Dramatic Apology

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The Truth about the Dangers of Balloons and Children

Editor's Note (2026): This article has been updated where scientific understanding, laws, or statistics have changed since it was originally published. Updated information is marked with an asterisk (*) and explained in the Update Notes at the end of the article. For the past several months I have been going to Northlake Mall to teach my daughter to share. The plan was to come up with something fun to have her give away and then see the fruit of her labor, aka popularity and community play. I landed on balloons. Kids cannot swing or throw them hard enough to hurt each other. On a couple occasions a mother would be very concerned about balloons around their child. To ease my mind, I did some research to find out the truth. For perspective, of the 5,000 toddler deaths in 2000, only 1 was caused by a balloon. *Balloon deaths have dropped over the years, but they have not disappeared. In the mid-1990s, balloons caused about seven to ten child deaths a year, according to the CDC, an...

The Truth about Cell Phones and Cancer

Editor's Note (2026): This article has been updated where scientific understanding has changed since it was originally published. Updated information is marked with an asterisk (*) and explained in the Update Notes at the end of the article. What the experts said (as summarized by the American Cancer Society at the time of writing): American Cancer Society (ACS): Taken as a whole, most studies to date have not found a link between cell phone use and the development of tumors. National Cancer Institute (NCI): Although research has not consistently demonstrated a link between cellular telephone use and cancer, scientists still caution that further surveillance is needed before conclusions can be drawn. National Toxicology Program (NTP): While the weight of the current scientific evidence has not conclusively linked cell phones with any health problems, the NTP and other scientific organizations conclude that additional data are needed. Centers for Disease Control and Pre...

Bubbly Baby & the Benign Bathwater: The Truth about the Dangers of Drinking Bathwater

I have read 50 websites of moms arguing over whether drinking bathwater is bad for their child or not. The overall consensus is that it is gross, but is it really bad for them? A lot of opinions and misplaced facts seem to be circulating about drinking bathwater and diarrhea. Hopefully this will set your mind at ease. Pediatrician Dr. Tanya Altmann, speaking to BabyCenter, recommends discouraging this behavior, but says you don't need to be too concerned about it. Drinking soapy water could cause an upset tummy. But this is unlikely; most kids spit water out if it has that unpleasant soapy taste. And the amount of soap your child would actually ingest is pretty small considering how much water it's diluted with in a typical bathtub. As far as cleaning products, the amount of chemicals used to clean a tub, which is usually rinsed well afterward and then filled with water, is less potent than in swimming pool water. Still, it's better to give your child clean water from the...

The Joy of the Lord: Choosing Goodness in a World of Suffering

“Choose joy.” You have seen it. It is on coffee mugs, throw pillows, and at least one wooden sign in every farmhouse-style kitchen in America. Depending on when you hear it, it is either good advice or the two most irritating words in the English language. Said by someone who has been through real hardship and come out the other side still grateful, it can sound like wisdom. Said to someone standing at a graveside, three weeks into a depression, or the day after a layoff, it can sound more like, “Could you please be sad somewhere else?” So here is the question: Is joy something Christians actually choose? Or is “choose joy” just a polite way of telling hurting people to get over it? Neither answer quite works. Scripture does call believers to rejoice. It even commands it. But Scripture also describes joy as something God gives, and it makes a surprising amount of room for grief, lament, anger, and the honest recognition that the world is badly broken. If we are going to say anything us...

On the Nature of Taste and Whether It Can Be Learned

At some point, most people encounter someone whose sense of style, fashion, or decor feels consistently off. At first, this is easy to dismiss as a matter of preference. Taste is subjective, we tell ourselves. But when poor taste recurs across different contexts, it raises a more unsettling question. What exactly is taste? How does good taste develop? Why do some people seem unable to acquire it? Good taste is often misunderstood as trend awareness or personal expression. In reality, it is something far more restrained and disciplined. Good taste is the ability to recognize proportion, coherence, and intention within a given context. It reflects an understanding of relationships between elements rather than attachment to any single element. People with good taste notice balance, scale, rhythm, and absence. They sense when something is excessive, distracts from its purpose, or draws attention to itself unnecessarily. Most importantly, they adapt their choices to context. What works in o...