Filed under: Dads, Celebrity parents

While no one wants to see or even THINK about their parents being naked, if the dad is Brad Pitt, couldn't the kids just avert their eyes and allow the rest of us a moment of happiness?

Brad Pitt crushed females fantasies everywhere when in an interview with the BBC he mentioned, "I don't want to be embarrassed when my kids get old enough to see my films. I can't see any more nude scenes [in my career.]"

And if that wasn't bad enough, Pitt also put the kibosh on any more Ocean's movies. "There's no more," he said of the series he made with fellow hunks, George Clooney and Matt Damon. "I think we need to put away childish things."

He did offer a ray of hope of the the trio working together again, though. "We'll find something else. I just don't think there's anywhere to go with that particular story," he said.

I was okay when he married Jennifer Aniston. I didn't get that upset when he left Aniston for Angelina Jolie and became a father. But keeping his clothes on in all future movies is a crime against humanity that should not be tolerated.

The only way to get through this is to watch Thelma and Louise. He can't take that from me!

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Filed under: Image of the Day

While some pictures are all about the technical aspect of the moment, others tell a story about the subjects. This image caught my eye for all the quiet activity going on. Somebody, likely a mom, is holding her small baby up to a sunny window and a warm bath of sunshine. The cat, who might have been perched there for his own sunbath, has been relegated to the position of observer. He doesn't look too pleased to have lost his comfy perch to baby and mom. I love this small moment and everything it tells us about this family. Thank you schleifnet for sharing this picture with us all here at Image of the Day.

Why lock yourself in to a certain theme this month? Send us whatever tickles your fancy, as long as it shows your beautiful small people!

If you'd like your own picture featured here, simply upload photos into our group Flickr Pool - We'll select an image every day to highlight. Remember: we're on the lookout for shots with interesting backgrounds, cool angles, or original composition. Be sure to read the intro on the main Flickr page for more information and limit your uploading to 5 photos per day.

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Filed under: Computers, Software, Photography

Every year I look for better ways to write the traditional holiday letter -- updating my friends and family on all the trivial, mundane, or private accomplishments that didn't make onto a blog somewhere. I've always been impressed by a couple friends of mine, who send out a 12-panel comic strip in lieu of a letter -- with each panel representing their family's most important event of a given month. I, however, am a terrible artist, so it was impossible for me to steal their great idea -- until now.

Comic Life is a new application that lets you create comics from your photos. It's a little like Comeeko (the comic creator used by popular bloggers like Girls Gone Child), except that Comic Life allows you to create entire comic strips (and even entire comic books) instead of just single pages.

Because think about it: how much do you actually enjoy reading everyone else's tedious annual updates? I garauntee they feel the same way about yours. Make this year's correspondence a little more fun -- your friends and family will appreciate it.

[via swissmiss]

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Filed under: Middle school, 10-12 years, Literacy

Recently I mentioned the fact that my 10 year-old, Cassidy, has taken to reading quite a bit. For the past year or so she has been interested in modern novels such as the The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants series and before that the Zenda series. These books were great and I was thrilled to see her reading but I worried they were too modern and lacking in substance, sort of like empty calories for the brain. I knew that if I tried to steer my daughter towards a different genre of books it would likely backfire and she might end up reading People Magazine for Teens. Luckily Cassidy's teacher took matters into her own hands and encouraged Cass to read first Watership Down and then more recently Where the Red Fern Grows.

I was somewhat worried when I saw Cass take up this book. As a child I could never bring myself to read the last chapter. I knew sad things were to fall upon Old Dan and Little Ann, and as an animal lover I just couldn't go through that. For last few days I have been monitoring Cassidy's reading, wondering if/how she would be affected. Last night I knew she had finished when she came down the stairs, tears streaming off her cheeks as she ran into my arms wailing, "Oh no, Mom! They died. Both of them! Poor Old Dan and Little Ann. Why?" Even though I had never finished the book I knew of the outcome and began to cry with Cass. We stood and held each other as we discussed the wonderful times the two dogs had and the beauty of the red fern.

While it is never easy to watch my daughter cry, I am so happy to see her touched on such a deep level from a book. The modern series are great but there is nothing like the timeless feel of a classic novel. I hope my daughter will continue in this vein as she progresses on her path of literacy, it is one of the best gifts a child can experience.

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Filed under: Rumors, Celebrity parents

Santa likes rich kids better than yours. Take the children of Posh Spice and David Beckham for instance. They're getting a tree house for Christmas this year -- which, at first glance, might seem pretty normal. But we're not talking about some home-made wooden fort David's building in the backyard -- the Beckham's new play time digs will cost $50,000.

Double that and you could buy an actual house.

Why this absurdly expensive Christmas present has to cost so much is beyond me. It's only 9ft tall, and doesn't even come with air conditioning, a hot tub, or the 72-inch plasma screen TV you'd expect to find in the world's most costly tree house. It's from Neiman Marcus, which I guess adds $47,000 to the price tag.

Now we know. That's what celebrities do with all their money.

[via Gearfuse]

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Filed under: High school, Private school, Moms, Dads, Teenager

After her mother died, 17-year-old Kristy Oldfield managed to continue her A-level studies at Salt Grammer School in Baildon, West Yorkshire in the UK. She went to school every day and kept her grades up. When she lost her father 8 months later, nobody would have blamed her if she had given up under the weight of her grief. But she didn't. She moved in with an older step-sister, got a job and continued her studies.

But her £150 a week income from her part-time job as a chef caused the state benefits she was receiving to stop. Even when she cut back her work hours, she still was not eligible for assistance.

Because of that lost income, she says she can no longer pay for school and may have to drop out. Unless she gets pregnant, that is. "I told my head teacher I might be dropping out. My benefits adviser said the only way I can claim anything is by becoming pregnant," she says.

Obviously, Oldfield is a smart girl and knows having a baby isn't the answer. I am appalled that someone would suggest to her that it was. As her teacher says, this girl is a role model and deserves some real help. I sure hope she gets it.

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Filed under: Pregnant celebrities, Rumors, Celebrity parents, Celebrity parents behaving badly

Just to prove that she isn't the most unfit parent in the history of the universe, Britney Spears (allegedly) was looking into adopting a couple kids from China. And then, to make matters worse, rumor had it that she was pregnant.

However, today the world can let out a collective sigh of relief, as the former pop star's "constant sidekick" revealed that the pregnancy claims (made by In Touch magazine) are "BS." Thank goodness. I don't know if I can stomach another Britney Spears custody battle.

Although, before we go dismissing the the pregnancy entirely, let's take a moment to think about Britney's credibility. Just yesterday she was nearly thrown out of the Hustler store in West Hollywood for removing her underwear and trying on a pair of "Barely Legal" boy's shorts in the middle of the store. I know In Touch is a tabloid, but at this point, I'm tempted to take their word over Britney's.

What do you think?

View Poll

[via Gawker]

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Filed under: Feeding & Nutrition, Health and Safety, Elementary school, Weird but True

American children are not the only lacking proper nutrition in their diets. Children in Mexico need a little help in that department as well and a Houston company has come up with a solution. Voyava Republic has joined forces with the Mexican coffee producer La Selva to deliver folic acid-fortified coffee to underprivileged elementary school students in Chiapas, Mexico.

Apparently, many poor children in that state already drink one or more cups of coffee each day, so why not give them a little nutritional boost along with their caffeine? After all, folic acid is good for kids, right? Yeah, but coffee isn't.

"It doesn't seem like a good idea, given that coffee isn't an adequate drink for children," the Chiapas state health department said in a statement. "It's well known that high levels of caffeine can cause problems like nervousness, irritability and anxiety."

Representatives from Voyava Republic say that fortified coffee is an efficient way to deliver nutrition to malnourished kids. "We don't want to saturate them with coffee," said Jose Juarez, La Selva's director. "One 150- to 200-milliliter cup a day is more than sufficient to give them the nutrients they need."

I think serving coffee to children is a horrible idea. Even if some are already drinking it, I imagine making coffee nutritious would encourage more parents to serve it to their children. Why wouldn't they fortify something that has nutritional value to start with?

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Filed under: Computers, Photography

Once upon a time, photographs were stored in cardboard boxes on high closets shelves, under beds, and in attics. And it was bad. Sorting and storing pictures was time consuming and finding the picture you wanted was an exercise in frustration.

Then the digital era of photography dawned and everyone heaved a sigh of relief. Yay! No more boxes!

Only instead of loose pictures floating around the house, jpegs ended up stuffed in various files all over the computer hard drive and finding the picture you were looking for was STILL a frustrating, time consuming job.

And then Photology was invented, and lo,it was good.

Photology is to digital photographs what the Dewey decimal system is to books, only way easier to use.

I'm not computery and have no idea how the thing works. My theory is that once Photology is downloaded (and that can take a while, but hang in there, it's worth it!) tiny elves with magnifying glasses look over each and every picture on the computer and sorts them in a myriad of ways: by the date, time of day, and year they were taken, content (faces, foliage, beach scenes, etc.), color, or location (inside or outside), and more.

If you need the picture of little Johnny at the parade last October where he was wearing the purple shirt, Photology will find it quicker than you can walk over to the hall closet and get the lid off the cardboard shoebox.

And the best thing is that Photology elves will work their same magic on external media like USB drive, USB flash drives, USB hard drives, CDs, etc. making it possible to find the photos you've safely stored in case of a hard drive crash. (Which you are ALL doing, right?! Storing your priceless memories outside the computer in case it crashes and burns, RIGHT?!)

The program also provides basic editing functions (cropping, red eye reduction, etc.), tagging, sorting into groups, the ability to share and to print photos. However, the biggest draw for me was the patient and helpful tutorials that walked this noncomputery nincompoop through every step. More things in life should come with tutorials!

The nice people of Photology are offering 50 ParentDish readers the opportunity to obtain a free copy of Photology for themselves. Here's what you need to do:

First make sure your system meets the minimum requirements:
-Windows XP SP2 or Vista
-512 MB RAM
-2 GHz processor
-500MB avail. hard disk space
-1024x768 screen resolution
-High color, 32-bit display

Next, go to http://promo.getphotology.com
-Fill in the form
-Confirm email
-Put in Promo code = E7AA42BF
-A license key will be emailed to the first 50 respondents.

If you miss out on the free promo, you can still sample Photology and let the elves sort your pictures for 14 days for free and see how you like Photology.

The program costs $39, but once you see how quickly those little buggers can find what you're searching for, you'll wish you could pay again and invite the Photology people over for dinner. During my free trial, I completed a last-minute-because-the-note-was-buried-in-the-bottom-of-the-backpack kindergarten photographic "All About Me" display board in less than ten minutes and my New Year's resolution will be to safely store and Photologicize all our digital pictures.

The program would make a great gift for anyone who takes digital pictures, but would be especially great to get the hard-to-buy for people on your list.

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Filed under: Teachers, Elementary school, Public school, 6-7 years

Every time I go to Ellie's school, I am struck by the genuine love and caring the staff seem to have for the students. From the principal to the P.E. teacher, they are patient and kind and I so appreciate what they do each and every day. I can't imagine that it's easy and we all know they aren't in it for the money. Teachers have such a huge responsibility and I want them to know just how important I think they are.

I do take the opportunity during the year to express my gratitude, but at this time of year I like to do a little something more. In the past, Ellie has attended small, private schools where she had only one or two teachers. Choosing a special Christmas gift for these teachers was pretty easy because I knew them fairly well. But now she attends a larger public school where she has eight different teachers, most of whom I barely know.

Ellie and I want to give them a gift that has some meaning but doesn't break the bank. I've toyed with a few ideas, but feel sure that you have better ones. Do you give your child's teachers gifts? If you are a teacher, what do you like to receive from your students?

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