Fight in front of your kids

By Elise Crane Derby, Los Angeles Moms Blog

I used to think it was important for my husband and me to show a united front to our daughter. That was pretty easy to pull off when she was a baby, but now that she’s five it’s a bit challenging at times and frankly I’m not even sure it’s a good idea anymore. What kind of example of a relationship does it set for her? Does she come to the conclusion that there is no room for individual thought in parenting?

For example, a few weeks ago I watched the movie, Food Inc, and have since decided that our already pretty clean diet needs to get cleaner. Not to point fingers or anything but my husband is the one who brings the partially hydrogenated everything into our home. So I needed to get him on...

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How young is too young for ear piercing?

By Lisa A. Flam, Contra Costa Times

I knew the question would be coming someday: “Mommy, can I get my ears pierced?”

I was prepared for the request, if not to deliver the bad news. “You can get your ears pierced when you’re older,” I told my almost 5-year-old daughter.

The only reason she knew to ask, naturally, is that her friends have pierced ears. In fact, my brand-new kindergartner told me that “everybody in my class has pierced ears except for the boys and me.”

Despite feeling some peer pressure, she accepted my answer and moved on to other things, like her ever-growing birthday present wish list.

I had dodged the earring-gun bullet for now, but wondered how long I’d be able to hold my...

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Kid solutions for adult problems

By Heidi Stevens, Chicago Tribune

Your 9-year-old might not have a solution for the health care stalemate, but that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t give her a shot at it.

Richard Bellingham, author of the recently released “The Fables of Boris: Invitations to Meaningful Conversations” (iUniverse), urges parents to tackle some weighty topics with their kids — climate change, health care reform — with the hope that they’ll solve them faster than the folks currently in charge.

“Injecting ethical content into everyday discussions” is what Bellingham calls it. And he’s found a kid-friendly vehicle for doing just that: Boris, a talking dog.

“Fables of Boris” follows a mythical dog who experiences...

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Mom gear: The Undercover mama helps nursing moms

By Emilie LeBeau, McClatchy-Tribune

Seventy percent of women begin breastfeeding immediately after giving birth but few continue as their child grows. The Center for Disease Control and Prevention estimates only 20 percent of moms exclusively breastfeed six months after giving birth.

The federal government hopes to raise the percentage of women breastfeeding exclusively after six months to 50 percent. Most state laws support this goal by protecting breastfeeding mothers’ right to nurse in public.

Women still worried about exposure can add additional coverage with nursing gear designed to provide an extra layer of protection.

Undercover mama is a strapless camisole that attaches to a nursing bra. The camisole hooks to the outer flaps of any...

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Turn the embarrassing things your kids say into lessons

By Heidi Stevens, Chicago Tribune

Your 5-year-old has started voicing his every observation, even the embarrassing ones. (”Mom! That man’s nose is huge!”) How do you respond?

Parent advice

(Try saying) “We all have parts that are different shapes and sizes. His nose is that size because it’s his nose. Your nose is this size because it’s your nose. It’s a good thing we have noses so we can smell and sneeze.” And you have just redirected the subject without reprimand.

— Paula Glenn

I think asking them to save those remarks for the car is justified and can be a good learning experience for waiting for the appropriate time to make remarks. You...

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Trying to avoid PTO burnout

By Aisha Sultan, St. Louis Post-Dispatch

I got suckered into the Parent Teacher Organization.

When the PTO vice president personally called and mentioned that the principal said I had offered to help out, I was backed into a corner. (Isn’t offering to help out at your child’s school the equivalent of asking about the weather? It’s supposed to be small talk, for Pete’s sake, not a blood oath.)

At any rate, I ended up on the committee organizing the trivia night silent auction.
At the first meeting, I noticed that there seemed to be very few people in the room. I tried to calm my fears: Maybe all the volunteers were running late.

Mark Rogers, the one who had called and was heading the whole deal, broke the news: No one...

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The right to motherhood, by any means necessary?

By Annie, 50-Something Moms Blog

Infertility specialists in the U.S. are lobbying for inclusion of assisted reproduction benefits in the health care reform play. They point to the fact that even multiple rounds of in vitro fertilization (IVF) cost less than caring for premature infants that arise from cash-strapped couples engaging in dangerous practices to achieve pregnancy to save money. Three rounds of IVF at $10,000 each is a bargain when the care of one premature infant runs approximately $200,000 from delivery to homecoming.

In Canada, the province of Quebec already covers all assisted reproduction, including IVF for all women up to age 42. Ontario is now being lobbied to include infertility treatments on the grounds that parenthood is the right of every...

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Helping your kid develop a good work ethic

By Jack Perconte, McClatchy-Tribune

This is a frequent request I receive from parents, “Would you make him a major leaguer?” My response is usually something along the lines of, “Only he can do that, but I will try to instill the correct fundamentals and impress upon him the importance of a great work ethic.”

To avoid having regrets later and to reach one’s potential, a great work ethic is mandatory in sports. Playing youth sports is a great avenue for parents to teach their kids the importance of a good work ethic.

Legendary coach John Wooden said “Many athletes have tremendous God-given gifts … Who are these individuals? You have never heard of them and you never will.”

There are a lot of gifted...

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Man said he struck kids at Wal-Mart for the thrill

The Associated Press

COLUMBUS — Police in Ohio say a man accused of striking children in the head with a key protruding from his fist inside a Walmart store told them he did it for the thrill.

Sixty-eight-year-old Ralph Conone was arrested at a Columbus Walmart Wednesday on two counts of assault. Police say a mother had store employees call police after the woman’s 6-year-old son told her Conone hit him.

The boy was treated for a minor cut on the back of his head. Police say his 7-year-old brother also had been struck.

Sgt. John Hurst says Conone told investigators it was exciting to hit children with their parents nearby.

Police say they’re trying to find two more children seen getting struck on store surveillance...

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Hair gel for babies? We say pass

By Aisha Sultan, St. Louis Post-Dispatch

We like flyaway strands of wispy baby hair. We think it looks rather adorable and is a good look for any nearly-bald or lusciously locked babies.

But Tami Dimmerman, mother of 2, and CEO and Founder of Le Baby Inc., is betting that some mothers prefer a more “finished” look for their tots. She’s got a line of Le Baby Hair Gel for tots and anyone with sensitive skin.

According to the press release: Le Baby hair gel is a styling gel free of harsh chemicals meant to define wispy curls and tackle unruly after-nap hair. From taming wild fly-aways caused by humidity to smoothing frizzies, Le Baby hair gel works on all hair types and is hypoallergenic for sensitive skin. While the concept of baby...

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