The management of the Oulton Hall Hotel near Leads in the UK have an odd sense of humor. They thought they would have a 'bit of fun' and make parents pay for their children's Sunday dinner based on weight. Not the weight of the food the child consumes, but the weight of the child. A kid who weighs 5st (70 pounds) would be charged £5, with the price increasing along with the weight of the child.

Child obesity expert Professor Paul Gateley isn't laughing and believes the public weigh-ins would be humiliating for a child . "What child wants to be pulled on to scales and judged? The undoubted outcome is that they will feel bad. It's especially likely to upset girls, who tend to become aware of their weight as early as seven."

Oulton Hall spokesman Nigel Massey thinks Gateley just needs to get over it. "There will no doubt be people who say it's not politically correct and have a grumble about it. Well, frankly they should get a life and stop being so miserable." Ah, that 'screw you' attitude is so refreshing in the hospitality industry.

Massey goes on to say that the pay-as-you-weigh program is entirely voluntary and was conceived as a way to help parents save a bit of money when dining out. If a child declines to be weighed, the regular kid's meal price of £11.25 will be charged, which is half of the adult meal.

I am not all that great with math and less so when it involves converting weights and monies, but it does seem like this would be a good deal for parents with young and small children. But the program is open to kids as old as 15. Do you think think Professor Gateley is being overly sensitive? Or should he, as Massey suggests, stop being so miserable?

Today was the first day of school for my district. The kids came tumbling down the hall and into my classroom, grinning and shy and eager..

As I watched take over the pristine room---looking for their cubbies and their desks, and reading directions together for the morning task---I was struck, as I am every year, by how differently the boys and the girls approach learning and being in school.

In general, the boys in my room have a thirst for movement---their bodies do not want to be still. They want to be touching and exploring and climbing and rolling and wiggling. They are great with spatial problem solving; but are challenged by multi-step directions.

The girls on the other hand, generally come in eager for paper and pencil tasks. They listen to directions and follow them sequentially and independently. They seek approval, and clarification when necessary. They are far more able to keep their bodies still than their male counterparts.

School's a busy place these days. It's a long stretch between lunch and the day's last bell. School kids are hungry when they get home, and they need a snack to give them energy for extra-curricular activities, homework, and chores. If chips and cookies are what's in the cupboard, chances are that's what they'll reach for. But a healthy snack will not only satisfy their hunger, but give them the energy and nutrition they need.

Nutrition experts recommend that we all get at least 5 to 9 servings of fruits and vegetables every day. That's nearly impossible unless you incorporate these kinds of foods into every meal and snack. Sure, you may offer kids a cookie, but serve it up next to a heaping pile of blueberries or a sliced apple. That's just one tip I discovered in AOL Health's gallery about making the most of after-school snacks. Another tip: Skip the snack food altogether and serve a mini-meal instead.

My own kids love to help in the kitchen and are far more likely to eat something they've helped create. Since they were tiny, we've been baking sweet potato muffins, and they are now a favorite snack. But it's also easy to keep washed, fresh fruit or chopped veggies in a bowl on the bottom shelf of the fridge... perfect for self-serve.

What are your favorite healthy snack ideas?

Here's a tip for you -- if you have to call your wife to come pick you up from the bar, your best bet is to let her drive home too, especially if the kids are in the car. Or even halfway in the car. Dustin Purscell learned that (hopefully) the hard way recently. He's in jail, charged with two counts of child endangerment as well as a few other offenses.

He wanted a lift home after an evening drinking with his buddies, but when his wife Ashley arrived, she decided he was too drunk and too angry -- he couldn't find his lighter -- to ride with her and her two children. He apparently disagreed, jumped in the driver's seat, and started the car. Ashley tried to get her kids out of the vehicle, but was only able to extract her five-year-old daughter before Dustin took off. Her seven-year-old son was still in the car with his legs hanging out of the door.

Folks, I've got nothing against alcohol or even getting wasted once in a while, so long as you do it responsibly, but the first time someone pulled something like this would be the last. As far as I'm concerned, if you want to be around my kids, you need to put their welfare ahead of your own -- if you can't do that, you won't be getting near them. I certainly hope Mrs. Purscell feels the same way and dumps this guy like last week's trash.

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

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.

My older daughter's soccer coach called last night. I groaned when he told me he'd set soccer practices for the same day of the week that my daughter has dance. Now, one evening a week, she'll go from one dance class to the other, then directly to soccer practice. It's too much, in my opinion. But she's adamant that she doesn't want to give either activity up. Luckily, soccer season is short-lived.

I know that, down the road, we'll have this conversation again. We're lucky that there are so many great programs out there for our kids to take part in, but yet there has to be room in the schedule not only for family time, but for downtime too. It's got me wondering, how does a parent know when to say when to after-school activities?

According to Scholastic, extra-curricular activities benefit kids in a myriad of ways -- academically, emotionally, and socially. But kids need to play a role in deciding what and how much they want to take on. (In other words, trying to turn an uninterested child into Tiger Woods through early and intensive golf classes isn't really going to do anyone any good). They've also got a grade-by-grade guide to after-school activities for little ones. According to them, our two extra-curricular activities are perfectly appropriate... I just wish they didn't all happen on the same night.

What about you? Where do you draw the line when it comes to extracurricular activities?

It's the time of year when school nurses across the country are looking over student's immunization records to make sure they've had all the shots they need in order to attend class. But as we've discussed here many times before, not all students will be required to show proof of immunizations before being allowed in school. Every state in the U.S. allows students to skip the shots if their parents object for medical reasons and most states allow an exemption for religious reasons. And with the growing fears that autism and other disorders might be tied to immunizations, more parents are claiming those exemptions.

Skipping the shots may give some parents peace of mind, but it is also being blamed for the increase in measles cases. The first half of 2008 saw 131 cases of the highly contagious disease, compared to just 42 in the entirety of 2007. According to the Centers for Disease Control, 112 of this year's cases were in people who were either unvaccinated or had unknown vaccination status.

"At the national level, I am concerned about our situation," said Dr. Anne Schuchat, director of the National Center for Immunization and Respiratory Diseases. "Every year, the U.S. experiences importation of measles. What is different this year is once it is imported, we are seeing it spread to more people, and most of that spread is to people under 20."

Dr. Neal Halsey, director of the Institute for Vaccine Safety at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, says that many parents who don't immunize mistakenly believe that the risk of contracting measles is very low. "That is, unfortunately, a false belief," he says. "It is important we maintain high disease vaccination. Getting vaccinated is the safest thing we can do for children."

Dora the Explorer may be one of Nickelodeon's most popular characters, but she's no Hannah Montana. Some of us would say that's a good thing, since she is designed to appeal to much younger audience. But, according to a source, the powers that be over at Nickelodeon want to give the bilingual cutie a makeover in an attempt to draw in the older kids.

First up for the Dora transformation is a new, feminine look. Maybe put her in a skirt and fix her hair up a little? Add some bows to the backpack and color the map pink? Next, get the girl some human friends. The source says they are considering adding a group of "Explorer Girls" to the animated cast. If these Explorer Girls follow the typical kid's show formula, you can expect a smart one, a pretty one and maybe a prissy one who doesn't like to get dirty.

If all that goes well, Dora may soon find herself featured on the big screen. Nickelodeon isn't commenting, but the source says they are considering a full-length feature film featuring Dora as an older kid. "Dora is as popular as she's ever been, and now has a second generation of viewers that we would love to serve," the company said.

I sure hope they don't ruin Dora. Sure, my 7-year-old has zero interest in that "baby show" now, but she loved it when she was younger. As do lots of little kids today. Does everything have to be about appealing to the tween audience these days?

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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?

Colorado librarian James LaRue has gotten another challenge to Uncle Bobby's Wedding, the book about a little girl guinea pig's concerns that her uncle won't play with her after he gets married. The idea is simple enough -- Young Chloe loves her uncle but worries that after he gets married, he won't have time to play with her any more. None of that is why parents are getting up set about the book.

The "problem" with the book is that it just so happens that Uncle Bobby is marrying his boyfriend Jamie. It's not really relevant to the plot, nor, as I understand it, is it gone into in detail, it's just sort of a part of the background of the story. Big deal. Apparently, to some, it is a big deal and that is cause to want the book removed from the library shelves. After the first challenge, LaRue wrote an intelligent, sensitive response that explained why, in spite of (or even perhaps because of) the reasons for the challenge, the book would remain on the shelves.

Well now a second challenge has come along, this time asking that the book be removed because gay marriage is illegal in Colorado. Once again, LaRue responds in an intelligent, polite manner -- something I'm not sure I would have been able to do. He points out that it is not specified where the story takes place, whether it is in Colorado, in Massachusetts (where the author hails from), or even "in a wholly fictitious universe with its own laws." Yeah, like one where guinea pigs talk and wear clothes and get married? Ya think?

Of course, if we were to follow that line of reasoning -- removing books that depicted illegal acts -- we'd have to get rid of the mysteries, the adventures, the newspapers and news magazines... heck, most of the library would be empty. We'd even have to pull the bible off the shelf because, last time I checked, murder and incest are still illegal most places.

Via Mombian

Our friends over at MomLogic have broached a subject that many of us will soon be dealing with: getting the kids off the summer schedule and back on the school schedule. I don't know about you, but we have gotten so far off schedule this summer that I can't even remember what a schedule is.

But the thing I love most about summer - after the swimming and sunning - is the sleeping late. And if I want to do it, the kid's gotta do it, too. So we tend to stay up later during the summer months and getting back into the swing of things in the fall is a challenge. But with a little forethought and planning, it shouldn't be too painful.

As with just about everything else in life, talking things out can help ease a transition. Explain to your child that in order to be healthy and ready to learn, a good night's sleep is necessary. And if you have to get up earlier, then you have to go to bed earlier, too. This transition takes a little time, so don't wait until the night before the first day of school to implement the change. A week or so of 'early to bed, early to rise' before the big day should help things go smoother.

For some of us, it is still light out when it is bedtime. This is when blackout shades or curtains are worth every penny you pay for them. But don't leave them closed. After your child has fallen asleep, sneak back in and open them up. When the sun comes up, the light should help rouse them.

Once you've got everyone back on track, try not to slip off schedule on the weekends. This just makes Monday morning even harder for everyone. Lastly - and this is the hardest part for me - try getting yourself to bed earlier, too. Cranky parents make for cranky kids and nobody wants to start the day off that way.

Bath time need not be traumatic if you have the proper tools.

The town of Yuma, Arizona sits very near the border of Mexico in the southwest part of the state. It sits so close, in fact, that a wrong turn may lead you right out of the country. As will boarding the wrong school bus, which is exactly what a 6-year-old boy did last week.

The boy was supposed to be on his way home from school, but accidentally got on the wrong bus. He got off the bus at an unfamiliar stop and wandered into San Luis Rio Colorado, Mexico. His mother said he was disoriented and thought he might walk to his grandfather's house, which is in Mexico. The boy was rescued by a passerby, who returned him safely to his home.

Officials at Gadsden Elementary School District are looking into the situation and promise to correct any failures they find the school transportation system. I think a small boy being allowed on the wrong bus and ending up in another country where he is picked up by a total stranger pretty much qualifies as a failure of the system.

In some families, the original isn't always the best when it comes to fathers. For 'fragile families', described as low-income urban families prone to non marital births, mothers say that stepfathers are often more engaged, cooperative and willing to share responsibilities than married biological fathers.

A new study finds that while married biological fathers and stepfathers may be almost equally engaged with the children themselves, it is their interaction with mom that often makes stepfathers better parents. The mothers surveyed reported that stepfathers shared their parental views and were more open to talking about their parental wants than natural fathers. Rebekah Levine Coley, a developmental psychologist at Boston College, says this is probably because stepfathers "have to work harder to fit in and to have a useful productive role."

Coley says the findings contradict the popular view among social workers and experts that dads are more invested if the child is of their own flesh and blood. "I think this research does, to some extent, call some of those assumptions into question," she said.

The conclusions were made after interviewing 2,098 urban mothers from the The Fragile Families and Child Wellbeing study and will be published in the Journal of Marriage and Family.