by Tony Chen

Is it me or does it seem like there is a new front-page story every day about another thing our kids need to avoid?

Just browsing through the last few weeks, I had to wonder about cell phones (and hot dogs) causing cancer, plastic altering human cells and happy meals bringing on obesity.  Most of us could probably list another 15 to 20 issues.  One nifty little tool to quickly review these controversial topics is at Babble.  Interestingly enough, on every single controversial issue, Babble has an "expert" listed on opposite ends of the spectrum.  Hey, the super-duper guru experts can't even agree, so where does an average dad wandering through Target fit in?

And in case I thought this was just an American over-parenting phenomenon, I continue to get numerous emails from my parents and others, who find new health/safety warnings every day in their Chinese newspapers.  Somehow these Chinese reporters find that plastics Jedi from Dow Chemical that the American press forgot to interview.   Initially, I was like, Yeah whatever, but more and more, I'm realizing that sometimes things get lost in the U.S.  Countries are taking action (e.g. Canada just banned BPA bottles) based on these "Chinese-newspaper" warnings.

Nonetheless, does anyone else feel increasingly desensitized by all of this news?  Come on.   If I followed all the recommendations in these articles, I might as well lock my kid up in the basement, far away from cell phone rays, materialistic media and "happy" meals containing 1,000 calories.  But then, that wouldn't work either because in the basement, I might have radon, asbestos, vitamin D and rat urine problems. 

And yet, I also wonder if I'm being too laissez-faire.  After all, we do live in an extremely materialistic society in which most of the goods we consume are mass manufactured to compete on costs.  I don't want to be yet another blogger that bashes consumerism, but I can't help but observe that human nature is human nature-it's our fault and our choice for buying it all.  These companies are spending millions to know exactly what we "want" and deliver it to us.  The problem is that what we want isn't always good for us.  Case in point: my two-year-old wanting popsicles and donuts two minutes before a nutritious dinner.  Or... closer to home, how about that 35-year-old dad wanting a little "excitement and adventure" in his life when one thing unfortunately leads to another.

At the end of the day, all I want to say is this:  I'm so sick of all that news, but I'm also gonna put up with it.  I'm not a parent that will shield my child from failure or knee scrapes or frustrations.  But I'm also going to be fairly vigilant about health and safety.  And practically speaking, maybe I just need a savvier newsfeed.  Or better yet, maybe I just need to get off the Internet and just spend that time with the kiddos.