Do try this at home...

Positive parenting 

Beyond the naughty step 

Attempts to go where calm and reasonableness fear to tread 

Jan 11th 2014 | CHICAGO | From the print edition

IN THE old days parents followed a simple rule: spare the rod and spoil the child. These days less violent forms of discipline are favoured. Supernanny, a television toddler-tamer, recommends the “naughty step”, to which ill-behaved brats are temporarily banished. Yet even this is too harsh, some psychologists say. Putting Howling Henry on the naughty step may interrupt his tantrum; but advocates of “positive discipline” say it does nothing to encourage him to solve his own problems (and thus build character). Some even suggest it may be psychologically damaging.

 Positive discipline, which is becoming a grassroots fashion in America, aims to teach children self-control and empathy. Rather than screaming at them to pick up the toys they have strewn on the floor, parents or teachers ask them to suggest their own way of tackling the problem. Adults are encouraged to think harder about the causes of bad behaviour. Families meet regularly to discuss all of the above. [More...]

DIY Lego iPhone Dock

Feeling fairly smug. After finding out that my new Apple dock did not hold my phone in its case the overpriced bit of plastic was returned to Appleville for a full refund. Then made my own dock out of old bits of the children's Lego for next to nothing. 

Punch up at Christmas

I think I managed to start a fight between two Christmas tree associations just before Christmas.


Christmas tree wars 

Making fir fly 

Dec 16th 2013, 15:43 by N.L. | CHICAGO

AS IT is the holiday season, Schumpeter wishes to spread some festive joy by highlighting the work of a little known, and under-appreciated, trade association. At this time of year there can be no better recipient of such largesse than America's National Christmas Tree Association (NCTA). It was founded in 1955 to help farmers grow Christmas trees as an agricultural crop. (Prior to that most trees were taken from forests.) Today, state associations do much of this and the NCTA has different things on its mind, such as battling fake trees for market share in this $1 billion industry. Or, as Rick Dungey, NCTA's spokesperson, calls artificial trees: "plastic tree-shaped decorations". Happily for Mr Dungey, real Christmas trees are doing reasonably well. Despite a rise in sales of fake trees a decade ago, fake trees have lost their sparkle a bit since the financial crisis (see chart).

 NCTA is not alone in its quest to represent Christmas trees. A more mysterious trade association called the American Christmas Tree Association (ACTA) sprouted up in 2008. ACTA says it represents the whole industry. "We believe that both kinds of trees are good trees and it's up to the consumer to decide what is right for themselves," says spokesperson Jami Warner. Mr Dungey is not buying it. He says ACTA will not reveal who its members are, does not represent anyone in the real tree industry and is a front for a company that imports fake trees. Not so much astroturf, then, but astropine?

Ms Warner replies, "despite the efforts of the NCTA to pick a fight, something we have not and will not engage in, we have continued our efforts to provide factual information about Christmas trees and the Christmas tree industry, and, furthermore, to advocate for the Christmas tree industry as a whole." Ms Warner confirms that ACTA does not reveal who its members are. Schumpeter pointed out that it was difficult for ACTA to represent an industry with no evidence of any actual members. Ms Warner did not reply. But, as she pointed out previously, it is ACTA's busiest time of year. [More...]