More than half of all children engage in some sexual behavior before age 13, according to one study. But what’s normal exploration, and what’s a problem?
A new report by two physicians published Monday in the journal Pediatrics tries to resolve this sticky question. The conclusion: Many childhood sexual behaviors are within the realm of normal. Kids often behave sexually out of curiosity or as a way of testing interpersonal boundaries.
However, any behavior that is “persistently intrusive, coercive … or abusive” is a red flag that something may be wrong, according to Dr. Nancy Kellogg of the University of Texas Health Science Center, who is one of the co-authors of the study. Sexual abuse, domestic violence or exposure to lewd content in the media can all be linked to problematic sexual behaviors.
There are many sexual behaviors in children that many parents may not be comfortable with, which aren’t actually a sign that anything is really wrong, a Chicago Tribune story on the study pointed out. For instance, when your three-year-old son sticks his hands down his pants in the grocery store, don’t freak out. Just redirect him to a more socially acceptable activity, like begging for sugary cereal.
A four-year-old girl died of heat exposure after falling asleep in her family’s SUV while it was parked at a fleamarket in Brownsville, Tex., on on Sunday. Her mom has been charged with felony abandonment and/or endangerment of a child.
Felicitas Alexandra Cordova is the 23rd child this year to die from hypothermia or heat stroke as a result of being in a hot, parked vehicle, according to a S.F. State meterologist who tracks the trend. More info on hot-car deaths nationwide is here.
The high temperature on Sunday in Brownsville was 96 degrees. Olga Salazar, 37, was running three booths at the flea market with her older children when she lost track of Felicitas, authorities said. It’s unclear why the girl opened the door and got inside the vehicle.
“She went in there and went to sleep or was in there sleeping,” Police Lt. Orlando Rodriguez told the Brownsville Herald. “She could have easily gone in there and lost consciousness (from) the heat, which is something that unfortunately happens.”
Maureen Lee and her 3-year-old daughter, Maya, were walking on a trail near their home in British Columbia, Canada, when the cougar appeared in front of them. The 88-pound animal pushed little Maya down and got on top her.
Lee didn’t have time to feel scared. She was angry, and her maternal instincts took over. She says she pushed the cougar off her little girl, picked up the child and ran, the Vancouver Sun reported. She didn’t stop running until she got to a neighbor’s house. Maya suffered cuts to her head and left arm and required stitches.
Later on Tuesday night, conservation officers scoured the trail and found the cougar suspected in the attack. The animal was then killed. Experts say that cougars are usually elusive and avoid people.
Lee says that her daughter seems to have recovered from the attack, and they won’t let the incident deter them from enjoying nature. “I don’t want her to be afraid of the forest,” Lee says. “I don’t want her to be afraid of picking berries. I want her to understand that this was a unique situation.”
Photo by Digital Art 2
Again, it’s a tragic reminder for busy parents to check their cars. A Florida man drove his wife to work on Sunday, but didn’t realize that she had put their one-year-old daughter in her car seat, police said. It wasn’t until four hours later that the father, then at home, realized that the girl wasn’t in her crib. He found her unconscious in the car. She was pronounced dead at the hospital, WOKV TV News reported.
No charges have been filed, but the state’s Department of Children and Families is investigating. Last week, an infant in the San Francisco Bay Area died after his father parked at a transit station, headed to work and forgot about him. Prosecutors decided this week not to charge the man, saying that he had suffered enough for his mistake. Read about a California mom who left her daughter in a hot car in 2007 and her ongoing guilt about the child’s death here.
In recent days, three parents have been charged with leaving their kids in hot cars. Thankfully, the children were rescued — sweaty but unharmed — after being spotted by passersby. On Monday, a Houston-area mom was issued a citation after her toddler girl was found in a car parked at an apartment complex, KTRK TV News reported. The mother, who told authorities that she had run inside an apartment to get some documents, was not punished more severely only because the windows had been rolled down.
A Fresno, Tex., mom was arrested and charged with child endangerment over the weekend after leaving her five-year-old daughter in a Wal-mart parking lot. And on Saturday morning, a University of New Hampshire professor was charged with endangering the welfare of a child after his 16-month-old son was found alone in a parked car in downtown Durham, N.H.
A Chicago-area man accused of child porn has so far avoided jail, but a federal judge has ordered that he must pull down the shades in his home from dawn to dusk and turn over all of his cameras.
Mario Meschino, a former public school bus driver, has been charged with possessing, receiving and transporting child porn over the Internet. He’s admitted to having sexual images of minors on his computer as well as taking pics of clothed kids who rode his school bus, according to a criminal affadavit.
He hasn’t been convicted of any crime yet and is currently out on bond. But dozens of his neighbors in Plainfield, Ill., went to court this week, complaining that he has been taking photos of area kids from inside his home, the Chicago Sun-Times reported. Authorities said they found photos of neighborhood kids — all clothed — when they searched Meschino’s home and computer. It appeared that the kids did not know they were being photographed.
On Wednesday, a judge declined to revoke Meschino’s bond but instead made the unusual order for the suspect to shut his window shades. However, Judge Martin Ashman admitted that the photos were “somewhat creepy,” although “you don’t revoke a bond because of creepiness.”
Meschino’s lawyer said that the neighbors were too paranoid and were unfairly convicting Meschino before trial. But neighbors said they feel their kids are being stalked. “We’re not going to feel comfortable until he’s in prison,” said one neighbor who owns a pool adjacent to Meschino’s backyard.
Photo by Dana Graves
A 7-year-old Texas girl survived a car accident, which killed her father, and then drove three miles to get help.
After 40-year-old Guillermo Montes, the driver, was thrown out of the family’s vehicle, when it went off a highway in New Mexico, Elizabeth Kazza realized her dad was dead. But the girl kept her head, and drove the vehicle three miles before another motorist spotted her, according to the Associated Press.
Elizabeth and her little brother, who is four, were treated for minor injuries. Montes was driving from Bovina, Tex., to Clovis, N.M., to buy beer, a distance of about 25 miles, according to Elizabeth. The children said their father was drinking while he was driving, and beer bottles were found at the crash scene.
Children are more likely to drown in backyard pools than in public ones, according to a new report from the Consumer Products Safety Commission.
Nearly 300 children younger than five drown in pools and spas each year. About 3,000 suffer injuries that require emergency room visits in spas or pools annually. Some 80 percent of those emergencies occur at residences.
An American child is 100 times more likely to die in a swimming accident than by playing with a loaded gun, according to Steven D. Levitt, a university of Chicago economics professor, and author of “Freakonomics.”
Since summer is almost here, for tips on how to install a safe barrier around your pool, and how to supervise young children around water, click here.
The 2-year-old boy apparently was climbing onto a cabinet or dresser when the television set fell on him. George Perdomo Jr. was in his apartment in Oklahoma City when the accident occurred, The Oklahoman reported.
Falling TVs are becoming a more common hazard and caused the deaths of 40 children between 2005 and 2006, according to government statistics. Safety experts recommend that toys and other distractions not be placed anywhere near the TV so children are not tempted to climb furniture to get to them. Safety gates should also be placed around the TV area, especially for television sets that are thin and light and easier to knock over.
The Oklahoma Senate has approved a bill banning registered sex offenders from operating ice cream vending trucks. “Ice cream trucks are an important part of childhood; they should not be ways for predators to lure children,” sponsor Jay Paul Gumm, a Democrat, told the Durant Daily Democrat.
The move to ban convicted predators from the trucks started with the 2004 arrest in Troy, N.Y., of a driver for Mr. Ding a Ling. Eduardo Grau, an Argentine national, was sentenced to two years in prison after confessing to kissing and fondling a 9-year-old girl. Grau was deported in 2006.
His case resulted in a 2005 law in New York and in various communities around the country, including Tucson and San Antonio. The Oklahoma bill, which is supported by the ice cream vending industry, now goes to the Oklahoma House of Representatives.
Seven Chicago police officers will be disciplined for being out-smarted by a 14-year-old wanna-be cop for five hours, according to the Chicago Sun-Times.
As Minor Troubles previously reported, the crafty kid duped his fellow officers during his rogue crime-fighting spree, going on patrol with them, and even driving a police squad car. While the teen didn’t wear a gun, he put a newspaper under his uniform to make it look like he was wearing bulletproof armor.
Announcing the reprimands today, a supervisor didn’t specify the officers who got played by the impetuous imposter. The seven officers’ punishment, which has not yet been named, could range from suspension to firing.
Of course, the embarassment and humiliation of having been fooled by a 14-year-old, without a badge or a gun, when your job consists of sniffing out shenanigans, is its own unique form of punishment, too.