Parenting roundup: Kate Middleton's pregnancy, puppies for rent, and more

Kate Middleton's pregnant, and was it bullying when two Nevada teens beat up a special needs student?

By Stephanie Hanes / December 7, 2012

Kate Middleton's pregnancy prompted Twitter congratulations from world leaders and a paparazzi camp-out outside her hospital.

Paul Rogers/Times Newspapers/AP

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We don?t blame you if you found that Kate Middleton?s pregnancy eclipsed all the other parenting news this week. It distracted us, too. (I mean, really.? Hospitalization, Australian crank calls, bookies taking bets out on possible royal baby names... it went on and on.)? But this is why we have our Friday parenting news roundup ? to share some tidbits that you might have missed during the week.

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Correspondent

Stephanie Hanes is the lead writer for Modern Parenthood and a longtime Monitor correspondent. She lives in Andover, Mass. with her husband, Christopher, her daughter, Madeline Thuli, a South Africa Labrador retriever, Karoo, and an imperialist cat named Kipling.

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But first, because we just can?t help it, a review of the news from London.

Heir in making???
The British royals announced on Monday that Ms. Middleton and husband Prince William were expecting a child and that the Duchess had been admitted to King Edward VII Hospital with acute morning sickness. As poor Kate attempted to recuperate (even the most celeb-cynical moms must have a bit of sympathy on this one), the royal-watching world went nuts. The paparazzi camped outside the hospital. World leaders tweeted their congratulations. Bookies took out bets on what names the couple might pick for the future monarch. (At the moment, odds are pretty decent on Frances and John.)?

Are you a 'Helicopter Parent'? Take our quiz!

And then pundits started analyzing Kate?s womb. You know, is she too thin? Is she having twins?? Will she parent more like Diana or the queen mum?
?
As the palace confirms that Middleton is not yet 12 weeks pregnant, you can be assured that there will be much more Royal baby talk in the coming months. And that countless other pregnant women will be saying prayers of thanks that nobody is paying this much attention to their bellies.

No school, no job
On the opposite side of the socio-economic spectrum... a new Kids Count policy report from the Annie E. Casey Foundation says that nearly 6.5 million U.S. teens and young adults are neither in school nor working. Youth unemployment is at its highest level since World War II, with the employment rate for teens between 16 and 19 falling 42 percent over the past decade. Of those young people aged 16 to 24 without school or work, 21 percent are young parents.

This is a big deal, the report says. This large group of what it terms ?disconnected youth? are more likely to be unemployed later in life and less likely to achieve ?higher levels of career attainment.? Researchers quote another study that calculates the total taxpayer burden for out-of-school and out-of-work youths ages16 to 24 at $1.56 trillion.

Time for the policymakers to get working.

Source: http://rss.csmonitor.com/~r/feeds/csm/~3/Y909mqw_aA4/Parenting-roundup-Kate-Middleton-s-pregnancy-puppies-for-rent-and-more

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