Wish me luck !

[Jimmyjet]

Opa
Diapers like politicians have to be changed often..and for the same reason

[DMZ-LT]

Having raised two girls , I was unprepared for the showers boys seem to enjoy launching when you take their diaper off. But I am learning - fast !! Pass a towel , please

[revwardoc]

I sure hope your grandkid grows up to be a lot smarter than these idiots:

Brrrraving the cold

Many teens think it's cool to go coatless in winter.

By Ellen Miller

ellen.miller@indystar.com

February 3, 2004

It's a winter-morning drama playing all over town: "The Young and the Coatless."

It stars a frustrated mom -- "Put your coat on! Don't you know it's cold outside?" -- and her blithe youth, who insists a hooded sweatshirt is protection enough even during the kind of bitter cold that prompted school delays and closings last week.

"The other day, I saw a kid getting on the bus in a T-shirt," says Michele Rector, eighth-grade guidance counselor at Ben Davis Junior High School on the Westside. "On a cold day, maybe 10 (percent) to 25 percent have hats or gloves. I don't think I see anybody in a pair of boots. Somewhere between 50 (percent) and 65 percent of kids have a coat (on)."

While the recent spate of super-bitter cold drove some coat-averse kids to give in and don cold-weather gear, some still opted for sweatshirts or shirtsleeves.

Kids offer different reasons for coatlessness, but it basically boils down to coolness and convenience.

"A lot of my friends and I prefer to wear hoodies. It's easier going from place to place," says Ali Cialdella, 14, an eighth-grader at St. Michael Catholic School. "It's so hard to accessorize with a big winter coat," she adds.

When the Westside teen knew she'd be outside a few hours early last week, to build an igloo with the kids next door, she did wear a jacket, boots, hat and scarf.

"It's OK," she says, "because the neighbors have known me since I was 7, and they've seen me in anything."

But most winter mornings, says mom Sherry Cialdella, "I'm always on Ali: 'You need to take your coat!' "

Like many parents of adolescents, Sherry has decided the bundle-up battle is not worth winning at any price.

That's a sane approach, says Dee Love, a child development specialist at Purdue University and parent of an 18-year-old high school senior.

"He and I just had this discussion not too long ago," Love says. "I asked him, 'Why don't you want to take your coat?' I expressed my concerns about him getting cold.

"He says his reasons are practical: 'My locker is too small; I'm not outside all that much.'

"Then we tried to explore some options and settled on a long-sleeved T-shirt and a hooded sweatshirt with pockets in front where he can put his hands.

"Also, he just got his first car, and I gave him a winter emergency kit that includes socks, gloves, a blanket and packets of hand and toe warmers. At least, in the worst-case scenario, he has something to keep him warm."

Few reasons to worry

Rose M. Mays, associate dean of the Indiana University nursing school and a specialist in adolescent health, says parents shouldn't be overly concerned about the weather's impact on kids.

"Colds are not caused by cold, but by viruses," she says. As for frostbite and other conditions that can arise from prolonged exposure to bitter cold, "The amount of time they're out in the cold is miniscule, usually. There is that chance the bus will break down, but that is an unusual scenario."

Mays says that when her now-grown daughter was a teen, she would often forgo her coat in the cold, but Mays didn't sweat it.

"To me, it's not a big concern," she says. "I trust our young people to come in out of the cold."

A cultural difference?

Mays and Rector have noticed a cultural aspect to coatlessness. They say it's more common among white kids.

It's something Cheryl Holt, an African-American whose two sons attend Arlington High School on the Northeastside, also has seen.

"I have a couple of white friends; it's like they like this weather," she says, noting her belief that black people are more susceptible to feeling cold.

Whatever the reason, her 16-year-old son, Antonio Batteast, an Arlington junior, wouldn't want to face winter without his black, knee-length, hooded fake-fur coat.

"It's a fashionable coat," he says with obvious pride.

[Dragon Lady]

Dan,
That is my 17 year old. Even when the weather hit the heavy negative numbers she would only wear a "hoodie". Meanwhile the $200 down ski coat I bought last year still hangs on the peg in the hall. I'm taking it back since she wont wear it!

Although I do remember running out to get the mail without shoes on and snow on the ground. On the flip side I never wore shoes for those 3 months of summer either.
DL

[revwardoc]

DL,

Now that I'm back in school full time, I see that, too. I feel like dope slapping some of those kids. You know how cold its been this winter, and they go to school in jeans, sneaks, and t's. I saw a kid waiting at a bus stop, its about -10, and that's all he's wearing. He was shaking so hard I think he registered on the Richter Scale, but I'll be he thought he was "cool"! As far as going out for the mail half-dressed, sure, that's just a few seconds. I dunno. Maybe I'm just gettin' old, but I believe in dressing for the weather.

Lt.-

Sounds like you're learnin fast.Baby boys have range and accuracy that would turn your average sniper green with envy.I ever tell ya about my stint working the new-born nursery?Probably not as I cannot recall being drunk enough to talk about that anytime recently.Averaged 20+ babes at any one time and had one co-worker.Vividly recall one infant lad-being changed by my co-worker-who managed to hit me (and all other babies in between) across aprox. 30 feet.Dead center in the face first shot.Brings a whole new meaning to "spray and pray".

One shot.One splash.

Consider wearing MC helment w/face shield.

[revwardoc]

Doc,

That happened to me when I was changing my grand-nephew's diaper. I remembered that my mother, when she was changing her grandkids, would softly sing to them because she said it calmed them down. I thought it a pretty good idea so did just that. The kid let go while I was in mid-lyric and got me right in the mouth! Bleah!!! THEN she told me that, when changing a boy's diaper, always put another over them just in case. Bad timing, Ma!

Yep.There's a critic in every crowd.

[DMZ-LT]

Took him , with his Mother , on his first ever stroller push today . It was cool. Opa PS also watched him puke a whole bottle up .

[nang]

Oh well, it's all part of the package I guess. Kids are the absolute best. Keep up the good work OPA