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Columnist Ross Douthat has stirred up a hornet's nest by commenting on a new study suggesting that being the parent of a girl may nudge people toward the Republican Party. Douthat speculated that watching daughters cope with a "social landscape in which sex has been decoupled from marriage" and in which young men cruise through the sexual marketplace, leaving broken hearts in their wake, may cause mothers and fathers to embrace more conservative mores regarding love and sex. Well, based on the sulfuric response, Douthat has transgressed gravely. Ann Friedman, writing in New York magazine, thunders: "Are we supposed to...

National Basketball Association All-Star Dwyane Wade has just sold a semi-autobiographical TV show to Fox based on his New York Times best-selling book, A Father First: How My Life Became Bigger Than Basketball, THR reports. Burn Notice writer Ben Watkins is set to pen the half-hour comedy loosely based on the life story of the Miami Heat guard titled Three the Hard Way.

*Authors note: This post has gotten quite a lot of traffic. Several people (mainly practicing pagans) have pointed out that I used the word "pagan" in a way that doesn't fit the official definition. For my purposes here, I used that word to broadly define someone who rejects a biblical world view, fails to place God at the highest place in their lives, and is depending on something other than the cross for salvation. In hindsight, I probably could have gone with a different word. If you are a practicing pagan, please accept my apologies. Every Imperfect and Normal Family...

Surveillance video...shows a family of nine reportedly stealing from the Toys "R" Us..... young kids were instructed by their parents to undo security devices as the family walked out of the store....

For many American children, the floor has become their closet. This drives me crazy. I walk into a room where an urchin resides, and there are clothes scattered everywhere. Believe me, I know the passive-aggressive tactics that kids use to torture their parents, but something else is going on here. More than a few times, I've heard parents describe their offspring as "amazing." If you look up that word, you will see this meaning: "To cause great wonder or astonishment." That's what "amazing" means. So occasionally, I will ask the parent of an "amazing" child to tell me exactly...

Alexis Clarke weighed just 11 ounces at birth — smaller than a can of soda. That was six months ago, when she was delivered at UCSD Medical Center at just 25 weeks. The smallest baby ever born at the medical center, Alexis is only now finally able to head home.After months of medical care, Alexis is now bigger and healthier — and her family has supported her each and every day.The U.S. Senate saw the introduction of a bill today that will protect babies like Aleixs from abortions. It would ban abortions on unborn children starting at 20 weeks –...

DURHAM, N.C. (WTVD) -- A single mother wrote to ABC11 to share a story of what happened to her family at a Pizza Hut in Durham. The Raleigh woman said the past few years have been very trying for her family. She is going through a messy divorce, has had to move several times, and had to take a year off from attending college. She said recently she found out that her 4-year-old daughter has bullying tendencies, and her 6-year-old son is living with Asperger's and ADHD. Every Friday night, the woman takes her family on a dinner tour where...

Pro-Abortion Measure EU Rejected Would Have Also Taught Sex Ed to 4-Year-Olds by Dr. Peter Saunders | LifeNews.com | 10/28/13 5:58 PM The European Union voted last week to deny acceptance of a draft report which would have established abortion as a human right, and simultaneously squelched conscientious objection as well as established a perversion of sexual education for children.In a resounding victory for common sense, following a short but lively debate in the European Parliament, a majority of MEPs voted to refer the highly controversial resolution on the Estrela report back to the Committee on Women’s Rights and...

Scientists say babies remember lullabies played for them in the womb by Kirsten Andersen Thu Oct 31 11:52 AM EST HELSINKI, Finland, October 31, 2013 (LifeSiteNews.com) – There’s no shortage of products on the market designed to help parents expose their unborn babies to music. Experts and savvy marketers alike have long speculated that prenatal musical exposure might make babies smarter, or at least help them develop similar tastes to Mom and Dad. Others dismiss the “Mozart Effect” as a myth and a sales gimmick. A new study out of Finland, however, may send sales of belly-mounted headphones skyrocketing,...

Last night, my husband Jimmy and I were talking about how fast time, at least as it pertains to our children, has flown. Our 14-year-old daughter, Maggie, is planning her first Halloween trick-or-treating adventure away from home and out with friends. She spent her first Halloween dressed as a pumpkin when she was less than a month old, too small to even hold her head up by herself. The next year, she was an angel, and we pulled her around in a little red wagon to gather treats. Our younger child, Robert, who is 12, arrived 22 months after...

An immigrant living in America sent her daughter home to Novosbirsk in 2011 because she allegedly misbehaved. She tried to commit suicide in Siberia, according to reports from American television company WUSA 9 and publication USA Today that Sib.fm’s correspondent examined. 17-year-old Sofia Roberts was born in Russia, but left to live in America when she was two years old with mother Natalia. According to the broadcaster, in 2011 the mother sent her daughter, then 15, from the town of Chantilly, Virginia to Novosibirsk to meet her biological father. But after Sofia arrived in Russia, her mother changed her plans...

A Brownsville mother is facing criminal charges after she left her five children home alone while she went to go eat dinner. Brownsville police arrested 23-year-old Janerit Velez on child abandonment charges early Wednesday morning. Investigators told Action 4 News that officers were called to a home on the 3600 block of Ramirez Lane around 11:30 p.m. Tuesday. Neighbors told police that five children, ranging in ages 2 to 8 years old, were left home alone. Officers reported that they waited an hour before Velez showed up. Velez allegedly told officers that she had only been gone for an hour...

On my daily commute home from work I passed a small shopping center in Chichester, PA where I saw a young boy and girl holding signs in front of the Family Dollar store. I initially thought they were raising money for something but as I slowed down I read the words "I STOLE" on the boy's sign. I turned around and drove by again to get a closer look at what the signs actually said. photo 2.jpg I STOLE CANDY FROM FAMILY DOLLAR. MY MOTHER DID NOT RAISE ME THAT WAY. photo 1.jpg I STOLE A $100 CELL PHONE FROM...

“My Fair Wedding” reality-show host David Tutera announced last week that he and estranged partner Ryan Jurica would split their infant twins when in their custody agreement. The explanation is that each man is the biological father of only one of the twins. (They are “heteropaternal superfecundation,” or twins who share a mom but have different dads.) Jurica lives in Connecticut and Tutera lives in California. Jurica has said this is not the arrangement he hoped for, and he wants the twins to be in each other’s lives. Many experts, and people on social media, agree that this is a...

A couple weeks ago, I was out to lunch with an old friend of mine. This friend lost his young son in a car accident a couple years ago, and we got to talking about parenting and how life has been for him as a dad ever since. As a dad, I can only tell you that my heart was ripped in two as he told me not just how he has had to find his own peace with it, but how he wished that there was a place he could share some of the things he’s learned from it...

When Shen feared her daughter Cheng Cheng was becoming 'spoilt and arrogant' she tried a controversial parenting techniqueA Chinese mother lied to her daughter for 13 years saying that she was adopted to give her 'more independence'. The mum, known only as Shen, married into a wealthy family and had a child called Cheng Cheng. But Shen struggled while bringing her daughter up and thought she was becoming spoilt and arrogant, Chinese media claim. So instead of disciplining her, Shen thought it would be a good idea to try a new parenting technique. She told Cheng Cheng when she was...

A Utah dad made a "small" change to teach his daughter a big lesson about modesty. Fed up with his daughter's love for short denim shorts, Scott Mackintosh, a father of seven from Salt Lake City, left the house for a family outing in a pair of very short shorts after the teenager refused to change into something more modest. "I heard my wife ask our daughter if she would please change into some longer shorts before leaving. She said 'NO!'" MacKintosh wrote on his wife's blog. "Instead of turning her response and disrespectful attitude into a major battle, I...

The singer Billy Ray Cyrus was supposed to be interviewed on television this week, but he canceled. And who could blame him? His daughter, Miley, embarrassed herself and her family on worldwide TV. Her narcissism on full display, the 20-year-old pop star simulated sexual activity with an older male singer while singing some kind of suggestive song. With millions of young people watching, the scene was as degrading as it was unnecessary. As her father, Mr. Cyrus should be mortified by Miley's behavior. He's made no direct comment about it, but he should. Generally speaking, there is an epidemic of...

One of the biggest and most divisive debates among parents of young children and preteens deals with the age at which children should be allowed to have their own smartphone. The advent of kid-friendly apps and the ability to watch streaming videos in the palm of your hand have made the decision even more difficult for parents. A recent survey conducted by mobile service provider Zact found that 56 percent of children ages 10 to 13 have a smartphone, while a shockingly high 25 percent of children ages 2 to 5 have a smartphone. But should children so young have...

With their biological clocks ticking, time poor and cash rich 40-something singletons are turning to the internet to find their man. But these broody women are not looking for a relationship - instead they are looking for someone to father their child. More and more people across the U.S and UK are opting for the so-called 'co-parenting’ relationships – biological parents who have an otherwise platonic relationship, but who both contribute to raising the child. Emma Elms reports on the rise of the unconventional trend. WANTED Male co-parent to father at least one child with an attractive, financially independent 42-year-old...