Hothouse Children

Well, that's one theory, I guess...

Original article here.

Posted By: Paul - Wed Nov 01, 2017 - Comments (1)
Category: Children, Crackpots, Nineteenth Century

Dawn Langley Simmons

I believe every word that Dawn Langley Simmons says.

Source.

Posted By: Paul - Wed Sep 27, 2017 - Comments (3)
Category: Children, Parents, 1960s, Gender-bending, LGBT

Miss Beverly Hills 1960

In our continuing annals of oddball beauty contests, this 1948 event must qualify as exceptional.

Posted By: Paul - Sat Aug 12, 2017 - Comments (1)
Category: Beauty, Ugliness and Other Aesthetic Issues, Contests, Races and Other Competitions, Children, 1940s

Murder by Flypaper

Posted By: Paul - Wed Jul 19, 2017 - Comments (6)
Category: Death, Scary Criminals, Children, 1930s

How many ways are children annoying?

Back in 1931, Dr. Mandel Sherman, director of the Child Research Centre, wanted to find out the exact number of ways in which children annoy their parents. He came up with the oddly specific number of 2,124 different ways.

He arrived at this number by having a group of parents carry notebooks around with them for a week and record each time their child annoyed them.

Some of the ways in which the children annoyed: being disobedient, being too slow or too quick, not being neat, primping, etc.

Personally, I think he seriously lowballed that number.

We've encountered the work of Dr. Sherman before. Back in 2009, I posted about his advice that instead of training kids to be successful in life, we should train them to accept the inevitability of failure. That way, they'll be much happier when they actually do end up as mediocre flops.

The New York Times - Jan 30, 1931

Posted By: Alex - Mon Mar 20, 2017 - Comments (3)
Category: Psychology, Children, Parents, 1930s

Berry Pink, the Marble King

Weird name, unusual hobby.






Original article here.

Home page of current company founded by Berry Pink.

Samples of their marbles, and more history.

Posted By: Paul - Sat Mar 11, 2017 - Comments (3)
Category: Games, Children, 1920s, 1930s

Beulah Miller, the Girl with X-Ray Vision

Very proud to have a resident of my native Rhode Island exhibit this uncanny power.

Although not everyone was so positive, as the NYT coverage from April 23, 193, shows.

Original article here.

Further coverage here.

Posted By: Paul - Fri Mar 03, 2017 - Comments (5)
Category: Human Marvels, Children, 1910s

THE WAY OUT RECORD by Bruce Haack

Wikipedia page here.

Thanks to pal Lawrence Person.

Posted By: Paul - Sun Jan 29, 2017 - Comments (0)
Category: Music, Children, Bohemians, Beatniks, Hippies and Slackers, Psychedelic, 1960s

The Playground Jungle

You could easily spend hours at The Playground Jungle, investigating all the childhood lore you half-recall, whether silly or naughty.

Here's a seasonal ditty I had never heard of:

We three kings of Leicester Square
selling ladies underwear
how fantastic, no elastic
not very safe to wear
O, star of wonder, star of light
the royal knickers caught alight
how fantastic, no elastic
guide me to the traffic lights

Or you could also buy their book.

Posted By: Paul - Thu Dec 08, 2016 - Comments (4)
Category: Antiques, Anachronisms and Throwbacks, Culture and Civilization, Customs, Children

The Littlest Maniac

Original article here.

Posted By: Paul - Sat Dec 03, 2016 - Comments (4)
Category: Children, 1900s, Brain Damage