Scientists Move Closer to Lasting Flu Vaccine. My children, reluctant recipients of flu shots since their arrivals in our family, will celebrate this one. Which reminds me to ask my annual question: Have you had yours? The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommends them for nearly everyone, and reminds us that you cannot get the flu from the inactive viruses in the shot, and that reliable blind studies have borne that out. In an odd way, I appreciate the lesson that the voluntary flu shot offers kids: sometimes, the right choice isn?t the pleasant one.
It?s ?Mix It Up at Lunch Day,? a day on which many schools encourage their students to cross social boundaries, move out of their comfort zones and connect with someone new. You?ll note that Bryan Fischer, of the American Family Association, an evangelical conservative group,? has declared the agenda of ?Mix It Up at Lunch Day? to be ?toxic? and encouraged its members to keep their children at home, in order to prevent their being pushed to participate in dangerous interactions with their fellow students. Maybe we need a campaign to reassure those children that ?it gets better,? too.
There?s Homework to Do on School Lunches. Some students aren?t happy with the new, healthier lunch options mandated by the Department of Agriculture. They?re throwing away the healthy options and complaining that they?re not getting enough to eat. I have some sympathy with their attitude ? although I know, for example, that canned vegetables are good for me, I won?t eat them, although I will eat the same things fresh. I?m always leery of food prepared in a way that?s shrouded in mystery. So to Jane Brody?s excellent ideas regarding encouraging students to embrace the healthier meals, I?ll second and expand on her last one: I believe children who know where their lunches come from, who?s making them and that care goes into them are more likely to eat them. While we?re encouraging kids to ?mix it up? in the lunch room, we need to get them behind the scenes as well.
Lenore Skenazy: Murders by Nanny Illuminate the Nature of Fate, as Did the Boy Who was Grazed by a Meteor. Despite its unwieldy title (which my editorial experience suggests was not the author?s fault) this piece by the always-thoughtful Ms. Skenazy is worth a read. I?m not sure I agree with her entirely ? I think our minds are simply better able to grasp the random nature of a meteor than the random natures of our fellow humans, so much so that using the word ?random? gave me pause. I?m not sympathetic to the people out there who want to blame the family of two murdered children in various ways, but I do understand the need to grasp at straws to reassure ourselves that this will not, cannot happen to us ? because, of course, we know that some form of equally unlikely tragedy could. 2:36 p.m. | Updated A reader just pointed out to me that the meteor strike Ms. Skenazy uses here for comparison was a hoax.
An ?Educational? Video Game Has Taken Over My House. This has been on my to-read list for a while now, but after one of my children, home from school to await the storm yesterday, devoted as many of her free hours as I would allow to Minecraft, I came back to it. As you probably know, Minecraft is a popular open-ended game that allows players to build, interact and explore in the Minecraft world. But, writes Lisa Guernsey, ?I?m alarmed at how the minutes can turn into hours if I?m not there to tell my kids to take a break. I love that they are creating things, talking about their creations, and planning ahead for new projects. But I hate that the real thing ? their Legos, the cardboard boxes saved for building forts ? can?t hold a candle to Minecraft in capturing their interest.? I?ve concluded that the only way to ?beat? Minecraft is to join it ? or rather, the only way to know how I really feel about the amount of time two of my children are spending on the game is to play. I?m sure that will be the subject of a later post.
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