Tis' the season for lists. My inbox is full of them -- top 10 parenting stories of the year, top last-minute Christmas gifts, top Google searches in 2011. (Turns out Rebecca Black got more than 15 minutes of fame in 2011.)
Who, after all, can resist a list that reflects back on another year in the books? So, after the first 10 months of the Daddy-O blog, here are the top 10 posts of 2011 (based unscientifically on the number of reader comments, Facebook likes, and Twitter referrals).
10) Do safe playgrounds turn risk-free kids into nervous adults? Few things gets readers chatting like the overprotectiveness of modern society -- including the disappearance of old-school jungle gyms in the name of safety.
9) Retire Ronald McDonald? A coalition of public health leaders -- including more than 40 Minnesotans -- asked McDonalds to cut out the direct marketing of its high-fat foods to children.
8) Toxic daughters-in-law. Hell hath no fury like a mother-in-law scorned. This one wrote a tell-all book about how her daughter-in-law cut her off from her son. Loved the reader comments on this one.
7) Who lives in a pineapple under the sea (and rots your kids brains)?! See for yourself in this blog! The pacing of SpongeBob is wickedly faster than old WB cartoons. A study assessed the impact this flashy video has on kids.
6) Weight gain more likely for women after marriage, men after divorce. For women, weight gain after marriage often had to do with giving birth. Not sure what excuse men have for weight gain after divorce!
5) Germ detective finds bacteria in Minneapolis McDs playland. The Rebecca Black of public health: Erin Carr-Jordan of Arizona State gained national attention this year for finding and testing all the crud inside fast-food playgrounds.
