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.

You're cleaning out your child's back pack. Book order? Check. Field trip form? Check. Homework? Check. Notice that a male classmate will now be living as a girl, and counselors will be discussing the issue with your child tomorrow at school? Check. What? Wait a minute.

Parents of third grade students at a Philadelphia elementary school were recently surprised when school officials announced that a boy who has been receiving treatment for transgender issues would now be living as a girl. They announced they'd be explaining the issue to kids in a developmentally appropriate way the next day, as well doing some minor sensitivity training.

Ok, come one--say it with me now: YESSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS! Fraggle Rock is back. The Electric Company is too. And the eight to ten-year-old in me couldn't be more ecstatic. (The term I would have used as an eight-year-old would be 'spazzed' but I am now a respectable mother and adult so I'll stick with 'ecstatic.)

E News Online is reporting the return of the beloved shows to both television and the movies. Fraggle Rock will return to life as a live-action musical film. The Electric Company will be reprised on the small screen on PBS with new episodes.

You may recall current cinematic heavy-weight Morgan Freeman made his mark on The Electric Company, as did comic Rita Moreno. Fraggle Rock, which ran on HBO and was from mastermind Jim Henson.

Can't wait to see the new versions of these old favorites! Will you tune in? Maybe this time with your kids too!

An eleven-year-old Canadian boy battling Leukemia has decided he doesn't want to undergo any more chemotherapy. His family doesn't want him to suffer anymore chemo either. The Children's Aid Society, however, has taken the boy into custody and is forcing him to undergo therapy. He was diagnosed at age seven with acute lymphoblastic leukemia which is curable eighty percent of the time.

After being cancer-free for a year following a previous round of chemotherapy, the disease came back and he started treatment again. Now, however, he wants to switch to alternative treatment including chelation therapy, oregano and green tea. "He told us that he didn't want to undergo any more treatment because he felt that it wasn't going to give him quality of life, that he felt that it would probably take away his life," said the boy's father.

A judge had earlier ruled that the boy was not capable of understanding what it meant to refuse chemotherapy. According to his father, the boy has fetal alcohol syndrome and is somewhat intellectually delayed.

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.

In the drive through line-up this morning, I heard a story that disturbed me so much that halfway through, I flipped the sound off and glanced worriedly at my son in the rearview mirror. He was thoughtfully eating his cinnamon raisin bagel and looking out the window and I thought: sometimes I really don't want to let him out into the world.

But I turned the radio back on, because I needed to hear the rest, to hear the ending.

An 11-year-old British Columbia boy is making headlines, for horrific reasons. The boy was playing basketball outside with his friends at his local elementary school when he was attacked by a pit bull, who at first licked him, and then viciously assaulted his face. The attack was so violent , the young boy required 100 stitches. The situation would likely have been even more grave had a witnessing 20-year-old neighbor not stepped in with a baseball bat and some serious moxie. A second pit bull at the site circled while the attack was in progress.

This story gives me shivers. Sean Bajwa was playing basketball at 4:30 in the evening in a public space, a child's space. The dogs were not on leashes, and apparently unsupervised. The man who intervened will likely have nightmares for a long time to come, and Sean Bajwa will likely be scarred forever, both physically and mentally.

Sean's father says that the owners of the pit bulls should be punished. I agree, and moreover, I think the punishment should be hefty. I've heard about too many of these attacks on kids -- if there were a serious penalty for dog attacks -- say jail time or a hefty fine -- perhaps more dog owners would be apt to keep their dogs in leashed, supervised areas.

I know there are a lot of pit bull owners who say that the breed is safe and wonderful and that the problem with vicious animals is due to owner neglect. Perhaps this is true, maybe it's not -- but the fact remains that we hear a lot more about pit bulls attacking than Schnoodles and Labs. We need licenses to drive a car. Maybe it's time we think of granting - and not granting -- licenses for dog owners.

If you've been reading ParentDish for long, then you know that kids are finding new and exciting ways to get themselves suspended from school all the time. Taking calls from parents stationed in Iraq, smelling their own shirt, and sporting a trendy haircut have all caused school suspensions, along with a permanent mark on school records.

Sometimes, the consequences fit the crime. Sometimes, schools go too far in trying to enforce a "zero tolerance" policy. Take the case of a nine-year-old Milwaukee girl who recently received a three-day suspension for taking rocks, a hammer, and a screwdriver to school. When the bus driver discovered her with the items, the police were called and a threat assessment team was assembled.

A Florida television station, in an attempt to help raise awareness of missing children, performed an experiment at a local shopping mall. The station posted signs with a picture of a missing girl by the entrance to the mall and then had the girl -- actually a paid model -- sit on a bench, by herself, just inside.

Shoppers repeatedly entered the mall without noticing the signs and even those who did, for the most part, did not notice or stop to help the supposedly missing girl. Of those who did match the girl to the posters, some were worried about getting involved. "That's what I was thinking," said one shopper. "I was scared the mom would pop out of nowhere and be like, 'Why are you talking to my child?'"

All told, only two actually stopped to talk to the girl and make sure she was okay. Two others saw the posters and the girl and asked the manager of a nearby store to call security. In some ways, the results of the experiment are both good and bad. "On one hand," said the girl's real father, watching nearby, "I wish someone could have stopped to check on a little girl who was obviously by herself. But on the other hand, it was nice to see there weren't a lot of men walking up to her and random strangers."

I'm not sure that I would notice the flyers or the girl, but if I did, I'd like to think I'd contact security at the very least while keeping an eye on her. I'd certainly hope others would do the same for my kids.

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.

A second-grader at the Royal Palm Exceptional School in Fort Myers, Florida has been charged with aggravated battery after a violent outburst in the classroom. It all started with a disagreement over crayons and ended with 8-year-old Deshawn Williams allegedly assaulting several classmates, throwing some chairs and punching his teacher in the face.

Deshawn admits that he lost his temper and went too far in throwing the chairs, but claims he only hit his teacher twice and not in the face. The police believe otherwise and say his teacher has the bruises on her face to prove it.

Apparently, this isn't new behavior for Deshawn. "He gets very upset and he loves to hit," said Deshawn's grandmother Dorothy Williams. She says he often has tantrums and gets physical, but never with adults.

I think it is painfully obvious that this child needs some professional help in dealing with his anger. Unfortunately, grandma thinks all he needs is a stronger teacher. "If he was overpowering her that much, I feel like she shouldn't be in that line of work," she says. "If she can't deal with him, put him in someone else's classroom. If it's a male, whatever, and let them restrain him."

Deshawn will be arraigned next month and a judge will decide when he can return to school.

The other day, I wrote about one parent's discussion about smoking with her son. Smoking's not an easy subject to broach, especially if you're a smoker yourself. There are other topics that are just as difficult, if not more so, than smoking, however, that parents need to discuss with their kids. Because you know that if you don't, someone else will -- like the kids on the playground.

You're not alone, though -- there is help out there. The Talking With Kids website offers advice on how to talk to your kids about several topics including sex, drugs, and violence. They have a printable brochure you can download and offer support for groups such as the PTA or church groups. The important point is that parents need to talk to their kids and they need start early and do it often.

If these subjects make you uncomfortable, the tips on this site may help you get past that discomfort. It's certainly worth a look.

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.