meta-dad

And Now For A Moment of Zen…

I have absolutely no idea how factual these numbers are but it still makes you think…

Does Your Local Hospital Make The Grade?

Have you ever wondered how your local hospital’s maternity ward stacks up against the national scorecard? Considering my wife is almost four and a half months along in her pregnancy with our third child, I checked out our hospital, Cedar Sinai, and although I agree with their three star rating (out of five), I admit I’m curious about the local five starred ones.

I’ve just come across one company, HealthGrades.Com, that makes it their business to track hospitals, nursing homes and physicians through a formulated rating system. They do not rate (‘best’ or ‘worst’) the physicians per say instead, to help consumers compare physicians, they profile physicians and provide national benchmark data. They have a number of tiered composite systems for rating both nursing homes and hospitals but most of them come for a price (generally $18-20 bucks will get you the full report).

Digging deeper into the subject, I’ve found there are a number of ‘top hospital’ lists out there, and like anything it seems the deeper you dig the more unclear the findings can become. I think what is most important here is that there are some pretty robust tools available to those who want to find out how their local hospital does compared with regional, state and national averages. And maybe the best way to evaluate a medical facility is based on the overall composite and a given procedure (if it applies). As an example, Cedar Sinai rates average for their maternity ward but overall has a great rating.

There are quite a few options when looking for the best hospital or if you want to look-up your pediatrician’s scorecard. Strangely enough some of the most incomplete or uninformative sites I found are the government sites, go figure. Here is a current list of hospital, physicians, and nursing home rating sites that have struck me as somewhat objective and informative for consumer use;

• HealthGrades.Com
• The Leap Frog Group
• U.S. News – 2007 Top 100 Hospitals
• Thomson’s Top 100 Hospitals
• Parent’s.Com | Top Ten Children’s Hospitals

And Now For A Moment of Zen…

National Account Balance estimates from the CIA World Fact Book (published 12th February 2008)

• 1st: China $363,300,000,000
• 5th: Russia $74,000,000,000
• 14th: Canada $28,460,000,000
• 161st: United Kingdom $-111,000,000,000
• 163rd (last place): United States $-747,100,000,000

Not on this list but notable is Iraq ($7.802 billion – 2007 est.), Iran ($19 billion – 2007 est.) and Cuba (-$750 million – 2007 est.).

Top Ten Signs of a Good Kindergarten

We moved from New York City a few short years ago because we could not face the price tag associated with raising kids in the city. Yes, we were part of that time-honored migration from the Big Apple once we got married. But we didn’t move to the suburbs – we went transcontinental and packed up for Los Angeles. But we have quickly found out that living in West LA is quite a challenge for those of us with school-aged kids. The waiting lists. The letters with attached pictures of your kids. The application fees. The secret handshakes.

Once you get beyond the velvet rope the real work begins. You must be stealth in both judgment and approach when taking tours of potential schools for your little angels. Then you’ve got to have a list and check it twice. Here is a worthy checklist (peppered with my thoughts and wise-cracks) vis a vis the National Association for the Education of Young Children. They’re the world’s largest organization working on behalf of young children with nearly 100,000 members, a national network of over 300 local, state, and regional affiliates. Whether you actually write out a list or you just keep a running tally in your head maybe one or two of these will help you and your search.

1. Children are playing and working with materials or other children and the space feels inspired and the personnel are actively engaged with the children. They are not aimlessly wandering or forced to sit quietly for long periods of time.
2. Children have access to various activities throughout the day, such as block building, pretend play, picture books, paints and other art materials, and table toys such as legos, pegboards, and puzzles. Children are not all doing the same things at the same time.
3. Teachers work with individual children, small groups, and the whole group at different times during the day and the ration of teacher-to-student is low. They do not spend time only with the entire group.
4. The classroom is decorated with children’s original artwork, their own writing with invented spelling, and dictated stories. The space is designed and or arranged to accommodate the children (chairs, tables, sinks and bathrooms are all easily accessible and safe to use for small children).
5. Children learn numbers and the alphabet in the context of their everyday experiences. Exploring the natural world of plants and animals, cooking, taking attendance, and serving snack are all meaningful activities to children. In general, there day is varied with an array of meaningful activities and experiences that they can learn and grow from.
6. Children work on projects and have long periods of time (at least one hour) to play, explore and and interact. Filling out worksheets should not be their primary activity.
7. Children have an opportunity to play outside every day that weather permits. This play is never sacrificed for more instructional time even if the weather is not desirable.
8. Teachers read books to children throughout the day, not just at group story time.
9. Curriculum is adapted for those who are ahead as well as those who need additional help. Because children differ in experiences and background, they do not learn the same things at the same time in the same way.
10. Children and their parents look forward to school. And of course, parents feel safe sending their child to a given kindergarten.

Sited Links:
Education.Com
National Association for the Education of Young Children

The Name Game

Suri. Apple. Kingston. Brooklyn. Harry. Moon Unit.

I think from the get-go dads and moms realize that coming up with the right name for your soon-to-be-born kid is a very important and potentially daunting task. Do we want a popular name or a totally unique name, or from a character in book or maybe a religious one? Should we choose a popular name with an alternate spelling or your beloved deceased mongoose? How does it sound with our last name? What do the initials spell out? And so it goes and goes and goes…

This article is topical in our household since I opened my Christmas gift a few weeks ago announcing that my wife is pregnant again with our third child! Very exciting! She is due mid-August and we are very happy.

So of course, I have been scouring the web for the best sites to reference. With the two boys we went into it not knowing whether the baby was to be a boy or girl. We decided ahead of time to choose our two favorite boy names and two favorite girl names and when the baby is born we will know for sure (when we meet him/her) what her name is. This plan has worked well for us.

Here is a short List of worthy links if you’re shopping around for good baby names;

BabyNamesWorld.Com – includes derivation and meanings of over 27,000 names
BabyNamer | Quick reference of name’s etymology
BabyNames.Com | From around the world (Persian, Aztec, Hawaiian, Slavic, et al.)
How Not To Name Your Baby | Online Guide to Baby Naming

meta-DAD’s Top Six CD’s For Kids

That’s right — six. I could not wittle it down to five, and I’m totally comfortable with that.

It’s the end of the year and you know what that means a whole lotta lists are coming out to round out the Best Of 2007 categories. This is not the Best Of… because some of this stuff has been around for a year or two, kinda like my kids. And now that I’m a full-fledged dad always in search of new music I have been checking out some different genres and areas I don’t traditionally gravitate too.

Elizabeth Mitchell – You Are My Flower

I wrote about this CD when it first came out because it was one of these rare acoustical efforts that travels beyond the coffee shop vibe into something really special. I’m not sure what but in the meantime, More »