This time of year, some parents are becoming empty nesters. Morning Edition producer Cindy Carpien just sent her youngest child off to college. It’s bittersweet, but she’s finding comfort and new meaning in old phone messages she saved from her two daughters.

Read/listen: An Empty Nest Brings New Context To Old Voicemail

Photo courtesy of Cindy Carpien

When the results of a recent study hit the Internet revealing that hitting children as a form of discipline – no matter how rarely it may occur — increases their chances of developing mental illness, I posted it on my Facebook page without any commentary. I did this for two reasons: 1.) I wanted to see how quickly the conversation completely jumped the tracks, with advocates of hitting children as a form of discipline weighing in with how “they turned out alright.” 2.) I was genuinely curious to read the reactions of others to a study that didn’t judge the parents, but showed undeniably, negative long-term effects on the children. I was not disappointed at all with the answers to question #1; nor was I surprised that question #2 was avoided with as much skill as Snoop Dogg trying to sneak through airport security with a bag of weed.

— Why Some Black People Ignore the Negative Research on Spanking | Clutch Magazine (via tballardbrown)

tballardbrown:

Bestselling Christian chick lit author ReShonda Tate Billingsley‘s Facebook recently posted a Facebook photo of her daughter and it’s going viral. The photo is part of her daughter’s punishment for abusing social media. 

The photo’s been shared 3,600 times and counting, with most of the comments regarding it being favorable. One poster’s commends Billingsley’s no-nonsense approach: “This is YOUR CHILD, not everybody else’s! You are her parent! I approve because if you don’t do it now, the jails or worse are waiting for her! Thank you for being courageous in training your female child to be a productive citizen of our world.” Another commenter opined, “I am so through with these uber-permissive parents telling us we’re invading our children’s privacy and embarrassing them unfairly by taking control and stepping up to the plate as moms and dads. Go, ReShonda, you have my full support!” Only a very small minority of posters dissented.

What do you think? Is it ever cool to publicly punish your child? Were you ever punished in full view of friends and/or strangers? Would you try this method with your own kid?

(via Putting Your Kid On Blast: Yea or Nay? | Clutch Magazine)

Today’s MUST HEAR radio: StoryCorps

Dennis Apple and his wife Buelah came to StoryCorps to talk about their son, Denny. Nearly 21 years ago, Denny came down with mononucleosis. Before going to bed one night, he took some medicine, and talked about where he wanted to sleep.

(Source: NPR)