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Shawn Bean

Shawn Bean is the executive editor of Parenting Early Years. He lives with his wife and two young sons in Florida, where family time often means fielding questions about body parts, ninjas, cavemen, and lava.

Thursday, December 8, 2011 - 11:05
Pop-isms, Volume VI
by Shawn Bean
Pop Culture
Hey new and expectant parents: looking to buy a really cheap pack-n-play? Try the UPS store... A truck filled with powdered sugar collides with an 18-wheeler hauling Triscuits. Boom. Frosted Mini Wheats are born…. Pee, sleep, eat, pee, sleep, eat: routine for a pregnant woman or drunk college friend crashing on the sofa?... My 7-year-old loves it when I put gel in his hair to make the bangs swoop up to the left. It’s time to replace that default avatar on my Facebook profile….Read Full Post
Monday, December 5, 2011 - 17:32
Sorry kids, there is no You-Know-Who
by Shawn Bean
Pop Culture
“Stop trying to convince your kids that Santa is Santa,” Robin Robinson said during the 9 p.m. newscast on FOX Chicago. “That’s why they have these high expectations. They know you can’t afford [the big gift], so what do they do? Just ask some man in a red suit. There is no Santa.” The TV station was reportedly flooded with angry responses from viewers. The next day, Robinson endured what may be best described as a sugarplum stoning....Read Full Post
Wednesday, November 30, 2011 - 13:37
Why the Wolf Father should be extinct
by Shawn Bean
Pop Culture
Whether your discipline style is the squeeze, the spank, the bribe, the yell, the empty threat, the count to three, the timeout chair, etc., I think we can all agree that Xiao Baiyou, the self-proclaimed Wolf Father, has it terribly, horribly, impossibly wrong.Read Full Post
Wednesday, November 23, 2011 - 21:02
Go the F$#@ to Taiwan
by Shawn Bean
Pop Culture
So what the f#@$ is the latest with the blockbuster children's book of 2011? As it turns out, the publisher of Go the F$#@ To Sleep wants children in every time zone to go the f#@$ to sleep. The book is set to be translated into more than 20 languages including Korean, Serbian, Czech and Taiwanese. But some cultures weren't exactly thrilled with the content.Read Full Post
Wednesday, November 16, 2011 - 16:30
Destroy Something With Your Preschooler
by Shawn Bean
Pop Culture
In a parenting landscape marinated in hand sanitizer and littered with soft plastic playgrounds, one teacher shares a rather unique message: let your kids play with fire.Read Full Post
Thursday, November 10, 2011 - 17:18
Why kids are more important than bowl games
by Shawn Bean
Pop Culture
In a world without college football, we sing fight songs for the victims. We paint our faces and rage at the loss of their innocence and childhood. We pin up pennants in our cubicles rallying for their support. We carry them off on our shoulders victorious, having defeated an enemy far more sinister than a wolverine, badger or boilermaker. That’s the alternate world I’d like to live in. Because it’s certainly not the one we live in now.Read Full Post
Sunday, November 6, 2011 - 16:11
Are you part of the Momfia?
by Shawn Bean
Pop Culture
From mommy bloggers with devout followings to “nurse-ins” to support breastfeeding in public to Parenting’s own Mom Congress, the mom lobby is motivated, effective, and a little effing intimidating. I call them the Momfia. Dads don’t have the same clout. Actually, we hardly have any.Read Full Post
Thursday, November 3, 2011 - 11:23
And the winner of the 2011 Fatherhood Award is....
by Shawn Bean
Pop Culture
In one of my previous posts, I take issue with the current state of dadvertising. For starters, moms get all the good gigs (Hey Proctor & Gamble, you think only moms use the Swiffer? I Swiff. I Swiff like a motherswiffer!) And there are as many redheaded English princes as there are cool modern dads selling product these days. So I was seriously happy to see that the National Fatherhood Initiative has nominated three companies for its 2011 Fatherhood Award, companies that have created TV commercials that present Dad as the kind of guy we aspire to be: easy-going, funny, someone a kid can look up to. And the nominees are....Read Full Post
Friday, October 28, 2011 - 16:14
Your dad is awesome. Here's proof.
by Shawn Bean
Pop Culture
Growing up, Garnet Bean’s closet wasn’t a closet. It was portal to the Polaroid-hued utopia of the 1970s. You opened the doors and saw ankle-high leather boots, powder blue suits, and T-shirts worn to an obscenely comfortable deli napkin thinness. When Garnet Bean became Dad, he slowly traded in those duds for an attire more suited to parent-teacher conferences and Reagan-era networking. I found a site that showcases the Garnets of the world when they were young and crazysexycool. In other words, before they had us.Read Full Post
Wednesday, October 26, 2011 - 09:09
Why men are never asked to throw baby showers
by Shawn Bean
Pop Culture
When a guy throws a party, you get 1) Saturated fats in bags adorned with animated characters 2) A television where athletic men in numbered jerseys are screamed at by unathletic men in numbered jerseys 3) A metal barrel filled with trash talking, frequent peeing, and singing in the key of wounded otter. But guys love these parties. I love these parties. Which is why guys are never asked to throw baby showers.Read Full Post

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