What is happening to these kids?

It was reported today in national news that a 15 yr old Cockeysville Maryland boy gunned down his parents and two brothers,left and spent an entire day with his friends,and reported his familys deaths upon returning home Saturday evening.He allegedly had been having difficulties getting along with his father,a Towson real estate attorney.Nicholas Waggoner Browning confessed to the slayings to police shortly after his crime was discovered.All their neighbors and friends have commented on what an asset this family was to the community and the boy had no history of violence.
Lots of teenagers argue with their parents.Let's face it,when you are a teenager you pretend your parents do not even exist,lol as if you were hatched out of an egg or something.There are going to be screaming matches and occasional tantrums but KILLING your parents AND your siblings?It is eerily reminiscent of the 1970's Amityville NY DeFeo murders-you know the ones in the "Amityville Horror"house.Was the kid in this case doing drugs?Did he have a mental illness?Or was it something darker that propelled him to commit such horror?He is too young to be charged as an adult in this tragedy and there is no offical word yet on whether he is being represented by an attorney.
I hope this is not indictative of another underlying epidemic of killer kids.In this case,the murder weapon was a gun in the home that belonged to the killers Dad.That opens up another big can of worms if the guns were not properly under lock and key.Browning is being held in a segregated juvenile unit at the Baltimore County Detention Center in Towson.

It's "Howdy Doody Time!"

60 Years ago today,"Howdy Doody" debuted on NBC,and ran until 1960-although it was before my time,my parents generation grew up watching this freckled puppet! Bob Keeshan played "Clarabel" the clown until he went on to become"Captain Kangaroo" & then-unknown actor William Shatner appeared on a Canadian version of the show.It was the beginning of a whole series of entertaining live-action Tv shows for children and has a huge place in TV history!

NOGGIN to go 24-7!!!

Any of you with children at home are probably familair with NOGGIN,which is an entirely commercial-free kids channel with favorites like Dora the Explorer and Blues Clues,as well as NOGGIN original programs for kids.Currently,it is a strictly 6am to 6pm channel and at 6pm it becomes The "N",showing preteen shows like "Degrassi High"& "Just Jordan" much to my toddlers dismay!They have just announced that as of December 31st,New Years Eve,it will be all NOGGIN,24 hours a day!!!With most of the kids channels like Nickelodeon and Disney concluding childrens shows at 6pm to switch to "tween" shows,there is very few 24-7 programming except for Boomerang & PBS Sprout,until now.So on those nights when my princess can't sleep she can tune in to "Franklin" or "Backyardigans".YEY!!!