Filed under: Recalls

The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission has announced the recall of about 71,000 Nintendo character-themed lapel pins due to the presence of toxic lead in the paint.

The pins were sold at Nintendo stores in Redmond, Washington and New York, New York between April 2004 and November 2007 for between $1.50 and $4 each. They were also distributed to some lucky employees at electronics and games stores nationwide during that same time period.

Distributed by Nintendo of America Inc. and imported by Pro Source Inc., the pins were made in China. The recall includes the following character pins: Diddy Kong, Donkey Kong, Kirby, Mario, Mario Kart, Pikachu, Princess Peach, Samus, Starfox, Waluigi and Wario. The pins measure 1 to 2 inches in height.

If you have one of these pins, you should immediately take it away from your child and contact Nintendo for instructions on receiving a free replacement lapel pin. You can reach them by calling (800) 431-0971 between 8 a.m. and 5 p.m. PT Monday through Friday or by visiting their Web site.

Read | Permalink | Email this | Linking Blogs | Comments

Read the Full Story Here

Filed under: Dads, 6-7 years, Alcohol, Weird but True

A few weeks ago, Christopher Ratte took his 7-year-old son Leo to see a ballgame in Detroit. Upon arriving at Comerica Park, they bought some refreshments - a beer for dad, a lemonade for Leo - and settled into their seats to watch the Tigers. But what should have been a fun day of father-son bonding turned into an unbelievable nightmare when a security guard spotted Leo and his lemonade. Turns out that what dad purchased wasn't regular lemonade, but hard lemonade. If you don't know about hard lemonade, you are not alone. Christopher Ratte had no idea that the beverage his son had been sipping on for nine innings contained 5% alcohol.

Ratte explained his mistake to the security guard who promptly confiscated the lemonade and called the cops. Leo was taken to a hospital where he was examined and found to have no alcohol in his blood.

"Obviously, I made a mistake in buying this lemonade, which I didn't realize was alcoholic," Ratte said. "I probably should have read the label carefully, so I'm not critical of the police who were concerned. I just thought they overreacted terribly."

Just how much did they overreact? Instead of releasing Leo to his parents, he was taken into custody by Wayne County Children's Protective Services and spent the weekend in foster care. When he was finally released to his mother, his father was ordered to move out of the house. Christopher Ratte spent spent two weeks in a hotel before the case was dropped and he was allowed back home with his family.

CPS may have dropped the case, but Christopher Ratte has not. He and his wife have filed a formal complaint with the CPS ombudsman's office claiming the treatment they received was excessive.

This story makes me angry, sad and a little scared for families living within the reach of Wayne County Child Protective Services.

Read | Permalink | Email this | Linking Blogs | Comments

Read the Full Story Here

Filed under: Crafts, Creative projects

Anyone can have a lemonade stand, but with very few materials (half of which are available right now the recycle bin) your child can create their own wallet/business card empire and TAKE OVER THE WORLD!

Or maybe just have some fun and make something to give their friends. Whatever.

RePlayGround has a template and simple instructions on how to create a wallet out of paperboard (cereal boxes)and a hunk of elastic. Smaller children could trace the pattern and help with the folds while the older crowd could make the whole fandangled thing themselves.

I love crafts that are super cheap and like them even more if they reuse items we already have and for those reasons alone, this project looks like a winner!

via Sk*rt

Permalink | Email this | Linking Blogs | Comments

Read the Full Story Here

Filed under: Dads, 6-7 years, Celebrity kids, Music, Celebrity parents

When I was growing up, music was a big deal in my house. My parents were music-lovers and the soundtrack of my childhood was heavy with Elvis Presley, the Everly Brothers and, oddly, Herb Alpert and the Tijuana Brass Band. I would spend hours in my room, playing my parent's records and gazing at album covers. I'm sure it made my parents happy to see me enjoying the same tunes they enjoyed, but it didn't last forever. Eventually, I discovered Donny Osmond, the DeFrancos and later, all manner of horrible disco music. It must have been awful for them.

David Bowie knows a thing or two about musical suffering. He and his wife Iman have a cute little 7-year-old daughter named Alexandria Zahra and her taste in music could not be further from her father's. Dad is famous for his innovative music and has enjoyed a long and successful career. But Alexandria prefers her music a little fluffier and is a fan of pop princess Hilary Duff.

According to Iman, Bowie would rather leave than listen to that. "Two weeks ago Alexandria was listening to Hilary Duff songs. David just leaves the room. He thinks she should be listening to underground music," she told The Sun.

Bowie should take heart in the knowledge that his daughter's musical tastes will likely change as she grows older. And since disco is dead, it really couldn't get worse, right?

Read | Permalink | Email this | Linking Blogs | Comments

Read the Full Story Here

Filed under: Rachel Campos-Duffy, View from the Home Front

Well, this week I feel (sadly) vindicated. This is exactly what happens when we entrust Hollywood, the media, and corporations with our children!

First, parents of young Hannah Montana fans had to explain the leaked photos of a bra-clad Miley and her boyfriend on the Internet. Then they were treated to a very grown-up photo spread of Disney's 15 year-old teen-queen with bedroom hair and only a silk bed sheet covering her nude body.

Not too long ago another Disney star, High School Musical's Vanessa Hudgens, had to apologize for her leaked nude photos. Like this latest Disney debacle, it too sparked endless discussions on the fan sites and message boards that so many very young girls frequent.

Frankly, the shocked headlines are what I find so shocking. Well, that and all of the "outraged" parents. Don't they realize that this "teenager" is a billion dollar franchise whose marketing plan depends on capturing a younger and younger audience?

The operative word here is "teenager". She's a teenager and if only teenagers watched Hannah Montana, this incident could actually be a teachable moment where we warn teens about taking compromising photos in the age of the Internet and Girls Gone Wild.Unfortunately, Miley's audience not only includes my 17 year old niece, but also 5 to 11 year olds, who happen to be the most susceptible consumers of the ubiquitous junk sold in her name. So now, parents with 6 year-olds in the Hannah Montana fan club will have to have a conversation they would just as well have put off for another 8 years.

In the end, this isn't Disney's fault and it's certainly not Vanity Fair's. It's not even Barbara Walter's, who told us in her glossy post-Oscar interview, that Miley was a "role model". And a "Christian!"

No, parents of young children have only themselves to blame for allowing Miley to become their 2nd graders' role-model. Have we all forgetten about the term "age-appropriate"? Or at least the joy of a childhood where playing "house" did not involve a bored baby-doll masquerading as a streetwalker (have you seen the Bratz babies?).

It seems that too many parents these days are too tired or too busy to swim against the current. We want our kids to fit in. We'd rather not deal with the nagging, so we give in and buy the video game or doll or outfit without thinking it through. We defer to kids, instead of carefully evaluating products and programs to see if their messages actually reflect our values. Thus, we end up mindlessly encouraging and financing a disturbing trend.

Since I first started blogging for ParentDish this fall, I have sounded off numerous times about the pressure on our kids, and especially our girls, to grow up too fast. From sexy Halloween costumes to thongs and racy t-shirt messages, our little girls are being robbed of their right to just be little girls.

My oldest daughter is eight years old and High School Musical, Hannah Montana and the like are not permitted in my house. I don't want my girls emulating a teenager in a micro-miniskirt and thigh high stockings - I don't care how benign the bubble gum pop songs are. Moms like me are called a lot of things - controlling, prudes, and helicopter moms. Why? Because we'd rather our girls aspire to be astronauts or veterinarians rather than gyrating wanna-be "rock stars"?

It's not easy. My daughter may very well be the only girl in her class who does not own a Bratz doll or watch concerts and sitcoms with teenage themes and stars. With a precious few exceptions, it is only through my blog that I encounter like-minded parents. Thank God for the Internet! I was beginning to feel like an island unto myself. Never mind the irony that it's the ex-MTV girl who's forbidding the Disney Channel in her home.

Still, there are plenty of moms who visit my blog who disagree with my parenting style. And that's OK. They can't understand why I'm trying so hard to protect my girls from cultural forces that would have them start thinking about boyfriends, break-ups, mid-driffs, and make-up long before I think they should. I'm repeatedly told, "You can't protect your kids from the world". Perhaps, but I can try.

Look, what 15 year-old starlet wouldn't fall under the spell of the iconic Annie Leibovitz and the surreal atmosphere of a fancy celebrity photo-shoot where everyone's telling you how beautiful you look? Sure, her handlers should have known better. And of course, the judgment of her famous dad - who actually participated in a series of loungy photos that were more "hot Hollywood couple" than daddy and his teenage girl - is rightly being called into question.

But the problem is not Disney, or Miley, or Billy Ray Cyrus. Christian or not, Miley is a teenage girl susceptible to all the temptations that have tripped up child stars since the dawn of television. Teen stars haven't changed all that much, parents have changed. And yes, the media has also changed. So let's all slow down and become more reflective and selective about the culture (and role models) our young children consume.

Until parents of little girls and little boys decide that "age-appropriate" matters, Hollywood, Mattel and every other corporate entity will continue to serve up shows and products aimed at capturing the widest range of young consumers, regardless of the implications on a child's innocence. They're just doing their job. Are we?

To learn more about Rachel visit www.rachelcamposduffy.com

Read | Permalink | Email this | Linking Blogs | Comments

Read the Full Story Here

Filed under: Health and Safety, Pre-teen, Magazines, In the News

If a little boy sent an earnest letter to famous (and infamous) Americans, seeking their advice on whether he should continue with his education, what would the response be?

That simple question is the focus of a rather fascinating human experiment profiled in this month's issue of Radar Magazine. The story actually stretches back to almost a decade ago, when an unemployed 30-something with too much time on his hand decided to write to murderers, politicians, and celebrities. Bill Geerhart developed a pseudonym, that of a curious 10-year-old named Billy -- and wrote letters to some of the most influential (and notorious) people of our time.

The results surprised even Geerhart, with celebrities from Alan Greenspan to Oprah Winfrety taking the time to reply to his child alter-ego. Personally, I found the replies of notorious and dangerous criminals to be the most interesting (albeit slightly disturbing)

When 10-year-old "Billy" asked Richard Ramirez (the Night Stalker) if he should stay in school, Richard says, yes, he should (and also please send pictures of girls in bikinis.) Charles Manson's reply is unintelligible but strangely fascinating and the Unabomber's letter back is almost breathtaking in its banality.

"Billy" also writes an earnest letter to Alan Greenspan, asking him how to save up for a boat, and to Larry Flynt requesting a Hustler for kids. Even though I really hope my own son will ask for education and (god help me) porn advice from his family, these answers were sure entertaining to read. Human beings, no matter their background, respond to kids on such a different level.

Read | Permalink | Email this | Linking Blogs | Comments

Read the Full Story Here

Filed under: Lifestyle, High school, Public school, Teenager, 15-19 years, Books, Newspapers, Spirituality

Remember the case of the high school history teacher and part-time Baptist youth pastor who used his classtime to preach to his students? Remember the high schooler who taped him doing so and ended up getting a death threat for his trouble? Well, Matthew LaClair is in the news again, this time with an article in the Los Angeles Times.

After the run-in with his bible-thumping history teacher, Matthew began to notice that his American Government textbook wasn't being very non-partisan either. "The text contains a statement, repeated three times, that students may not pray in public schools." A picture of students praying outside a school bears the caption "The Supreme Court will not let this happen inside a public school."

This, of course, is patently untrue -- students are perfectly welcome to pray in school if they so desire. In fact, as the old joke goes, so long as there are tests, there will be school prayer. What is not allowed is school-led prayer where students are encouraged or required to pray. LaClair's interpretation is that "the purpose of the discussion in the textbook was to indoctrinate, not to educate."

LaClair's point is that textbooks should present facts, not opinions. Hopefully, schools are teaching students to think so that they can form their own conclusions based on the facts given them. After all, I would think we want future generations to think for themselves, not to blindly follow whatever spin is handed to them on the nightly news.

Read | Permalink | Email this | Linking Blogs | Comments

Read the Full Story Here

Filed under: 0-3 months, Infant / First year

I don't know if I'd call myself an optimist, but I often sail along with a blind sense of it-can't-happen-to-me-ism. Or in the case of my family, it can't happen to us. This allows me to make it through the day without succumbing to a full-body panic over the myriad unpleasant fates that could befall one of my kids at any moment, such as accidents, illnesses, pianos falling from the sky, dingo attacks, and so on.

Unfortunately, this sort of thinking is what leads me to constantly get peed on. I mean, I know my 3-month-old is basically a human sprinkler, I know the sensation of having a diaper removed and a cool wipe applied can trigger any number of Bellagio-esque outbursts, and yet every single time I forgo the protective diaper or washcloth shield. Why do I do this? Because every single time I think, oh, I don't think he'll pee on me today. And that is usually when a powerful jet of liquid sprays me directly in the eyesocket.

I don't understand this about myself. I feel like I have gained all sorts of experience since we brought our first son home, and yet in this arena I remain painfully naive, ignoring all historical evidence in favor of allowing my shirt to get hosed down yet again -- then having the nerve to be surprised about it. "Crap!" I say, spluttering and flailing and mopping up my clothes, all startled and unprepared, as if the whole thing was totally UNAVOIDABLE.

Is it always true that ignorance is bliss? Because when the ignorant person is being urinated on at least once a day and twice on Sundays, I'm not sure how that can be.

Permalink | Email this | Linking Blogs | Comments

Read the Full Story Here

Filed under: Books, Monitoring your kids

"Mommy, Mike Mulligan smokes a pipe," my three year old son told me the other day while we were digging in the garden.

I knew right away what he was talking about: we'd been out for pizza the night before, and on the way to the car he was gleefully jumping off picnic table benches when we encountered not one, but many cigarette butts.

Of course he wanted to know what they were, and I explained that some people smoke them even though it's really bad for them, and it makes it unhealthy for their lungs. And they often don't clean up after themselves and leave part of the cigarette behind.He nodded earnestly, and that was, I thought, the last of it ...until he brought it up in the garden the next day.

"You're right, Mike Mulligan does smoke a pipe" I said, hoping we could just leave it at that.

"Is he a-posed to though mommy?" he asked me, earnestly, scanning my face for the way I would respond.

"Well, no. It will make his lungs hurt," I replied.

"But then why does he do it?"

Oy. How on earth do you answer that? Mike Mulligan drives a STEAM SHOVEL for crying out loud. He is what every little digger-obsessed boy wants to be.

Granted, Mike Mulligan and His Steam Shovel is old school. A classic. Outdated, maybe, but it's a favorite around our house.

And there are so other classic kid's books that endorse bad behaviors: Ella the Elephant which is a delightful tale about overcoming selfishness and learning to help others, exept for the fact that a mean old farmer tries to shoot Ella in the rump. In fact, many Bill Peet books feature both guns and pipes.

It's even more of a slippery slope once one begins to delve into the realm of 'chapter books'. Pipi Longstocking who wields guns, drinks coffee, curses, and generally runs amok, while also setting a fierce and delightful example for girls to be anything they wish to be. And The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, well, the book was, and still is, banned from various schools by various groups of concerned individuals.

So. What should you do as a parent with these books from from an era gone by, that are at onece (arguably) a bad influence, AND great stories of character, plot, and sheer delight? Do you skip them, or read them and attempt to give your kiddo a literary and social context with which to interpret them?

Permalink | Email this | Linking Blogs | Comments

Read the Full Story Here

Filed under: Pregnant celebrities, Movies, Celebrity parents

Awww, what a great week Amy Poehler is having!

In addition to starring in Baby Mama, which was the #1 movie at the box office this weekend, Poehler's spokesperson revealed the news that late this fall the Saturday Night Live star is going to be a baby mama in real life as well! This will be the first child for Poehler and her husband of five years, actor Will Arnett.

Arnett and Poehler starred alongside each other in the films Blades of Glory and Horton Hears a Who! and will star together in the upcoming films On Broadway, Spring Breakdown, and Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs.

This baby is guaranteed an entertaining childhood with these two as parents! Congratulations!

%Gallery-21711

Permalink | Email this | Linking Blogs | Comments

Read the Full Story Here