LeBron James has a new teammate: SpongeBob

AKRON, Ohio (AP) — LeBron James has a new teammate who’s just as popular. The guy has a few holes in his game. Oh, and he lives in a pineapple under the sea.

SpongeBob SquarePants won’t help James win any NBA titles, but the Cavaliers’ superstar has paired up with Nickelodeon, the home of SpongeBob and his ocean-dwelling cartoon chums, to raise awareness about the environment.

Beyond the global-awareness message — part of Nickelodeon’s Big Green Help campaign — James is hoping to educate kids on the importance of exercise.

“We’re trying to get kids out of the house,” Cleveland’s All-Star forward said while dressing in his trailer after filming the PSA, which will air in mid-July. “Get outside, ride bikes, play hoops. And in this, we’re trying to save water and do other things that can help the environment. … It doesn’t take much to recycle a can or turn the faucet off.”

At 23, James is still a kid at heart. A big SpongeBob fan, the two-time Olympian is also a father of two young sons, and he understands the impact he can have on shaping other kids’ lives.
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Add more boom, less burn to your family’s celebration

Amy Kossoff Smith The Business of Motherhood

With July Fourth comes backyard barbeques, hot dogs and hamburgers, family outings, excessive heat and, of course, the grand finale: fireworks. The bright colors and sparkling display are a feast for any sight, especially for young kids who are fearless and more prone to accidents. With this holiday comes some important safety concerns for parents.

The statistics regarding fireworks injuries are truly shocking. According to The American College of Emergency Physicians (ACEP):

There were 9,200 people treated for fireworks-related injuries in emergency departments in 2006 (the latest data available). The number of incidents is decreasing slightly, but still a concern.

Some 33 percent of the injured were children under age 15.

60 percent of fireworks injuries occur in the month surrounding July 4th.

Sparklers alone, which may burn at temperatures higher than 1,200 degrees Fahrenheit, were responsible for more than 20 percent of fireworks injuries.
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Mother needs time-outs, too

Susan Callahan, Anne Nolan and Katrin Schumann McClatchy-Tribune

The following is an excerpt from “Mothers Need Time-Outs, Too” by Susan Callahan, Anne, Nolen and Katrin Schumann (copyright 2008). Reprinted with permission from The McGraw-Hill Companies, www.mhprofessional.com.

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MOTHER-GUILT: IT’S JUST A BIG, FAT EXCUSE!

Even though almost anyone can recognize the negative effects of running on empty — and the positive effect of feeling appreciated and centered — lots of mothers out there can’t seem to make downtime a reality. Why? Almost 100 percent of the women we talked to cited two reasons. The first is that they simply don’t believe they have the spare time.
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Help! What would you have done?

I had a really really weird experience Sunday at the Cleveland Indians game.

Aside from arriving in the third inning — a horrendous traffic jam had my 5-year-old daughter near tears that we wouldn’t arrive in time to receive a Slider hat (it was his birthday gala, after all) — she and I were having a pretty good day once we got into the stadium, secured the all-important Slider hat and grabbed our traditional game-day munchies before settling into our seats.

After she guzzled down her pink lemonade, we bought two bottles of water from a vendor for $4 a pop. We’d only taken a sip or two when she spotted Slider on our side of the stadium. Off we went — we must say hi to Slider, you know.

After we accomplished that (a matter of minutes — we weren’t gone long), we headed back to our seats. The problem? A little boy that had been sitting behind us was settled into an empty seat beside ours, and he was putting the lid BACK on my water bottle.

“What are you doing with my water?” I asked.
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Toilet Trouble – Again!!

What exactly is it about the toilet that fascinates little kids? Is it the water? Is it the sound it makes? Is it the disappearing act when it’s flushed? What is so hard to understand about “don’t stick things in the toilet!”

I was pretty sure we’d cured our youngest, 2-year-old Keira, of the bad habit of christening various household items via the bathroom, but I recently got an unpleasant surprise.

It was bedtime so of course I was laying out clothes for the kids for the following day, packing my son’s lunch for camp, putting a load of laundry into the dryer, picking up toys and dirty clothes from the floors of various rooms and loading the dishwasher. Finally I made a dash to the bathroom only to notice two Dixie cups in the...

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Five things twin moms really want to hear

Kim Hays  Moms At Work blog

As a mom of twins, I’m sure I’m not alone in saying (in my head mostly), “shut up.”

Yes, I love people admiring my beautiful children. What I don’t like, however, is the constant barrage of comments I get when I take them out in public.

“Wow, you’re hands must be full! (Ya think?)

“Better you than me.” (Well, obviously.)

“Are they twins?” – (No, I had them a few months apart.)

What we twin mamas really want to hear:

5. Just call us, we’ll meet you in the parking lot with a gallon of milk.

4. Yes, we...

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Wall art that sticks

Wendy Zang  McClatchy-Tribune

Forget hours of tedious painting or, worse yet, hundreds spent on hiring an artist to get fun and unique wall murals for your child’s room.

U.K. company FunToSee offers room makeover kits of giant removable wall stickers, now available in the U.S.

The company promises stickers will stick to almost any clean surface and are tough enough to withstand bath splashes or sticky fingers.

Kits come in a variety of themes — jungle safari, undersea adventure, funky flowers, outer space — and the company also offers Disney themes, including Winnie-the-Pooh, Cars, Fairies and Princesses.

Regular kits sell for $60 and Disney...

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New stroller from Simmons

Wendy Zang McClatchy-Tribune

You may know the brand Simmons best from crib mattresses and changing pads, but parent company Delta Children’s Products is expanding the brand to include strollers.

Released this spring, the Simmons Pearl and Simmons Onyx strollers have the look of a super high end, $700 ride at a much lower cost. They’re still not cheap, at $149-$199, but both are relatively light weight (15 and 18 pounds) and promise easy functioning.

The Onyx is billed as a “fully-loaded” and features a quick recline seat, multi-position canopy, five-point safety harness, swivel front wheels, front wheel lock, spring wheel shock absorbent and dual break system. It also...

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You’ll never get used to seeing your kid get hurt

I was brutally reminded recently that parents will never get used to seeing their kids hurt. It’s the one area of parenting where experience means nothing. You will never be OK with it, you will never be able to take their pain away, you will never stop fearing it, and it will never get easier to deal with.

I have three kids and all of them have been hurt, all of them have been sick and all of them have been to the ER at least once. Thankfully nothing serious has befallen them, but head wounds scare me the most. It’s not just the sickening sound they make, but the fear of what you can’t see happening inside the skull. You watch them for headaches, dizziness, nausea and pupil activity. You don’t sleep that night because you’re constantly checking on...

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Haiku and gentle fun

Judy Green McClatchy Newspapers

Jon J Muth’s cleverness emerges gradually in “Zen Ties,” a glowing companion to his Caldecott Honor book, “Zen Shorts.” Stillwater, the gentle giant of a panda, greets his nephew at the train station with “Hi, Koo!” His welcome includes a gift of helium-filled balloons.

“An uplifting gift!” responds young Koo in haiku, the Japanese poetry form of three lines and 17 syllables. It launches Muth’s wordplay.

But Muth’s story is much more. At its core are Stillwater’s affection and concern for an elderly neighbor whose angry words have frightened the neighborhood children. Among them are Addy, Michael and Karl, who first appeared in “Zen Shorts.”
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