Blogging Baby

Why You and Your Kids Should See Pixar's 'UP'

Rachel Campos-Duffy — 2009-06-16T16:00:00+00:00

Last week, my three oldest kids and I had a date night. We went to a 50s style diner, had hamburgers, fries and milkshakes, and headed to the 7:30 PM show. Not having read any reviews prior, I purchased tickets for Pixar's "Up" fully expecting that I was in for predictable kid's movie fare - you know, sassy animal sidekicks, inside adult jokes that (we hope) go over the kids' heads, and, of course, the prerequisite potty humor.

What I got was a more than a pleasant surprise. "Up" is a rare find. A diamond in a pile of cultural rubbish served up to kids these days. Stripped of much of the cynicism and reliance on bodily functions of so many modern animated films, "Up" is written to respect kids' intelligence and sense of humor. Just as important, it is a first-rate commercial movie that isn't afraid to be wholesome - evidence that films for kids can be highly entertaining and simultaneously reinforce virtues such as love, kindness, empathy, and courage.

Kids Movies 2009

Earth
Disney's first nature film follows three animal families -- polar bears, elephants, and humpback whales -- on their journey across the planet. And for every ticket sold during the film's opening week, Disney will plant a tree in your family's honor. Have fun and do good.

Disney

Hannah Montana: The Movie
If you have a tween girl in your house, you've probably known about this movie for months. It's essentially a longer version of the Disney Channel TV show, but with new songs and a slightly more complex plot. Your daughter will love it, and you'll be happy you took her. We promise.

Disney

Up
The latest in this year's crop of 3D movies is the improbable story of a crotchety old man and an excitable little boy who fall into the adventure of a lifetime. Kids will love the 3D technology, and parents will appreciate the humor and fast-moving plot.

Disney/Pixar

Coraline
Newbery Award winner Neil Gaiman's magic realist novella comes to the big screen in a mesmerizing, scary adaptation. Coraline's new flat has a secret door in it; on the other side is a world just like hers but seemingly so much better -- until she discovers it's frightening secrets. This is definitely a big kids movie.

Focus Features

Hotel for Dogs
What happens when you combine kindhearted siblings, and empty house, and a pack of stray dogs? Why, the Hotel for Dogs, of course! The perfect film for kids who love dogs (but be prepared for post-movies pleas for a puppy).

Nickelodeon

Inkheart
Meggie's father has a magical power: when he reads aloud, stories come to life. Now Meggie must rescue him from a fictional villain come to life. Brendan Fraser stars as the supercool bibliophile dad in a film guaranteed to get kids interested in reading.

New Line Cinema

Pink Panther Deux
While most parents will roll their eyes at the thought of another Pink Panther Movie, kids will love Steve Martin's slapstick humor and funny mispronunciations. Take the kids and try to remember what it was like to watch the original Pink Panther movies -- you might find yourself laughing at the pratfalls, too.

Sony Pictures

Under the Sea
The first in the year's crop of 3D movies for kids, Under the Sea is a documentary about the costal regions of Southern Australia, New Guinea and the Indo-Pacific. Narrated by Jim Carrey, this is a movie that will thrill and educate the kids.

IMAX

Jonas Brothers: The 3D Concert Experience
Not willing to take your tween to a Jonas Brothers concert? How about the next best thing -- the 3D concert movie! Earplugs recommended if you're over 16.

Walt Disney Pictures

Race to Witch Mountain
Remember back when kids movies were smart and funny and exciting, like Escape to Witch Mountain? Here's hoping that the sequel will be all of that. But really, any story about a UFO expert and two kids with paranormal powers is the perfect Saturday afternoon matinee, for kids and parents.

Walt Disney Pictures

The main character is an elderly and curmudgeonly widower named Carl. The film begins with a charming depiction of Carl's pre-digital age childhood - a much-needed reminder to today's parents of the unchanging importance of play and imagination in a child's life - and introduces us to Carl's playmate, Ellie. Ellie eventually becomes Carl's soul mate and wife and the subsequent love story that unfolds without words and set to music (clearly an homage to Charlie Chaplin) is an unforgettable movie moment as powerful as anything seen on screen before. The sweet and indelible impression left by this sequence does more than color the rest of the film, it has the potential to color the adult viewer's life: Reinforcing one's commitment to love and family and encouraging a reexamination of life's priorities.

For all its retro charm, "Up" does not shy away from themes of alienation and the problems of modern life. Most poignantly, it tackles the thorny and sadly too common issue of divorce, from the perspective of the child, Russell, an earnest and thoroughly lovable Junior Wilderness Explorer (think Cub Scout) determined to earn his "elderly badge" in hopes that his absent dad might show up to the ceremony and pin the award on him with all the other dads. I couldn't help but wonder how many fathers - divorced or not - might see the film and be touched by Russell's innocence and how he experiences and deals with the pain of his father's lack of involvement in his life.

This film will do more than entertain kids and adults. It's likely to encourage parents to play catch with their child, build a tree house out back, or, as Russell reminisced that he once did with his dad, share an ice-cream cream cone while counting cars. I say go see "Up" because any movie that encourages us to slow down, enjoy life's simple pleasures and savor fleeting childhoods is well worth the price of admission.

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Blogger Fakes Baby's Death

Susan Wagner — 2009-06-15T20:00:00+00:00

Filed under: In the news, Media

Blogger Rebecca Beushausen lied about her terminally ill baby. Source: David Pierini, Chicago Tribune / MCT.

Imagine finding out that the baby you are carrying is terminally ill. Now imagine choosing to carry that baby to term, knowing she will not live. That's exactly what one Chicago area mom blogger recently went through. She chronicled her doomed pregnancy and home birth, and then told her readers that her baby girl had died a few hours after she delivered.

Heartbreaking, right? Here's the most heartbreaking part: The entire story was a lie.

Twenty-six-year-old Beccah Beushausen had captivated readers with her story of a single mother facing a difficult pregnancy. Her blog, Little One April, drew thousands of readers, who offered prayers and support and help. On June 7, when she posted about her baby's birth and subsequent death hours later, her site had nearly a million hits.

But when Beushausen posted a photo of Baby April, readers got suspicious -- the baby wasn't a baby at all, but a Reborn doll, a baby doll made to look exactly like a newborn. And that's when Beushausen's story began to unravel.

Click above to watch a video report of this story. Screengrab courtesy of ABC.

Beushausen, who started her blog in in March, had struck a nerve with Christian and anti-abortion bloggers; they saw her as a beacon for their beliefs. But now those same bloggers are questioning Beushausen's motives. Jennifer McKinney, the blogger behind My Charming Kids, was one of Beushausen's biggest supporters. But no longer. "I feel emotionally exploited," McKinney told the Chicago Tribune. "My readers were praying for her, and I feel guilty about that." McKinney says that in retrospect, Beushausen seemed more interested in driving up the traffic at her web site than she did in her unborn baby.

Her pretend unborn baby, that is.

What does Beushausen have to say about all this? In the wake of revelations that she lied, she initially deleted both her blog and her Twitter account -- but now she's posted an apology at Little One April. It says, in part:

"In my life I've had good days and I have also dealt with a lot of pain, including the sorrow over the loss of life, among a lot of other things. I don't say that to garner your sympathy or to lessen your anger. I say it because it is true. Was the loss present day? -- No. But true, none the less. In my "calendar past," perhaps, but still very much so in my present day to day.

"I lied and I am not trying to hide that, nor am I trying to minimize it. Worse still, I lied to a community of people whose only intention was to support me through this time and that is wrong, and for that I am sorrier than you could know.

"The #1 question I have been asked in the last few days is what I would tell people online who followed my story, who are now upset to find it is not true. - The simplest and most honest way that I can answer why I started lying (even prior to opening my blog) and started my blog is that I am struggling with my life. I have been dealing with unresolved pain that weighs heavy on my heart and which I have been unable to handle alone."

Beushausen goes on to say that she did not recieve money or gifts from anyone, and that contrary to public reports, she was not paid for advertising placed on her blog. She also says, over and over, that she is sorry.

But that's not cutting it with other mom bloggers, particularly those who really have lost a child, and who came to Beushausen's aid. Bloggers Angie Smith, Jennifer McKinney and Raechel Meyers, who befriended and supported Beushausen, are hurt and angry: "There is an issue that all three of us feel needs to be addressed, and that is the fact that we really want you all to know that we are hurting with you. The fact that we want to honor the Lord doesn't mean that we aren't experiencing anger, disappointment, and deep sorrow. Two of us have walked through this journey and lost our babies, and the third came closer than most people can relate to."

So what is the lesson here? It's difficult to tell right now. We've seen bloggers reach out to support each other in times of need, and it is devastating to see that trust abused. But it is also incredibly sad to think about what drove Beccah Beushausen to create this fiction, and to lie to so many people.

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MTV Exploiting Pregnant Teens?

Sandy Maple — 2009-05-27T11:00:00+00:00

Filed under: Teens & tweens, Pregnancy & birth, Media

Pregnant teens are new reality show stars. Image: sxc.hu

Back in December, an MTV executive promised viewers a kinder, gentler MTV. The network responsible for such gems as the vapid pseudo-reality show "The Hills" and the nauseating "My Super Sweet Sixteen" was planning to scale back on the sensationalism and offer up some programming with a heart.

"Our new shows will feature themes of affirmation and accomplishment," said Brian Graden, president of entertainment at MTV Networks music channels and president of Logo. "Our shows are going to focus less on loud and silly hooks and more on young people proving themselves. These are themes that are consistent with the Obama generation."

Technically, I guess their soon-to-premiere reality show "16 & Pregnant" fits the bill. Starring real-life pregnant teenagers, the show will document the challenges these girl face as they come to terms with their forever-changed lives.

"'16 & Pregnant' follows the journey of six young women going through an immensely life-changing experience at such a young age," says Tony DiSanto, MTV's president of programming. "Each episode tells a new, unique story and shows the real-life challenges they face from dealing with family and friends to school and finances as new mothers. This is the real secret life of an American teenager."

I suppose this show is meant to serve as a cautionary tale about the consequences of having sex. And while it might serve that purpose in some way, what else does it do? Does it glamorize teen pregnancy? Does it exploit these young girls and send a message that getting pregnant equals attention? Or worse, does it normalize something that should remain abnormal: Children having children?

DiSanto brags about MTV's long history of reflecting the lives of their viewers with "compelling reality stories." But I can't help but wonder if the commercialization of teen pregnancy is merely reflecting reality or helping to shape it.

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The Story of Stuff Makes Moms - And Kids - Think

Victoria Scanlan Stefanakos — 2009-05-13T13:00:00+00:00

Filed under: Teens & tweens, Environment, Media, Education, Resources

Annie Leonard explains how stuff is made, and soon tossed. Image via storyofstuff.com.

"The Story of Stuff" is the stuff of legend in classrooms across the country -- and now, my small town in Maine. This short film by activist Annie Leonard documents the travels of stuff -- the consumer goods we buy and use and toss -- and their impact on the environment. The free 20-minute video was the subject of a New York Times story that documented how its anti-materialistic message has taken classrooms by storm. That's because teachers itching to explain climate change can't find more than a passing explanation in their traditional textbooks. The Times reports that some 6 million people have viewed the movie on the Web, millions more on YouTube, and more than 7,000 schools, churches and people have ordered DVDs.

Last night, I talked a handful of my girlfriends into watching it with me so we could see why teachers everywhere are using it get teens talking about the plague of our consumer culture. Seems that if we buy less, we might just save the world.

Here's why: Annie Leonard, a former Greenpeace employee, wrote the film after spending years investigating the travels of trash across the globe. Leonard also narrates the story of "stuff" (depicted as line-drawn cartoons); she's clear and often funny, the way people who really know what they're talking about often are. It doesn't hurt that the film was produced by Free Range Studios, the group behind socially minded, web-based films like "The Meatrix" and "Grocery Store Wars." (The project was bankrolled by The Sustainability Funders and Tides Foundation.)

Huddled around a laptop, we listened. We laughed. We gasped. I marveled at the simplicity of the medium, and the complexity of the message. Leonard outlines in very clear language how the global materials economy works. Or doesn't. I love a good picture, so I was delighted when the pie charts appeared to illustrate how one-third of the world's natural resources have burned up in the past 20 years. Of course, then I was horrified. Leonard went on to explain that even though America accounts for just 5 percent of the world's population, we use 30 percent of the world's resources-and generate 30 percent of its waste.

Maybe it was the comfy couches, or the red wine. But, when it was all over, we couldn't help but feel a sisterhood of complicity. One mom admitted she lusts after handbags. Another wants to redecorate her home. We all collect shoes. And we love our children-as well as the environment. Leonard contends that our current state of consumer mania (of which we're a part, no matter how disciplined we try to be) was designed after World War II and ratcheted our of control by economic and media manipulation. Many sexy new products are designed for the dump-and consumers feel terrible if they aren't constantly upgrading.

Gretchen Giumarro, 38, is a landscape architect and mother of two boys. Even so, she somehow recalled being told by a five-year-old visitor that "washing the dishes kills the polar bears." True. But, after watching "The Story of Stuff," she suggested that you have to teach kids to love the environment before you can teach them to heal it. "I'd love to have another video with the next installment," she said. "I could really use the "what you can do" chapter of the story." Me, too.

Until then, here's a good start.

What are you doing to teach your kids about stuff? Or are your kids the ones schooling you?

Victoria Scanlan Stefanakos is editor of Project Homestead.

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Disney Puts Zac Efron on an Avocado

Bethany Sanders — 2009-05-06T16:00:00+00:00

Filed under: Eating & nutrition, In the news, Media

Disney's selling fruits and veggies to kids, but should they be selling food at all? Photo courtesy of sxc.hu.

Got a picky eater in your house? Disney wants to help. Tired of being called out for shilling sugary cereals and fast food meals to kids, Disney hatched a plan -- they'd sell eggs instead. Disney eggs are ... well ... just eggs, only each one has a different Disney character stamped on the outside. And it's only the beginning.

Disney Garden is a new line of fruits and vegetables, all marketed toward kids, all with a favorite character attached. Finding Nemo oranges, High School Musical baby cucumbers, Mickey Mouse apple slices ... you name it, Disney will be happy to slap a licensed character on it.

Disney knows parents are concerned about childhood obesity, that they think their kids don't eat enough fresh foods. But they also know how to sell to kids. They're counting on the "nag" factor to work: Kids beg to buy their favorite characters, parents see a fruit or vegetable and think, "Why not? At least it's healthy."

While Snow White is better for kids stamped on an apple than stuck in a Happy Meal, not everyone is jumping on Disney's bandwagon. Susan Linn, director of the Campaign for a Commercial-Free Childhood, tells ParentDish that Disney would be better off not marketing food to kids at all. "Using characters to lure children to certain foods encourages them to develop the unhealthy habit of deciding what to eat based on attractive packaging, rather than on nutrition and even taste," says Linn.

If you've ever tried to walk down a cereal aisle with someone under the age of 10, you know exactly what Linn is talking about. Forget about taste and nutrition, kids are drawn directly to packaging. "If companies like Disney really cared about the well being of children they would stop marketing any food to children and allow parents the freedom to help children develop healthy eating habits without being undermined by child-targeted marketing."

I don't want to get into a power struggle with my kids over baby carrots, but I worry that Disney is going to force me to. How do I explain to my kids that the fruits and veggies they've been eating all along -- with no complaint, mind you -- are just as tasty and nutritious as the ones Hannah Montana is selling? Disney's hoping it's a battle parents won't bother picking.

Last weekend, I planted our veggie garden while my girls played with a neighbor friend in the yard. Their friend, a second grader, wandered over to see what I was doing. "What's that?" she asked, pointed to a row of lettuce plants I was watering.

"It's lettuce," I told her.

"I didn't know you could grow lettuce in the ground," she said.

I'm wondering now if she thinks it comes from Disneyland.

Can't we just let food be food? Do kids really need their favorite characters to tell them what and how to eat? Share your thoughts with us in comments.

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Disney Princesses Pose as Cover Girls

Bethany Sanders — 2009-04-29T11:00:00+00:00

Filed under: Kids 5-7, Media

When it comes to Disney Princesses, I've got an "if you can't beat 'em, join em" attitude. And it's really hard to beat 'em when you've got two small girls in the house. But as much as I've come to accept sharing my home with Princess Aurora and her buddies, I also have my guard up. I know that Disney is a company that's more than happy to take things a little too far.

Case in point: "Princess Style" magazines. Okay, so they aren't real magazines. They're actually wall decorations, presumably for a young girl's room. If Ariel's impossibly tiny waist and come hither look aren't painful enough, check out the headlines:

Great Legs Are a Dream That Can Come True
What Your Guy Friends Say About You
Two's Company, Eight's a Crowd
Find Your Prince: 5 Tips to Show You How

These are, obviously, supposed to be parody, but Disney's target audience is too young to understand sarcasm and satire. My six-year-old is old enough to read them, though. Isn't it a little early to start suggesting to her that her legs aren't perfect? That she needs to worry about finding her "prince" or what boys are thinking about her? (Yes, it's way too early.) And don't get me started on the "eight's a crowd" thing. Sex, body issues, mean girls ... it's all there.

And as Lisa at Sociological Images points out, these "magazines" also bring girls -- ready or not -- right into the celebrity culture: "The product suggests that while it is all well and good to be a princess, you should aim to be a famous princess," writes Lisa, "In addition to occupying castles and fantasy forests, you should grace the covers of magazines. You should aspire to inspire the lust and admiration of the masses, not just your prince."

Fortunately, shoppers seemed to feel the same way that I do about princess cover girls. Not only do these particular pieces have clearance stickers on them, I couldn't find them anywhere on the Internet. Still, it's a good reminder that just because something has a kid-friendly character on it doesn't make it safe or appropriate for kids.

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Old Enough For Star Wars?

Sandy Maple — 2009-04-23T11:00:00+00:00

Filed under: Kids 8-11, Media

My husband and I both feel there are a lot of shows aimed at our 8-year-old that are not necessarily appropriate.
The boyfriend/girlfriend story lines on the popular tween shows make us cringe and we both dislike the bad behavior many of the characters exhibit in the name of comedy.

We monitor what she watches pretty closely and are in complete agreement that she should not be exposed to mature content until she herself is mature. At least I thought we were in complete agreement until he came home with the entire "Star Wars" DVD collection and suggested we all watch it together.

Needless to say, she was thrilled. I was horrified. The same child who couldn't sleep for two days after reading "Coraline" is going to be okay with watching "Star Wars"? I loudly protested but his assurances and her pleas eventually wore me down. If he thought it was okay, then perhaps I was overreacting. After all, I lost interest in "Star Wars" after seeing the first movie in 1977 -- maybe it wasn't that bad. With my finger ready on the stop button, we settled in for a marathon "Star Wars" adventure.

Kids Movies 2009

Nickelodeon

New Line Cinema

Focus Features

Sony Pictures

IMAX

Walt Disney Pictures

Monsters Vs. Aliens
From the quirky minds of DreamWorks animation (the people who brought us Madagascar and Kung Fu Panda) comes Monsters Vs. Aliens, about, well, monsters who battle aliens. Guaranteed to make kids and parents howl with laughter (but not necessarily at the same jokes).

Dreamworks

And it was okay. In fact, it was more than okay. She loved it and despite my doubts, had no problem following the complex story line. She did cover her eyes a time or two and we fast-forwarded through a lot of Episode III, but all in all it was a positive bonding experience between her and her "Star Wars"-loving Papa.

It seems that "Star Wars" is a hot-button issue in other families as well. A writer over at SFGate is currently playing the role of "mean mommy" by thwarting her husband and 4-year-old son's desire to see the movies. Despite her husband's assurances that there is no blood depicted, she's checked out the ratings and reviews and is concerned about how her son will react to the potentially scary scenes.

I think for a four-year-old, mom is probably right to be concerned. The movies are fairly intense and a child that young probably wouldn't understand the plot anyway. But while movie ratings and independent reviews are helpful in determining what is appropriate for kids, they aren't an exact science. The "Star Wars" movies are rated PG while those popular tween shows with bratty, lying, conniving kids are considered appropriate for an 8-year-old. Which would you rather your child watch?

How do you decide what your child sees? Do you rely on MPAA ratings or use your own judgement?

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Twitter Offers Grieving Parents Solace and Solidarity

Amy Hatch — 2009-04-17T14:00:00+00:00

Filed under: Media

Research asserting that social-media platforms erode our moral values was roundly proven wrong last week, after thousands of Twitter members rallied around two mothers whose children unexpectedly passed away.

Heather Spohr of Los Angeles and Shana Myers of Edmon, Okla. are bloggers and frequent Twitter users, and when the terrible news about their children became public, their readers and followers reacted instantly and with enormous generosity of spirit and wallet.

Spohr, 29, chronicled her challenging pregnancy and the life of her daughter, Madeline Alice, who was born 11 weeks premature, on her blog, "The Spohrs Are Multiplying." Twitter, a natural extension of blogging, became a place where Spohr could interact with women she calls her "mommy co-workers."

Many of Spohr's followers knew 17-month-old Madeline was in the hospital, being treated for respiratory problems exacerbated by the prematurity of her lungs, because she tweeted about the experience in real time -- and then she posted notice of Maddie's passing.

Immediately, Spohr's Twitter followers mobilized, led by her friend and fellow blogger Meghan Gesswein of Santa Barbara, Calif. Suddenly, Tweets about Madeline's passing were flowing fast and furious in the Twitter stream, marked with the label (known to Twitterers as a hashtag) #Maddie, which allowed users to track and follow all the information regarding the Spohrs' ordeal. Many of the tweets urged users to donate to Spohr's March of Dimes fundraising efforts.

For several days, the hashtag #Maddie was the no. 1 trending topic on Twitter, an indication of just how many people were sending messages about the radiant little girl with the impish face and irresistible smile. A hashtag for Myers' son, Thalon Bruce, who was just 3 months old, followed close behind in search rankings.

"I have been truly shocked at how people have responded to Maddie," says Spohr. "I remember thinking in some of the moments after she passed that no one would ever really know or care or remember my daughter, and I just couldn't bear that she wouldn't be remembered. And now, I know she will be."

Megan Callhoun, the founder of TwitterMoms, an online community for moms who Twitter, says that people who use the site feel a real connection to one another: "Community is a basic human need that we all share. We find comfort in the support of those around us, especially in emotionally challenging times. The technology is just a tool. It just gives us the ability to maintain a large number of surprisingly meaningful, authentic connections."

Callhoun just may be right -- in Maddie's case, the sincerity of the Twitter community can be quantified. Prior to Maddie's death, Spohr's March of Dimes fundraising efforts had netted her $2,500. Today, donations in the toddler's name equal $29,738 and counting, and hundreds of people across the nation plan to participate in the annual March for Babies sporting T-shirts emblazoned with Maddie's image.

Tanis Miller is a mom from Alberta, Canada who connected with the Spohrs through her popular mommy blog, Attack of The Redneck Mommy. She flew to Los Angeles last week to be with the Spohrs during Maddie's funeral services. Miller, 33, knows all too well the pain of a grieving parent. She lost her son, Shale, on Oct. 21, 2005, when he was just shy of 4 years old.

"Back then I didn't even own a computer," says Miller. "If you asked me what a blog was, I'd likely would have answered something about clogging a toilet."

But blog she did, after buying a computer and searching for online resources to help her cope with her grief. She started writing, and people started reading. Soon, however, she abandoned her first blog, "Missing My Bug," when she became "too overwhelmed with sadness to continue."

Miller started writing again, and the second time found a community of friends who helped her focus on living her life without her son. But, says Miller, she doesn't think she could have handled the attention that the Spohrs and the Myers' are attracting.

"While I am amazed and awed at the outpouring of love and financial support shown for sweet Maddie and her parents, I believe if I was on Twitter when my own son had passed away, I would have likely stepped away from it and never looked back," she says. "The death of my child was such an intensely personal and private part of my life. I don't think I would have been able to as freely share the experience as the Spohrs have done."

Spohr and her husband, Mike, feel quite the opposite. They find solace in the constant stream of conversation about their beloved daughter. "Twitter has been a refuge for me," says Spohr. "Watching the #Maddie stream, and just regular old tweets, has been a way to escape, or find comfort when I need it. And I do feel so comforted."

Twitter isn't the only way the online community is reaching out to Spohr and Myers. Several sites started funds for the families, and others have organized help in the form of meals, transportation and other small favors.

Spohr says she and Mike have read every blog post, comment and tweet about Maddie, as have their extended family members. "It has been so therapeutic for them," she adds.

Callhoun says she aches for these parents, but that she is uplifted by the huge, organic outpouring of love. "Reaching out in times of need feels completely natural to me, regardless of the means," she says. "What's amazing is to witness how 'the network' responds. Our connections give us solace and hope, even in the most tragic of circumstances."

The world we live in is vastly different even from the one in which adults of my generation were raised. Just a few short years ago, the response to two grieving mothers would have been limited to the immediate circle of their friends and family, or maybe their neighbors.

And now, to live in a world that allows thousands of parents to imagine themselves in these mothers' shoes, and then to knock on their virtual doors with casseroles and comfort? To me, that only proves that the world is still a loving place, and that one person's story is also the story of our collective humanity.

The entire ParentDish staff wishes to express our deepest and most heartfelt condolences for the Spohrs and the Myers. To learn more about how you can help, please visit Maddie's March for Babies page and the Love for Thalon page at Whoorl.

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ParentDish a Webby Awards Honoree

Bethany Sanders — 2009-04-17T13:00:00+00:00

Filed under: Media

The Webby Awards are the leading international award honoring excellence on the Internet, and the team here at ParentDish is proud to announce that we've been recognized as an Official Honoree in the Family and Parenting category.

Traditionally, Webby Award winners are only allowed a five word acceptance speech, so here's ours. It's riffed, of course, off typical parent-speak:

Someday, you will thank me.*

But today, ParentDish readers, we thank you. We thank you for reading, for commenting, for lively discussions, and for stopping by every day. We promise to keep on doing what we do best, offering you fresh, funny, honest commentary on the latest in parenting news, issues, and advice.

*(Official Acceptance Speech Honorees include: It's for your own good; Because I am the mom; and Please don't touch the poop. Share your favorite parent line with us in comments!)

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Kids and Twitter - The Emotional Costs

Sandy Maple — 2009-04-16T13:00:00+00:00

Filed under: Teens & tweens, Media

Twitter is currently enjoying a surge in popularity and it seems that everyone is doing it. But while the social networking tool, and other fast-paced information sources, are designed to allow users to connect in real-time, a new University of Southern California study reveals that the rapidity of such connections could actually harm the emotional development of young people.

Twitter, the new Facebook, and the crawl at the bottom of the screen on cable news shows bombard us with a constant stream of information that, according to experts, is too fast for our brains to digest.

"If things are happening too fast, you may not ever fully experience emotions about other people's psychological states and that would have implications for your morality," says researcher Mary Helen Immordino-Yang.

The study found that humans can process and respond to signs of pain in others very quickly, but in order to feel admiration or compassion, we need time to reflect. Too much information too fast doesn't allow for reflection and can adversely effect the emotional growth of young people.

"We actually separate the good from the bad in great part thanks to the feeling of admiration. It's a deep physiological reaction that's very important to define our humanity," says Antonio Damasio, lead researcher and director of USC's Brain and Creativity Institute.

USC sociologist Manuel Castells says that despite the growing popularity of Twitter and other social networking sites that rely on rapid-fire information delivery, television remains the major culprit in this information overload.

"In a media culture in which violence and suffering becomes an endless show, be it in fiction or in infotainment, indifference to the vision of human suffering gradually sets in," he says.

I know there are many people who believe that blaming media for society's growing indifference to violence is a cop out, but I am not one of those people. I firmly believe that the steady stream of violent images and information that I personally have been exposed to as an adult has impacted my ability to react with the same compassion and feelings that I once did. I am not indifferent to the suffering of others, but I may at times be numb to it. Will young people who are growing up with 24-hour news and the constant chatter of the Internet ever learn to feel that compassion in the first place?

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Are Parents Embroiled in a Peanut Panic?

Amy Hatch — 2009-04-09T09:00:00+00:00

Filed under: Medical conditions, Media, Extreme childhood

A deadly allergy that could cause death or at the very least severe health issues is nothing to laugh at -- unless you send your child to school with an Epi pen just in case he might spontaneously develop a sensitivity to peanuts.

That's what Laura Bennett says in her latest piece at the Daily Beast -- that a new breed of "alpha parent" is so determined to have a child that is somehow exceptional that they will take dramatic, unnecessary measures to ward off an ailment their offspring doesn't even have.

Bennett describes an encounter with a fellow preschool parent, in which the mother castigates her for sending her son to school with cookies that might have contained a trace of the evil nut. The child carries an Epi pen in his backpack at his mother's insistence:

"I'm sorry. I didn't realize Blakely was allergic to nuts."

"He carries an EpiPen."

I needed some clarification. "He carries an EpiPen because he has been tested and found to be allergic?"

"Well no, but nut allergies are life-threatening and can develop at any time."

Just when did nuts become Public Enemy No. 1, Bennett asks, and just why are parents lining up to engage in "Munchausen's by Peanut?"

Parenting is serious business, of course, and we all want what's best and safe for our kids. Are parents whose children are legitimately and severely allergic to nuts hysterical? No. Are parents who fear that their non-allergic children could spontaneously expire because there is a nut somewhere in the building hysterical? In a word, yes.

This is the perfect collision of parenting and a society over-saturated with media -- media that often works very, very hard to instill fear in our everyday lives. Did you ride in a car seat until you were 8 years old or weighed 80 pounds? Did you have a walker with metal wheels? Did you sit next to a kid who ate a peanut-butter sandwich at the school lunch table? And are you still alive?

I have two kids and I am a vigilant mother. But when does being cautious and loving turn into making our kids overly dependent? I mean, really, what's next? The Salem Peanut Trials?

Do parents over-react to situations like the peanut-allergy problem, and is the media to blame?

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Burger King Ad Inappropriate for Kids?

Sandy Maple — 2009-04-09T05:00:00+00:00

Filed under: Media

If you've seen this new Burger King ad, nobody could blame you for being confused. Are they trying to sell phone books or sponges or what? And did the King just mention something about booty?

The ad is actually pushing a new Sponge Bob kid's meal, but some parents aren't buying it. "It was funny at first, but it is a little graphic for kids," says Kassandra Jackson, a mom in Boise, Idaho.

I've watched it several times now and the only thing I can find to complain about is the fact that the King is rapping about squares when the shapes are actually rectangles. Other than that, I think I am too confused to be offended.

Dangerous Toys

The New Easy Bake Oven
New, and unfortunately not-so-improved, the oven caused 77 burns, 16 of them second or third-degree, and one that resulted in a partial finger amputation.

CPSC

Aquadots
When you add water to these little plastic balls, the coating produces effects similar to GHB -- the date rape drug. Pleasant. Thankfully they were recalled.

Aquadots

Lead paint
Speaking of things you shouldn't put in your mouth, how about any toy from China? Hundreds have been recalled thanks to the high levels of lead in the paint used to coat these toys

sensoryedge.com

Magnetic toys
Particularly magnets that are small enough to swallow. When positive and negative magnets are floating around your digestive tract, they're drawn to one another, which can do some serious, life-threatening damage.

amazon.com

Snack time Cabbage Patch
This little doll was so hungry, it had a habit of chewing little kids' fingers, hair, and whatever else was unfortunate enough to get stuck in its mouth. It was quickly recalled.

strawberrybonkers.com

Mini-hammock
According to the Consumer Product Safety Commission: "the mini-hammock can twist around a child's neck as he/she is getting into or out of the mini-hammock, resulting in strangulation and death." All 3 million were recalled.

CPSC

Lawn Darts
These have been banned for years in the US, as they had a tendency to wind up stuck in kids, not the ground.

gardengames.co.uk

Johnny Reb Cannon
This bad boy fired plastic cannon balls up to 35 feet. Even a pellet gun would be less dangerous -- at least you can aim a gun.

Johnny Reb Cannon

Atomic Energy Lab
Good thing this atomic energy set only came with "very low-level" radioactive sources, because that's not dangerous. Oh wait -- yes, yes it is.

americanmemorabilia.com

Water Yo-Yo Balls
Speaking of getting strangled to death, these yo-yo balls came under scrutiny after the stringy cord got wrapped around children's necks. They've been banned in Illinois, but have yet to be recalled by the CPSC.

sz-wholesale.com

View Poll

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Netflix - Have Your Kids Taken Over?

Bethany Sanders — 2009-04-03T16:00:00+00:00

Filed under: In the news, Media

Picture this: It's Friday night and a Netflix movie just arrived yesterday. You settle into your couch with a big glass of wine, ready to enjoy a movie of your choosing. But instead of finding "Marley and Me" or "Milk" when you open that slim little red envelope, you find "Bolt." And it dawns on you that you've lost control of your Netflix queue.

With plans as low as $10 a month, Netflix has become go-to entertainment for families who've cut movies, video rentals, and cable to trim their entertainment budget. That makes the Netflix queue, or the list of movies that are lined up to arrive on your doorstep, the new relationship battleground, says the "New York Times."

My friend Melissa looked into Netflix a few weeks ago when she was considering cutting cable. "It's filled with family-friendly movies," she said, "And Andy (her 10-year-old daughter) couldn't wait to start adding movies to the queue. But as she started scrolling through the lists, squealing every time she found something she wanted to see, I realized that I'd never get see any movies of my own."

We don't have a Netflix subscription, but we do have a DVR. A DVR that I held out for, fought for, until our money-hungry cable company would give it to us for free. That's my DVR, darn it. Only I've never gotten to use it. It's chock full of new "Olivia" episodes, "Planet Earth" in HD, random concerts from Palladia, and late-night talk shows. The one time I did record a movie, it got bumped before I could watch it.

Netflix knows that owning a piece of that queue real estate is important to couple and families. They even offer a "Netflix divorce" when couples and families can't agree on what to put in the queue, separate profiles in the same household. If that's what it takes to keep the peace, seems like a reasonable idea to me. Then again, I gave up any hope of being the master of my own TV destiny years ago.

Have your kids bogarted your Netflix account or DVR? Share your story with us.

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Twilight Movie Blamed for Boy's Biting Binge

Sandy Maple — 2009-03-31T14:00:00+00:00

Filed under: Teens & tweens, Weird but true, Media

According to a dad in Des Moines, vampires are to blame for his son's recent misbehavior. Specifically, he says his 13-year-old son went on a biting spree at his middle school because of the movie "Twilight". Yes, that's right. Dad says his boy didn't mean to hurt anyone, he just bit 11 students because he saw some actors in a movie do it.

For those who haven't seen it, the film is based on the series of novels by Stephenie Meyer. Popular with tweens and teens, the movie's plot centers around a beautiful high school girl who falls in love with a handsome boy who happens to be a vampire.

Kid Criminals

Amy Fisher
Dubbed the "Long Island Lolita," Amy Fisher, then 16, began a affair with a married auto mechanic, Joey Buttafuoco. Fisher demanded her lover leave his wife, but he refused. In response, a 17-year-old Fisher shot Mary Jo Buttafuoco in the head. She spent nearly seven years in prison -- and Mr. Buttafuoco served six months for statutory rape.

Bill Sikes, AP

Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold
This pair of high-school seniors enacted an all-out assault on Columbine High School during a normal school day, April 20, 1999. At the end of the day, 12 students and one teacher were dead, and 24 people. were injured. Harris, 18, and Klebold, 17, committed suicide after the killings.

Getty Images

Robert Thompson
Along with his schoolmate, Jon Venables, also age 10, Thompson kidnapped two-year-old James Bulger in Liverpool in 1993. Surveillance cameras filmed Thompson and Venables leading James out of a shopping center; the toddler's lifeless, battered body was discovered on train tracks.

Getty Images

Jon Venables
Along with Robert Thompson, Venables was released in 2001 after spending eight years in prison. Their current identities and whereabouts are unknown.

Getty Images

Malcolm Shabazz
A 12-year-old grandson of Malcolm X pled guilty to setting a blaze that killed his grandmother, Dr. Betty Shabazz, in 1997. After his release from prison, he was later arrested for attempted robbery and marijuana possession, among other charges.

Kathy Willens, AP

Willie Bosket
At the age of 15, Willie Bosket shot dead a man on the NYC subway. Eight days later, he shot dead another man in another attempted robbery. The Bosket case -- he was convicted as a murderer while still a minor -- led to a change in state law so that children as young as thirteen could be tried as an adult for murder.

Getty Images

Mukesh Prasad
Quite possibly the youngest criminal in the world (cue Keith Olbermann), a 3-year-old boy in India was arrested for criminal mischief earlier this year, according to Hindu.com. Days after he was arrested, the cops who put the toddler behind bars were suspended. Now that's justice.

Getty Images

Pauline Parker and Juliet Hulme
The 1994 film "Heavenly Creatures," starring Kate Winslet, is based on the true story of two New Zealand girls, ages 16 and 15, who murdered Parker's mother when she tried to end their intense and obsessive relationship.

Zuma Press

The unidentified boy's bid to be the vampire of McCombs Middle School came to an abrupt end when he chomped on the hand of a 13-year-old girl at a track meet. She took her complaint to the principal, who discovered a trail of bite marks inflicted by the boy since mid February. Fortunately, none of the victims were rendered undead. The boy, however, was given a delayed referral to juvenile court on an assault charge.

Dad shifting the blame for his son's actions onto the "Twilight" movie irks me, but what really gets me is his insistence that his son didn't mean to hurt anyone. Of course he did! Even a 3-year-old knows that biting hurts. If this kid truly didn't realize that sinking his teeth into his classmates would cause them physical pain, then perhaps there is something more going on here than just a deluded vampire fantasy. At the very least, I'd say the boy isn't mature enough to be seeing a PG-13 movie.

What this kid did was wrong and he should take responsibility for it and be punished accordingly. But something tells me that with a father so willing to dismiss his behavior as harmless fun and games, we haven't heard the last from this family.

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Teen "Sexting" Isn't All That Dangerous

Susan Wagner — 2009-03-06T13:00:00+00:00

Filed under: Teens & tweens, Media, Gadgets & tech

Texting naked photos of yourself is stupid, but it's not the most problematic thing kids are doing online. For most teens, cyberbullying is a far bigger problem.

When I was a teenager, our parents worried that we were having sex, but they didn't think about whether or not we were taking nude photos of ourselves and passing them around at school. These days, though, kids are having cybersex at an alarming rate -- or so the media would have you believe. One recent study found that 20 percent of teens admit to texting racy photos of themselves to friends and classmates. School administrators argue that the numbers are far higher than that.

"Sexting" is a terrible idea, clearly, but is it really dangerous, or just stupid? Concerned parents and teachers say it is incredibly dangerous, putting kids at risk for all kinds of sexual attacks. That photo your daughter takes for her boyfriend could easily find its way onto the Internet, where crafty pedophiles have access to it -- and to your daughter.

At least, that's the claim.

Scary Cyber Attacks

Teen Commits Suicide Over MySpace Hoax
A cruel prank leads to terrible tragedy, and murder charges for the perpetrators.

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Facebook Group Sends Teacher to Therapy
And the kids who created it were suspended.

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Fake MySpace Page Destroys Teen's Reputation
A malicious, random attack led this 4.0 student all the way to Dr. Phil in an attempt to clear his name.

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Attack Recorded on Cellphone, Posted to Facebook
These middle school students shared their violent video with some online buddies, and wound up suspended.

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Online Attacks Spur Real-Life Violence
Two girls attempts to retaliate against a cyberbully led to a street fight.

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Investigators Posing as Teens Propositioned for Sex
Staff members of the New York Attorney General signed up for Facebook pretending to be teens and were repeatedly asked if they had any "nude pics" to share -- and it gets worse.

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The Real Threat Might Surprise You
According to a new report, your kids are in greater danger from cyberbullying than they are from online sexual predators.

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Predators Aren't Who You Think
Worried about adults with foul intentions posing as teens online? Chances are they're not the ones hitting your kids up for sex -- but the real culprits are even worse.

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The reality, though, is that sexting does not make our kids any more likely to be targets of pedophiles. In fact, Harvard researchers claim that "the risks minors face online are in most cases not significantly different from those they face offline." In other words, most teens who wind up having sex with someone via the Internet were looking for someone to have sex with. The Web doesn't increase their risk; it's just a new place to search for partners.

The biggest danger kids face from the Internet and related technologies like video and cell phones is old-fashioned bullying. Over a third of teens report being cyberbullied. This kind of bullying includes threatening messages, having private emails or embarrassing pictures posted without consent or just general rumor-mongering. In this context, sending out sexy photos is still an incredibly bad idea -- not because it makes your child a target for pedophiles, but because it provides the cyberbullies with fodder.

And who are those cyberbullies? They're the same kids (schoolmates, neighbors, etc.) who were bullying long before there was an Internet.

So can we stop worrying about this whole "sexting" thing? Sort of. It turns out that unlike my high school peers, who just had sex, today's teens appear to be substituting sexting for actual biblical knowledge of other teens. Today's kids are actually having less sex than their parents were at their age, according to Kathleen A. Bogle, a sociologist at La Salle University. The number of teen virgins is up. Yes, teen birth rates have risen, but Bogle connects that to a reduction in contraceptive use, possibly affiliated with abstinence-only sex education.

So much for the Internet as a hotbed of teenage promiscuity.

Still, sexting is alarming to parents because it seems so extreme -- why on earth would your child send naked photos of him or herself to anyone? We don't want our kids looking at porn, and we certainly don't want them creating it, especially not with the cell phone we bought them.

What can you do to protect your kids? The most important thing is to talk with them. Explain to your kids that while you respect their privacy, you have a right, as their parent, to review their on-line communications and text messages if you think there is reason to worry about them. Also, talk about bullying, and make clear that they shouldn't be embarrassed about being bullied or put up with it for any reason.

And finally, if you're still fretting about sexting, make sure your kids understand that the Internet is forever, and that photo they think will be so fun to send to one person could wind up being viewed by thousands. A little embarrassment goes a long way.

Are you more concerned about sexting or cyberbullying?

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Reality Shows Kids Watch

Brett Singer — 2009-02-27T14:00:00+00:00

Filed under: Media, That's entertainment

With so much unscripted programming on television these days, you might wonder who's watching it. Turns out the answer is: Our kids!

Surprise, surprise. A lot of reality shows are being enjoyed by children as young as 7 or 8 years old. Here are some examples:

Top Chef: Who knew cooking was so fascinating? Obviously it's the drama, not the food, although breaking out the liquid nitrogen to make bacon ice cream doesn't hurt. And boys who are discovering the opposite sex probably don't mind watching Padma Lakshmi.

Total Drama Island: Though it's not technically a reality show, it is Cartoon Network's spoof of the genre, which implies that the kids who watch it are very familiar with various reality TV staples, such as being voted off the island and the now-stock characters -- "Party Girl", "Guy Who Speaks with No Filter," and so on.

American Idol: Not only do they listen to the music, they watch the show. In fact, they may watch the show more than they listen to the music. I'll give you Kelly Clarkson, but how many kids do you know who own a Taylor Hicks CD?

Dancing With The Stars: It may feature lithesome bodies intertwining seductively, but young kids don't know that. Or maybe they do and we don't want to admit it. Either way, this ABC hit features excellent dancing (duh), and the eliminations are less of a big deal since the contestants are all supposed to be "stars." Most kids don't know who's B-List or D-List. Then again, maybe they do.

Man vs. Wild: This could get a little intense for younger children, but for kids of a certain age, any show that demonstrates how to get water out of fresh elephant dung will have a certain appeal. Yes, it's a little gross. But it's on Discovery Channel -- it's educational. You never know when you might get left behind at the circus and have to survive on...

What reality shows do your kids watch?

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Alfie Patten and Baby Maisie - Two Kids in Need of Good Parenting

Rachel Campos-Duffy — 2009-02-17T16:00:00+00:00

Filed under: Teens & tweens, In the news, Media

If seeing baby-faced Alfie Patten, 13, and 15-year-old Chantelle Steadman posing with their newborn baby for a celebrity-style photo spread in the British tabloids were not depressing enough, now as many as eight other boys in their neighborhood have stepped forward to say that they too could be the father of poor little one-week old Maisie. One of the boys is even demanding a DNA test.

Every day as more and more details surface, we begin to see a picture of the kind of moral and family breakdown that robs children like Alfie and Chantelle of the pleasures of an authentic childhood, for the false "freedom" of sex. And while these kids seem to say the right things -- "I know I'm young, but I plan to be a good dad. I think we'll be good parents. I'll have to work extra hard at school." -- there's undoubtedly a disturbing and telling sense of shamelessness in the way their families have permitted them to exploit their predicament for tabloid fame.

Even a cursory read of this dysfunctional soap opera will lead to one glaring deficiency in these kids' lives -- parental supervision! Chantelle was permitted to have boys spend the night at her house, and virtually all of the boys' parents claim that they thought their son was at a "mate's" house, not Chantelle's. With clueless and lazy parents like that, it doesn't take a lot of imagination to wonder what kind of smutty television, movies, video games these kids were ingesting in the hours they spent on their own, which in all likelihood contributed to their sexual activity. In this day and age, protecting our children from an overly and overtly sexualized culture is a full-time job, even in the best of circumstances. Here we see what happens when lax parenting meets a decaying youth culture.

Sadly, this problem is not exclusive to Britain. Nor should we blame poverty (although apparently the families in this particular story live in subsidized public housing and receive public assistance). Being poor is not an excuse for bad parenting. To say so insults the poor and working class and and belies facts: plenty of people, including my own parents, were raised in poorer homes and were taught morality and decency. Common sense and morals are not a factor of income. There simply is no substitute for good parenting and strong families - not even a whole lot of government money or well-intentioned social programs.

Iain Duncan Smith, a former Tory leader and director of the Center for Social Justice in England describes the situation perfectly: "This is a tragic example of the nation's social decline. I don't know about these particular families but too many dysfunctional families in Britain today have children growing up where anything goes. It exemplifies the point we have been making about broken Britain. It's not being accusative, it's about pointing out the complete collapse in some parts of society of any sense of what's right and wrong."

Amen to that!

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Reading to Your Kids is a Crime

Roger Sinasohn — 2009-02-13T10:00:00+00:00

Filed under: Media, Education, Gadgets & tech

Do you read your kids a story before bed? The National Children's Reading Foundation recommends that you spend twenty minutes each day reading out loud to your kids. The problem is, if you follow the NCRF recommendation, you'll be committing a crime. At least, that's the accusation of Paul Aitken, executive director of the Authors Guild, a writers' advocacy group.

According to Aitken, the read-aloud feature of the new Kindle 2, Amazon's latest version of their electronic book, is illegal. The Kindle is a popular device that lets you download books and magazines to read on the go. The newly announced second version will actually read the books to you.

That's where the problem is. Says Aitken, "They don't have the right to read a book out loud. That's an audio right, which is derivative under copyright law." I guess Aitken feels that having a computer read a book to you is the same as making a movie out of it. Does that go for parents, too?

So what does this mean for all the moms and dads out there who want to do the right thing and read to their children? Ben Sheffner, a well-known copyright attorney, wrote on his website that "clearly reading to one's kids is a private performance (for which no license is required), not a public performance for which the Copyright Act requires the copyright owner's permission." So, bedtime stories are probably okay; you can read "Where the Wild Things Are" with a clear conscience.

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Teens Online Spend Hours on Porn and Dieting Sites

Roger Sinasohn — 2009-02-10T17:00:00+00:00

Filed under: Teens & tweens, Media, Gadgets & tech

I guess teenagers really are the same everywhere. A new survey shows that the average teenager in the UK spends more than 80 hours a year looking at pornography on the Internet. That translates to an hour and 40 minutes a week.

Of course, watching dirty movies is not all the kids are doing on the Internet. They're also spending an hour-and-a-half on dieting Web sites and one hour researching cosmetic surgery.

Scary Cyber Attacks

Teen Commits Suicide Over MySpace Hoax
A cruel prank leads to terrible tragedy, and murder charges for the perpetrators.

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And the kids who created it were suspended.

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Fake MySpace Page Destroys Teen's Reputation
A malicious, random attack led this 4.0 student all the way to Dr. Phil in an attempt to clear his name.

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The poll asked more than a thousand kids, aged 13 to 15, how much time they spent online and what they did with it. The average teen spends more than 30 hours surfing the Web. In addition to porn, dieting and surgery, the kids are squeezing in over three hours of homework and research online. That's a good thing.

But then there's the hour-and-a-half downloading music, two hours on YouTube and more than three hours spent shopping or on auction sites each week. And lest we forget these are teenagers, there is the five hours a week spent on dating or social networking sites.

Mind you, this doesn't strike me as any different -- other than the technology used -- from teenagers in my day. (Now, when I was in high school, if we had had access to the Internet, an hour and a half would have been a daily total for most of the guys I knew -- on days when they were busy with other activities. Just saying.)

View Poll

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Stephen King Says Stephenie Meyer Can't Write

Elise Nersesian — 2009-02-05T15:01:00+00:00

Filed under: Media, That's entertainment

/>Recently, famed horror writer Stephen King sat down with journalist Lorrie Lynch from USA WEEKEND to talk about his career, his new collection of stories called Stephen King Goes to the Movies and his influence on popular authors today like J.K.Rowling and Stephenie Meyer.

"Both Rowling and Meyer, they're speaking directly to young people," he said. "The real difference is that J.K. Rowling is a terrific writer and Stephenie Meyer can't write worth a darn. She's not very good." Ouch!!!

Top 10 Baby Books

Goodnight Moon
Perhaps the perfect children's bedtime book, Goodnight Moon is a short poem of goodnight wishes from a young rabbit preparing for -- or attempting to postpone -- his own slumber.

HarperCollins

Pat the Bunny
Pat the Bunny is a part of childhood, as soothing as cocoa and animal crackers.

Golden Books

The Very Hungry Caterpillar
"In the light of the moon a little egg lay on a leaf." So begins Eric Carle's modern classic.

Philomel

Guess How Much I Love You
Little Nutbrown Hare wants very much to impress Big Nutbrown Hare with the enormous scale of his devotion in this ever-popular book, but ends up being the one who's impressed.

Candlewick

One Fish, Two Fish, Three, Four, Five Fish!
This bouncy counting book comes with five beads shaped like Seussian fish that toddlers can move across the top of the book as they count along.

Random House Books for Young Readers

Love You Forever
Here, the mother sings to her sleeping baby: "I'll love you forever / I'll love you for always / As long as I'm living / My baby you'll be."

Firefly Books, Ltd

Time for Bed
Filling each spread, Dyer's commanding yet gentle, large-scale watercolors are the key to the appeal of this bedtime lullaby.

Red Wagon Books

Where the Wild Things Are
Where the Wild Things Are is one of those truly rare books that can be enjoyed equally by a child and a grown-up.

HarperCollins

Baby Faces
Full of crisp color photographs, this book captures the expressions and moods of babies throughout their busy days.

DK Preschool

Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See?
The gentle rhyming and gorgeous, tissue-paper collage illustrations in this classic picture book make it a dog-eared favorite on many children's bookshelves.

Henry Holt & Co.

King just couldn't resist dissing Meyer. People are attracted by the stories, by the pace and in the case of Stephenie Meyer. It's very clear that she's writing to a whole generation of girls and opening up kind of a safe joining of love and sex in those books. It's exciting and it's thrilling and it's not particularly threatening because they're not overtly sexual. A lot of the physical side of it is conveyed in things like the vampire will touch her forearm or run a hand over skin, and she just flushes all hot and cold. And for girls, that's a shorthand for all the feelings that they're not ready to deal with yet."

King has earned the right to express his opinions, but his remarks sting. He sounds waaaay jealous to me. Look, the guy spent his early years struggling with a drinking addiction and a slow-growing fan base. Only thanks to Carrie did his popularity take off. Meyer, on the other hand, is a firecracker with a movie deal.

What's more, Meyer appeals mothers and daughters, who often read her books together. As a result, many women and entire families have bonded over her books.

Bottom line: King sounds like a bitter old man. Stress on man. Maybe he wishes his work still inspires a frenzied media circus. Or maybe he wishes that teenagers were lining up in droves to buy his latest book. What do you think?

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