For many kids, the day they receive a jersey or uniform with their name printed boldly on the back is proud one. They are on the team and everyone who goes to the games will know exactly who they are!

Which is precisely what worried one parent enough to lobby for the removal of children's first names from the jerseys of the Carmel Dads Club. "She raised the concern about someone coming up to a kid and saying, 'Hi, Mary' or 'Hi, Jimmy,' and that might lead the youngster to believe that they knew them," said Mike McKinley, president of the organization that involves 12,000 kids in nearly a dozen different sports.

While some support the change, others feel it's catering to a culture of paranoia. The National Center for Missing and Exploited Children cautions parents that kids wearing clothing or carrying personalized items could put strangers "on a first name basis with the kids", but also acknowledges that in the majority of cases, children are abducted or exploited by someone the child or the child's parents knows not by a stranger.

We've never been on a team where first names were used on uniforms, only last names. Maybe I'm just naive, but my biggest worry was that someone with "Felton" across their back would do something embarrassing like scratch their butt or pick their nose in front of everyone. For me, having names on the players helps me figure out who is who on the field better than just a number. However, plain jerseys have the economical advantage of being reusable and reducing the cost of sports for parents.

Also, removing names from uniforms may make parents feel safer, but it doesn't completely remove the danger. There are enough people yelling out kids' names during sporting events to make it pretty easy for a profiler to figure out who is who if this ism information they really want to know.

What do you think is this a prudent preventative measure or just parental paranoia?

For many, BC could easily stand for "Before Cellphones," so unimaginable is life without these handy devices.

And while giving a child his or her own cell phone is now nearly as common a ritual as buying them a bike, the age cellphone ownership is appropriate for children is still rather uncharted territory. The allure of GPS tracking capability has parents of children as young as three considering a cell phone a worthwhile investment in safety, in the even of the child being separated from them in a crowd.

While giving a toddler their own cell phone seems rather extreme, the age at which a child is given a cell phone is rapidly plummeting. The Center on Media and Child Health web site states that 54 percent of 8- to 12-year-olds will have a cell phone in the next three years.

In our house, we didn't feel the kids needed cell phones until they were old enough to be involved in after school activities. Having a cell phone meant they could call when the bus was returning after an out of town game and save us from a forty-five minute wait in the school parking lot. And with pay phones practically on the endangered species list, a cell phone means they can get 911 assistance where ever they might be.

But kids and cell phones also have downsides. For one thing, there's the money issue. Kids are notorious for losing items and cell phones are not cheap. Nor are most cell phone plans or the overage charges when kids get a little too chatty or succumb to the allure of downloading. There's also the back-of-the-mind worry on what the long-term effect radiation waves from a device held so close to the brain might have on developing bodies.

Does you child have a cell phone? If so, how did you decide when they were old enough to have one?

As helicopter parents are starting to discover, doing everything for kids stunts their ability to function and leads to the development of college students who aimlessly wander through grocery stores thoughtlessly leaving carts in the middle of aisles whenever something shiny (or beery) catches their eye, driving harried mothers, just trying to grab some milk and bread and get on with their lives, to use their own carts to smash clear a path while their children watch in slack-jawed horror a safe distance away. Hypothetically speaking, of course.

One way to combat this sad scenario is to get kids comfortable in the kitchen at an early age. Making brownies and cookies are a fun introduction to the magic of baking, but sadly, you can't live on baked goods alone. (But oh, how I have tried!)

An easy way to get children acquainted with cooking on a stove top is to start by showing them how to prepare a simple dish. Scrambled eggs are easy enough for even preschoolers to make with a little adult assistance. Cracking eggs, whisking, seasoning, and using a spatula to help stir the final product as it cooks (with shredded cheese or other fun add-ons if you're feeling fancy, like diced ham or crumbles of leftover bacon!) gives youngsters experience making a protein-filled dish that will serve them well for future brunches or lean years.

Personalized pancakes are much more fun than plain old round ones and are nearly as easy to make. Using a spoon, trickle batter from a box mix (or try this homemade baking mix that can increased to make as many pancakes as you have hungry mouths in your house: 1 cup flour, 1 TB sugar, 2 tsp. baking powder, 1/4 tsp. salt. In another bowl, whisk together 1 egg, 1 cup milk, 2 TB oil and add to dry mixture. Stir until smooth.) onto a hot griddle with a spoon to form the initial of someone you'll be feeding, only make the letter BACKWARDS. (Your helper might have to practice on a piece of paper and use it as a guide to make sure they get it right.) When the bottom side of the letter starts to brown, use a soup ladle to pour batter OVER the letter, covering the it up and making what appears to be a regular pancake. Bake until the batter bubbles, then turn and flip to cook the other side.

Applesauce tastes best when it's fresh from the stove, and when apples are in season, it's way cheaper too! Helpers can use an apple slicer/corer (if you don't have one, this inexpensive kitchen gadget makes slicing an apple child's play and is available at most grocery and discount stores) to section 4 medium size apples. Older kids can practice peeling the skin off the slices and then cutting the slices into chunks. Parents should use their best judgment with younger kids, who could chop the apple into chunks with a butter knife if supervised. Place apple pieces into a saucepan and simmer for 15 minutes. Stir in 1/4 cup of sugar and a sprinkling of cinnamon. Cool and serve alongside the special scrambled eggs and personalized pancakes and rest easy that when YOUR kids are college kids, they'll know EXACTLY what they need in a grocery store to make themselves a meal!

Hell hath no fury like a bored child and sometimes the best approach is to go old school.

If students are expected to treat school as their work, it stands to reason that they then be compensated for a job well done. In academics, good work is reflected by good grades or test scores and in New York, kids are getting paid up to a thousand dollars for doing well on Advanced Placement tests.

While it hasn't yet been proven that reimbursing for grades can actual increases test scores, one of the results of the program being funded by private donations, corporations, and foundations is that more kids are taking the tests. In fact, the number students taking the AP test in New York rose slightly this past year, but the number who passed fell but still, it's a start.

Kati Haycock, director of the Education Trust, a Washington research group that works on closing the racial achievement explains why the program is worth a try. "There's some part of all of us that gets a little queasy at this sort of buying stuff," she said. "That said, the problem of under-performance, especially among poor and minority kids, is so serious and has been with us for so long that I'm not begrudging anybody who has good will here from trying something so we can hopefully learn something from it. Frankly, rich kids get paid for high grades all the time and for high test scores by their parents, so this isn't so different."

If cash motivates students to study and do better, I'm all for it. I offered my sons iPods for being on the honor roll for the entire year last school year and having to buy one in June was a great day for him and for me!

You know that old nighttime saying, "Good night, sleep tight, don't let the bedbugs bite"? Well it turns out bedbugs aren't an imaginary creature designed to keep kids from wandering out of their beds at night.

Bedbugs are tiny, real insects that suck blood from people in their beds as they sleep. Our sister blog That's Fit just shared the educational-yet-horrifying information that some colleges are suffering from bedbug infestations. You know, because between the booze, boys, and bills, college parents didn't have ENOUGH to worry about.

If your college student suspects they have bedbugs as roomies, here are the steps to take:

• Pretend you don't know about the problem and transfer to a different university (Just kidding, although that would probably be my first response.)
• Reduce clutter to eliminate hiding places for the bugs.
• Thoroughly clean house using a high-powered vacuum cleaner and a stiff brush to remove bugs from cracks in the floor.
• Dismantle beds to find hiding places.
• Wash the bedding. Seal up mattresses and box springs by taping any holes or other places where bugs could exit. Wrap the mattresses and box springs in heavy plastic covers and seal them. Dumping mattresses on the street could result in making the problem worse by spreading it to others.
• To keep bugs from traveling from the floor to the bed and anyone attempting to sleep, set the bed frame legs in containers of mineral oil and do not let the blankets touch the floor.
• Caulk and seal all holes and cracks around pipes, electrical outlets, and around baseboards and cove moldings.
• If you are a tenant, work with your landlord to solve the problem. If you are a homeowner, you might consider calling a licensed pest control operator.
• There are a number of products and kits you can purchase to treat the problem. Some involve chemical pesticides, others depend upon organic means of control, such as insecticidal dusts that tear away the bug's protective coating, causing it to die. These products can be found on the internet.
• If you suspect you have had a bedbug encounter during a trip out of the country, it's possible you have transported the little fellows or their eggs in your luggage. Leaving your luggage in a closed car for several hours in a hot summer sun should kill them. Meanwhile, it's a good idea to have clothing professionally laundered in a commercial bug-killing solution immediately upon your return, preferably before you bring the clothing home. Inspect, vacuum, and scrub your empty suitcase with a stiff brush to remove any eggs.

Of course the easiest way to deal with bedbugs is to not get them in the first place. That's why the best idea is to keep your kids little and at home with you. When someone figures out how to do, this please let me know ASAP.

Over the weekend, the internet was awash with rumors that Sarah Palin, the 44 year old governor of Alaska and newly named running mate of Republican presidential candidate John McCain may have faked the pregnancy of her 5th child, Trig to cover that the baby was actually her grandson and was born to her 16 year-old daughter, Bristol.

The details of the soap opera-esque tale revolved around the fact that Bristol missed several months of school, ostensibly due to having mono, and that the Governor's staff were said to be shocked at Palin's pregnancy announcement late in her 2nd trimester because she didn't appear pregnant and none of them had a clue. However, the internet is also awash with rumors that Obama was not actually born in the United States and was raised Muslim, that John McCain is actually a reptilian overlord bent on taking over the Earth for aliens and that Biden isn't actually real, he's a hologram.

But it turns out that there may have been a grain of true to the Palin baby rumor: Seventeen-year-old Bristol is currently five months pregnant and planning on marrying the father and keeping the baby.

Sarah and Todd Palin issued a statement saying they are "proud of Bristol's decision to have her baby and even prouder to become grandparents."

"We have been blessed with five wonderful children who we love with all our heart and mean everything to us," the statement said. "Our beautiful daughter Bristol came to us with news that as parents we knew would make her grow up faster than we had ever planned. Bristol and the young man she will marry are going to realize very quickly the difficulties of raising a child, which is why they will have the love and support of our entire family."

I really feel for Bristol, who will now be known as one of the pregnant teenagers of 2008 alongside the girl in Juno and Jamie Lynn Spear. On the one hand, it's refreshing to see politicians actually showing they live by the same values they profess to believe. It's easy for wrinkled, white-haired men to say abortion is wrong and should be illegal as it's not longer a concern in their lives, but it's much different for politicians with younger kids who could actually GET pregnant. But between having a pregnant teenage daughter and a special needs baby of her own, the timing seems a bit bad for Palin. What do you think about the whole thing?

A movie is a great way to break up a hot, holiday afternoon, so the decision was made to spend part of our Labor Day watching "Fly Me to the Moon."

Having grown up on a steady stream of Pixar films and with younger brothers constantly underfoot has made my older kids highly tolerant of animated fare. That, coupled with "Fly Me to the Moon" having the added attraction of being in 3D, meant that even the15 and 13 year-old members of the family opted to join us on our trip to the theater.

Asked later what the best thing about the movie was, one of those teens would pause before saying, "At least we got to keep the glasses." (Those glasses also raised the cost of ticket prices by $2 PER PERSON, by the way.) The other teen felt the best part was, "When it was finally over."

"Fly Me to the Moon" is the story of Nat, a young housefly, who, spurred on by his grandfather's (Christopher Lloyd) travel tales, yearns for an adventure of his own. He, along with two buddies (the smart one with glasses and the fat one who talks about food all the time) sneaks aboard Apollo 11 for what they think will be a quick trip to the moon and back. Instead, they find themselves making history.

The most common birth defect found in newborn boys is undescended testes. This condition may affect up to 8% of males and is also believed to be linked with infertility issues and as a risk factor for testicular cancer later in life. Research on rats found that the reproductive system of male fetuses could suffer damage starting as early at eight weeks' gestation by some chemicals, including those found in many cosmetics. During the time window of 8-12 weeks gestation, the male reproductive system is being established and certain hormones are being activated.

But researchers feel they may have found a simple way for expectant mothers to possibly spare their sons the from heartaches of infertility and health issues down the road: lay off perfume.

"Women could stop using body creams and perfumes. Although we do not have conclusive evidence that they do harm, there are components about which there are question marks; for example it could be certain combinations of chemicals. If you are thinking about how a baby might be exposed, that's one way, and it's something positive you can do. It might have no consequence, but it's something positive women can do for their baby."

It's pretty amazing that the more things are studied, the more brilliant the apparent protections Mother Nature seems to have built-in to protect fetuses during pregnancy appear. Coffee, alcohol, and perfume are three common nausea triggers among newly pregnant woman.

Did you have a nausea trigger? In the name of research, let us know in the comments!

When you're looking to hire someone, you generally find yourself talking up the position to make it more desirable to the top candidates. However, Rebecca Land Soodak took a different approach with her Craigslisting to find a nanny by opening the ad with: "My kids are a pain in the ass."

If that failed to entice a prospective child-care provider for her kids ages: 12, 9 and 6-year-old twins, Soodak helpful warned interested parties about their future employer: "I can be a bit difficult to work for. I'm loud, pushy, and while I used to think we paid well, I am no longer sure. I work from home, so you get the pleasure of being hounded by me all day long. And, you get to pretend to like me, because I am deeply sensative (sic). (But well-dressed and a know it all, a winning combination, I assure you.)"

Amazingly, fifteen serious applicants approached Soodak for the job, which can be taken either as a sign of the current hard times or that the allure of living on the Upper East Side of Manhattan and weekending in a country house in Connecticut is still as strong as ever.

Twenty-five-year old Christina Wynn, a recent transplant to the area with no prior nannying experience accepted the position. "I met the oldest child, but not the others, which my mother said was crazy - to accept the job without meeting all the kids. So we'll see."

Good luck, Christina. I have a feeling you're going to need it. (And if it doesn't work out, you can always write a book about your adventures!)

It's been a week of historical firsts in United States politics! Yesterday's nomination of Barack Obama as the Democratic nominee marks the first time in U.S. history an African-American has been chosen to be a contender for the position of president of the United States.

And earlier today, John McCain made Sarah Palin, the governor of Alaska and mother of five, his choice for vice president. While Palin is not the first woman to be selected as a running mate, (that honor belongs to Geraldine Ferraro), she is the first to do it with a baby at home. Palin's youngest son Trig is only ten months old!

The photogenic Palin has appeared in Vogue magazine, but she's definitely not a wimpy woman. The Alaskan governor returned to work a mere three days after giving birth to Trig, and her hobbies include hunting and ice fishing (one of the most frigid and miserable ways I've ever spent an afternoon) and is facing the deployment of her oldest son to Iraq in September.

It wasn't terribly long ago that blacks and women weren't even allowed to vote to vote in this country. There's no way to erase that embarrassing past, but we at least we can now celebrate how far we've come!

%Gallery-18034%

We're accustomed to hearing about all the horrible things the internet is capable of: online predators, scam sites, viral downloads, cyberstalking, anonymous meanness. But what we don't hear very often is the incredible good that can happen when the people behind all those keyboards are inspired to act.

Stephanie Nielson is the fun kind of mother who does things like marking the start of a new school by preparing a company-worthy dinner complete with good china, fancy glassware, roses, and handmade tiara for her daughters. She's also the well-liked blogger behind Nie Nie Dialogues, where she records life with four young children and the husband she's clearly still smitten with.

On August 16th, Stephanie, along with her beloved husband Christian, and pilot instructor, Doug Kinneard, were in a plane crash. Kinneard died from his injuries, Christian has burns over 30% of his body, and Stephanie, better known as Nie Nie on the internet, remains in a chemically induced coma while being treated for the burns that cover 80% of her body.

While relatives take turns caring for the Nielson children, bloggers and internet sellers of all types have sprung into action to raise money to attempt to off-set what are sure to be staggering medical expenses. Generous and amazing crafters have donated wonderful items to benefit the Nielsons, while others have used their computer skills to organize and list everything in a wonderfully organized manner.

It's not too early to think about that Christmas list, or upcoming baby arrivals or birthdays. Knowing that the money spent will help a family in need makes any gift purchased from a Nie Nie auction twice as wonderful and that's just not a feeling one gets from an Amazon.com purchase.

It's really wonderful to see the goodness pouring out of the internet in response to such a tragic event.

Update: Current auctions are now marked in red and say "Live", so there are still some great items available. Or if you'd like to make a donation, a gift of any increment can be made directly to their paypal account here:

Back in the day when the only birthing training available was Lamaze, my husband and I dutifully attended classes to prepare for our first child. It was never openly admitted in class, but I had ascertained from TV and movies that giving birth hurts very, very, very much and the silly-sounding breathing exercises (Hee! Hee! Hee! HAW!) were the best diversionary tactics available to distract one from the pain in her nether regions.

Then I had to have a C-section and all that training went to waste.

A recent study in Sydney, Australia queried mothers on their views on complications ranging as minor as prolonged birth and superficial tears to as major as anal and urinary incontinence, vaginal prolapse and severe tearing and compared these opinions with those of doctors and midwives. The results were that first time birthers were much more willing to take risks in order to have a natural birth than were the doctors or midwives.

One out of every 4 UK pregnancies results in a C-section due to potential complications like the baby lying in the wrong position for natural birth.

According to Philip Steer, editor of the journal where the study was published, the clinical responses may, "indicate that doctors are biased by their inevitable involvement in complex cases, or labors where things have gone wrong."

I think another word for that is "experience." Sure, women have given birth unassisted thousands of years on their own, but it's important to remember that many of them (and their babies) died in the process. Stuff can go wrong, doctors realize what that stuff is, and try to keep it from happening to their patients. I personally didn't have a problem with that when my birthing situation went awry, because at the end of the proceedings, I was alive and so was my baby.

In an era of malpractice lawsuits, it's understandable why a doctor may go ahead and suggest a C-section rather than take risks. As a society, we've essentially backed the medical field into this corner and the result is C-sections that may not all be necessary and even though the mom may be willing to give it the old college try.

A study commissioned by the toy company, Hearthsong has been weighing heavily on my mind. By querying over a thousand parents of kids under the age of twelve, it was found that although 99% of those surveyed believe play was important to childhood, only 38% spent at least six hours a week in active play with their own kids.

Even more troubling, one in six parents didn't even spend an hour a week with their kids, which averages to less than10 minutes a day in playtime with their sons and daughters.

Hearthsong sells toys, but playing with kids doesn't mean you're confined to Legos and tea parties. There are lots of fun things you can do with your child that don't require plastic items at all. I believe and if both parties are having fun and actively engaged, it counts as play too.

Something even the busiest of families can do for entertainment/play is round-robin stories. This costs absolutely nothing, can be done many places including around the dinner table or when trapped traveling in the car together.

One person starts a story ("Once upon a time, there was a giant onion" ) passes it on to the next person, who adds their own spin to the adventure ("and he accidentally wandered into this village that turned out to be where the Iron Chef competitions were held....") and then passes it on again. It's a simple activity that stretches kids' imaginations and can provide some pretty memorable family moments at the same time For a time, we had a child who had exceptional prowess at working a pirate into every tale and it became a challenge to make a pirate-proof.

Any mundane activity can be turned into play with a little bit of imagination: play catch with the newspaper as you're bringing it the house, or a quick game of tag while waiting for another sibling to be done with track practice, monkey-in-the-middle-of-laundry is done by tossing dirty clothes into the proper sorting pile over a leaping child, playing charades to try and guess what's for dinner or what exciting things happened that day are all ways to incorporate fun into a busy schedule.

Blogger Blackbird has older kids and for some people that makes family time a bit more challenging, but she brilliantly enlisted her children's help to make a list of fun things they wanted to do as a family this summer. The list is genius in it's simplicity: making a fire, creating something with paper mache, working at a soup kitchen, eating S'mores.

It's easy to forget in the daily scramble to get everything thing done, but kids really aren't kids forever. With that in mind, I'm off for a kite-flying session with mine. (Sadly, our first all summer.)

The key to a successful kid joke for the younger crowd is keep it simple.