Sparkling Adventures in Child Neglect - "Gayby" is Born!

[church_of_dog]

You know, if this was anyone other than Lauren, I might not 1000000% agree with you. But since her dreds play a larger role in her life than her children and the likelihood she would pay attention to a bleeding child on the ice is nil as the blood and gaping hole would be so AUTHENTIC, I refuse to give her a pass on this one.

Well, but the blood is red, so can you hardly blame her...

From the photo and comments, I don't think Lauren was the one on the ice. Which makes sense -- she just gave birth, what - a week, two weeks ago -- doesn't sound like the most comfortable activity to me that soon after delivery.

In the comments one of the Dad's was talking about how much fun he had taking the girls skating for the afternoon.

I thought it was Ben in the photo skating with the younger girl on the ice.

[Belugaloo]

And you rode your bike without one, and you bounced around the asbestos lined car unrestrained while your parents smoked their lungs out, as did I. But now we know better, and we particularly know better about small frequent head injuries. Watch your kids skating. The fall all. the. time, they bump their heads all. the. time. Evidence says it's waaaaay more important to wear a helmet skating than biking or sledding. Those small bumps can be really really serious.

Some recommendations, from before we knew about the effect of undiagnosed concussions and frequent small bumps

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/16882806

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/15231918

Eh, i'm not even 20, so no bouncing around asbestos-lined cars, and my Mom never smoked around me.

But honestly - the one girl looks like she has someone right behind her in addition to having the push thingy. I really doubt she was in danger.

[August]

You know, if this was anyone other than Lauren, I might not 1000000% agree with you. But since her dreds play a larger role in her life than her children and the likelihood she would pay attention to a bleeding child on the ice is nil as the blood and gaping hole would be so AUTHENTIC, I refuse to give her a pass on this one.

LOL

Mama mia, AFAIK, if they're teaching US Basic Skills/Snowplow Sam or the Canadian equivalent they have to require helmets, but in the US they still accept bike or ski helmets as well as skating or hockey helmets. They require gloves (for safety) and heavily recommend snow pants (for comfort). Rinks heavily recommend helmets for everyone, but adults and teens don't wear them. You will very occasionally see a younger kid at free skate without a helmet, but only maybe one or two kids per fifty. This is a very skating part of the world. I've seen people strap on speed skates at public free skate, that's how big skating is here!

[August]

Well, but the blood is red, so can you hardly blame her...

Never bother looking for a tooth on the ice.

[Mama Mia]

Yeah, snow and ice aren't part if the natural elements around here so it seems like something that might become more of a safety norm in places where it's common. There is, oddly, a professional Hockey Team in the general area - but other than that I think ice skating for just average people is something you might take your kids to a public skate session, once or twice during their childhoods. Maybe.

[church_of_dog]

Yeah, snow and ice aren't part if the natural elements around here so it seems like something that might become more of a safety norm in places where it's common. There is, oddly, a professional Hockey Team in the general area - but other than that I think ice skating for just average people is something you might take your kids to a public skate session, once or twice during their childhoods. Maybe.

:character-jaws:

[BabyFullOfSin]

I live in Canada (Calgary now, grew up on the east coast) and helmet wearing while skating is pretty standard for small kids. Definitely don't let my toddler on skates without her helmet on.

[lipstickgoalie]

LOL

Mama mia, AFAIK, if they're teaching US Basic Skills/Snowplow Sam or the Canadian equivalent they have to require helmets, but in the US they still accept bike or ski helmets as well as skating or hockey helmets. They require gloves (for safety) and heavily recommend snow pants (for comfort). Rinks heavily recommend helmets for everyone, but adults and teens don't wear them. You will very occasionally see a younger kid at free skate without a helmet, but only maybe one or two kids per fifty. This is a very skating part of the world. I've seen people strap on speed skates at public free skate, that's how big skating is here!

Hockey Canada and Canadian Firgure skating require helmets, USA Hockey requires helmets for all sanctioned practices, games etc but not for non USA Hockey governed activities. For instance I do not have to wear a helmet while coaching the Parks and Rec Hockey Tots 1 class, but I do have to wear a helmet for coaching MiniMite practice immediately following. MinorHawks, a program sponsored by the Blackhawks doesn't require helmets for coaches either. Hockey Tots 1 doesn't require a helmet for skaters, but hockey Tots 2 requires full equipment so a helmet is mandatory. There are no Figure Skating programs in a 150 mile radius of my rink that require helmets. None.

Also clothing requirements vary from rink to rink. We don't recomend snow pants. They make it too hard for the little guys to get back up. Also they can encourage on purpose falls which are the bane of my teaching existence. We don't require gloves but after the first class everyone will have a pair. Cold wet hands aren't fun. At the start of every summer sessions there are always at least 3 kids who show up in shorts and t shirts with no gloves and no helmets. Never underestimate the ability of people to not think things through I guess.

Now all that being said I am pro helmet. Beyond pro helmet. I have seen my husbands MRIs and am living the consequences of his TBI as a result of multiple minor hits to the head as a result of military service. I hate that our rink allows the sale of used helmets at the yearly used equipment sale. I despise that helmets aren't manditory. At our rink at any given open skate about a third of the kids will be wearing a helmet of any kind. I can't believe I am halfway defending Sparkles here but allowing the kids to skate without a helmet is not that far out of the norm in my experience.

[Miggy]

To change the subject from ice (it's 37oC and I'm dying of heat) does this picture give anyone else a headache? Lauren is obviously ok with it but I just can't imagine having dreads pulled back and piled on my head like that. I'd have a headache from the moment I left the bathroom.

Lauren:

She is so beautiful. I wonder if she'd be so happy living this way if she wasn't naturally beautiful and, i'm sure, getting a lot of attention in the sea of unwashed (and- just have to say it- unattractive) other rainbow people.

[attachment=0]Capture.JPG[/attachment]

[annaconda]

The eldest daughter looks so unhappy in the gingerbread house photos that were posted on Facebook.

[August]

Lipstickgoalie, I'm sorry about your husband's TBI.

OMG there is no cognitive dissonance like pulling on snow pants over your shorts in September! I'm relieved we're into the season where they have snow gear every day anyway.

[lipstickgoalie]

Lipstickgoalie, I'm sorry about your husband's TBI.

OMG there is no cognitive dissonance like pulling on snow pants over your shorts in September! I'm relieved we're into the season where they have snow gear every day anyway.

Thanks August. The PTSD is far worse than the TBI. But he just got a serivce dog so things are looking up. The TBI just explains why he would wander off in the middle of a conversation. In a way it was a relief to get that diagnosis.

Oh yes. The cognitive disonance. I have hoodies and at least 2 different winter weight coats in the car year round. Hockey never stops. Although 8 years of coaching and teaching has me contemplating retiring.

[browncoatslytherin]

To change the subject from ice (it's 37oC and I'm dying of heat) does this picture give anyone else a headache? Lauren is obviously ok with it but I just can't imagine having dreads pulled back and piled on my head like that. I'd have a headache from the moment I left the bathroom.

well, dreads aren't exactly a painless process to put in. i put dreads in my friends hair and while she has a far from sensitive scalp, there were a couple of parts she was almost in tears because it hurt. after that, i'm sure a little pulling and tugging is no biggie. par for the course with dreads. i've considered having them, too, but my scalp is very sensitive and i'm scurred.

[Mama Mia]

To change the subject from ice (it's 37oC and I'm dying of heat) does this picture give anyone else a headache? Lauren is obviously ok with it but I just can't imagine having dreads pulled back and piled on my head like that. I'd have a headache from the moment I left the bathroom.

I thought of headaches too when I saw all that hair on top of her head. That's a lot of weight when you think how dense the dreds are.

[August]

Thanks August. The PTSD is far worse than the TBI. But he just got a serivce dog so things are looking up. The TBI just explains why he would wander off in the middle of a conversation. In a way it was a relief to get that diagnosis.

Oh yes. The cognitive disonance. I have hoodies and at least 2 different winter weight coats in the car year round. Hockey never stops. Although 8 years of coaching and teaching has me contemplating retiring.

I badly want to ask you if the hockey parents there are as bad as the parents of the team which uses the rink after my kids lessons. But it's the team of a pretty awfuly/snobby town, so it may just be them?

[Paperplate]

When I was little we went ice skating with skates with two runners/blades.

Much safer, much easier and therefore much more fun! Younger kids can learn how to skate without help and without falling over all the time. It's like riding your bike with training wheels. When you get older you graduate to real ice skates.

You strap them on over your shoes and you can adjust the size, so they fit for many years.

[Trynn]

I don't know man those look even more dangerous to me... But then I was really good at skating/blading as a kid, and the first time I put on roller skates I promptly fell because it wasn't what I was used to balancing on.

[browncoatslytherin]

When I was little we went ice skating with skates with two runners/blades.

Much safer, much easier and therefore much more fun! Younger kids can learn how to skate without help and without falling over all the time. It's like riding your bike with training wheels. When you get older you graduate to real ice skates.

You strap them on over your shoes and you can adjust the size, so they fit for many years.

those look kind of like the first pair of roller skates i had. they just strapped on to my shoes, no boot to put on.

[ladyaudley]

Lauren has either taken all her photos off instagram or made them all private. they're all gone.

[FJismyheadship]

Did she block you ladyaudley?

On another note, can you get those runners for adults? I would love to learn to ice skate but I'm scared of falling lol

[Maggie Mae]

Did she block you ladyaudley?

On another note, can you get those runners for adults? I would love to learn to ice skate but I'm scared of falling lol

i have a pair (passed down from my mom!) that expand. I can still wear them with my size 6/7 shoe. Personally, I don't like them very much. They look cool, but you can't go as fast. As a kid that was Very Important. I also couldn't stop as easily.

Most of the kids who learn to skate at an indoor rink by my house have these traffic cones that slide around so they feel secure enough not to fall.

[ladyaudley]

huh, she might have! if I log out, I can see all her posts. Which is odd, because I have nothing on my instagram...

[Coco]

I thought of headaches too when I saw all that hair on top of her head. That's a lot of weight when you think how dense the dreds are.

ita, it looks excruciating. But she might have very fine hair that puffs up easily and isn't super heavy. Maybe that's why she wears a scarf so often - to cover the bare scalp areas and provide some support to relieve pulling. Just seems so damaging, as if it could lead to stress baldness. On some people dreds are beautiful but having them in for ages just seems harmful...

[Firiel]

Ugh, mentioning her Instagram prompted me to look through it. I'm not much of a Lauren follower, so when I ran across the picture of the thorn in her eye (which I vaguely remember reading about here, I think) I was completely horrified.

I was just sitting here, starting at my laptop like this: :o :cry: :?

[Blahblah]

Ugh, mentioning her Instagram prompted me to look through it. I'm not much of a Lauren follower, so when I ran across the picture of the thorn in her eye (which I vaguely remember reading about here, I think) I was completely horrified.

I was just sitting here, starting at my laptop like this: :o :cry: :?

The thorn wasn't in Lauren's eye. It was in one of the girls' eyes. Sparkles let it fester because learning opportunity, child selfdetermination, unparenting, and general all-round sparkliness. The child was scared it would hurt to remove it so Sparkles left it there. Better that your 6 year old gets a sore festering eye for days on end and risks permanent damage to her eye than you step in and, you know, be an adult and take over the damn situation and fix it for her. :cray-cray: