The Responsibility Project

Liberty Mutual

Responsibility. What’s your policy?™

Blog: children

‘Too Good’ to Play Baseball? Game Over

Posted on October 2, 2008 by Kathy McManus Comments (4)

A recent newspaper headline sounded more like a lesson in parenting: Why punish a kid for the crime of being too good? The kid, in this case, was 9-year-old Jericho Scott, who played summer baseball on a youth team in New Haven, Connecticut. Jericho’s “crime” is his pitching talent. But the prodigy pitcher himself was struck out—by adults. Read full article »
Children and Chores: How Much?

Posted on September 30, 2008 by Kathy McManus Comments (7)

A new study says that the amount of time children spend on chores has dropped like the Dow to only 24 minutes a day—25% less than in 1981. Experts say the decline of chore time reflects “important behavioral and values shifts that will affect lives for years to come,” including issues like domestic bliss and the responsibility of doing volunteer work. Should children do more chores? Read full article »
Teachers With Guns: Don’t Mess With Texas?

Posted on September 16, 2008 by Kathy McManus Comments (8)

In the small farm town of Harrold, Texas, it’s not teacher’s pet that has everyone talking. It’s teacher’s pistol. The local school board recently decreed that teachers could carry concealed weapons at school and in the classrooms. Should armed teachers be responsible for providing school security? Read full article »
Summer Camp: Parents Gone Wild?

Posted on September 2, 2008 by Kathy McManus Comments (5)

Worse than poison ivy, today’s camp parents are itching to control every aspect of their children’s daily lives at camp —the very place meant to teach independence and responsibility away from Mom and Dad. Should summer camps return to the days of no cameras, no cell phones, no parents? Read full article »
Should You Drink With Your Kids?

Posted on July 22, 2008 by Kathy McManus Comments (42)

Parents are frequently encouraged to share more activities with their kids. But should drinking alcohol together be one of them? Is it time for parents to take a different approach towards kids and alcohol? Time Magazine reporter John Cloud says it’s a “good way to teach responsible drinking behavior”. Read full article »
Growing Up

Posted on July 16, 2008 by Kathy McManus Comments (1)

If you find it difficult sometimes to define responsibility, watch Growing Up and see four extraordinary young people go beyond definitions to live the word in truly inspiring ways. Read full article »
Review of New American Girl Movie

Posted on July 10, 2008 by Nell Minow Comments (1)

Kit Kittredge: An American Girl is the first feature film based the popular doll and book series produced by the Pleasant Company. Each of their dolls is a girl from a different period of American history from Colonial days to the 1970’s, and each character has books about issues and challenges specific to their eras… Read full article »
Fertility Treatments: For Convenience?

Posted on July 3, 2008 by Kathy McManus Comments (17)

Motherhood—achieving it and surviving it—is a perennially popular topic of blog discussions. But rarely does one comment continue to draw responses years after first being posted, like the following one has from a woman who wanted to undergo IVF fertility treatments as a matter of convenience. Read full article »
Needling Questions: Immunizing Kids

Posted on July 1, 2008 by Kathy McManus Comments (109)

If you choose not to have your child vaccinated against measles, mumps, chicken pox, and other infectious diseases, does your responsibility end there? It is a debate that continues as the trend for not vaccinating children increases. Read full article »
Teen “Pregnancy Pact”: The Perfect Storm?

Posted on June 30, 2008 by Kathy McManus Comments (73)

The shocking news from the small fishing town of Gloucester, Massachusetts spread across the country and around the world: 17 girls from one high school were pregnant, part of a supposed ‘pregnancy pact’ in which the students intentionally set out to become teen mothers, with a vow to raise their babies together. Read full article »