Help get your child motivated for a great school year by helping them create an inspiration board, a gathering of clippings, quotes, photographs and treasures to provide a reminder of what is important and most of all, what is possible.

To start, work with your child to determine where an inspiration board could fit in their room. Is wall space available? If so, you could:

• hang a purchased cork bulletin board
• create your own custom-made version with an old frame and corkboard
• homasote is also a great material for creating a bulletin board
• chicken wire, either stapled inside an old frame or attached directly to a wall (with sharp edges carefully folded over) in conjunction with clothes pins makes a quick and inexpensive bulletin board

If wall space is unavailable, set aside some real estate on a desk, dresser, shelf, or floor for:

• a purchased easel that could safely support a bulletin board
• make an easel out of cardboard that could support something lightweight like poster board or a piece of foam core
• an old music stand

Once the display has been created is when the kid fun begins! Anything from old magazine clippings to candy bar wrappers that inspire can be attached to the board. If there seems to be an absence of motivational sayings, it can be a fun parental project to explore the words of others, whether it be Spongbob Squarepants or Eleanor Roosevelt and see if anything resonates. A trip to the library or internet search can turn up plenty of quotable quotes.

If your child needs a hero outside the family for inspiration, look no further than Beijing. Here are a couple of Olympic athletes that seem worthy of emulation for their deeds:

• Michael Phelps- An ADHD kid growing up to be "the greatest athlete of all time" is pretty awesome all on its own. But what I found particularly impressive was Phelps' humble words after winning that 8th gold medal, "Without the help of my teammates, this [wouldn't have been] possible."
• Dara Torres- While many athletes block out the world to prepare for a race, Dara Torres used her time before a semi-final race helping rival Therese Alshammar of Sweden deal with a torn swimsuit. When Torres noticed Alshammar was missing from the march into the area, she asked officials to delay the race. As if that wasn't good sportsmanlike enough, Torres also told the other swimmers what was going on so they wouldn't get anxious during the delay and was always the first to congratulate those around her once the race was finished, even when she lost the gold medal by 1/100th of a second.
• Jason Lezak- Michael Phelps got most of the press, but it was Lezak's amazing anchor leg that won the Men's 400 Relay and helped Phelps get his gold medal count to 8.

An inspiration board can serve as more than a motivational tool and gathering place for your child's favorite things, it can also provide parents a glimpse of their dreams.

You don't have to be in Beijing to catch the Olympic spirit!

The funny people at JibJab, masterminds behind the popular Elf cards and snowball fight have come up with a way for everyone to participate in Mount Olympus games. All you need is a digital head-shot (nearly any photo on your computer can be manipulated with JibJab's dummy-proof program) to create postcards or video highlights from the weight lifting, high dive, or rhythmic dance competitions.

My fifteen-year-old son achieved a perfect score on the high dive! We're so proud!

It's hard to believe, but we are mere weeks (days for some parts of the country!) away from returning to the early morning scrambling to get kids ready for school.

One of the biggest time-wasters of those precious pre-dawn hours involves the all-important "Choosing of the Clothes". However, we've found some craft ideas that when combined with a little pre-planning can make this year wardrobe worry-free for your kids!

One super-simple tactic to try out before the buses even start rolling requires- absolutely nothing! Just ask your child to create a kid out of the clothes they plan on wearing the next day somewhere in their room. If it's the sort of room where neatness reigns, this should take care of the problem, and it can be a fun project for kids to style and pose their "clothing kids" differently every night.

However, if your child isn't diligent about keeping their room picked up, a "clothing kid" on the floor may just add to the madness. If that's the case, try taking the organizing upward! Keep an eye out at thrift stores or garage sales for a sturdy coat tree, or make your own using pine boards from the lumberyard. In addition to assisting with assembly, painting a wooden clothing holder to suit their fancy will give the child a sense of ownership. Every evening, the clothing tree should be decorated with the next day's outfit, including socks, underwear and a belt hung from the hooks.

If the bedroom lackings the floor space necessary for a clothing tree, a closet will do the trick and provide the additional perk of allowing the child to plan their wardrobe for the entire week. Hanging organizers can hold six day's worth of clothing and larger ones (not the shoe organizers, which will quickly become too cramped to hold an entire outfit) have enough space to allow labels (quickly and easily created with felt letters glued onto a felt rectangle label and then sewn onto the organizer) to be attached to the side or on the top, hanging down in the openings.

And if closet space is also problematic, here's the last (and greatest!) idea: large felt tags that fit OVER the hangers. The genius part of this idea is that it can actually SAVES space by getting pants out of the drawer and sharing the same place as the shirts! Supplies required are minimal: just a large enough piece of felt (suggested size is 18 x12") for each day of the week, strong hangers, and perhaps some clothes pins to make sure the pants stay on the hangers until they are needed. Cut the top corners off the felt rectangle, cut a hole in the top for the hanger to fit through, slice two X's in the bottom to hold socks and underwear and embellish as desired. (This would be an excellent place to practice some sewing skills! Buttons and rickrack would be adorable!)

With just a little planning, getting dressed in the morning can be a painless process for everyone and get the day off to a great start!

Little Levi Mcconaughey is certainly making the rounds. His father, periodically shirtless actor Matthew Mcconaughey recently took the newborn to his first concert. The concert was that of John Mellancamp. Levi, born mere weeks ago to the actor and supermodel girlfriend Camila Alves has already been surfing.

Now, I'm assuming this kid had his shots and a doctor's blessing to be out among the masses. I'm also assuming since McConohottie is a celebrity that he and the little tyke were able to keep the crowds at bay. They probably had special seating, etc. to ensure a little space for the newborn.

Says Mcconaughey, he wants to prepare his son to be around people and noise. My guess is they plan on taking their little one with them everywhere they go. Mcconaughey has no plans to change his lifestyle now that he's a father, and says one doesn't need to. I have a newsflash for him--parenthood DOES change you, and you cannot live the exact same life you did before (especially if you were a jetsetting, camera-friendly celebrity like McConohottie) once you have a child. Unless, of course, your child isn't really a part of your life As for Mcconaughey, that doesn't seem to be the case. He seems keen to include his son in all his favorite activities. Good for you, Matthew--that's what being a daddy is all about, right?

What do you think? Does life change infinitely and there are things you simply must give up when you become a parent, or can you simply absorb your child into your current lifestyle?

The name of this column is "Childhood Unplugged", but that doesn't mean an Amish existence is the only way to get kids to flex their creative muscles! Advances in technology make it possible for even young children to accomplish amazing things with electronics that are much more educational (and fun!) than achieving a high score on Guitar Hero or amassing enormous bank accounts on Rune-Scape.

Back when I was a kid (before the days of Atari 2600 's Tank Pong, mind you) the most advanced technology allowed in grubby little hands was a tape recorder. Working with what we had, my siblings and I created news broadcasts, commercials complete with cheesy rhyming jingles, and found ways to make some amazing sounds effects and not-so-amazing voices to narrate recreations of our favorite fairy tales and children's books. (The Three Little Pigs was one of our best works due to my wise casting of a little brother with the inability to pronounce the letter L , in the role of the big bad wolf. The resultant, "Widdle Pig! Widdle Pig! Wet me come in!" was a definite crowd pleaser.)

Recording technology has definitely improved since back then, but finding ways to auditorially share a familiar tale, poem, or piece of music in a new and unexpected way is still a fun group activity that can easily include even young kids. (It also gives one a greater appreciation for the work of the Foley artist!)

Today, most households have a camcorder, digital camera, or cell phone with some sort of image recording function, taking kid creations to a WHOLE NEW LEVEL! Making action movies based on books (or even better, original stories!) gives children a reason to learn basic fix-it skills (to create backdrops and sets!) and rudimentary sewing skills (costuming purposes!) and to figure out how to think outside the box and make-do with what they're able to forage (Mom loves this project, but there are financial limits, Son!) which will serve them well during the lean college years and recessionary times. Dance routines, game shows, a neighborhood kid version of American Idol, parodying Jaws using a wind-up toy in the bathtub, video recording possibilities are endless!

For kids more interested in fact-finding there's always: a nightly neighborhood news reports, interviewing people of interest in the area, doing book reviews (like on Reading Rainbow!) , how-to's and creating documentaries. Meet Me at the Corner is a website with some great tips for aspiring kid filmmakers. including how to do a video book review and how to create a documentary. The site is also sponsoring a video contest for children called "Summer In My Town." The winner receives $250, but every child between the 7-13 who enters will learn from the experience and perhaps even develop a new interest or discover a natural ability.

Last but not least is the device all kids take for granted yet still amazes their parents: the digital camera. While we waited for holidays and birthdays to come around just so the last of the roll of film would FINALLY be used up so the month-long film processing would begin (No 1-hour processing joints in those days, no sir!), today's kids clamor to see the image on the display screen sometimes even before the picture has even been taken! Digital cameras are amazing not only for their speed, but that kids of all ages (with securely fastened wrist-straps and close supervision by the younger crowd, of course) can act as photographer. Kids already see the world in a unique way that is readily evident in their photography. However, if they seem stuck, challenge the child to use the camera to tell a story in photographs and see what sort of magic happens.

Technology is a great way to get kids' imaginations going. We just need to guide them to use it in way that stretches the mind, rather than putting it in a vegged-out state.

Did you ever play with paper dolls? Perhaps you did when you were young. Perhaps, even now, you continue to collect them for nostalgia's sake, or to refrain back to your old days when you didn't have kids and were one yourself. Well, in the world of paper dolls comes along a set that is fun and humorous and possibly just a wee bit controversial: The pregnant paper doll.

The pregnant paper doll is intended as a gift for the mother-to-be who has a sense of humor and doesn't mind yet one more reminder that her waist is about to become a thing of the past. There's a doll and requisite set of clothes for each trimester, including what some women call the "fourth" trimester--you know, the one after the baby is born but you still feel and look ginormous? The first trimester offers a few tummy-bearing options and some strategic layering, while the third trimester offers sweatpants, a mu mu, and, oddly, a wedding dress.

Not sure what comment the creators of the paper dolls had in mind when they decided to add that garb to the mix. Are they secretly (or not so much) hinting that pregnant women ought to get married? Maybe I'm just being overly analytical; after all they are just paper dolls. The only other thing I think is worth mentioning is that this is a kitchshy item that, while fun, will most likely just sit on the shelf. No mom-to-be is going to take time out of her busy nesting schedule to cut these out.