Playground Bureau

Claire Van Arsdale has been room mother for her daughter's class for the past three years, and she says she would do it again in a heartbeat.

"I enjoyed getting to know the teachers a bit better than I would have otherwise," says this Rochester, N.Y., mom of one. "I really enjoyed being part of my daughter's classroom experience."

Now that the calendar is beginning to flip toward fall, it's time to start thinking about back-to-school, and that doesn't just mean getting back into the academic groove or buying school supplies. It also means thinking about how -- and if -- you plan to volunteer at your child's school.

There are plenty of ways to get involved, of course, including fundraising or participating in the PTSA and other formal school-based organizations. But if you're looking for a more intimate experience with your child's classroom, you may want to consider being the class mom.

"Imagination Playground" at the South Street Seaport in Manhattan officially opened to the public this summer, with a press conference featuring New York City's Mayor Michael Bloomberg -- and a $7.5 million price tag.

The South Street Seaport has a long history as the city's maritime commerce center, dating back to the early 1800s. In 1983, through a city redevelopment initiative, the Seaport was opened to the public with dozens of shops and restaurants. Since then, it has grown into a major tourist area with a schedule of events and amenities that attract scores of visitors and locals to the area.

Imagination Playground was clearly built to honor and celebrate the area's rich maritime tradition, using design elements such as ship's masts and a crow's nest, and featuring water and sand as the two core play elements. It spans an entire city block, replacing a parking lot that had been used by one of the city agencies, which helped develop the project.

I heard of the plans for the playground about four years ago, when the concept was first announced by the city. Architect David Rockwell is well-respected and pretty well known in these parts, so the fact that he was turning his talents to design a playground for kids was certainly newsworthy.

Yet, when I read about the playground's opening and its hefty price tag, I have to admit I was outraged, as my thoughts turned to the battle of the budget fought this year by New York parents to ensure their kids still receive free transit cards for travel to and from school.

When singer Amy Winehouse's ex-husband Blake Fielder-Civil was thrown in the clinker back in 2007, his mother said she was "delighted!"

Mom was happy because now she didn't have to worry about him. All Blake needed was a little dose of jail time.

Two years ago, I found myself driving over the Bay Bridge in order to bail out my then 23- year-old son Alex from the San Francisco County Jail. During his second year at the very liberal Evergreen State College in Olympia, Washington, he'd begun reading anarchist texts. His politics went from very liberal to no politics at all. As he told me, the definition for anarchy is "No leaders," so the fight for no government interference began to guide him.

The day before my drive, Alex had been arrested at an anti-war rally and charged with nine felonies. Before leaving the house, I'd called the intake officer, discovering that one of the felonies was carrying a concealed deadly weapon. As I drove, I clutched the steering wheel, wondering incredulously, "What weapon? What had he meant to do? Who had he meant to hurt? How can you stop a war in one place with a weapon here?"

Shelley Price doesn't love her own daughter, and fears she never will. This tearful mother of two is telling her story because she believes that she isn't the only mother to ever tackle such a taboo subject, and hopes she may help others come to terms with this unspeakable truth. How can this be?

(Update: The story that originally ran on dailymail.co.uk on January 22, 2009 was pulled off the site the following day. Read on and you'll see why.)

Price was just 22 when she had her eldest daughter, Catherine, now 11. Shortly after Catherine's birth, a five-year relationship with the father fizzled. That didn't help matters.

"It was obvious that something wasn't right from the start," said Price. The night Catherine was born, Price says she didn't want to look or touch her. Her maternal malfeasance continues to this day. Playgroup pickup was something to dread, she recalls no landmarks such as a first tooth and when Catherine is sick, Grandma is called in. She admits to ignoring her daughter's attempts to get her attention and not wanting to be physically close to her. "I did hug Catherine, but it was always half-hearted," Price said. "I always told her I loved her but I never really felt it or meant it."

That is just awful. Particulary when there is another child in the house now, Poppy, 2, a daughter who she calls "the love of my life" by her current partner.

Is there anything quite like election day?

For me, it has always been something of a holiday. As a young cub reporter I stayed up all night, waiting for returns and even, some years, writing out the results by hand in a grid that ran on the front page.

It was intoxicating.

Today at 7 a.m., my husband and 3-year-old daughter left for the polls. He in his shirt and tie, she in track pants under her fleece nightgown, hair a cloud of bedtime curls.

Why, you ask, did I send my little girl out into the cold Midwestern morning in her pajamas? Without her breakfast?

Because today, of all election days, is historic. Today we have on the ballot a war hero, a woman, an African-American man, and a widower. Where else in the world can you participate in a peaceful coup d'etat with such a varied field from which to choose your leader?

No matter what your leanings, voting is a right and a privilege. We need to teach our children that early and often. To me, the deadliest sin is apathy. I want all children to have passion for this great country we live in, to understand just how important it is to be an active participant in democracy.

It is a glorious responsibility.

And in the years to come, as we sit around the dinner table, we can talk about how my little girl was there, today, making history.

Did you take your children with you to vote? Why or why not?

Ashleigh Jones got a lot more than she bargained for when she recently donned a "Go, Sarah, Go" T-shirt and wore it to school. The twelve-year-old Florida native was called a racist by her classmates at New Smyrna Beach Middle School. Jones had volunteered with the local Republicans, who gave her the pink T-shirt supporting VP candidate Sarah Palin, which she proudly wore to school. Jones contends that because she is white her classmates called her racist because she was promoting the white candidate. I'm sorry -- that's just plain stupid. If that were the case then all of us would be racists as ALL the candidates, up until now, have been white! The seventh grader was clearly only exercising her right to her opinion.

Her parents aren't upset with the school, but they do think all the students should be able to voice their opinions more constructively than calling their daughter a racist. That word is a very loaded one that you can't walk away from easily once you're labeled with it.

Some schools ban the wearing of certain items or have strict dress codes which are intended to keep everything status quo and avoid a ruffle like the one at Smyrna. Still, regardless of what rules are imposed, people will make their opinions known, and many would say they should be allowed to express those opinions. Is school the appropriate setting for children to be discussing politics and expressing their political opinions? I don't see why not -- in fact, what better place?

Kids are expensive enough, find out how to entertain them for free. -- AlphaMom

Election 08 -- are you still undecided? Find out which candidate has the better health plan for your kids. -- Babble

Jada Pinkett Smith talks about raising emotionally healthy child actors. -- Celebrity Baby Blog

Warm baths and pregnancy -- a no-no, or a healthy way to relax? -- LilSugar

You boss "friends" you on Facebook. Now what? -- Work it, Mom!

Not sure what to do with that face paint your child wants for Halloween? Check out these tips from Disney. -- The Motherhood

Does your child have a "woobie?" -- Offsprung

Kindergarten naps -- on the endangered list? -- MomLogic

Celeb moms speak out on going back to work after baby. -- Mommy Track'd

We all tell white lies. If we say we don't, to each other and ourselves, we're telling a white lie right then and there. We tell them to other adults, and we certainly tell them to our kids. More often than not, we tell the white variety of the lie to children to get them to do what we want them to do--it's easier than trying to, say, rationalize with them about it. And, for a period of time, anyway, it seems to work. They eat their spinach, stop sitting too close to the TV and are nicer to their sisters.

Several questions about this, though. For one, are white lies any less harmful than the other variety? Secondly, do any certain number of white lies add up to be the other kind of lie, and, if so, is there any sort of statute of limitations on said white lies? And, thirdly, why are these allegedly less harmful, more "innocent" lies noted as 'white'--that's always really annoyed me, because to this writer a lie is a lie is a lie, whatever color you want to paint it. And one lie leads to another, and another, and so on. Until you get caught, that is.

According to a recent article from the Daily Mail UK Online, parents tell their children an average of 3,000 white lies as the kiddies grow up in order to get what the parents want out of the kids. The study also turned up that 66% of parents were willing to resort to lying if other tactics failed. No word on whether simply telling the truth counted as a tactic, although it was further noted that 8 out of 10 parents were willing to lie to their children to protect them from the truth. The upshot? By the time the kids were eight they stopped believing the lies of their parents! The lies considered "white" in this study were those concerning Father Christmas (you know, Santa), sitting too close to the television, and my personal favorite, that if you keep making funny faces your face will stick like that. Boy, have I heard that one before.

What about you? Would you lie to your kid to protect her from the truth? Have you told any "white" lies to your kids that have come back to nip you? Is it OK to tell white lies to your kids even if you do occasionally get the nip?

Before last Saturday's soccer game, I couldn't find the sports cap to my daughter's water bottle, so I put the sippy attachment on it instead. She was horrified. "Mama. That's for babies." I forget sometimes that she's five, a big girl now.

MomLogic's Jane thinks that Gwyneth Paltrow needs to wake up to the fact that her daughter isn't a baby anymore either. She's got a picture of Gwyneth pushing nearly five-year-old Apple in a stroller, despite her "big girl" status. Jayne sent this message to the mom of two: "Gwyneth, stop confining Apple to a stroller like a baby veal and make her walk!"

Our youngest is three, and we just Freecycled our last stroller. Our girls are big enough now to walk most of the places we go, and if it's going to be a long afternoon, we can always bring the wagon. For an everday family like mine, it just makes good sense to have a "no free rides" policy. Kids need exercise, just like adults do.

Big Daddy Mark Wahlberg has recently admitted to banning his children from watching his films. The reason for this? No, not because some of his films are not so hot (The Happening, anyone?) but because some of them are a little, er, risque. The main film in question, is, of course, Boogie Nights, which happens to be one of my all-time favorites. The Wahlberg vehicle documents character Dirk Diggler's rise and fall and then rise again in the porn industry, and features, at the end, a photo op of Dirk's phallus. Not exactly kiddo material. Hence, the former Funky Bunch frontman has forbidden his children--daughter Ella Rae, five, and two sons Michael, two, and newbie Brendan Joseph --from seeing the film.

I could understand Wahlberg's concern if, say, he were Pam Anderson and this was about that sex tape. Personal positive bias aside, Boogie Nights is a pretty good film, with good writing, good acting and a general sense of fun. Wahlberg should be proud. Maybe he's more nervous about all the violence in his other movies, although he doesn't mention it. No one seems to bat an eyelash about the public--kids or otherwise--being exposed to ultraviolent shoot-em-ups that leave legions dead and bloodied, but heaven forbid a minor sees a boobie!

At least the new (for the third time) dad is being protective of his kids, and making choices instead of letting the wordl do it for him. Tell ypu one thing, though-those kids WILL find a way to see Boogie Nights!

So your mother-in-law is driving you to drink. How to deal. -- AlphaMom

Got a bun in the oven? Find the perfect Halloween costume for your pregnant self. -- Babble

Cold and flu season has officially arrived. Here are some facts that might surprise you. -- BabyCenter

Kevin and Christine Costner are giving son Cayden, 17 months, a sibling. -- Celebrity Baby Blog

Still haven't found your toddlers Halloween costume? Try these simple, green options. -- LilSugar

Thinking of a sleep sack for baby? Try a GroBag. -- MomFinds

Mom have a new culprit to blame excess weight on -- their men. -- MomLogic

So you found your teen on Facebook. But now he won't "friend" you. One mom relates. -- The Motherhood

Sure, times are tight. But here are five luxuries you can still afford. -- Work it, Mom!