stuff we'll be doing will be to hold
: the baby a lot, learn how to diaper, bathe, and breastfeed, and adjust our
: schedules to the baby's sleep patterns.

: KeziaK

: due 2/25/95

I've had three kids and my experiences have been similar to Caren's.  I read
"one hour in ten" statistic and bought it too.  I left the decorating of the
nursery (we didn't know the gender) until after the birth thinking I'd have all
this free time when my first was born.  This was a mistake since our daughter
required so much more of my time than I'd ever dreamed.  She nursed almost
constantly, ouch, and was fussy otherwise, a frequent crier.  She took little
cat naps of about a half hour or less up to five times a day.  At night she
gave me about a 4 hour stretch on average followed by a couple more two-hour
intervals,  so altogether about 10 hours in a day of sleep.  I was getting
five or so.

You will most likely be quite sore and exhausted after the birth.  A friend
of mine recently put it:"It felt like my butt blew out".  I would describe it
as having the floor gone on your elevator.  If there was prolonged pushing as
usually is the case with first babies, every muscle in your body will ache,
even if you're in great shape.  You'll need to recover and the baby will get
in the way of that.  If I'd had it to do over again I would have tried to
hire somebody like a nurse to look after the baby, no matter what it costed.
As it was I never really caught up on the sleep and went into ppd and I had
a cold I couldn't shake for many months.  Subsequent births for me were easier
to recover from, physically as well as emotionally.

Catching on to nursing was a struggle for me, and it hurt like hell for the
first five weeks.  Lactation consultants will tell you that it's not supposed
to hurt if you do it right, but after 3 kids, I know that's a bunch of bullshit.Luckily I was determined and overcame the frustration.  My pet peeve for my last
birth was the nurse giving me one piece of advice and the nurse telling me the
exact opposite.  I found that when it comes right down to it, the experts can't
solve breastfeeding problems as well as you can yourself.

Lastly, it was tough on me to be alone at home all the time for only the
baby for company.  I'd left my job of 6 years and the social network that
entailed.  I had no friends with small children and no relatives with them
either.  You have to seek out friends aggressively for you and your child.

Having my first child was the biggest turning point in my life.  It changed
my life so profoundly, my plans, hopes and dreams have a new focus.  
My third child, Paul, is now 3 1/2 months and is just starting to give me
the smiles and laughs I craved so much in those trying first months.  He still
nurses about every 2 hours though.  At least it doesn't hurt anymore.

Loralee Ahmann