BARBARA'S TCHATZKAHS

When I was in Elementary School (40 years ago) my Fifth Grade teacher had a singular dislike for myself and my parents. I don't know why and looking back on it I still think she had a screw or 10 loose. She was one of those battle-axes who hated kids, hated her job and found one or two kids every year to crap all over. That year - myself and a boy named Jim Gillespie were it. This woman, an adult woman - purposely set me up (a 10 year old no less) to be taunted by my classmates and even left me at a school outing to wander 2 miles back to school myself... with no remorse. She stole things from my desk, hid them and watched as I dissolved in tears searching for them. She wanted so badly to give me bad grades but I was an honor student. Anything to break my spirit... what little I had at age 11. I have PCOS and one of the signs of that is precocious (early) puberty. Mine hit hard when I was 9. I had full breasts and pubic hair by 10. A couple of my classmates told this to th...

DON'T WE CALL THIS PEDOPHILIA? BATTLE OVER INDIA'S MARRIAGE AGE By Charles Haviland A conservative Muslim body in India has gone to the High Court to challenge the legal age of marriage, which currently stands at 18. There are lots of bad things in society these days, so the sooner a girl gets married, the better The All-India Muslim Personal Law Board insists that in family matters the country's Muslims should be subject only to Islamic law, known as Sharia. It maintains that it is supported by a 1937 act upholding Muslims' right to be guided by this law. The debate has arisen because of a family who have been threatened with arrest because they allowed the marriage of an under-age girl. Fatima Mehjabin and her husband Muazzamil dote on their four year-old son, Fazal, along with his little brother and sister. But the very basis for their marriage is now being questioned in court because when they were wed five years ago, Fatima was 17 - one year under the limit set by ...

RITES OF PASSAGE I started this weekend. The "talks" about growing up. One of my children has signs of precocious puberty, which I had. I thought about this while we were away this past June. It was time. One of my kids has lost 3 teeth in 2 months and grown about 3 1/2 inches. Zoom... I do and don't feel anxiety about it really. It's normal and natural. But considering that I have PCOS (and my brother has signs of Syndrome X), I am worried that my children may have inherited this. However, I am not there yet. I am starting slow. We went to Barnes & Noble (one of our favorite places) and I picked up some new reading for them. They are such voracious readers its hard for me to keep up. I saw some reading on normal body changes that were age appropriate. I gave these books to them with a brief, now as you're reading, feel free to ask me about anything you don't understand. I have decided I am not going to do one big talk. They would zone out. ...