The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission has announced the recall of about 9,350 LaJolla Boat Bed and Pirates of the Caribbean Twin Trundle Beds due to an entrapment and strangulation hazard. The lid supports on the toy chests can fail to prevent the lid from closing too quickly. Sadly, a 22-month-old boy in California strangled to death when a lid fell on to the back of his head, trapping his neck on the edge of the LaJolla Boat Bed.

These beds were made in China and imported by Bayside Furnishings (a division of Whalen), of San Diego, California. They were sold at Costco and furniture retail stores nationwide as well as at Costco.com from January through May 2008 for between $700 and $1,400.

The recall involves two styles of youth beds: the LaJolla Boat Bed and the Pirates of the Caribbean Twin Trundle Bed. The preassembled toy chests are part of the beds' "bow" and are attached as a foot board. The LaJolla Boat Bed toy chest has a hardwood top and white wood base with a blue stripe. The Pirates Boat Bed toy chest has a hardwood top, wheel shape and brown wood base with decorative carvings.

If you have one of these beds, you should immediately stop your children from using the toy chests and contact Bayside Furnishings for instructions on receiving a free repair kit with replacement lid supports. You can reach them by calling (877) 494-2536 anytime, or by visiting their Web site, where you can register online to receive the free repair kit.

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Brad Pitt, who starred in tinsel town's The Mexican with Julia Roberts has allegedly contacted his former co-star to ask for some very particular advice. Pitt is due to have twins with partner Angelina Jolie in the impending weeks. Roberts has already tackled that project with twins Hazel and Phinnaeus (who are three if you can believe it!).

According to a "source" (and you know how we feel about "sources"), Brad contacted Julia to ask advice on how to deal with raising twins. The source claims Brad was "frantic," which I find hard to picture, about whether or not the rules or parenting twins are different than parenting a singleton.

The alleged response? No, it's just harder. I don't know if that is true or not--I think it depends on how you look at it. I know several couples who had twins and they've said since they never had kids before (the twins were their first) it wasn't any different or any harder because they had nothing to compare the experience to. Brad and Ange, however, already have a brood going with daughters Shiloh and Zahara and sons Pax and Maddox.

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When we last left the Friends crew, Rachel and Ross had reunited, and Monica and Chandler had just learned they were about to become adoptive parents -- to twins. Phoebe got married, and Joey was... well... still being Joey. It seemed like a good ending to the decade long series, but with the recent success of Sex and the City's big screen debut, rumors are swirling that the Friends cast may be reuniting.

When we met them, they were all 20-something singles trying to get a handle on life and love. But by the time the finale came along, though, there were marriages and babies and a focus on a more domesticated life. I'm curious what angle they will take. Will they pick up where they left off? Or will it be a Friends: Four Years Later sort of thing?

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Apparently, a 13-year old boy with an interest in law enforcement was trying to get a little head start on his career when he helped himself to a police cruiser and took it out on patrol. The Dillon, South Carolina boy did this not once, but twice, and has now been charged with larceny and second-degree burglary.

You may be asking yourself just how a kid (or anyone else for that matter) manages to steal a police car. In this case, the kid employed some sneaky, peaky spying and managed to learn the door code for the police department building. Armed with the combination, he simply let himself in the building, got the keys to the car and took off on his self-appointed rounds.

Police Sgt. Jason Turner says the jig was up when local residents saw the boy driving the police car. Interestingly, the police themselves were unaware that the car was missing. Sounds like maybe they could use a good man on the force.

Of course, the kid should have known better and hopefully will learn a lesson from all this. But I would say there is a good chance he won't. His mother, Patricia Gillespie, was aware that her son was helping himself to police cars and didn't see anything wrong with it. She was charged with contributing to the delinquency of a minor and released on $5,000 bond.

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Did you get a "push present" when your babies were born? You know what I mean -- the traditional push present (could we maybe think of a better name for that, please?) is a piece of jewelery; sometimes it is set with the baby's birthstone, but more often, at least where I live, it's a piece that the mama has chosen ahead of time. A really NICE piece, just so we're clear.

But this tops every push present I've ever seen: doting husband and daddy-to-be Keith Urban has reportedly purchased a $73,000 Cartier ring for wife Nicole Kidman. The ring in question is a trinity ring, made of three interlocking bands of pink, yellow, and white gold, representing friendship, love, and fidelity. Kidman's ex, Tom Cruise, bought one for his current wife and baby mama Katie Holmes for Mother's Day. Apparently it's the thing to have if you're a celebrity mom.

Cartier does several variations on the Trinity ring, including this simple one set with diamonds. Almost makes a girl think about getting pregnant again.

Rumor has it that the ring is a surprise for Kidman; hope we're not spoiling it (we doubt it, though).

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The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission has announced the recall of about 13,000 "It's a Girl Thing" necklaces, bracelets and phone charms due to the presence of lead paint.

Made in China and distributed by Bead Bazaar USA Inc., of Rockville, Maryland, the recalled jewelry features a variety of charms including flowers, shoes, letters and butterflies. The words "It's a Girl Thing" can be found printed on the packaging along with the UPC numbers 633870018419 (bracelet), 633870018426 (necklace), and 633870018433 (phone charm).

These were sold at retailers nationwide from February 2006 through June 2008 for about $6.

If you have any of these jewelry pieces, you should immediately take it away from your child and return it to the place of purchase for a full refund. For more information, contact Bead Bazaar USA by calling (800) 838-1769 between 9 a.m. and 5 p.m. ET Monday through Friday or by visiting their Web site.

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Every now and then, my husband sees a little pig-tailed cutie holding someone's hand and sighs and says, "You never gave me a daughter." He's kidding, of course, but wondering what raising a child of the opposite sex would be like is a fact of life for families blessed with kids of the same sex.

However, for 77 year-old Charan Singh Panwar of India, not having a son weighed on him so heavily, he mortgaged his land, sold his buffaloes, spent his life savings and took out a credit card loan to finance fertility treatments so his seventy-year-old wife could bear him a male heir.

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The pledge of allegiance, with its references to "Richard Stans" and our "invisible" nation, is mis-quoted every morning by public school children across the nation. There are those, however, who are unhappy about this, most famously because of the two-word phrase added in the 1950's in order to ward off the communist threat.

The pledge was written in 1892 to celebrate the 400th anniversary of Columbus' arrival in the new world by Francis Bellamy, a Baptist minister and Christian Socialist. The original version was "I pledge allegiance to my Flag and to the Republic for which it stands, one nation indivisible, with liberty and justice for all." In the 1920's, "my Flag" was changed, against Bellamy's wishes, to "the Flag of the United States of America."

The phrase "under God" was added in 1954 due to pressure from the Knights of Columbus, a Catholic fraternal service organization. According to Bellamy's granddaughter, the original author would not have approved of this change either. There is a lot of opposition to the recitation of the pledge, as it stands, by schoolchildren, most notably by Michael Newdow, an attorney and physician who, in 2000, filed a lawsuit in order to make sure his daughter could "go to public school free from daily theistic indoctrination."

A lot of people, however, don't get what all the hoopla is about -- why not just let it be, especially since the Supreme Court has ruled that students are not required to recite it? There are a number of reasons, actually, so in the interest of fostering understanding on this, the anniversary of our nation's birth, here are some of them:

Beyond hot dogs and fireworks, have you taught your child the meaning behind Independence Day? I'll admit that I haven't even started. We have our Fourth of July traditions, but even my older daughter has only the vaguest grasp on what the holiday is all about.

One of our traditions is meeting our in-laws in a town in between ours and theirs for a road race early in the day. My husband's brother is a runner, and he does a 10K there every year. This year, he and my husband took our girls in the 2K fun run as well. As we stood watching the runners go by, a group of racers carrying flags and wearing t-shirts emblazoned with "support our troops" went by. The crowd went wild as they passed, and my older daughter asked me, "Why are they clapping for them?" Not the most perfect place for a civic lesson, but I did my best.

CNN asked their readers to share their own thoughts on patriotism today, and the responses are interesting. I'd like to go one step further and ask ParentDish readers: How do you teach your own children about patriotism and what traditions do you have that help teach your kids more about this holiday?

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With some cities canceling their fireworks celebrations due to budget problems, watching a good old patriotic film might just be the alternative you're looking for. But what to watch? There are so many to choose from? Well, here's a list of a few of my favorite American films. These are mostly family-friendly, although some might be a bit over the heads of younger children.

• Mister Smith Goes to Washington -- Jimmy Stewart is wonderful (as always) as a naive and idealistic senator who finds himself surrounded by greed and corruption in Washington. Stewart, however, sticks to his guns and tries to do the right thing and, in the end, prevails. In America, every man counts and one man can indeed make a difference.
• Dave -- When a corrupt president falls ill, his good-hearted doppelganger is tapped to fill in so the American public don't find out. Instead of being a patsy, he comes to take over and turn the presidency around. It's a fun little film that shows what the presidency should be about -- helping people.
• Young Mister Lincoln -- A classic, fictionalized look at one of our greatest president's early days, this film is fun and uplifting. If only all our presidents could be this upstanding, we'd be a lot better off. Henry Fonda is wonderful as the man he felt was almost too great for him to play.
• The Russians Are Coming, the Russians Are Coming -- I first saw this when I was younger and was impressed at how the Americans, after first going into a tizzy when a Russian submarine runs aground on their island, come to understand that regardless of where you come from, we're all just people.
• My Fellow Americans -- Two ex-presidents, running for their lives, get to meet the real people who were affected by their presidencies. It's a reminder that our politicians are there for us, not the other way around. Of course, this is wrapped up in an adventure with danger, corruption, and, of course, a ton of laughs.
• 1776 -- Imagine how much more our founding fathers could have accomplished if only they had broken out into song now and then. Actually, after watching this powerful portrayal of the days leading up to the signing of the declaration of independence, I'm convinced they did. Every time I watch it, I get choked up thinking about what these men went through and what they sacrificed to make this great nation possible. If you only watch one patriotic movie in your life, make it this one.

So there you go, half a dozen films that will make you think about what it means to be an American and what a great country this is. It may not be perfect, but it's pretty darn good and we've got the means built into the system to make it better.