Hi Friends - I wanted to let you know that this Sunday morning, 10:30 on
CBS/channel 2, I’m the featured “Chicago personality” on the “hot seat” with Rob
Johnson. We talk about a lot of parenting issues - it’s a fun segment and I
thought you might want to know.

Then Sunday at noon, I’ll be taking your phone calls on “It Takes a Parent” as we talk about a lot of hot parenting issues - overagressive (or is it just “confident”?) young teenage girls pursuing boys, and hear what some experts say about girls dressing “sexy” - it’s all good in their view. Plus, new studies say parenting is depressing. But that doesn’t depress me -we’ll talk about it on Sunday. Tune in to AM1160/WYLL Chicago, or listen live at www.wyll.com, and get ready to call at 847-956-5042

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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!

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Hi friends - I hope you’ll tune into the radio show today when I talk to financial adviser David Briggs about Americans and our increasing personal debt load. He offers two quick and immediate ways to change the way we think about money that I KNOW will change my financial life. You won’t want to miss them. I’ve also got some items for the “Hart Beat” section of the show which no one else is talking about. That’s AM1160/WYLL Chicago, noon Sunday (central time) or streaming live at wyll.com. Monday you can get the audio here, and later in the week a podcast from NationalReview.com.

As always, thanks for stopping by, and keep those e-mails coming! Even when I can’t respond to them all, I read and appreciate each one.

Betsy Hart

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Hi Friends - I hope you’ll listen in to the radio show today (noon, WYLL/AM1160 Chicago) when I talk with Meredith O’Brien, author of “A Suburban Mom: Notes from the Asylum,” and Chris Thurber, a psychologist and researcher with the American Camping Association. What is this with moms and dads being the ones who can’t let go? Dr. Thurber talks a lot about the importance of kids being given “opportunities for challenge” - but it doesn’t appear we parents are as willing to do that as we should be, and there are repercussions.

Also, lost of family news to go over too - I hope you’ll tune in, listen to the show here tomorrow, or get a podcast from NationalReview.com.

As always, thanks for stopping by.

Betsy Hart

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Hi friends, in addition to a lot of “parenting news” in today’s new and expanded “It Takes a Parent” show, I will talk to Steve Moore, and ask him “where have all the European babies gone”? As the New York Times recently chronicled, birth rates in Europe have plummeted to dangerous levels, dangerous because people aren’t having enough children to replace themselves, support the economy, older retirees, etc. I argue the cultural costs - no more is there a sense of sacrifice to raise the next generation, or a sense that children are inherently precious - are higher.

Are we in the West increasingly too selfish to have kids? Is it possible the “birth dearth” will hit the United States?

Steve Moore, an editorial page editor at the Wall Street Journal and an economist who has studied this issue at length, will talk to me about it today at noon.

Tune in to AM1160/WYLL in Chicago, listen live at WYLL.com, or later listen here or get the podcast at NationalReview.com.

As always, thanks for listening and for stopping by.

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Hi friends - Remember, it “It Takes a Parent” moves to its new date and time this week, Sundays at noon for a full hour. Be sure to listen this week as I talk to Kathleen Parker, author of the new book “Save the Males,” and Jessica DeGroot of the Third Path Institute, who seems to think that men’s and women’s roles can (should?) be even more amorphous than they are now.

That’s AM1160 WYLL Chicago at noon on Sunday, streaming live at WYLL.com, or afterwards listen here or get a podcast from NationalReview.com.

As always, thanks for stopping by. And have a great 4th!

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Hi friends - I hope you’ll tune in today to “It Takes a Parent” when I’ll talk live with Neil Swidey about his Boston Globe magazine cover story on kids and privacy and texting and cell-phones and when is too much information (for us parents) about our kids - NOT good? (Hint: I’m definitely more for being a “parent over shoulder” than Neil is.) We’ll also touch on the Skenazy piece from yesterday’s post. She’s the mom who put her 9-year-old alone on the New York Subway and the whole world went nuts. (That kind of “risk taking” I’m all for Here’s the piece:

Spying on the Text Generation

I hope you’ll tune in live at 2:00 central to WYLL AM1160 Chicago, on-line at www.wyll.com, or after the show listen to it here or get a podcast on National Review Radio at www.nationalreview.com

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Hi friends - today producer Lynne and I talk to Kirk Cameron. You will remember him as a teen heartthrob and star of the 1980s and early ’90s show, “Growing Pains.” Kirk became a Christian in his teens, and has been battling the secular Hollywood culture ever since! He has a terrific book out called, “Still Growing,” and his experience being an open Christian in the Hollywood culture is what today’s show is all about. I hope you’ll listen live at 2:00 central on WYLL AM1160, streaming at www.wyll.com, or later here or on NationalReview.com.

As always - thanks for listening!

Betsy Hart

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Hi friends - so, how do you feel about all those little salespeople coming to your home selling everything from chocolate bars to wrapping paper, to support everything from their sports clubs to the school? Do you know these kids sell some 2 BILLION dollars a year worth of stuff? And by the way, are they selling it - or are their parents?? Hope you’ll tune in today when producer Lynne and I discuss the “Little Lomans” with writer Meghan Gurdon, who penned a piece for the WSJ recently on just this phenomena.

Tune in today at 2:00 Central time to AM1160 WYLL Chicago, www.wyll.com, or later here or podcast at Nationalreview.com.

As always, thanks for listening!

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It shouldn’t - that’s what producer Lynne and I will be talking about today since Monday, Memorial Day, traditionally marks the start of summer. As kids, our summers were totally unstructured (and fun!) But both Lynne and I have the tendency to think in terms of “structure” for our own kids during the summer. Lynne says she plans on running a “boot camp” for her 5 kids this summer (lots of academic and physical discipline) and I admit that sounds good to me. But how much is too much?

We’ll be opening the phone lines today, so get ready to call and ad your two cents - what did your summers look like as a kid (did we even have “math camps” then?) and how much parental hands on planning is too much during the summer?

You can listen live, 2:00 central, at AM1160 WYLL, or streaming at www.wyll.com, or later here or via podcast at nationalreview.com. Today you can call at 847-956-5030.

Thanks for stopping by!

Betsy

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