selinasmith: Only in New York: Crazy Parenting News From The Big City ...

iStock 000021512116XSmall 300x198 Only in New York: The Craziest Parenting News Stories

Navigating the New York City streets as a parent is much more than just being careful on the streets.

Having made a career out of helping New York City parents stay informed and updated on everything that goes on in our crazy city as an editor of parenting magazines, and also raising three kids here myself, I know that this city presents a certain set of unique challenges to moms and dads.

Still, I firmly believe that raising a family in New York City is one of?the?best things you can do for a child. I know of no other place that has an many educational, cultural, and everyday life experiences than New York.

However, it also has its fair share of insane, hard-to-believe parenting news stories.

Ranging from ridiculous to insane, here are just some of the recent stories in New York City parenting news:

The Wheels On The Bus Go Round and Round, Round and Round, Round and Round...For FIVE Hours!
3-year-old Levi Vidal from Bergen Beach, Brooklyn, who has autism, had to endure a five-hour bus ride five-hour bus ride home from his school in Manhattan and finally arrived home distraught in a soiled diaper. His irate mother Serena, was naturally irate, said ?He was delirious, starving and in his full diaper. It?s insane, heartbreaking. How can you treat kids like that?? Good question.
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Urban Outfitters Profanity Sale
The trendy apparel store, which has been known for pushing limits or being slightly shocking, displays a profane word on their website, which sends one NYC mom calling for a boycott. It didn?t work, of course, because part of Urban Outfitters? appeal to young people is their cool factor. Plus, it?s New York City lady?WTF?
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Only in New York Can A $350 Class To Not Watch Your Kids Get Publicized
Free Range mom Lenore Skenazy garnishes even more publicity for her ?free range? ideals (not to mention another effort to prolong a go at a career) by launching a program in Manhattan called I Won?t Supervise Your Kids. Skenazy charges $350 per kid who shows up to a public playground in Central Park where she not only promises NOT to watch your kid but makes parents sign a waiver saying she is absolved from any responsibility should any child get hurt. Oh, these warped New Yorkers, is it any wonder why the rest of the country finds up pretentious and /or ridiculous to boot? The very same day that the playgroup launches is when an elderly woman is brutally raped in the same park in the daylight by a homicidal felon.
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Who Deserves The Beer Garden More: Teachers, Kids or Moms?
Local moms are up in arms since Greenwood Park, a very popular watering hole in Brooklyn, New York, announced that children were no longer welcome after 4pm Some say they have every right to an afternoon drink and the inconsiderate, young, and single folk who don?t want kids around should just wait until they find themselves a frazzled mom themselves who needs a 3pm beer. Others say the real reason behind the ban are the large number of teachers in the neighborhood who patronize the establishment once school gets out and who don?t necessarily want to see students (or their mothers) when they are trying to relax.
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Shut Up And Eat- So What If It's 10 AM?
At I.S. 25 in Flushing, Queens, parents are up in arms because their children are being forced to eat their lunch at 9:45 am. Due to overcrowding and the inability to schedule various lunch periods, Principal Mary Ellen Beirne sent home a letter notifying parents that their children would eat brunch instead of lunch to help ease the lunchtime crowd. Beirne stated that kids that age tend to skip breakfast anyway, so on the first day of school, the cafeteria served roasted chicken at 9:45 am.
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Gulp! Soda Ban Hits
New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg touched a few nerves by proposing soda ban this past year. If he gets his way (and it looks like he has because the Board of Health recently approved his proposal), New York City will soon ban the sale of single-serve soft drinks larger than 16 ounces. Under his proposed plan, any sugary drinks in containers larger than 16 ounces would be banned, including drinks found in movie theaters, street carts and stadiums. It would also affect the city?s 20,000 restaurants. However, the drinks would still be allowed in supermarkets, convenience stores, vending machines and newsstands. Um, yeah so I guess all the kids who want a really big soda will just just go to the supermarket instead of a restaurant...wait, they already do that!
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Again With Bloomberg Hide Baby Formula, Says The Mayor
Earlier this month, New York City hospitals were basically ordered to hide the baby formula. As Strollerderby?s Meredith Carroll reported when the story broke, ?City officials will keep track of the number of bottles that select hospitals have and use, and all but 13 of the city?s hospitals will also forgo so-called swag bags from formula companies and will document ?a medical reason for every bottle that a newborn receives.??
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Toddler Hits The Beach After Being Left Behind By Daycare
Two-year-old Alexia Karimi was on an outing with her daycare center to at Heckscher State Park in East Islip and was ultimately left behind. Just as worse, she was not reported missing until three hours later . Alexia?s mother, Christina, says that Alexia wandered blocks away? to a beach(!). There she played with another child but when that child and mother were ready to leave, the mom noticed that Alexia was alone and alerted a lifeguard who called police.
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4-Year-Old Shocked At Grandma's
Little Laila Davis spent a night at her grandmother?s home, along with her 8-year-old sister. While waiting outside for their father, Laila, touched a piece of scaffolding right outside the building and began screaming. The grandmother didn?t know exactly what was happening but ran over the Laila and managed to catch her before she fell to the ground. It was later determined that Laila has encountered a piece of scaffolding that was ?electrified as a result of a missing piece that connects two wires and the lack of a grounding device.?
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