Eat Your Heart Out Doogie Howser...Autum's Coming!

With all the stressful news these days about the plight of our youth and the downfall of education, it is nice to hear a wonder story.

Autum Ashante will walk onto the campus of the University of Connecticut. She will attend orientation, gather all her books from the bookstore and pour over her class schedule. She may have to ask for directions to lecture hall and she may even gain the "Freshman 15" (or in my case it was the "Freshman 25") from an overabundance of late-night pizza. As a matter of fact, the only difference between Autum and the other freshmen will be that she is ONLY 13.

The Pelham Parkway teen has been accepted at the University of Connecticut, where she plans to study medicine. "I know it's going to be hard, but I'm excited," she said. Autum will move to Norwalk, Conn., with her father, Batin Ashante, later this summer, to be close to UConn. "What she's doing is groundbreaking but this is not about vanity," he said. "It's about setting the tone for other black and Latino children who will come behind her. They're always being told they are underachievers. We want to show this can be done."

She could walk at 10 months old; she could read at age 2 and by the time she was 3, she was writing and performing poetry. By age 8, she reportedly had an IQ of 149 (the average college graduate has an IQ score of 115).

Ashante, a single father, chose to home-school his daughter and sought out retired teachers from the community to help tutor her. Autum, who speaks Arabic, Swahili and Spanish, has never set foot in a classroom, but that's all right with her.


"My dad always says 'the world is a classroom.' I got to go places and do different things, so it never really is boring," she said.

As a mother, I definitely feel the burn that society projects to make my kid a prodigy. We have everything from Your Baby Can Read to Baby Einstein in my house. Anything to get that edge over the other students when NuNu goes into grammer school. But I have to admit, I have learned a lot about life by my social environment. The jury is still out as to whether a completely home schooled book immersed education is the best for a productive well rounded person in society. Not to say I'm not proud of little Autum. I just wonder how she will perform socially when she enters University of Connecticut. I wish her the best.


Read more: http://www.nydailynews.com/ny_local/bronx/2011/06/21/2011-06-21_move_over_doogie_howser_13yearold_bronx_girl_heading_to_college_.html#ixzz1Q4eDdVZa

It's Mine! Toddlers Give Our Lawmakers A Clear Definition for Possession

NuNu Having Won the War w/Some Poor Kid and a Ball

Legal Definition of Possession:

Most courts say that constructive possession, also sometimes called "possession in law," exists where a person has knowledge of an object plus the ability to control the object, even if the person has no physical contact with it (United States v. Derose, 74 F.3d 1177 [11th Cir. 1996]).

Toddler's Rules of Possession:

1. If I like it, it's mine.
2. If it's in my hand, it's mine.
3. If I can take it from you, it's mine.
4. If I had it a little while ago, it's mine.
5. If it's mine, it must NEVER appear to be yours in anyway.
6. If I'm doing or building something, all the pieces are mine.
7. If it looks just like mine, it is mine.
8. If I saw it first, it's mine.
9. If you are playing with something and you put it down, it automatically
becomes mine.
10. If it's broken, it's yours.

Hot Sauce, Cold Showers and Eyebrow Waxing: Child Abuse or Not?

Jessica Beagley, 36-year-old Anchorage, Alaska resident, is charged with child abuse because of her appearance on "Dr.Phil".

Bee-Tee-Dubs: This video was removed from You Tube because it VIOLATED their violence content agreement.

The audience saw video of her disciplining a 7-year-old son by putting hot sauce in his mouth and forcing him into a cold shower. In the video, Beagley is punishing the boy for "pulling three cards," a reference to three reports from his school of bad behavior. The methods chosen by were unreasonable, said municipal prosecutor Cynthia Franklin.

"She has not done anything that would warrant a criminal charge for child abuse," said attorney William Ingaldson. "If this hadn't showed up on 'Dr. Phil,' there wouldn't be anybody saying anything about it. Some people think spanking your child is wrong, and she doesn't even do that," Ingaldson said.

Neither the child in the video nor five other children in the home have been removed by the Office of Children's Services, the Anchorage Daily News reported Friday.

"We've tried timeouts with (him)," Beagley says in a YouTube video from the "Dr. Phil" appearance.

"That is a big joke." In the video, Beagley goes on to explain that those previous methods of discipline — timeouts, spankings, forced exercise, soap in the mouth — didn't stop the boy from acting out and lying, so she turned to hot sauce. When she's at her wits' end, the boy gets a cold shower, Beagley says.

The U.S. Department of Health and Safety lists several factors in determining what is child abuse. A method of unreasonable discipline included in the code is the scalding, branding or burning of a child. Though the code does not mention hot sauce specifically, the section on burning applies to hot sauce, according to the prosecutor's office. The Beagley children haven't had physical injuries or medical care for injuries.

If the kid had no injuries and still was cleaned in the process, I can't really imagine what the big deal was to be honest. I have seen worse, feel free to leave your comments below. But I did come across this video from "Toddlers and Tiaras" in which a mother is forcing her 5 year old daughter to have an eyebrow wax. She even admits in the video that her daughter is so afraid because she had an experience in the past that caused her skin to be ripped fro her face. Child abuse? You be the judge.

Second Graders Having Sex In The Classroom With Teacher Present

Whatever happened to just an innocent classroom of learning?

In Oakland, CA an investigation is under way at Markham Elementary School. Second grade students were allegedly engaged in oral sex in the classroom. They reportedly stripped off some of their clothes during class. The police investigation began when parents were notified of the situation in a letter on Thursday.

The second-grade teacher has been placed on leave from the school and has been barred from the campus. The male teacher, who's name has not been released told investigators he did not see any of the acts that authorities suspect occurred last week.   "We believe if the reports are true, there was a serious lapse of judgment or lack of supervision in the classroom," said Troy Flint, a spokesman for the Oakland Unified School District. "We're investigating how could this have happened. It seems unthinkable to us, just the same way it does to the public."

I am outraged that this could happen in the classroom right in front of the teacher. How much commotion could have been going on for him not to have seen two children having oral sex? Didn't he notice them taking clothing off?

Link Between Autism and Vaccines Makes It To The Supreme Court

The link between vaccines and autism in children returns to the courtroom this week. The judicial discussion has become a interest of mine as I learn more about autism and it's unfortunate attack on children. In my post, "Federal Court Rules: There Is No Link Between Autism and Vaccine", I spoke about the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit on upholding that there is no connection between vaccines and autism in children. A ruling for Cedillo v. Secretary of Health and Human Services. The issue appears again now in the Supreme Court on behalf of the parents of a girl who allegedly suffered serious health problems from a childhood vaccine. The justices are hearing arguments from the couple, attempting to persuade them to allow the manufacturer of the vaccine to be sued.

This case could open drug makers to a flood of lawsuits over the side effects of vaccines, including those from families of autistic children claiming that mercury-based thimerosal is linked to autism. Numerous studies have addressed vaccines and autism and found no link as in Cedillo v. Secretary of Health and Human Services. I will continue to follow this issue and keep you all up to date.

My Opinion: I think it sucks if your child all of a sudden gets autistic out of the blue and there is no one to suffer for it. It seems as mothers especially, when something happens to our children we want somebody to pay. It's just that mother bear instinct I guess.