Beyond hot dogs and fireworks, have you taught your child the meaning behind Independence Day? I'll admit that I haven't even started. We have our Fourth of July traditions, but even my older daughter has only the vaguest grasp on what the holiday is all about.
One of our traditions is meeting our in-laws in a town in between ours and theirs for a road race early in the day. My husband's brother is a runner, and he does a 10K there every year. This year, he and my husband took our girls in the 2K fun run as well. As we stood watching the runners go by, a group of racers carrying flags and wearing t-shirts emblazoned with "support our troops" went by. The crowd went wild as they passed, and my older daughter asked me, "Why are they clapping for them?" Not the most perfect place for a civic lesson, but I did my best.
CNN asked their readers to share their own thoughts on patriotism today, and the responses are interesting. I'd like to go one step further and ask ParentDish readers: How do you teach your own children about patriotism and what traditions do you have that help teach your kids more about this holiday?
School shopping is just around the corner. If you're looking to dress your daughters in long prairie dresses and long underwear, then I have just the site for you.
When the 400-plus children of the Yearning for Zion ranch were removed by child protective services earlier this year, the sect's clothing was a major topic of conversation in the media. The enterprising women of the FLDS are building on that attention and have started their own website, where parents can buy princess dresses, overalls, and long underwear for the whole family.
The website started as a way for child protective services to clothe the children in their custody, but is now being turned into a business to help mothers pay bills related to their legal battles. Many have been advised not to return to the ranch, and are having to pay for rent and utilities.
The story of little Madeleine McCann, taken from her bed in the middle of the night while her parents dined at a restaurant nearby, reached every corner of the globe after her parents launched a massive publicity campaign in their attempts to find her.
Sadly, however, despite their efforts and the efforts of Portugal police, Madeline is still missing a year later. The Portuguese police have filed their final police report, and once that goes to the prosecutors office, the case may be closed.
Though I know very little about police work, I have to imagine that authorities giving up the search for their daughter has to be a devastating blow for the McCanns. Sources close to the family say that the McCanns will never give up looking and hope that, if the case is officially closed, the police will hand over the vast amounts of information they have gathered to private investigators.
When Angelina Jolie was admitted to a Nice hospital recently, under observation until her twins are born, the paparazzi went into high alert. Like over-eager puppies, however, they appear to be ready to snap at anything. When a pregnant woman -- an Angelina body double, maybe? -- waved to them from Angelina's hospital room, their shutters clicked and the headlines announced that Angie was "showing off her baby bump."
Only two problems with that scenario. One, Angelina is hardly the type of celebrity to lift up her shirt and bare her belly to photographers. Two, the picture looks nothing like Angelina.
I'm sure that being one of the most famous and most recognizable couples in the world makes it difficult to have a private and intimate birth experience. Rumor has it that Brad and Angelina lied about their August delivery date, and maybe using a stand-in is just one more way to keep the world out of their business while their twins get on with the business of being born.
Sleep is an issue for any new parent. Not only are they not getting any, but where in the world is the baby supposed to sleep? Co-sleeping is either ideal or dangerous, depending on who you talk to. Putting the baby in a crib in their own room just adds distance between you and a crying baby in the middle of the night, meaning you have a much greater chance of crashing into doorways in your sleepless stupor.
The AAP has changed their recommendations over the last few years. Though they still don't support co-sleeping, citing the fact that half of all infant deaths catergorized as sudden and unexpected happen when babies share a sleeping surface with adults, they do recommend room sharing, where parents and baby share a room, but not a bed.
Do you know what's for dinner? Mom and blogger Stephanie O'Dea does, and chances are she's cooking it in one of her five Crock-Pots. In January of this year, Stephanie made a New Year's resolution that she would cook at least one meal a day using a Crock-Pot. Not only has she stuck to her commitment, she's created a blog to share her experience and her recipes. A Year of CrockPotting (misspelled to catch the Google searches) details her menu hits (Original Crock-Pot Taco Soup) and misses (Overnight Quinoa and Brown Rice Pudding).
Stephanie's resolution recently caught the attention of famous kitchen diva Rachael Ray, where Stephanie got a chance to show her stuff. The show will air July 23rd, where she'll show Ray's viewers how to make Crock-Pot creme brulee. I had the opportunity to talk to Stephanie this week about her experience on the show, as well as her year of Crock-Potting and she had a lot of good stuff to share with ParentDish readers.
How far would you go to help your child have a child? A Michigan mom recently showed the world exactly how far she would go when she gave birth to her daughter's twins.
Crystal Sirignano, 52, gave birth last week to two healthy children, a boy and a girl. Crystal's daughter, Kendra, and her husband Aaron Simpson, struggled with infertility for years before turning to surrogacy. Though they were both hesitant at first, Crystal ended up being a healthy and helpful candidate. She moved from her home in Goodrich, where she owns a fitness center, to Arizona to be near her daughter and struggled with all the usual pregnancy symptoms at an age when pregnancy is the last thing on many women's minds.
There are few childhood characters that have stood the test of time as well as those on Sesame Street. Kermit Love, creator of one fhe most famous of those characters -- Big Bird -- passed away last week at the age of 91. Though Love's career spanned decades, he's known worldwide for his contribution to the children's show and for his work on Sesame Street's most beloved characters.
Big Bird, as you know, is a towering 8-foot, 6-year-old bird, whose head and neck are controlled from inside the costume by levers. Mr. Love was protective of his creation, according to a NYT article, and the costume got its own seat when they traveled by plane. Because he wanted Big Bird to seem natural and more real to small children, he designed the costume so that stray feathers would fall off during shooting.
Carroll Spinney, who plays both Big Bird and Oscar the Grouch on Sesame Street talks about his old friend Kermit Love on NPR. In a CNN article, Spinney said of Love, "He looked very much like Santa Claus but was a little bit more like the Grinch."
If you could request one thing from your employer, what would it be? Permission to work from home? A flexible schedule? On-site childcare? All of the above?
Much of it boils down to what Karen calls "form over function." When employers require that employees sit at their desks from 8 AM to 5 PM every day, are they really cultivating productivity? Karen says no, and I have to agree.
Teaching your child to call 9-1-1 in an emergency is an important part of house safety rules. For Jessica Eaves, 24, however, it was crucial that her child know how to contact help on her own. Jessica has a medical condition called vasovogal syncope, which can cause her to faint.
Since her daughter Madelyn is only three, Jessica made up a song to teach her how to call for help on Jessica's Blackberry phone -- "9-1-1 green." That song made all the difference in the world last week when Jessica fainted and Madelyn was able to use the phone to call for an ambulance.
Madelyn called for help last year as well, when Jessica had taught her the song "green, green, green." By pushing the green button on the phone, Madelyn called the last number dialed and that adult called for help.
When you're a parent, the instinct to protect your child is sometimes overwhelming. When my husband stumbled on our concrete porch steps with our older daughter, then just an infant, they both fell... hard. He ended up with scrapes and bruises. She was completely unharmed and even giggled when they landed. I don't know how he did it, but in those short seconds he managed to turn his body just right to keep her safe, even if it meant that he took the brunt of the fall.
Maybe it was her pregnancy that put Amanda Bourque's "mama bear" instincts into overdrive. When a drunk driver narrowly missed hitting her car, Bourque decided that she needed to do something before someone got hurt. So she followed the weaving driver into a convenience store parking lot, where he smashed into a wall and another car before Bourque finally cornered him with her own vehicle.
Bourque's being called a hero and will be nominated for a public service award. Though many people would have called 911 in the same situation, to actually pin down the driver until help arrived definitely took some guts.
One of the things you sign away when you get pregnant is the right to modesty. That baby is coming out, and if she comes out the traditional way, people are going to be spending a good chunk of time focusing their attention on parts of your body that you yourself need a mirror and some decent flexibility to see.
Usually, though, those audience members are people that you yourself have chosen, such as a partner or spouse, doctor or midwife, mom or sister. Rarely are those people random strangers who happen to be wandering around a New York subway platform. That's exactly what happened to poor Francine Alfontent, though, who was desperately trying to make it to Bellevue Hospital in Manhattan, but didn't quite get there. She gave birth to Soleil, a baby girl, with the help of several strangers who stopped to help.
Mom and baby are doing fine, and according to New York Daily News, that's because passersby were willing to lend a helping hand. It really is a heartwarming story, if you think about it, and I'm guessing that Francine is grateful that, if she had to share the miracle of birth with random NY strangers, the right ones happened to be nearby.
If you or your partner have ever had to take drugs during pregnancy, then you know what a juggling game it can be. Basically, doctors only prescribe a medication if the benefits outweigh the risks to the pregnancy and the developing fetus. Want to take a decongestant for your stuffy nose? Forget it. Need an inhaler for asthma? Go right ahead.
One of the reasons doctors know so little about how drugs affect unborn babies during pregnancy is because there has been so little research done. USAToday has a really interesting article on the "drug drought" for pregnant women right now. Though many pharmaceuticals are considered safe for conditions women have before they become pregnant, there are no new drugs in the pipeline for medications that treat pregnancy-related conditions such as pre-eclampsia.
Drug manufacturers say the drug drought is due to safety issues -- no one wants to test drugs on a fetus. Others think it's more financial in nature. Pregnancy-related conditions are often short-lived and are relatively uncommon, so there's no real money in treating them. Either way, it leaves some women with extremely limited options when problems do arise. In the case of pre-eclampsia, treatment often includes delivering the baby, even if it's too soon.
Did you have to take medications during pregnancy? If so, did this "drug drought" affect you?
When I think of the hottest trends in hip teen clothing, I usually think of that store in the mall that has the half naked mannequins lounging around out front. What I don't think of is JCPenney. But apparently, that's exactly the direction that the national chain is trying to head in. Just take a look at their latest teen-centric ad:
JCPenney's has jumped onto the "sex sells" bandwagon, trying to update their image to attract a younger crowd. But here's what I'm wondering: The commercial clearly pokes fun at the trusting mom who sits upstairs reading her magazine while the kids "go downstairs to watch TV." At the same time, it's sending a message to teen customers that today is the day to have sex with your boyfriend, right under your mom's nose.
The thing is, that mom in the commercial likely makes up the majority of JCPenney's customer base. How are moms who are loyal to this classic and formerly pretty wholesome brand going to feel about this commercial that encourages their teens to break parental rules and engage in risky behavior? Betrayed? Angry? Suddenly not so spendy?
It seems like a big risk to take to me. What do you think about JCPenney's new commercial?
Edited to add: As it turns out, everyone, JCPenney did not authorize this ad. (Let's let out a collective whew.) There's a lot of finger pointing going on right now; JCPenney is blaming its ad company Saatchi & Saatchi, who in turn is blaming the production company Epoch films.
According to Gawker, the commercial won an award at the Cannes Lions Awards this past weekend. Penney's chief marketing officer has been quoted as saying, "It's obviously inappropriate and nothing we would ever condone."
Beyond hot dogs and fireworks, have you taught your child the meaning behind Independence Day? I'll admit that I haven't even started. We have our Fourth of July traditions, but even my older daughter has only the vaguest grasp on what the holiday is all about.
The story of little 
When Angelina Jolie 
Do you know what's for dinner? Mom and blogger Stephanie O'Dea does, and chances are she's cooking it in one of her five Crock-Pots. In January of this year, Stephanie made a New Year's resolution that she would cook at least one meal a day using a Crock-Pot. Not only has she stuck to her commitment, she's created a blog to share her experience and her recipes. 
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There are few childhood characters that have stood the test of time as well as those on Sesame Street. Kermit Love, creator of one fhe most famous of those characters -- Big Bird -- passed away last week at the age of 91. Though Love's career spanned decades, he's known worldwide for his contribution to the children's show and for his work on Sesame Street's most beloved characters.
