CHANGE: 32 States and Counting: Why Parents Bills of Rights Are Sweeping the U.S.

From Stephen Green, at Instapundit, “'The proposed laws have fueled questions about the role parents should play in their children's education. At the same time, they have fanned partisan flames, weaponizing a longstanding concept – parental rights – that academic experts and advocates alike say should not be politically charged'.”

Teen Girls' Sexy TikTok Videos Take a Mental-Health Toll

Our society’s completely FUBAR.

At WSJ, "Girls are often anxious and overwhelmed by the attention they get after posting suggestive videos; therapists say more are suffering emotionally":

When Jula Anderson joined TikTok at age 16, her first video featured her family’s home renovations. It got five likes. After seeing others post risqué videos and get more likes, she tried it, too.

“I wanted to get famous on TikTok, and I learned that if you post stuff showing your body, people will start liking it,” Jula, now an 18-year-old high-school senior near Sacramento, Calif., said.

Sudden TikTok fame is catching teens off guard, leaving many girls unprepared for the attention they thought they wanted, according to parents, therapists and teens. In some cases, predators target girls who make sexually suggestive videos; less-dangerous interactions can also harm girls’ self-esteem and leave them feeling exploited, they say.

Mental-health professionals around the country are growing increasingly concerned about the effects on teen girls of posting sexualized TikTok videos. Therapists say teens who lack a group of close friends, and teens with underlying mental health issues—especially girls who struggle with disordered eating and body-image issues—are at particular risk.

“For a young girl who’s developing her identity, to be swept up into a sexual world like that is hugely destructive,” said Paul Sunseri, a psychologist and director of the New Horizons Child and Family Institute in El Dorado Hills, Calif., where Jula began receiving treatment last year for anxiety and depression. “When teen girls are rewarded for their sexuality, they come to believe that their value is in how they look,” he said.

He said approximately a quarter of the female patients at his clinic have produced sexualized content on TikTok.

Carter Barnhart, co-founder of Charlie Health, a virtual mental-health care provider, said a growing number of teens she treats report their self-esteem is dependent on the quantity of likes they get on TikTok. “Many of them have figured out that the formula for that is producing more sexual content,” she said.

Videos just ‘for you’ 

Teens’ dependence on TikTok for social validation has risen as the app has become their favored platform. TikTok overtook Instagram in popularity among teens last year—and became the most visited site on the internet.

TikTok’s algorithm regularly propels virtual nobodies onto millions of viewers’ For You pages. TikTok weighs whether viewers show strong interest in a particular type of content, measured by whether they finish watching videos, the company says. Its recommendation engine then chooses videos to send to those viewers, regardless of the creator’s follower count or past video virality.

Platforms like Instagram, YouTube and Twitter work differently, serving content to users based on search terms and friend connections, so developing a sizable following—and going viral—on those sites can take longer.

“We think carefully about the well-being of teens as we design our safety and privacy settings and restrict features on TikTok by age,” a TikTok spokeswoman said in a statement. “We’ve also worked with youth safety experts to develop resources aimed at supporting digital safety and literacy conversations among parents and teens.”

A company fact sheet says “content that is overtly sexually suggestive may not be eligible for recommendation.” The spokeswoman said content from users who state they are under 16 isn’t eligible for promotion via the recommendation engine, nor would it appear in search results.

Teens are known to lie about their age when creating social-media accounts. Users must be 13 to create a TikTok account, and it is company policy to suspend the accounts of kids the safety team believes to be underage.

At Newport Academy’s outpatient treatment program in Atlanta, 60% of the girls treated since the program started last summer have posted sexually inappropriate videos on TikTok, said Crystal Burwell, the program’s director of outpatient services.

One 16-year-old girl Dr. Burwell is treating made progressively more suggestive videos. “The more likes she had, the more revealing her outfits became,” she said.

The girl ended up chatting with a man who urged her to take their conversation off TikTok and into a messaging app. The girl sent the man partially nude photos of herself and the two were making plans to meet in person when her parents discovered the texts, according to Dr. Burwell.

“When you combine human behavior and algorithms, things get messy,” Dr. Burwell said. “We’re trying to clean it up, one client at a time.”

TikTok famous

A few months after she joined the app in the summer of 2019, Jula Anderson’s wish for TikTok fame came true. A video of her wearing a tightfitting tank top and lip-syncing the pop song “Sunday Best” blew up. For reasons Jula and her mother, Shauna Anderson, still don’t understand, TikTok’s algorithm pushed the video to viewers’ For You pages. More than a million people viewed the video and nearly 500,000 people liked it, they both said.

Jula’s following went from a few hundred to more than 200,000. There was nothing overtly sexual about the video, she and her mother said, but her video’s comments were inundated with boys and men saying how hot she looked. Buoyed by the success, Jula made her videos more risqué, including by lip-syncing lyrics about sex and getting more revealing in her wardrobe choices. “I’d wear clothes that I wouldn’t wear to school but that I felt good in,” she said. “I didn’t view them as that sexual, but other people did.”

By then, she was constantly checking her likes. “It was my whole world,” she said.

Her parents weren’t aware of how suggestive the videos had gotten until Jula’s grandparents, tipped off by cousins, alerted them.

“To us, she’s this sweet girl, so it’s almost like this split personality between who she really is and how she portrayed herself on TikTok,” Ms. Anderson said. “When we confronted her about it, she was like, ‘Mom, that’s what everyone is doing.’”

Ms. Anderson said that her daughter didn’t have a close group of friends, and she thinks the isolation of the pandemic intensified her need to find connection. “She thought this was a way to be liked and have friends,” Ms. Anderson said. “I struggled with what to do, because the thing I love about TikTok is that kids can be really creative, and we encouraged that as a family.”

Worried about dangers that might arise from publicly viewable videos, Jula’s parents asked her to delete the suggestive ones. They also discussed the issue in family and individual therapy sessions.

Jula, who said she had a history of anxiety before joining TikTok, said the widespread attention and creepy comments from men had become difficult to handle. Comments critical of her appearance also stung.

Following the intervention, she chose to step away from TikTok for a few months. She said it was hard. In the middle of last year, she returned to the app but created a new account that she set to private. She has just a few followers—people she knows in real life. She said she rarely posts now.

Jula said she ultimately decided that the suggestive videos weren’t how she wanted to portray herself to the world, or to younger girls who might see them. She has four younger sisters and said she doesn’t want them to seek or receive attention the way she did.

“I think I tried growing up a lot faster than I should have,” Jula said...

Keep reading.

 

Michigan Democrat Party

At Mary Katharine Ham's feed. Click to enlarge those screenshots.

Narrator: The post did reflect the views of Michigan Democrats. https://t.co/sZLuaOPDVE

— Mary Katharine Ham (@mkhammer) January 17, 2022

Parenting and Privilege in College Admissions

At the Los Angeles Times, "A wiretap brings privilege and helicopter parenting to the fore in the college admissions scandal":

A wiretap brings privilege and helicopter parenting to the fore in the college admissions scandal https://t.co/Xmitac00jq

— Benjamin Oreskes🦅 (@boreskes) March 21, 2019

Gordon Caplan had a problem. Last year his teenage daughter was slogging her way through a series of practice ACTs. But her scores were unlikely to get her to where he believed she should be: a high school senior with a clutch of acceptance letters.

She needed a higher score.

Caplan, a high-powered lawyer from Greenwich, Conn., and his wife began talking with William “Rick” Singer, the admitted mastermind of the college admissions scandal that continues to dominate a national conversation about privilege and parenting.

According to transcripts of wiretapped conversations that were released by federal prosecutors when charges against 50 people — including Singer and Caplan — were announced, Caplan was concerned that his daughter might find out about the ruse.

“To be honest, I’m not worried about the moral issue here,” Caplan said. He was worried about discovery.

“If she’s caught doing that, you know, she’s finished.”

The Newport Beach admissions consultant told his client that their silence was key to achieving the desired outcome. Authorities say that Caplan, who declined to comment through his attorneys, then signed off on a $75,000 payment, which was masked as a donation to Singer’s foundation.

Wealthy parents have been going to great lengths to help their kids get into elite universities for years. But this well-documented — and viral — moment in the helicopter-parenting era indicates a willingness to go to greater extremes.

In an era of badly behaving bankers, entertainment and sports figures, and government officials who tweet first and think later, the cheating may seem like perversely logical behavior.

But experts in parenting say the win-at-all-costs attitude can have a pernicious effect on a child. When they try to clear the way for their children’s success, parents are essentially saying to their kids that they can’t do it on their own, a stance that may block the path to successful adulthood.

In an effort to ensure that his son was admitted to the Jimmy Iovine and Andre Young Academy at USC, Bill McGlashan allegedly paid Singer $250,000 to, among other things, fabricate a football career. Although McGlashan’s son’s high school didn’t have a football team, his son was suddenly a kicker. Authorities say the new addition to his list of achievements partially came thanks to Photoshop.

McGlashan, who founded and was fired last week from the private equity investment firm TPG Growth, had been called “one of Silicon Valley’s most prominent voices for ethical investing.”

According to the transcripts, McGlashan asked Singer, “Is there a way to do it in a way that he doesn’t know that happened?”

Singer told him that his son would know only that Singer was “going to get him some help.”

“That [networking] he would have no issue with,” McGlashan is quoted saying to Singer. “You lobbying for him.”

“No issue.”

But a slew of people who regularly interact with and study the behavior of frantic parents overwhelmingly disagree.

This kind of behavior can breed a helplessness in children who never face adversity or failure. That, in turn, can lead to increased anxiety and depression, said author and teacher Jessica Lahey, who regularly writes about parenting and is the author of a book titled “The Gift of Failure.”

Lahey recounted a recent visit to a college where she met the mother of a 20-year-old with diabetes. The mom still tracks her daughter’s blood sugar via a computer app and says she has no plans to stop. That’s an indication, Lahey said, the mother doesn’t think her daughter is capable of doing this seemingly basic task on her own...

Keep reading.

Perris Child-Torturing Parents Plead Guilty, Face Possible 25 Years-to-Life in Prison

Well, they certainly deserve it.

The parents from hell pleaded guilty, and they're going away for a long time.

At LAT, "Perris couple plead guilty to torturing their 13 children":

David and Louise Turpin, a couple accused of torturing, starving and keeping their 13 children captive in their Perris home, have pleaded guilty to 14 felony counts, including one count of torture. https://t.co/ACMb80XF2P

— Los Angeles Times (@latimes) February 22, 2019

The Turpin siblings were tortured and abused by their parents for years in ways so extreme, prosecutors said, it appeared to have caused malnutrition, cognitive impairment and nerve damage in some of them.

Since being freed last year from a Perris home, the 13 siblings have had to rebuild their lives.

All that time, they have also had to contend with the prospect of a trial — of being called to testify and having to relive, in front of their parents and the public, the horrific treatment they suffered, said Jack Osborn, an attorney who represents the adult children.

“The issue of their parents’ trial has always been weighing heavy with them,” Osborn said.

So the siblings were relieved to learn earlier this month that their parents, David and Louise Turpin, had each agreed to plead guilty to 14 felony charges, ending the prospect of a trial, Osborn said.

The Turpins entered those pleas Friday during a short hearing in Riverside County Superior Court. They are expected to be sentenced in April to 25 years to life in prison, Riverside County Dist. Atty. Mike Hestrin said.

The charges include one count of torture, four of false imprisonment, six of cruelty to adult dependents and three of willful child cruelty.

Hestrin told the siblings, now ages 3 to 30, about the plea agreement during a meeting this month at his Riverside offices.

“It was a very good day for them to be all together,” Hestrin said, recalling the meeting during a news conference Friday.

The story of the abuse the Turpin children suffered made headlines around the world and left their neighbors struggling to understand how the cruelty could have gone unnoticed for so long.

Prosecutors have said the couple subjected their children to abuse and neglect for years, dating back to when the family lived in Texas in the 1990s and continuing after they moved to California several years ago.

It was brought to an end by the brave act of their then-17-year-old daughter who, early one morning in January 2018, summoned the courage to climb out a window and call 911 to ask for help.

The girl told a dispatcher that her little sisters were chained up, that they would wake up crying at night, and that they wanted her to “call somebody and tell them.”

When deputies entered the Turpin home on Muir Woods Road, they discovered a nightmarish scene, including two young girls who had been chained to their bed for weeks.

The chains were punishment for stealing candy, investigators were later told.

Twelve of the 13 siblings were so frail and malnourished that deputies at first assumed they were all minors; they later learned that seven were adults. The youngest child, a toddler, appeared to have been spared the lack of food, prosecutors said.

Deputies arrested the couple, and shortly after, Riverside County prosecutors filed dozens of charges against them related to allegations of abuse, captivity and torture of the children. Additional charges of child abuse were later filed against both parents, along with a charge of felony assault against Louise Turpin and a perjury count against David Turpin.

In June, Riverside County Superior Court Judge Bernard Schwartz ordered the couple to stand trial after finding sufficient evidence to support 49 of 50 charges.

The Turpins initially pleaded not guilty to all charges last year.

Prosecutors had been gathering evidence and preparing for trial, but after continued conversations with the defense, Hestrin said the Turpins opted for a plea agreement.

“This is among the worst, most aggravated child abuse cases that I have ever seen or been involved in in my career as a prosecutor,” he said.

Hestrin said he had hoped to spare the children any further trauma that might come with a trial...

Jessica Calarco, Negotiating Opportunities

At Amazon, Jessica Calarco, Negotiating Opportunities: How the Middle Class Secures Advantages in School.

Modern Parenting

My kids are 22 and 17, and we've been through this super-parenting phenomenon.

It's now more out of control than ever.

At NYT, a really interesting piece:

Excellent NYT piece on The Relentlessness of Modern Parenting. Helps explain the feminism paradox: Since 70s, as women shook off oppression, their happiness fell relative to men, & gap in leisure time rose. Why? They became slaves to their kids. https://t.co/PrHYfqNllc

— Steven Pinker (@sapinker) December 25, 2018

30-Year-Old Man Must Move Out of Parents' House, Judge Rules (VIDEO)

This story was getting a lot of attention the other day, and then the dude went on CNN with Brooke Baldwin, god knows why?

At Hot Air, "The 30-Year-Old Being Evicted From His Parents’ Home Is Exactly How You Thought He’d Be":

Exit question: Is it true, as Brooke Baldwin claims near the end, that the public views Millennials as “so entitled”? Goofing on them is fun but what supposedly makes Millennials more entitled than the garbage generation you and I know as Boomers? Millennials have had their career prospects damaged by the financial crisis, with all sorts of bad knock-on effects (some of which may resonate with Rotondo), and they’ve had their retirement prospects cannibalized by greedy elders who won’t let go of their federal entitlements no matter what it means for the country’s future. If ever you’re forced to choose between Millennials and Boomers, take the Millennials every time.

Actually, I'm a Boomer so no.

Interesting post, in any case.

Frustrated Teacher Implores Parents to Stop 'Coddling and Enabling Their Children' (VIDEO)

At London's Daily Mail, "Texas teacher reveals how 'rude parents, disruptive children and poor pay' have forced her to quit her job in viral post - as she shares photos of classroom items 'destroyed' by her students."

And at the Other McCain, "K-12 Implosion Update."

Also at ABC News:

“Parents have become far too disrespectful, and their children are even worse.”

Frustrated teacher urges parents to stop 'coddling and enabling their children' in viral Facebook post. https://t.co/fKxnxc6N1i pic.twitter.com/y0S2y4hDdD

— ABC News (@ABC) April 11, 2018

Parents Arrested After 13 Kids Found Chained to Beds and Starving in Riverside County Home (VIDEO)

House of horrors.

A report at CBS News 2 Los Angeles, "13 Children Ages 2 to 29 Found Shackled to Beds In Perris Home, Parents Arrested."

Twenty-nine years old? I can't believe it, man.

And at the Los Angeles Times, "Children found shackled and malnourished in Perris home; parents arrested":

The 911 call came in at 6 a.m. Sunday. A teenage girl was on the line with an unsettling tale.

She had managed to escape from her family's home in Perris, where her parents had been holding her captive. Her brothers and sisters were still locked inside — 12 of them. Some were chained to their beds, she said.

Riverside County sheriff's deputies were dispatched to find the 17-year-old girl. When they saw her, they were struck by her small size and emaciated appearance. She looked to be only 10, according to the sheriff's account released Monday.

The nightmarish scene deputies discovered when they entered the house on Muir Woods Road was as bad as the girl had described. They found "several children shackled to their beds with chains and padlocks in dark and foul-smelling surroundings," the statement said.

The parents, David Allen Turpin, 57, and Louise Anna Turpin, 49, "were unable to immediately provide a logical reason why their children were restrained in that manner," deputies wrote. The couple were arrested on suspicion of torture and child endangerment and each was being held Monday night in lieu of $9-million bail.

The youngest child was 2. At first deputies assumed from their frail and malnourished appearance that all in the group were minors, but they later determined that seven of them were adults ages 18 to 29, the sheriff's statement said.

It was not clear from the statement how many of the children were found locked to their beds.

Deputies provided food and drinks to the children, who "claimed to be starving," before they were admitted to hospitals.

Public records show the couple own the tract house where the children were found. Its address is also listed in a state Department of Education directory as the location of the Sandcastle Day School, a private K-12 campus. David Turpin is listed as the principal.

During the last school year, the school was listed in state records as a non-religious and co-ed institution. There were six students enrolled — one each in the fifth, sixth, eighth, ninth, 10th and 12th grades.

David Turpin's parents, James and Betty Turpin of West Virginia, told ABC News they were "surprised and shocked" at the allegations. They said their grandchildren are home-schooled, and that they had not seen their son and daughter-in-law in four or five years.

Public records indicate the couple have lived at the address for several years and lived in Texas for many years before coming to California. They declared bankruptcy twice, public records show...

And note as well:

Ivan Trahan, an attorney who represented the couple in their latest bankruptcy in 2011, said Monday he was shocked at news of the arrests....Trahan said that David Turpin, who worked as an engineer at Northrop Grumman, an aeronautics and defense technology company, had a "relatively high" income, but had trouble keeping up with his expenses because he had so many children.

Well, one would think two or three kids would be sufficient, although I'm not one to impose mandatory family size like leftists, heh.

Still more.

60 Percent of Teens Have Created Online Accounts That Their Parents Don't Know About (VIDEO)

Well, my oldest son had all kinds of social media accounts, and I'm sure a couple I didn't know about.

Too late now. He'll be 21 in January, lol.

My youngest son just turned 15 and started high school last week. He doesn't use social media. He doesn't even have a Facebook account. We'll see how long that lasts. I'm glad, though.

In any case, watch, at CBS This Morning, from the other day, "A new survey of teenagers and parents finds that 60 percent of teen internet users have created online accounts that their folks don't know about. That's more than twice the percentage of parents who suspect their teens have secret accounts. Wired magazine contributor Mary H.K. Choi joins "CBS This Morning" to discuss her latest article, "Like. Ghost. Flirt," and how she met with five teens across the country to learn how high schoolers actually use social media."

Here's the piece, at Wired, "Like. Flirt. Ghost: A Journey Into the Social Media Lives of Teens."

Georgia Mother of Five Sentenced to 6-Years Probation for Smoking Marijuana, Drinking Alcohol, and Playing Naked Twister with Teenagers in 2015

Naked Twister, eh?

I wonder what else this "hip" mom did with her clothes off.

Sheesh.

I know parents try to be cool with the teenage kids, but you have to draw the line sometimes, man.

Frankly, she's lucky she's not doing some time behind bars.

At the Atlanta Journal-Constitution:

'Naked Twister' mom gets probation for teen party https://t.co/9xx1yPJK1P pic.twitter.com/8xa2eF2Uyi

— AJC (@ajc) July 12, 2016

Political Scientist Virginia Page Fortna, Carrying 9-Week-Old Baby, Kicked Out of APSA Conference Exhibit Room

I don't care about radical leftist political correctness and feminist collectivism, but if you're a political scientist attending the premiere academic conference, you should be able to cruise around the hotel, and visit the exhibit room (where you get lots of free stuff, especially books) without being expelled (and stigmatized).

So, needless to say, I'm down with Columbia University political scientist Virginia Page Fortna, who got the boot from the exhibit room at the APSA conference in San Francisco.

Our longtime blogging adversary Charlie Carpenter, formerly of Lawyers, Guns, and Money, has a report, at Duck of Minerva, via Instapundit, "WHY DOES THE AMERICAN POLITICAL SCIENCE ASSOCIATION hate babies?"

And here's Professor Fortna:



CORRECTION: That's a "nine-week old" baby Professor Fortna has, not a "nine-month-old" baby. I just noticed the error while reading Steven Hayward, "APSA AFTER-ACTION REPORT."

Plus, see Inside Higher Ed, "Poli-Sci's Baby Ban."

No Apologies: Darla Neugebauer, Owner of Marcy's Diner, Screams at Toddler to Stop Bawling (VIDEO)

WTF, the damned kid was screaming for an hour?!!

Talk about some divine patience that most people do not have.

And the entitled parents can just STFU. My wife and I would have had our own baby out of the restaurant in minutes. If the kid doesn't stop crying we'll take our dinner to go, thank you. It's not acceptable to upset everyone else's meal with a spoiled, screaming brat. And people are outraged as Ms. Neugebauer? Sorry, go get a life people. You and your screaming princesses.

At the Portland Press-Herald (careful the auto-play video ads), "Owner of Portland diner defends yelling at screaming child":

The Marcy's Diner proprietor says the girl was disrupting her customers' dining experience.

You think?



Great advertising for the establishment. Rational people are no doubt swarming the place, slapping down 25 percent tips.

Many Youth Say They Are 'Almost Constantly' Online. Is Internet Addiction a Concern?

Of course it's a concern.

Spend some time around teens and you'll see why. Internet addiction crowds out everything else, and it's not just teens.

At the New York Times, "Is Internet Addiction a Health Threat for Teenagers?"

And see previously, "Screen Addiction Takes Toll on Children."

Screen Addiction Takes Toll on Children

Well, I imagine it could be worse, at least in my household.

My wife and I have raised pretty normal kids, despite the odds. It's definitely a battle fighting screen addiction. My oldest son's 19 now and I can't get him to read books. He says he's just "not interested." Oh well, at least he knows it's important, even if he's not into it. He's talking about wanting to move out with his best friend soon as well. Maybe when that happens some of the more "adult" life lessons we've been trying to impart will kick in, especially those about the importance of education and intellectual pursuits. I'm fighting the culture with him, that's for sure. As I've mentioned here many times my son's a real hipster with popular music and all. He goes to a lot of concerts, even seeing big stars like Taylor Swift multiple times. It's hard to top that with pleas for him to read some history books. I was a young hipster once, so what can you do?

As for my youngest boy, who'll be turning 14 next month? Well, he's an entirely different case. As I've mentioned before, he's got attention deficit issues, so too much screen time can be especially dangerous for his development. He plays outside a lot in the summer, which is good. But he's not reading enough when he's back inside. That said, he's not getting shortchanged for personal interaction, as he's surrounded by family all the time, and we have regular sit-down family dinners and so forth. Plus, he's still kind of a cuddly bear of a kid, and he likes to hang out with his dad a lot. We spend a lot of quality tine together. Indeed, that's one of the main reasons I don't like teaching in the summer.

I think he's going to be alright.

In any case, that's my family's travails. I consider it a continuing project.

But see the New York Times, "Screen Addiction Is Taking a Toll on Children":

Before age 2, children should not be exposed to any electronic media, the pediatrics academy maintains, because “a child’s brain develops rapidly during these first years, and young children learn best by interacting with people, not screens.” Older children and teenagers should spend no more than one or two hours a day with entertainment media, preferably with high-quality content, and spend more free time playing outdoors, reading, doing hobbies and “using their imaginations in free play,” the academy recommends.

Heavy use of electronic media can have significant negative effects on children’s behavior, health and school performance. Those who watch a lot of simulated violence, common in many popular video games, can become immune to it, more inclined to act violently themselves and less likely to behave empathetically, said Dimitri A. Christakis of the Seattle Children’s Research Institute.

In preparing an honors thesis at the University of Rhode Island, Kristina E. Hatch asked children about their favorite video games. A fourth-grader cited “Call of Duty: Black Ops,” because “there’s zombies in it, and you get to kill them with guns and there’s violence … I like blood and violence.”

Teenagers who spend a lot of time playing violent video games or watching violent shows on television have been found to be more aggressive and more likely to fight with their peers and argue with their teachers, according to a study in the Journal of Youth and Adolescence.

Schoolwork can suffer when media time infringes on reading and studying. And the sedentary nature of most electronic involvement — along with televised ads for high-calorie fare — can foster the unhealthy weights already epidemic among the nation’s youth.

RTWT at that top link.

San Diego Teenager in Coma After Skateboard Crash

I gather the kid wasn't wearing a safety helmet.

At ABC 10 News San Diego, "Teen fights for his life after skateboard crash":

The teen was airlifted and has had some of the best care you can get, and he has needed it.

"We don't know the full damage right now," Robin said. "He will have a brain injury, [and] he will have hearing issues."

10News learned Joseph smacked the back of his head so hard his brain hit the front and became bruised.

"Yesterday, the swelling was just too much, and so they had to remove the right side of his skull," Robin explained. "They're going to take his feeding tubes now and surgically put them into his stomach tomorrow morning."

Then, they will wake him when, and if, he is ready.

"I just want him to wake up," Raymond said.

Raymond and Robin are the parents of Joseph Rogers, a 17-year-old going into his senior year in high school.

New Research Says Dads' Goofy Play Helps Babies Grow and Develop

I love this.

The hilarious thing is of course dads know this intuitively. It's how they raise kids and make it fun. It's natural, in other words.

At WSJ, "Moms, Let Dad Be Dad":

That goofy teasing and hyper play actually help young children develop, according to new research.

San Diego Man Who Abandoned Son After Crash Gets 4-Year Prison Sentence

Hard to believe that anyone would let their own children die.

But this dude Angelo Fabiani drove recklessly, crashed and rolled, then let his son die in the hands of strangers.

At the San Diego Union-Tribune, "Dad who left boy in wreck gets prison: Young boy fell to ground when father unbuckled seatbelt, later died. The dad walked home."

Also ABC 10 News San Diego, "Man who left son to die after crash apologizes at his sentencing."

4-Year Old Girl Sneaks Out, Grabs the Bus, for Late-Night Slushie

Unreal.

At MyFox 11 Los Angeles, "4-Year-Old Girl Sneaks Out at 3 A.M. to Get Late-Night Slushie."

Late-night? Actually, it's early morning, but I'll go with it at the headline, lol.