Five Russian oblasts have schooled the rest in good socio-economic policy, according to recent awards from the Expert Institute of Social Research.

In this week's G-rated Odder News: Kid-friendly World War II history, kid-friendly educational TV, and kid-friendly swearing lessons.

“My personal opinion: any child loves running, jumping, drawing, singing, And maybe not everyone can do it ‘perfectly,’ but to give a student a ‘C’ (‘troika’) just because they lack a musical ear is, in my opinion, not right.”

– Education Minister Olga Vasilyeva

Russians send the Night’s Watch to New Jersey and bottles to Brazil; they welcome a Swedish girl to speak and immigrants to share their imya (name). 
 

Russian women: give birth in Syrian prisons, drive metro trains, make news (and borsch), and welcome children home from the dead.

Scouting has had a long and complicated history in Russia. And, not surprisingly, it gets a bit political.

What would the world be like without a wee boy, women, or whales in the wild? Definitely worse.

A family of animal defenders gets burned out of their home. All they want is to return, to help more animals.

Russia's ban on American adoptions focused attention on Putin and world politics, while the real issue is the plight of the children who live inside the vast orphan system.

In the summer of 2024, blogger Alyona Kapustyan, who is fully deaf-blind, and sightless massage therapist Islomiddin Barotov had a son – who can see and hear. Here’s how she, a poet, and he, an athlete, are building a family and undermining stereotypes about relationships and parenthood among people with disabilities