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

This is an important (but often overlooked) point for an aspiring young comedian, anything that requires too long of a build-up can easily flummox, so short and sweet is generally the best bet.

It's also a hit if the child has a joke that fits the occasion. My kids' best Halloween was the year they dressed up as skunks and had this little gem to share with the people who passed out candy:

How do you keep a skunk from smelling? Hold its nose!

For actress Brooke Shields, life is far from perfect. And she's not afraid to admit it. The Lipstick Jungle star was very free with her words when she spoke with TimesOnline. And she's not afraid to admit that having and raising kids is tough for the working mom. Shields, now 43, is mom to two daughters with husband Chris Henchy, Rowan who is five and Grier who is two.

She's thankful to be on a hit show like Lipstick Jungle (from acclaimed Sex in the City creator Candace Bushnell) and to have had an incredible career that started when she was a mere fourteen years old, but, states Shields, ""I'm on the set of Lipstick, committed, yes, but constantly wondering how my kids are, where they are, sad when my daughter asks if she can stay up until I get home...." Just like any other working mother. Shields also says she's acquiesced to letting her kids stay up until she gets home and letting them into bed with her, which she said she would never do. Yes, even Brooke Shields, who once sported little more than Calvin Kleins and arm candy like Andre Agassi, has to make compromises. Good to hear they're for a five- and two-year-old.

It's also refreshing to hear that a celebrity mom thinks parenting and working is tough, that she admits to not being perfect and to giving in to her kids, and that she misses them and cares about what's going on with them. Celebs act like things are so hard all the time and they have these armies of nannies and other kinds of help that regular folks like us could never dream of. Occasionally we see them out with their kids for little more than what amounts to photo ops, whether they intend such outings to be such or not. I'm sure Brooke has her share of help--it would be impossible to star in a television series and not--but at least she's being realistic and honest with us that parenting--parenting done RIGHT--is not easy, and that perfection is far from reality.

Many of today's parents grew up with the daily query, "Did you remember to take your vitamin?" and would dutifully trudge back to the kitchen and pop that Flintstone chewable.

Today there is a vast ocean of choice when it comes to children's vitamins. You can choose between omega3, immunity support, zinc & echinachea, extra iron, or extra C in liquid, swallow-able, or chewable in the traditional chalky version, gummy-bear, or bubblegum variety forms.

But are vitamins still an necessary part of a children's daily diet? A British website did a study on children's multivitamins and found only five out of 14 brands of supplements contained all 12 essential vitamins and stated that some have little more nutritional value than candy.

Even experts seem to disagree whether multivitamins are necessary for all children. The American Academy of Pediatrics only giving supplements if your pediatrician advises you to, but the same organization also says a daily vitamin isn't likely do any harm, unless it exceeds the recommended daily allowance amounts of a vitamin or mineral.

With so many of today's common food and beverages being fortified (Who could have imagined that calcium could be added to orange juice?!) even finicky children are probably getting a lot more vitamins and minerals than parents realize. We're pretty lackadaisical on the multivitamin front in our house. What about you?

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As kids head back to school with new backpacks and sneakers and grins missing teeth, you're breathing a sigh of relief. Right? Isn't that what you're doing?

Well, maybe not if your child is going to school for the first time (if that's the case, deep breath, everything will be FINE....) But for kids heading back to school for the second year, or the fifth for that matter, you know your child is re-entering the realm of structured routines, after school activities, and yes, homework.

Is it a good thing? The homework, I mean. Some parents say it's the best thing ever--and they hound me from day one for more homework, more homework. Others say the opposite, and wonder why I ever send any homework home at all.

In my opinion homework in the elementary grades serves only one purpose: to get young students into routine of doing homework in preparation for the later grades. Other than that, I think it interferes with the meaningful and enriching activities children should be doing after school and at home with their families. Call me a renegade, but there is quite a bit of research out there to support my view.

Don't get me wrong-I'm not saying children should go home and play video games all afternoon. I think every child should spend time with books every single day--reading independently and being read. I also think that parents should involve their children in other meaningful academic activities that are incorporated into daily life--like playing math games, or doing research on a topic that the child is interested in.

But homework for homework's sake when your kid is 6 years old? I'm not convinced.

I'm curious. Do you think homework in the early grades is important and necessary--or is it overrated, and perhaps taking precious time away from other activities children could be doing?

I was pretty much a klutz growing up. In fact, I still am. But I'm not obese (although in the last two months of my pregnancy I do feel rather large!). Is there any real connection between the two? Perhaps so, if we're to believe the findings of another recent study.

According to a new report on Reuters, there is a growing pool of evidence suggesting such a link between children with poor cognitive function and adults with type 2 diabetes or who are obese. A study of British children between the ages of seven and eleven (that started in 1958) yielded the results: those with the worst congitive skills were also the most likely to be obese later in life. Researchers were quick to point out these children were no larger than the rest of the kids at the time, meaning weight was not to blame for their being clumsy.

In fact, factors such as body mass at childhood and social class were both taken into account and adjusted. The findings were still solid. So what causes the link (if indeed there realy is one)? Well, that is the question, isn;t it? Researchers considered smoking during pregnancy a possibility as well as children not getting enough exercise during childhood--which is critical to developing fine motor skills.

pic by vlauria.