Covering all Bases When Raising Children...by Sybil Sage

In this age of political correctness, there's a child's book designed to help our youngsters feel that however unusual their circumstances, they're not unique or abnormal. If these books don't already exist, we'll soon come across:

When Daddy Becomes Mommy: new dress up clothes for me
How To Play With Your Chinese Little Sister
Daddy May Be Different When He Comes Back From Iraq

In a league of its own is a pad that was popular in Los Angeles when our son was young, "Tell a Maid Child Care, Spanish/English" (Cuidar De Los Ninos) so that parents and Spanish-speaking caregivers could communicate, with each filling in instructions such as:

Bathe, bane (name of child) before (antes de las ) time.

No les permita mirar la television esta noche (no TV tonight).

Employees would report back by filling in things such as:

(Name of child) se negaron a banarse to rat on a child who'd refused to take a bath.

Linda Wolf, author of this pad, needed help with English as she translated "Si hay algo que no comprende, pregunteme" to "If their is something that you don't understand, ask me."

How confident would a parent feel having a caretaker who didn't know enough English to say, "We're out of detergent?" How could that person handle a call to 911? By now it's conceivable there's a computerized phone that's replaced this primitive pad so you press 1 for English and 2 for Spanish.