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Hi friends – I hope you had a great Thanksgiving! I had the week off! (And so Sunday’s radio show was a re-air of my interview with David Elkind, author of the best selling “The Hurried Child” and other books, which originally was broadcast on September 7th. I can never get enough of his wisdom!)

And for all you moms and dads out there whom I hear from, worried about giving your kids a “great Christmas” – here’s my column which ran last Friday.

my column

I hope you enjoy the first day of Advent!

Betsy Hart

Yep – Hi friends.  I’ve been “off” this week because I’ve been enjoying a wonderful family camp (in blazing hot Missouri) with my kids.  (We just finished the “high ropes” course.    That’s about as much as much excitement as I can handle for a day!) In any event, just a quick post of this week’s column – it’s all about dollars, and some sense (cents?)

You’ll have to paste in the link this week. . .

http://www.suntimes.com/lifestyles/betsyhart/1085466,CST-FTR-hart01.article

Meanwhile, be sure to tune in to tomorrow’s radio show.  With kids heading back to school in just a few weeks – some sooner -  I talked with Jeanne Allen, head of the Center for Education Reform in Washington, D.C.  From how to approach a school to get what you want as a parent, to the state of education reform around the county and why it matters, to the reason we shouldn’t always believe those “great” school standardized test results, Jeanne covers it all.

I think you’ll also enjoy some of the topics int he “heart beat” section of the show – that’s wehre I get to talk about the news topics you aren’t hearing about anywhere else.

I hope you take time to listen live at noon, central time on WYLL/AM1160 Chicago or streaming live on www.wyll.com, or here on Monday or later in the week get a podcast from NationalReview.com.

As always, thanks for stopping by!

Hi Friends – My children are getting ready for camp, and they are not taking extra cell phones! Hope you like this week’s column.

When Parents Can’t Say Good Bye

I hope you’ll listen to the radio show when we go into more depth on “over-tethered” kids. That’s this Sunday at noon, AM1160/WYLL Chicago, or WYLL.com

Thanks for stopping by.

Betsy

Hi friends – I’ve been made aware that a really interesting issue is coming up in the Senate today. Under the moniker “net neutrality,” the Senate will be debating whether to impose sweeping new regulations on the internet. If the status quo is changed, internet service providers will no longer be allowed to shift or rearrange broadband capacity to accommodate, or better respond to, heavy volume and various traffic flows. Internet capacity for all uses and users would have to be consistent and “neutral.”

What makes this issue interesting is that while most of the groups supporting the new regulations are understandably on the Left, some Christian groups are arguing for the new regulations too. They maintain that if internet service providers can continue to manage traffic flow (as they do now) they could, say, “discriminate” against large group of homeschoolers downloading material by shifting internet capacity away from them.

The answer is that that’s not happening now, and a vibrant internet marketplace is exactly what will keep that from happening in the future. These well-meaning folks should think long and hard about inviting the government in to solve a problem that doesn’t seem to exist. Because once the government is there, it won’t ever leave.

Maybe that’s why my mom used to say, “if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it!”

For a larger picture of this issue, here’s a good piece from The Heritage Foundation:

http://www.heritage.org/Research/Regulation/bg1941.cfm

Thanks for stopping by.

Betsy

Hi friends, and especially those who are finding your way here for the first time today from Laura’s show. I had a great time with Laura on the air today!

You can enter comments here on anything we talked about, or find another thread you’d like to join below. I love for folks to talk to each other through my blog! And remember, you can always write to me directly too at sendtohart@comcast.net Please know I read and appreciate everything you send me, even though I can’t answer every letter personally.

I’d also love for you to listen to my radio show, “It Takes a Parent,” Thursdays at 2:00 PM on WYLL AM1160 here in Chicago, or anytime via podcast right here on the blog. (Feel free to tell me what you think about it, and the kinds of things you’d like to hear talked about on the show!)

And, please be sure to find out more by visiting my website at www.betsyhart.net

Blessings to you and your family – Betsy

We just wanted to say thank you to Lloyd for letting us use a photo of one of his microphones for our “Radio Show” graphic.

He has quite a collection of antique microphones, which may be viewed here:

www.lloydmicrophoneclassics.com

Regards, Admin.