Beards, beer, sports and guy stuff…pretty cool site.  Make sure you Like them on Facebook

Beards of the World

You see, as a first time parent, you might as well throw all of your preconceptions in the trash.  Some things are way easy than you expect.  Half of the crap that you think you need, you’ll never use.  And the things that you think will be the easiest end up being the most difficult.  It boils down to individuality.  No matter how many of your friends have kids or how many nieces and nephews you have, you’ll never get the perfect answer to your questions.  So what does any frantic parent do at 11:30PM when their kid won’t sleep because they have a fever and is coughing?  Turn to the internet of course.  Where else will you spend 10 minutes of searching time, to walk away thinking that your child is autistic and has sleep apnea combined with some third world malaria-esque illness?  My advice, steer clear of Yahoo Answers and the Baby Center message boards and focus on true medical sites.  Yes, you may end up thinking things are worse than they are based upon the symptoms, but it’s better than Mary from New Jersey convincing you that you should soak your kid in a rubbing alcohol bath to get their fever down.  (note, do NOT do that)  So what do I do?  Here is a quick ordered list of the steps we normally take:

1. stay calm and assess the situation.  take her temperature if she has a fever, check for bumps or bruises if she fell down or hit the basics (diaper, drink, food) if she’s being extra cranky.  no point in rushing to the ER if your kid is thirsty.
2. ask your friends.  yeah I said that they’ll never have the right answers, but they’ll have answers that might help you figure out what the problem really is.
3. hit the internet.  with a grain of salt.
4. call your insurance company.  what?  really, i found out recently that my insurance company has a 24 hour on-call nurse that is accessible via phone and can help you walk through the basics.
5. if it’s daytime, just go to the doctor.  just because you love ER and Scrubs, you’re not a doctor.  don’t be cheap, spend the $10 on your co-pay and get the kid checked out.
6. after hours?  go to urgent care or the ER.  better safe than sorry.

If you’re looking for more general parenting advice, buy a book.  I’m not going to litter these posts with ads anymore, but the “what to expect” books are great and anything with a high review ranking on Amazon.com will generally be a safe bet.  Message boards and parenting sites are hit or miss, just use common sense.

These days people are so quick to run to Google when they have an issue (parenting or otherwise) when there are usually better, more qualified answers just a quick phone call away.  Educate yourself with well reviewed books, ask your pediatrician the right questions and don’t hesitate to pick up the phone and call someone that fixes broken kids for a living.  Mary from New Jersey might have kids that never cry and are perfect model citizens on the internet, but let’s be honest here…I have yet to meet a kid that doesn’t flip out once a while, is covered in boogers more often than not and won’t eat anything unless it’s processed and full of sugar…even Mary’s kids outside of Yahoo Answers are confusing little terrors like the rest of our kids.

A little background, my daughter is 16 months old and climbs like a mountain goat. She can lift herself into a high chair, I caught her perched on top of a tall stool like a gargoyle and seeing her run across a (4+ foot tall) console table doesn’t shock me anymore. Every time I get her out of the crib, she lends me a hand, or foot, by putting one leg up, ankle on the railing.

So what do we do? If we get her a regular bed with rails, she’ll get out and play all night…trust me, she will. Do we just run that risk, lock everything down in her room and let her run around if she doesn’t want to stay in bed? She’s not quite old enough to understand that falling over a crib railing is going to REALLY hurt and on the same note, she doesn’t understand that she should stay in her bed until one of her parents come in to get her.

So seriously, what should we do? Pillows on the floor? Put her room on lockdown and put her in a big girl bed? Is there some sort of pediatrician approved bungee device? (kidding)

Bonus points for funny answers.

Originally saw this on Gizmodo

see more Epic Fails

Brush up on your stats for small talk and check out Book of Odds.

Some interesting tid-bits:

1 in 92,950
The odds a person will die from choking on a non-food object in a year are 1 in 92,950 (US, 2005).

1 in 2.33
The odds a man will think about sex at least once a day are 1 in 2.33 (US, 8/2004).

Make sure that you check out the Visual Browse while you are there, it’s pretty fantastic.

Christin Siriano (or, well, his likeness)

Personally, I use a Baby Bjorn (also at the bottom). But a friend of mine sent me a link to the Sakura Bloom Baby Sling and I’ll be honest, at first glance, seems a bit girly, but dude on the right is totally workin’ it.

A bit pricey, but if your woman is into the trendy faux earth-momma SUV driving hippie thing, she’ll probably dig it.

Also as mentioned (and my preferred baby attachment device), the Baby Bjorn:

Snagged from grainedit.com:

I’ve been a fan of Werner Design Werks for a few years now, so I was excited to hear about their recent release of alphabeasties: and other Amazing Types. This beautiful children’s book features animals crafted out of typefaces. How about an alligator set in Volta EF? You got it! There’s even a dachshund made out of “d”s set in Bauhaus. Gary fans rejoice!

In the same vein as Bruno Munari’s Alfabetiere, alphabeasties achieves a perfect balance of fun and well-executed design. Pick up a copy for your your kid, but don’t be suprised if you end it keeping all to yourself.

Check out their review here:
alphabeasties and other Amazing Types

Buy it here:

Alphabeasties: And Other Amazing Types

Playgrounder is a web magazine helping parents and kids find the very best stuff. Our team digs up the best in toys, games, gear, clothes, DVDs and more, for kids of all ages. We update the site with our latest finds every weekday, making it easy for you to see what’s new.

Definitely worth subscribing to, and if you don’t already read it…definitely start reading Uncrate.