Parenting

Are You There, Senate? It's Me, the National Rifle Association's Legislative Dude

Figuring that the pen is mightier than the, uh, firearm, the National Rifle Association's legislative director has sent an open letter to the U.S. Senate, stating the association's stance against a Senate bill that would regulate private gun transfers and expand background checks. Senate Bill 649, ... More >>

State Rep Debbie Riddle To Breastfeeding Hordes: Hey, "I Breastfed" Too!!!

As we noted yesterday, State Rep Debbie Riddle (R-Tomball) smacked open a hornet's nest of angry breastfeeding moms when she posted on Facebook her reasons for opposing a bill increasing breastfeeders rights. Riddle said the bill would make it easier to sue business owners who interrupted women bre ... More >>

Debbie Riddle's Facebook Page Gets Tsunami'd By Pissed-Off Breastfeeding Moms

You don't mess with moms. Especially if it's about breastfeeding. The Texas legislature is once again taking up the ticklish subject of whether moms should be able to breastfeed in public. Representatives like Jessica Farrar (D-Houston) are backing a bill that would allow business owners to be sued ... More >>

Ouch: Rep. Jessica Farrar Again Seeks To Put Teeth In Breastfeeding Law

As new mothers know, infants are not the most patient people when it comes to getting fed. If they get hungry, and you're a breastfeeding mom who hasn't brought along a bottle of your best, then it's time to whip out a breast. In Texas, if you happen to do that in the establishment of someone who ... More >>

Wait -- Before You Take a Pic of A Knife Held to Your Infant's Throat, Make Sure to Smear Her Face With Your Own Menstrual Blood. It Really Helps Drive Home the Point!

If you're a mom looking for a novel way to lose custody of your kids, Casey Olford of Lufkin has allegedly come up with your solution: Smear your menstrual blood on your child's chin, then smear some more on a knife, hold that knife to your child's throat, text the pic to your baby-daddy, and, prest ... More >>

Weird-Ass Parental Rights Case Resolved: Judge Rules That Kids' Mom is Legally Their, uh, Mom

One of the strangest custody cases in memory has been resolved in favor of a biological mother of twins, whose father had argued that the woman was simply a surrogate and had no parental rights. Marvin McMurrey III had argued that his gal-pal Cindy Close was not genetically related to the twins sh ... More >>

Cindy Close & Marvin McMurrey III: Here's One Weird-Ass Child Custody Case

When Cindy Close gave birth to twins last July, she thought she had finally achieved her lifelong dream of being a mother. The 47-year-old had gone about it in an unconventional way, she says, by using a friend's sperm and anonymous donor's eggs, with the ultimate goal of co-parenting the kid(s) wit ... More >>

Fierce Reads Tour

Dominique Sachse's Wedding: Filed Under "Things We Need to Not Hear About So Much"

DID YOU HEAR?!?!?!? KPRC anchorwoman Dominique Sachse got married!!!!!! OMG!!!!! In case you missed the Channel 2 ads, Sachse was one of -- if not the -- hardest-working single moms out there. That's a remark which, if we were churlish, we would find incredibly insulting to all the single moms in ... More >>

Seeing Double

Donnicia Venters: Lactation Not Related to Pregnancy, Houston Federal Judge Rules

Not connected to pregnancy.​U.S. District Judge Lynn Hughes is likely about to become the butt of Internet merriment with the news of a recent decision. He'll also be pissing off breast-feeding moms, and that is one group you do not want to cross, as many companies and entities have discovere ... More >>

Teen Pregnancy: What Texas Can Learn From California

Texas is a breeding ground.​Houston's Children at Risk has published a new study of teen pregnancy that highlights two findings: California does a much better job at preventing it than abstinence-crazy Texas, and 80 percent of Harris County parents support sex education that starts by middle ... More >>

Houston's Same-Sex Couples More Likely to Raise Children

And they may just live in Houston.​The Atlantic's blog has crunched some numbers from a recent gay survey and census data, and it's found that when it comes to raising kids, Houston's same-sex couples are near the tops in the nation. The Houston-Sugar Land-Baytown area had the seventh-highest ... More >>

Advertisements for Herself

Jolanda Jones says never talk to HPD

Breastfeeding: Aggie Professor Joan Wolf Questions the Battle Against the Bottle

Texas A&MJoan Wolf asks if the breast is best​Ever since First Lady Michelle Obama talked about removing barriers for breastfeeding mothers last week, we've been thinking more than usual about boobs. Maybe that's why we were interested to read about a Texas A&M researcher's new book, Is Breas ... More >>

The Five Weirdest Baby Names from the Most Popular Names of 2010

You're kid won't turn out like this.​The list of the top 100 baby names of 2010 is out and it is filled with many names you would expect. There are Biblical names like John and Luke and James. There are pop culture names like Bella and Zachary. There are even names that help you to rhyme your ... More >>

Facebook Bows Down to Houston's Leaky Boob

At least someone appreciates a leaky boob​We think Rockets coach Rudy Tomjanovich said it best: "NEVER UNDERESTIMATE THE HEART OF A LEAKY BOOB!!!!" Facebook has learned that harsh lesson. Houston blogger/tweeter/Facebooker Jessica Martin-Weber, the founder of the Web site theleakyboob.com, ap ... More >>

Booster Seat Crackdown: No, You Won't Get A Ticket If You're An Adult Under 4-Foot-9

Poodles not relevant to new booster-seat law​The Great Booster Seat Crackdown 2010 is in full swing, as the state law requiring boosters for any kid up to the age of 8 under 4-foot-9 to be boosterized, front seat or back, went into effect yesterday.Getting a third-grader to sit in a booster seat i ... More >>

Head Start Enrolling Kids Too Rich To Qualify, Including In Texas, GAO Reports

Get a Head Start, even if you're keeping a poor kid out​The problem with the Head Start program is that it's always been an exclusive, good-ole-boy club where only poor and disenfranchised kids can matriculate. The doors are flung wide open to ragamuffins, only to be slammed shut in the faces of e ... More >>

Got 7-Year-Olds Less Than 4-Foot-9? Better Put Them In A Booster Seat This Weekend

Cleaner than DPS' initial motto attempt, "You're Either Buckled Up or You're Fuckled Up"​TxDOT and the Department of Public Safety have announced yet another "Click it or Ticket" effort in Houston and elsewhere later this month. This one has a twist, though.Thanks to a new Texas law, children who ... More >>

It's An "Abortion Super Center," And They're Gonna Protest It

​Planned Parenthood of Houston is moving into that office building on I-45near UH that looks like a cash register, and it looks like the protests will follow them.The Drudge Report is linking to a right-wing news service's story decrying the new building as an "abortion supercenter." Big protests ... More >>

A/V Geeks: Crafty is as Crafty Does

Teaching kids the beauty of dry pasta and Elmer’s

Continental Airlines: Work Hard, Fly Right -- Unless You're A Kid

For the second time in a week, Houston's Continental Airlines has admitted they sent an unaccompanied minor passenger to the wrong destination.One 10-year-old girl who was trying to get from Boston to Cleveland ended up in Newark. (The only time ending up in Newark is "not so bad" is when you were i ... More >>

Megan Frazier Salch

Spending time with your kids might be priceless, but the book costs $14.95

Jim Breuer

Web exclusive!

Houston Attorney Represents Another Tarnished Evangelist

Houston attorney Don Ervin has apparently become the go-to guy for (allegedly, allegedly) sleazy televangelists.Ervin represented Jim Bakker (of PTL and Tammy Faye fame) when he was fighting charges of mail fraud; now he's representing Tony Alamo, a 74-year-old preacher accused of crossing state lin ... More >>

Capsule Stage Reviews: Amadeus, Nursery School Musical, The Pie Dialogues

Etan Boritzer: What is God?

Web exclusive!

Donor Babies Search for Their Anonymous Fathers

All grown up, some children of sperm donors are trying to break through the secrecy that keeps them from knowing their family history

Baby with the Bathwater

Christopher Durang’s dark and funny play makes a splash

FLDS Mother Speaks Up At Rotary Club

Rocket Fuel: Not Just for Adults

So, Like, What’s Up With "Gossip Girl"?

Kente Santa

Introduce your kids to a new holiday tradition

Miss Pop Rocks: Oh My God Oh My God Oh My God J. Lo IS Pregnant!

Good News: Texas Leads the Nation in Teen Pregnancy

Letters to the Editor

Do You Like Them with a Mouse?

Or do you like green eggs and ham with a string section?

Slots of Fun

A kids' throwback hobby thrives

Best Maternity Clothes

Nine

Breaking Up Is Hard to Do

Why does it bother people when toddlers still breast-feed? Could it be about sex?

Kristi's Gift

She gave up her infant son to two strangers who became her friends. Now, more than two years later, she's still in his life, visiting regularly. In an open adoption, they're all doing their best for Ryan.

Lil' Bow Wow

Beware of Dog (So So Def/Columbia)

Best Restaurant Playground

Joe's Crab Shack

CEO Mom

To Penny Warner, home is where the work and children are

Reefer Madness?

Angela took a hit. And CPS took her babies away.

Bye-bye, Baby, Bye-bye

Another day care plans to close in the Texas Medical Center

Family Unfriendly

How Hermann Hospital and the Texas Medical Center left employees' kids high and dry

Enron's Earth (Day) Quakes

Punk Parents

With the "No Future" generation deciding to breed, are we headed for anarchy in the pre-K?