For a long time, I was one of those parents who posted adorable pictures and videos of my precious offspring on Facebook. On almost a daily basis, in fact. Since my entire extended family lives out of state and out of the country, it was an easy way to keep everyone in the loop. These postings were always a hit, of course. Relatives and people outside my family were liking and commenting on a regular basis. (I'm not friends with many proud kid-haters.) But then, when I realized I was becoming obsessed with the validation and, at the same time, exposing my children to people who do not deserve to have access to them, I developed a serious case of Facebook Fatigue, and immediately deactivated my account. After 24 hours of withdrawal and worry that I could miss seeing the first baby pictures from girlfriends who were about to pop, I logged back in and changed all of the security settings on my pictures (not an easy feat, mind you). And now, I no longer post pictures of my kids on Facebook. more ›

(By D. Hanousek) You may or may not have noticed that two weeks ago, I took the day off from writing Confessions. I wasn't going to talk about it because I'm inclined to keep most details about my personal life private. But this week's topic was inspired by a personal event: I took the day off from writing because my husband was in a very serious accident. During his recovery, I have become even more aware of how little credit dads receive, especially in San Francisco. (There's a reason why this column's title uses the word "Parent" and not "Mom.") Becoming more and more frustrated with gender parenting stereotypes, my confession is: I don't get why SF dads get the shaft. more ›

Maybe it's the nonstop rain or the traffic on 101. Maybe it's the news that one of my SFUSD-champion parent friends is pulling her kids out of public school and putting them in private school. Maybe it's that my very pregnant best friend just announced that her family is moving from Sausalito to San Rafael, farther north. Something's getting me down and making me feel like raising my own kids in San Francisco makes me a crazy person. The truth is, it's getting lonely out here. more ›

(By D. Hanousek) Yesterday, a close friend pregnant with her first child posted a link on Facebook to an article about a mother who was arrested for allowing her 10-year-old to get a tattoo honoring his late brother. Said friend posed the question, "Would you let your 10-year-old son get a tattoo, for any reason? What if the tattoo is to honor the passing of his brother; is that acceptable?" I immediately felt my emotions heighten as I wrote the comment, "Er, circumcision is legal. So is piercing your infant's ears. Don't get me started..." This led me, of course, to the confession that when it comes to hot-topic children's issues, to me, ignorance is bliss. more ›

(By D. Hanousek) After changing park benches three times over the weekend, I realized that I have a confession to make. I don’t want to be your friend. Sure, we both have kids and we both live in the city. And, whaddya know, our kids like to play in playgrounds, too. But, check it out: any communication beyond a nod or a friendly smile "hello" is not necessary. In fact, if I may be candid, it's simply unwelcome. more ›

(By D. Hanousek) As my three-year-old son lays passed out on the couch after throwing up three times this morning, I realize that I have a confession to make. I don't care if my kid gets your kid sick. more ›

While we don't approve of using children as activists, we do enjoy seeing wee ones tell creeps to stop acting like stab-worthy racist, homophobic meanies to their parents. Take, for example, little Elijah who recently explained to disgraced GOP presidential candidate Michele Bachman that his queer mom, YouTube user armoriendi, doesn't need fixing. Glorious, right? more ›

Raven Stewart, 26, and Lache Rodriguez, 24, were arrested on Friday in connection with a series of car burglaries in Emeryville and Berkeley. They are suspected in at least five smash and grabs, and they even brought along a 4-month-old infant for the fun. Charming. more ›

Ka Yang, 29, of Sacramento was arrested on Tuesday, accused of killing her 6-week-old daughter by putting her in the microwave and pressing "start." On March 17, Yang had told authorities that her child had died after suffering a seizure. However, an investigation led to more grim circumstances. more ›

We came across this parenting doohickey while shopping at Whole Foods in SoMa. Just about lost our appetite, we did. See, this here is The Snotsucker from Sweden. Basically, as one of our less delicate friends put it, it's a nasal aspirator that turns your kid into a Capri Sun. Shudder. more ›

Anyone with internet access has surely heard about author Amy Chua. Her memoir, Battle Hymn of the Tiger Mother, was recently excerpted in the Wall Street Journal and paired with a rather baiting headline that Chua likely didn't write: "Why Chinese Mothers Are Superior." more ›

Cute and affordable maternity clothing options seem to be few and far-between these days, but San Francisco moms-to-be can now count on Maternity Xchange for good quality new and consignment items for a fraction of the regular price. Maternity Xchange is offered in two forms: more ›

We’re thrilled when our commute ends up boring rather than late or, say, riddled with crushed pedestrians and such. It turns out that this commute, well, it’s the stuff that dreams are made of: kids' fantasies. Apparently, CalTrain is so dreamy and hot that it's now a center spread in the newly released Timmy and Tammie’s Train of Thought. TTTT, for short. more ›

You may remember Megan Morrone from TechTV -- or you may have heard her filling in on a podcast here or there. We've recently become reacquainted with her works through Jumping Monkeys, her blog, wherein Megan relates stories about her life as a parent of three children. She, with Leo Laporte, has just launched a new, affiliated podcast of the same name, of which one episode (basically an introduction to this "show for geek parents") has been published. We listened to it and were so anxious to hear more that we hit Megan up for the "Three Questions . . ." treatment. To our delight, she complied. more ›

Last Wednesday, we told you our quick take on Juno Baby's line of educational entertainment products for kids (the long and short: cute, cool, and engaging). Adam Adleman, one of the founders of Juno Baby, took a few minutes out of his busy schedule to answer some questions: more ›

The Bay Area is home to many intriguing small businesses. Still, color us surprised that we've found in Juno Baby a local purveyor of high-quality children's educational products that manages to encapsulate what we like best in a company. more ›