All the parenting news you probably didn’t have time to read this week
– Apparently French woman don’t have equality. But you know what they do have? After giving birth they are given “state-paid, extended course of vaginal gymnastics, complete with personal trainer, electric stimulation devices and computer games that reward particularly nimble squeezing.” With all that, who needs equality? (NY Times)
– Um, I don’t know where I’ve been, but since when is Salman Rushdie of fatwa-dodging fame writing children’s books? He wrote a book for his older son and the new book, “Luka and the Fire of Life” is dedicated to his younger son, Milan, who incidentally looks a lot like Adam Lambert. (The Daily Star)
– According to our friends over at the Sisterhood, there’s one more reason to make “infertility aliyah” to Israel. (Truth be told we didn’t know the first reason, which is that Israel provides FREE infertility treatments to all women). Now, they’re sweetening the deal and allowing women of child bearing age who might want to have children one day in the future but fear they might have trouble conceiving to freeze their eggs for free. (The Forward)
– The “ba ba ba” noises that your little one is muttering to herself are actually “increasingly being understood as an essential precursor to speech and as a key predictor of both cognitive and social emotional development.” Also interesting to note, babies all over the world babble in similar ways. Just check out the movie Babies if you don’t believe me. (NY Times)
– Did you guys know that there’s a club in Virgina Beach called The Jewish Mother? It’s hard to imagine what goes on there, but you can rest assured that the patrons are all well-fed and carrying a sweater (yuk, yuk, yuk). Past performers there have included Richie Havens, Dave Matthews, Hootie & The Blow Fish and Ice Cube. I don’t need to point out to you that none of these are actually Jewish mothers.
