I saw very few ads - the Dodge ad is the only one I really remember. Horrible. As soon as I saw it I was interested to see what it was about & when I saw what it was for I thought yuck, how inappropriate.

Honestly, most everyone has one around here. If they're seemingly handed out like candy, it's not really bragging, is it? ;) (we don't have any such stickers. I expect we'll get some soon - my kids just started PS this year - but I'd have to find a big enough spot without any rust in order to get them to stick lol.)

I know a few IRL and some sound like they are online. I think that there are definite outward positives that you can see from Tiger parenting. Sometimes there can be internal positives in building resilience. But I wonder if these positives are worth the price that was paid and I'm sure that for some people it is and others it isn't. It isn't worth it to me to risk the negatives. I have heard more people regret parenting or being parented in the Tiger way than I've heard people regret not. I was Tiger parented and it did me no favors. People also have different ideas of what it means to Tiger parent. Not Tiger parenting does not mean not pushing/challenging your kids or slacking.

I can't tell what you're even comparing lol. You've got Lipton Iced Tea, which is what you usually buy and it's sweet. So it's sweetened iced tea, yes? Then you've got Lipton Sweet Tea, which you accidentally bought and it's... way sweeter than just sweetened iced tea? I just always thought Sweet Tea was uber sweet - like way more than just sweetened iced tea. But I've never had it & don't care for iced tea of any kind.

I've lived in WI for 10.5 years. Never heard hotdish except from transplants from MN.

DP

I guess. Not common - heard a lot. But common - not strange, people don't think it's weird.

It looks normal to me, too, PeterPan. I have definitely seen at least one of my kids doing exactly that during sleep and there has never been any suspicion of seizures or any ongoing medical problem.

You are absolutely correct. You've out-logic-ed me.

You are the one that said I had to "show" something as if I were in a court of law. We can all have different opinions on whether or not any of it is true or if anyone is overstating. No, I don't think it's at all weird that "something that appears on every "top 5 ways to keep your kid from being abused" is just something that some people think might make a difference to how kids think about things". I'm not even sure what that means but I can't figure out why any of it would be weird. I can say with certainty that forcing these kinds of social norms was a very effective tactic in teaching me that there were things that I had to physically take part in whether I liked it or not in order to make someone else happy. And that ended up hurting me.

I agree with this assessment. I personally would not allow someone to have that kind of power over me. So If I couldn't shake his hand and walk away and act as though it didn't bother me, I would literally just walk away from him.

Yes, I do believe that social norms that normalize unpleasant or "forced" (from the child's perspectve) physical actions can make it easier for for abusive behavior to exist. No, I don't have to "show" anything because I'm not trying to convince you of anything. I'm having a chat with my online friends, not defending a dissertation. I believe these things from personal experience and that of many of my IRL friends. Teaching kids that their bodies are their own and they get to decide who and how to show affection is a good thing and IMO much more important than any social norms.

If he is truly creepy, not someone you just don't like, I think talking to your priest about him might be appropriate. His behavior certainly puts him in a category of people I would be wary of.

Kissing grandma might be the norm, oftentimes so is grandpa pinching your butt or Uncle Joe having private hugs. So, also, is it the norm to pretend these things don't happen. Because they're norms doesn't mean they're appropriate or healthy.

I don't follow sports and don't really know who Tom Brady is. I don't have a problem with lip-kissing. It comes very naturally to some kids - some of my kids do & some don't. Neither loves me more, they just have different personalities. I think it's icky to ask for "better" affection from your child. It can be done in a purely playful way where the kisser doesn't feel pressured and the kissee doesn't really "need" any affection from the kisser. But I am most familiar with the coercive kind and yeah - I believe it makes abuse more likely. I don't know which kind this was. The response to the DJ who said something negative about his child seems appropriate.

I have heard great things about a line of hair products for AA hair at Target. Not sure if they have anything baby specific. No personal experience.

That does sound stressful - I'm hopeful something will work out.

Been thinking about you all day. So glad you went in, your symptoms sound potentially serious. I understand the billing issues - we are still financially suffering from a surgery I needed several years ago - and we have very good insurance. Please keep us posted. Thinking of you.

I thought that WAS the point of this discussion. This sounds really passive-aggressive to me. I'm not sure how this conversation got here. No, I don't think this is a productive conversation. I've been asking questions that remain unanswered and now there are passive-aggressive comments and apparently a thread about people who "think empathy is everything" isn't actually about empathy. I'm clearly lost.

Yes. I have more than adequate cold weather gear as I'm used to winter daytime highs being below 0. But the name of the game is to stay warm and be comfortable. That can also be "cute" but in a decidedly different way. Leggings with big shirts and even bigger sweaters and chunky socks are my staples.

There was a British show that I used to watch where a decorator & handyman went to someone's house and updated their decor with stuff they already had - like they made new shelves with scrap wood they found in the shed or painted an accent wall with leftover paint mixed into a new color. I loved that show. ETA: This one. http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0419338/plotsummary?ref_=tt_ov_pl

Forgive me, I've become quite ill today so this will probably be my last post but I'm not ignoring you. For me, personally, and I would guess for some other people - maybe even the person who your OP was about - empathy plays a large role in understanding the real sources of conflict and in coming to conclusions about what is just. I think it is virtually impossible for me to approach those topics devoid of empathy.

http://www.christianitytoday.com/ct/2018/january-web-only/rachael-denhollander-larry-nassar-forgiveness-gospel.html

I think that empathy is a factor because I think the lack of empathy makes one ignore objective truth to only believe facts that serve your own empathy. So this would obviously be a negative caused by empathy, but I don't believe that it is possible to completely get rid of empathy so it needs to be used to serve the objective truth. Gotta run to the bus stop. I probably didn't explain well.

Can you explain what you mean by "bringing empathy into discussions"? I'm trying to understand what your expectations are of empathy but I'm honestly confused. You started out talking about people who think empathy is everything and now it sounds like you don't think empathy has any place in these discussions. Since we have a concrete example of the Israel/Palestine conflict, I don't know how to have a discussion about it that is devoid of empathy. Most people I know personally are very pro-Israel, anti-Palestine. They have absolutely zero empathy for Palestine, to the point of rejecting all facts about their plight. I present them with factual information but I don't think appeals to their empathy are somehow inappropriate or worthless or less effective. Honestly, both factual and empathy appeals have had zero effect so at least IME they are equally effective for this example.