DotMoms

DotMoms Daily: "Teddy bear" teacher home, Dinner table deception, and more

Photo: Ray Ng, Time

In family-related news:
> New "fertility diet" gives couples hope (Newsweek)
> Anorexia risk may start before birth (HealthDay/USN&WR)
> More obese women die in childbirth (Reuters/MSNBC)
> Smaller babies grow up to be sadder adults (Reuters/MSNBC)
> The next Attention Deficit Disorder? (Time)
> Fever may improve behavior in autistic kids (ABC)
> Honey may help soothe kids' coughs (CBS/WebMD)
> Peanut allergies striking at earlier age (Reuters/ABC)
> Persistence key to kids eating veggies (CBS/WebMD)
> Does deception belong at the dinner table? (ABC)
> British teacher jailed over teddy bear arrives home (Reuters)
> Is "Golden Compass" selling atheism to kids'? (AP/CNN)
> Hey Santa, think outside the toy box (MSNBC)
> Girls make history by sweeping top honors at a science contest (NYTimes)
> Couples still view husband's career as more important (Reuters)

DotMoms Daily: Anxious pregnancies, Curious George recall, and more

Image: CPSC, MSNBC

In family-related news:
> Moms-to-be often anxious, depressed (Reuters)
> New mom's NYC Marathon win stirs debate (AP/Yahoo)
> Curious George recalled, contaminated with lead (AP/MSNBC)
> Atari 2600 inducted into Toy Hall of Fame (AP/MSNBC)
> Grade schoolers make 'Mighty Milers' (NPR)
> New book features celebrity bar mitzvahs (Newsweek)
> Laura Ingalls Wilder's well-insulated 'Little House' (WashPost)
> Boomers not planning for parents' care (WebMD)

DotMoms Daily: Fisher-Price recall, "Bad Mom" Web sites, and more

Image: Regis Duvignau, Reuters

In family-related news:
> Gene explains why breastfeeding makes kids smarter (Reuters)
> Breastfeeding good for the heart's health (Reuters/MSNBC)
> Mental illness in parents tied to higher SIDS risk (Reuters)
> Mattel recalls over 172,000 Fisher-Price toys (MSNBC)
> Day care can cost more than college tuition (Missoulian)
> Female absenteeism is not just about child care (MSNBC)
> Teen starts high school club to promote abstinence, end abortion (WashPost)
> Therapists aid War-stressed soldiers' families, partners (WashPost)
> Divorce doesn't have to destroy the kids (MSNBC)
> Parents bare all on "Bad Mom" Web sites (Reuters)
> Blogging granny a hit with surfers (Reuters)

DotMoms Daily: Lower-level lead poisoning, Parent-Teacher-Kid conferences, and more

Photo: Mark and Laura Olmstead, NPR

In family-related news:
> Lead poisons kids at lower levels than standard (AP/MSNBC)
> 'Child prodigy' film revives question: What is art? (NPR)
> Kids welcome at parent-teacher conferences (AP/MSNBC)
> Schools to get face-remembering cameras (CBS)
> 5 million frozen pizzas recalled (AP/CBS)
> Congress passes kids health bill again (AP/WashPost)
> Seventies something: Tweens and nostalgia (NYTimes)
> Life's work: The feminine critique (NYTimes)

DotMoms Daily: Teens & strangers, saving soaps, and more

Illustration: Chris Gash, Newsweek

In family-related news:
> FDA, EPA stick to pregnancy fish-eating limits (Reuters)
> U.S. touts studying postpartum depression (AP/Yahoo)
> Poll: Mixed feelings on kids' health insurance (USAToday)
> Middle school nurse triages for aches & anxieties  (NYTimes)
> Failing schools strain to meet U.S. standards  (NYTimes)
> Study: Online teens aren't afraid of strangers (AP/MSNBC/Pew)
> CBS plans changes to save 'World Turns,' 'Guiding Light' (TVWeek)
   Related: Procter & Gamble mixes soap & drama online (NYTimes)
> J.K Rowling launches U.S. book tour (Reuters/Yahoo)
> Mom ships 80,000 cans of Silly String to troops (AP/CNN)

From the new Newsweek:
> What's chemo, Mommy?
> The case for Chutes & Ladders
> Your child was out of line
> Women's Movement: From barricades to blogs

DotMoms Daily: Hipster parents, twisty kids, and more

Photo: CNN

In family-related news:
> Hipster parents want pop tots (MSNBC)
> Video game tackles childhood obesity (ABC)
> Kids use yoga to learn mythology, fight test jitters (CNN)
> Students try to set Twister record (AP/CBS)
> Breast cancer awareness: How young is too young? (ABC)
> Case tests boundaries of prayer in school sports (WashPost)
> Workplace moms increasingly sue over discrimination (ABC)
> Democrats launch campaign to override SCHIP veto (NPR)

Room Parent rant

By Julie Kirtz Garrett

"I don't know the sure path to success, but the sure path to failure is trying to make everyone happy," Bill Cosby once said.

Was Bill Cosby a room parent?

It's the time of year when the sign-up sheets for school volunteers get posted, e-mailed and pretty much pushed in my face at "Back to School Night." After a lazy summer, I always find myself wondering how in the world I can be a lunch mom, room parent, party organizer, field trip chaperone, team manager and homework monitor for my three kids -- and have a career or do anything else with my life. (Do dads ever wonder this?)

I know I'm just whining, because in the end, I always sign up to volunteer at my children's grade school. And every year I overbook myself trying to make everyone happy.

Still, with seven years of this under my belt, I have learned what to avoid. I am not good at organizing big school events, running meetings or raising money. I like face time with the kids (field trips and classroom activities). So, this summer I vowed to say "no" to room parent duty, after a four-year stint. Naturally, I got the call from the school's room parent head-honcho. And naturally I said "yes," I'll be the 7th-grade room mom. I didn't tell her I think 7th-graders should be running their own "rooms." And oh yeah, I signed up for lunch and recess duty too and to help with a few class parties and field trips.

The truth is, in the middle of all this school volunteer business, there are always moments I never want to miss. Like Tuesday afternoon. I showed up to help supervise recess. My daughter Audrey, 7, rushed at me full speed, with her arms out, pushing her way through the packed, loud playground chaos. Nothing was going to get in her way. "Mommy," was all she said when she gave me a big hug and then skipped away to find her friends.

I'm grateful I have the freedom (a luxury really) to sneak away from work and spend some time at my children's school. This may not make everyone happy, but it works for me. S

How do you handle the school volunteer push? How do you balance the desire to be involved in your child's school with your responsibilities at work and the rest of your life?  Do you try to make everyone happy or just yourself?

Julie Kirtz Garrett is a writer and television reporter. She lives in Washington, D.C., with her husband and three children.

DotMoms Daily: Dying in childbirth, Nanny @ the movies, and more

Image: Kristian Dowling/Getty Images, ABC

In family-related news now:
> More U.S. women dying in childbirth (AP/MSNBC)
> Doctors skeptical of food industry ad pledge (ABC)
> For many kids, faith is the key to happiness (AP/MSNBC)
> "High School Musical 2" already a mega-hit (CBS)
> The devil wears down her nanny (New York Times)

Reuniting with my younger self

By Amy H.

Almost exactly 20 years ago I sat solemnly at a fake wood laminate table in my high school library with a copy of the Senior Time Capsule Packet before me, attempting to accurately predict what I would be doing five, 10 and then 20 years into the future. Wearing my dad's faded and peeling fraternity sweatshirt, black leggings and China flats, I felt confident that the next 10 years would find me still in school, working diligently towards my doctorate in psychology, my plan since the age of 13.

Then my pen came to an abrupt halt, hovering over the question about my 20-year forecast. Surely I would be done with school by then, so how would I be spending my time? Working full-time as a counselor, I jotted down with some degree of certainty. Would I have children, and if so, how many? One… or two, I wrote more tentatively. Which genders? Definitely girls. What ages? Hmm, they'll probably be 12 years old and 10 years old by then. And who was to be their father? I peered out cautiously from behind my asymmetrical hairdo at the faces of the other students in the library. Did I know my future husband already? Would I end up back here in my hometown after college, and would my child one day be sitting at this very table?

Today I'm preparing for the trip back to my 20th high school reunion, a five and a half hour flight and what seems like a lifetime away from the place that I've come to call home. I just finished teaching a class at the university where I'm employed as a part-time professor, an arrangement that still allows me to call myself a stay-at-home mom. I'm packing up swimsuits for my two children, a boy, age 6, and a girl, age 3, who have brought me more joy than my teenage mind could envision. I've been talking over rental car plans with my husband, whom I didn't meet until I moved far away from that laminate table, but who seems to know me better than anyone I have known since childhood.

Perhaps my Senior Time Capsule Packet will be waiting there for me at the reunion, filled with all the goals and fantasies that an 18-year-old could dream up, a self-contract in purple ink. On the surface, I followed my life plan, but like bad driving directions the general route was correct (go right for 2.3 miles then go left for 1.7 miles then go on and on and on for 60-plus years), but some enormously important details that significantly changed my journey were inaccurate or altogether missing.

Soon I'll find my way back for a tour of the new high school library, laminate replaced with oak, wide wondering eyes replaced with wiser contented ones.

How do your high school predictions compare to who you are today?

Amy Heesacker is a thirty-something SAHM and part-time psychology professor living in the deep South with her husband and two children.

DotMoms Daily: Hallowed reviews, Easy Bake recall redux and more

Image: Lars Klove, The New York Times

In Harry Potter-related news now:
> The New York Times' Michiko Kakutani reviews "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows," purchased Wednesday at a New York City bookstore. Kakutani does not reveal any critical plot twists, but does reveal how many characters die and also describes the nature of the Hallows. Kakutani says the novel offers closure and reaffirms the ongoing theme, "choice -- more than talent or predisposition -- matters most of all." (Here's how Harry's publisher responded to the early review. Here's how J.K. Rowling responded, along with The New York Times' defense of its review.)
> In her review, the Baltimore Sun's Mary Carole McCauley provides more details and describes the theme this way, "In each of the six previous books, Harry has learned one important valuable life lesson -- about the importance of choosing well, about the importance of learning to trust others, about the importance of recognizing the humanity in enemies ... If there's a theme that runs through all seven books, it's the saving grace of a parent's love -- in particular, of motherly love." She seems to hint at a happy family-related ending, but we won't know for sure until we read for ourselves. Bookseller.com reports McCauley received the book from a Sun reporter's relative.
> Beware, Sandra Martin's review in the Globe and Mail, "...but if you skip to the end you miss the magic," provides significant spoilers about the book's plot.
> Fans break Potter embargo (Newsweek/MSNBC)
> Final Potter books ship early (ABC)
> One in 43 UK homes awaiting Harry book (The London Paper)
> Sabbath sales plans draw threats of legal action in Israel (International Herald Tribune)
> How to spell the spells: Continuity in Harry Potter (NPR)
> Harry Potter books are nurtured by literary forebears (LATimes)
> Was boy wizard the charm that made children's books fly? (Washington Post)
> Losing Harry Potter is like losing a 'best friend' (MSNBC)
> Would you send your kid to Hogwarts? (iVillage)

Image: AP/CBS

In family-related news now:
> Stop setting alarms on my biological clock (Newsweek/MSNBC)
> In the home, women have more power (ABC)
> Mom's in the House, with kids at home (Washington Post)
> Easy Bake ovens recalled for second time this year (AP/MSNBC)
> Food and drink companies to restrict kids' ads (Reuters)
> R teens txt msg addicts? (ABC)
> Abstinence education faces uncertain future (NYTimes)
> Top 10 towns in which to raise a family (CBS)