You made me genuinely crack up for the first time today. And since some of my rights were stepped on by a body designed to protect them, I really appreciate that.

Yeah, but how would you get a camel that small? Genetic engineering? Reproductive technology? Taking out a little fetus? Boom, yeah, no natural little camels. :)

"And again I say unto you, It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle, than for a rich man to enter into the kingdom of God." Bible says that. So yeah, they should be giving it all away if they want to claim religiousness.

Really missing cable right now. They are the only two humans who could make me feel better.

Naw, they are blocking more than just Plan B and such, if you look at the specifics. And then we take the next step — how many 'corporations' will have a problem with any birth control at all? My dad does. Plenty of people leading companies do. Lots of people who study these issues for a living are freaking out about…

I need it because I have dysmenorrhea, PMDD, and a bicornuate uterus, stuff I was born with or just developed involuntarily like many, many ladies. But I'm sure God wants us punished both with these conditions and with spending $1,200/year on meds to treat them, even though male people with conditions can get them…

Good for you breaking the cycle. And if we all followed this guideline — no hitting at all — stories like this boy would be a lot less common. That's what has happened in countries that have banned all corporal punishment.

The issue is that because (sadly) the majority of folks in our society find hitting kids to be acceptable "discipline," that leads to cases like this. When corporal punishment is banned, this level of abuse goes way down.

Would you want your partner to smack your hand or slap you or hit you on the butt because you did something he/she didn't like? 100 years ago it was both legal and socially acceptable to hit women to keep us in line — we couldn't learn any other way, society said.

Exactly!

Particularly because she was so young that the lines of reality and fantasy are often not clear. I would have put the donuts up higher, not shamed her or punished her. Early childhood development knowledge is so helpful.

Yep, 38 countries and Delaware have now banned all corporal punishment (including spanking). We are the ones who are behind here in the U.S. And what happens when there is a ban? Many fewer kids die at the hands of their parents.

So actually, depends on where someone is from. In the U.S. and Canada, we are the ones who are behind. 38 other countries have bans on all corporal punishment, including spanking. They've benefitted by having the number of children dying at the hands of their parents fall — when Sweden enacted the ban in 1979, the…

Actually they are the same thing. They both harm children, and most abuse begins as physical punishment. Parents who spank or slap with an open hand are 3X more likely to further abuse their children, and parents who use an implement (hairbrush, paddle, wooden spoon) to hit their children are 9X more likely to further…

Science tells us clearly that all hitting is harmful for children. So many experts now classify spanking and any corporal punishment as abuse (and at best it's punishment, not discipline). 38 countries have now made any hitting of children illegal. You've given our standard American stance, but hopefully that will…

My mom, on the other hand, still can't say the word 'tampon' and giggles and leaves the room awkwardly when the subject comes up. She has FIVE daughters. Good for your mom! Lovely idea.

I have years and years of real-world experience, but I'm not a parent. People have paid me to help raise their children, but I'm not a parent. I have, however, spent much more time learning what's best for children than most people I know who are parents — training in a high quality ECE center, reading parenting info…

Exactly.

This is exactly where my mind went too — not sex but abuse. It's a chance to ask how things are going at home.

And there's abuse, too. That was my first thought when I read 'five minutes alone with a medical professional.' Obviously, open parents like you are not likely to be abusing your children, and you sound like a lovely kind of parent. It's the other ones — the ones who don't want their kids to have five minutes alone to…