I have a day care on site at my employer. It is run by a day care company that specializes in corporate child care centers. They are fantastic. Nothing jankey at all.

Ikea?

That’s what my BFF and I would do when I would visit. Go to Ikea, drop the little one off in the play area, and go for lunch. Everyone was happy.

You’re in luck! Jessica Biel is here to save the day: http://jezebel.com/a-trip-to-au-f…

When I started college at a small liberal arts school in 1999, one of my fellow freshmen was a 10-year-old boy. I definitely got the impression that his parents were into the media attention— the kid was on Oprah a bunch of times, they weren’t too shy about interviews, they had a website for/about him, etc— and that,…

I don’t think the humanities are fuzzier. There’s just very little humanities instruction at the k-12 level in the US. What would you measure? The kid can distinguish the writing of a philosopher trained in the Anglo-American analytic tradition from that of one trained in the European tradition? Philosophy isn’t even…

Beyond being less objective, success in the humanities requires highly developed communication and rhetorical skills. Math, music and other pursuits often produce these prodigies because they are self-contained disciplines, where advancement can occur without concurrent development of other skills.

I think there have been at least a handful of studies documenting these kind of students and how poorly adjusted and out of touch with their peer group they tend to be, and the extent to which their social and emotional development is stunted. I’m sure every parent would love to say their 12 year old is an Ivy…

He can hang out with lots of dudes his own emotional age by joining a fraternity.

Silly me thinking the child of two aerospace engineers would need a job to pay for his Ivy League schooling! Stay in school forever, young grasshopper!

And then what does he do when he graduates? Will he even be old enough for a work permit to work at the carwash (like I did at 16, and still managed to get accepted to a top 10 school)? I don’t understand this trajectory at all.

I agree, I get that academically he’s miles ahead of his peers but school is also about socialization which I’m guessing this kid missed out big on. My mom teachers first grade and one year she had a genius like him (he was in the process of patenting a car design at SIX) but his parents wanted him to move through the…

I have taught middle school for 15 years. Stories like this make me angry. I don't give a shit if he's academically ready for college. He isn't ready for college in far more ways that actually matter.

He’s joining a frat. So there’s at least people who act his age to hang out with.

I honestly feel bad for this kid. I understand that he wants to be challenged academically, but you can’t have the college experience socially as a twelve year old. Being so brilliant would’ve probably been socially isolating in any case, but this has to make that worse.

He chose Cornell and we’re calling him a genius?

¡Muy Am-bien!

Mutt-iny on the Bounty

I used to be a receptionist and the worst call I ever got was someone calling to complain about the name of a show on the network I worked for. On 9/11, after both planes hit the towers.

I want this show to do well...but every time I hear about it I keep thinking of this:

Before you were born an ugly, warted old woman sat by the side of the road and asked for help changing a tire. Your parents stopped and changed it for the old woman, kindly. Then, before their very eyes-the old woman began to transform into the most beautiful fairy princess they had ever seen!