Tomorrow night, my mother-in-law is visiting. Lucky her, she gets the bottom (full-sized) bunk, being that it's the only guest bed we currently have in the house. I plan on sticking my three-year-old in with us, but gave my five-year-old the option of sleeping on the top bunk or camping out in our room.

"Oh, I'll sleep in my own bed. It's where all my babies are."

Do you know how long I've waited to hear those words? FIVE YEARS. Still, shortly after I got done jumping for joy, I felt sad. My chronic co-sleeper didn't want to sleep with me anymore. Isn't motherhood weird?

Frederic G. Melcher, former editor of Publishers Weekly, once said, "A great nation is a reading nation." Recognizing that the love of reading starts in childhood, Melcher and others came together back in 1919 to celebrate the very first Children's Book Week. Eighty-nine years later, the Children's Book Council carries on the tradition of encouraging reading among children.

This year, Children's Book Week is celebrated May 12-18 and children's author Terry Pierce has some suggestions for ways to promote a love of reading with your own children.

First of all, it is never too early to start reading to your child. Even if they don't understand a word you are saying, it is a wonderful way to bond. Plus, early exposure to books helps develop memory skills as well as symbol recognition, hearing and speaking.

To extend the learning beyond the pages of the book, Pierce suggests asking questions at the end of a story. You could ask your child what she thinks the author was trying to say, discuss the illustrations and even predict what happens next. Another way to enhance the story is to take it into the kitchen. A story that involves food can lead to a fun cooking activity in which your child can be involved in everything from the shopping, to the cooking to the eating.

If your child likes to draw, how about letting him create his own illustrations for a favorite book? Or maybe design his own cover? Reading can also be a springboard into writing. Whether your child wants to pen a letter to the author or begin keeping a journal, books can be inspiring.

For more ideas on celebrating books and promoting reading, visit the Children's Book Council for activities, suggested books and more. Happy reading!

Ice cream trucks are an icon of childhood summers. Just when you think it can't get any hotter, you hear that tinkling (and sometimes, really creepy) music and know that relief is on its way.

Communities across the country, however, are starting to pay more attention to who's behind the wheel of their neighborhood ice cream truck.

Spearheaded, possibly, by a handful of incidences where children found themselves in the hands (and trucks) of sexual predators working as ice cream truck drivers, officials in several states are passing laws that require strict background checks before hiring. Many are looking to ban criminals from this kind of employment altogether.

In an extreme case of misplaced priorities, an Australian man has been fined for failing to safely secure a five-year-old child in his vehicle. It isn't that he didn't have seat belts in his car, it's just that there weren't any available after all the adults and a 30-can case of beer were buckled in.

Alice Springs constable Wayne Burnett was understandably "shocked and appalled" when he pulled over the unregistered vehicle and discovered the backseat full of safely secured adults and beer and a child perched on the hump of the back seat floor. "I haven't ever seen something like this before," he said. "This is the first time that the beer has taken priority over a child."

Oh, but it isn't. Earlier this year, a woman in Florida was arrested for essentially the same thing. She had a case of beer buckled in the front passenger seat and a sixteen-month-old child unrestrained the the back.

As bad as this is, I suppose it could have been worse. At least these children weren't made to ride in the trunk - where the beer should been in the first place. And what is with all this buckling up of beer? It has never occurred to me to strap in my purchases when driving home. Do normal people do this?

The funny minds over Topless Robot blog assembled a list of classic toys that kids love and parents universally loathe and we came up with a few they missed.

Before you attend a birthday party, check this master list of toy no-nos to make sure you're not committing a toy faux pas.

The offenders include:

Back in 2004, singer Beyoncé and her mother Tina started their own fashion line, House of Deréon. The look, dubbed "where the sidewalk and catwalk meet", is designed to embody sexy sophistication for the modern woman. Finding some success in dressing grown-up ladies, Deréon has now expanded to include clothing for girls. That's all well and good, except it seems they forgot that 'sexy' isn't exactly what most of us are looking for when it comes to dressing our daughters.

Check out this ad for Deréon Girls and you will notice sweet-faced little girls wearing high heeled pumps, feather boas and bright red lipstick. This ad campaign might be called "where the playground and prostitute meet." If you can manage to look past the inappropriate accessories and somewhat suggestive poses, the clothes themselves aren't that bad. Maybe a little on the tacky side, but not overtly sexual.

Just what message are they trying to send here? It is never to early to begin dressing like a fashion-impaired adult? Had they presented the clothing line in a more age-appropriate way, would parents have reacted with "well, that's just not sexy enough for my kid?"

Seriously, does sex really sell when it comes to children's clothing?

In a recent NY Times article we were introduced to online programs that allow parents to track their children's grades. Many parents are choosing products like ParentConnect, Edline and PowerSchool to assist them in conversing with their children about their grades.

As the Times article points out, it cuts out the middle portion of the conversation. The parents know what the grade is, good or bad. There can be no hiding of the grades or pretending they're something other than what they are. ParentConnect allows the parent access to the grade, and lets the child know that information is out there, and that discussion is sure to follow (especially if the grade is less than desirable).

Such programs are currently being utilized by 10,000 schools in all but one of the states. Studies have shown that parental involvement can have an effect on grades, and with test scores being more important than ever these days, many are turning to such sites to assist them in their quest for kids with good grades, even though several of these sites have been around for ten years.

Raising butterflies is an awesome backyard science experiment for kids. If milkweed or other caterpillar host plants are plentiful in your area, you may be able to catch and feed your own butterflies. If not, there are kits you can buy that include caterpillar and food, all in one handy jar.

If having live bugs in your house for a few weeks doesn't fit into your schedule or lifestyle, however, you and your kids can always adopt a Monarch caterpillar online. Live Monarch is a group dedicated to protecting Monarch butterflies through education and awareness. Simply sign in with your email address and you'll get an update every three or four days on how your caterpillar is doing.

My five-year-old was riveted last week when a wasp -- which we didn't realize was a caterpillar predator -- came and scared "our" caterpillar. The emails include lots of caterpillar facts, as well as beautifully detailed pictures. Nothing can beat a true hands-on experience, but this is still a valuable learning tool for kids.

A few weeks ago, Christopher Ratte took his 7-year-old son Leo to see a ballgame in Detroit. Upon arriving at Comerica Park, they bought some refreshments - a beer for dad, a lemonade for Leo - and settled into their seats to watch the Tigers. But what should have been a fun day of father-son bonding turned into an unbelievable nightmare when a security guard spotted Leo and his lemonade. Turns out that what dad purchased wasn't regular lemonade, but hard lemonade. If you don't know about hard lemonade, you are not alone. Christopher Ratte had no idea that the beverage his son had been sipping on for nine innings contained 5% alcohol.

Ratte explained his mistake to the security guard who promptly confiscated the lemonade and called the cops. Leo was taken to a hospital where he was examined and found to have no alcohol in his blood.

"Obviously, I made a mistake in buying this lemonade, which I didn't realize was alcoholic," Ratte said. "I probably should have read the label carefully, so I'm not critical of the police who were concerned. I just thought they overreacted terribly."

Just how much did they overreact? Instead of releasing Leo to his parents, he was taken into custody by Wayne County Children's Protective Services and spent the weekend in foster care. When he was finally released to his mother, his father was ordered to move out of the house. Christopher Ratte spent spent two weeks in a hotel before the case was dropped and he was allowed back home with his family.

CPS may have dropped the case, but Christopher Ratte has not. He and his wife have filed a formal complaint with the CPS ombudsman's office claiming the treatment they received was excessive.

This story makes me angry, sad and a little scared for families living within the reach of Wayne County Child Protective Services.

When I was growing up, music was a big deal in my house. My parents were music-lovers and the soundtrack of my childhood was heavy with Elvis Presley, the Everly Brothers and, oddly, Herb Alpert and the Tijuana Brass Band. I would spend hours in my room, playing my parent's records and gazing at album covers. I'm sure it made my parents happy to see me enjoying the same tunes they enjoyed, but it didn't last forever. Eventually, I discovered Donny Osmond, the DeFrancos and later, all manner of horrible disco music. It must have been awful for them.

David Bowie knows a thing or two about musical suffering. He and his wife Iman have a cute little 7-year-old daughter named Alexandria Zahra and her taste in music could not be further from her father's. Dad is famous for his innovative music and has enjoyed a long and successful career. But Alexandria prefers her music a little fluffier and is a fan of pop princess Hilary Duff.

According to Iman, Bowie would rather leave than listen to that. "Two weeks ago Alexandria was listening to Hilary Duff songs. David just leaves the room. He thinks she should be listening to underground music," she told The Sun.

Bowie should take heart in the knowledge that his daughter's musical tastes will likely change as she grows older. And since disco is dead, it really couldn't get worse, right?

According to a survey conducted by ITV, Britons are ruder than they used to be. They spit, they swear, they don't say "please" and "thank you". A third of the respondents blame this anti-social behavior on a lack of manners and 90 percent blame the lack of manners on mom and dad.

"I suppose it's part of the breakdown in society -- the fact that we stopped having respect for figures in authority partly because those in authority didn't command it," etiquette coach Diana Mather says.

If the fault lies at home, shouldn't the solution also be found there? Almost 75 percent of those surveyed think not. Instead, they believe that instilling manners should be the responsibility of teachers and taught in the classroom.

I can see the logic - if mom and dad are lacking good manners themselves, how are they going to pass them on to their children? But to me, parenting is all about on-the-job training. If mom and dad don't already have a grasp on etiquette and socially-acceptable behavior, they can certainly take it upon themselves to learn.

Now, if you want to give teachers some extra work, how about teaching shoe-tying? Come to think of it, there is probably a book for that, too.

Children who start school with absolutely no reading skills are at a considerable academic disadvantage, even at the kindergarten level.

One way to help is to give your child a head start at home. See Me Read is a simple and basic literacy program that can be used prior to or in conjunction with any preschool or kindergarten program that focuses on phonics. Best of all it's simple and you don't need a teaching degree to use it!

The See Me Read Kit #1 consists of laminated flashcards, labels and a simple book that are all illustrated with photos you've downloaded of your child interacting with the words you've selected from the list on the See Me Read website. Already this program has the old Dick and Jane reader beat because your beginning reader is the star of the show!

Placing the labels near the objects they represent helps emergent readers make the connection between the grouping of letters and the physical object (like Anne Sullivan did with Helen Keller by pour water in her hand and then signing "water" over and over) the laminated cards on a ring help children understand these letters represent the objects even when they aren't present (the photos help provide a clue as to word is) and the paperback book is a simple, repetitive story that incorporates the same words and photos used on the flashcards and labels.

Could you do the same thing at home with your computer and printer? Sure! However, being able to do something and actually doing it are two different things.

The paper, laminating, and professional look about everything in the kit is of a very high quality. And even though $59 is a lot of money, the sturdy materials and time saved from creating a similar program yourself might be worth it.

"My Beautiful Mommy" is an animated children's book that will roll out on Mother's Day. Dr. Michael Salzhauer, a plastic surgeon, wrote the book to help 4 to 8 year olds understand and deal with "mommy's" plastic surgery.

In case you haven't heard, the latest trend in plastic surgery is being dubbed "the mommy makeover". It involves multiple procedures to restore a mother's body to pre-baby condition; not surprisingly, the fastest growing demographic in the trend are women over 40 who are finished having babies.

Newsweek Magazine examines the trend in an article entitled, "Mommy wants her body back". In it, a mom who underwent a tummy tuck and breast augmentation overhears her 8 year old son bragging to his friends about how "pretty his mom's new belly button was. "I think he was proud", says his mother. Is it just me or is that a little weird?

According to Dr. Salzhauer, more and more moms are bringing their children with them to consultations and appointments. In addition, most will complete their recovery at home and they are concerned that the sight of bandages, bruising, swelling, and a laid-up mom can be scary for a young child.

I agree! But couldn't mom just hire a babysitter during the appointments and make arrangements for little Johnny to go to grandma's house during the more intense phase of recovery? While I have no real objection to a woman wanting to improve her post-baby body, I do object to burdening children with grown-up women's issues like sagging skin, deflated, over-nursed breasts, and cellulite. Whatever happened to discretion?

More importantly, nothing demonstrates the psychologically treacherous ground this subject treads better than the scene in the book where the little girl asks mommy's if her new nose will look different. "Not just different", responds her perky barbie-like mom, "prettier!".

When Latarain Milton got mad at his mother, he grabbed the car keys and a friend and took off.

The difference between Latarain's story and the hundreds of other guys who rip out of driveways to cool off is that Latarain is only seven years old.

The little boy, who could barely see over the steering wheel, traveled about six miles on busy Florida streets before totaling the vehicle. And because driving a real vehicle is a lot different than driving one in a video game, he also left a trail of destruction in his wake. Along the way, Latarain smashed mailboxes and damaged several cars (parked and moving) before breaking an axle on his grandmother's Durango. Neither Latarain nor his passenger were injured during their little escapade.

Even more frightening than a seven-year-old joyrider is Latarain's attitude. The child appears to have no remorse and told reporters he thinks a weekend without video games is a suitable punishment. He also said, "It's fun to do bad things" and that he "just wants to do hood-rat things with his friends."

Police are charging Latarain with grand theft to get him into the legal system and get him the help he needs.

Suddenly, the milk left out on the counter or the kids forgetting to flush doesn't seem so bad, does it?!

UK supermarket giant Tesco has come under heavy criticism for adding teeny padded bras to their young girls' department. Sold on racks next to clothing sized for a seven or eight-year-old, the bras are miniature versions of plunge style bras with ample padding.

Though Tesco claims the bras are "designed for girls at that self-conscious age when they are just developing" and "to cover up, not flatter," children's advocacy groups are not fooled. That may be because Tesco has a reputation for selling inappropriate products to children. In 2006, the store removed a pole dancing kit from their toy department after parents complained.

I'd say "shame on you", Tesco, but if you had any shame, you'd never have put these products on your shelves to begin with.