ParentDish

Sisters Give Birth to Babies in Same Hospital On Same Day

Lesley Kennedy — Thu, 21 Jul 2011 13:30:00 EST

Filed under: In The News, Weird But True

Credit: Corbis

Sarah Mattson, 25, wasn't supposed to deliver her baby the same day she watched her big sister give birth to her own child, but that's just what happened. Family birthday parties may never be the same.

The Orange County Register reports Mattson's sister, Rachel McDaniel, 26, gave birth to Grayson William at 1:01 p.m. July 18 in a Laguna Hills, Calif., hospital. The pregnant Mattson, present for her nephew's birth, was due in a few weeks.

But, just a few minutes later, Mattson felt contractions as she ate lunch at an In-N-Out Burger near the hospital with her parents, according to the newspaper. She returned to the hospital and delivered Sage Marie at 11:47 p.m.

Enoch Fernando, father to the sisters, doesn't seem too surprised.

"They've always done everything together," he tells the Register of his daughters who are 19 months apart.

But the feat of two sisters giving birth in the same hospital in the same day is rare. According the newspaper, nurses at Saddleback Memorial can't remember it happening before.

And, in a total moment of pure cuteness, when the cousins met for the fist time as they were being discharged July 20, Grayson clasped on to Sage's itty bitty hand, the Register reports.

"They're pretty much twins - just with different moms," Mattson tells the newspaper.

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Medicine Turns to the Magical World of Harry Potter

Tom Henderson — Mon, 18 Jul 2011 17:00:00 EST

Filed under: In The News, Weird But True, New In Pop Culture

Credit: Dimitrios Kambouris, WireImage

Harry Potter, as readers of his adventures know, is prone to headaches.

Concerned, researchers the New England Center for Headache published a study in 2007 examining Harry's head.

They diagnosed his headaches as migraines. However, despite all their scientific expertise, they could not explain how these migraines are triggered by the presence of a certain evil wizard.

Uh, guys? Could it have something to do with Harry being fictional?

People sometimes forget Harry Potter and the other characters who inhabit his popular adventures are not real.

These people are not just 12-year-old kids who go to midnight movie debuts dressed in black robes. Scientists, researchers and medical professionals also get sucked into Harry's magical realm.

For instance, did you know there is a real-world ailment called "Hogwarts Headache"? It was cited in the New England Journal of Medicine in 2003 as a condition that occurs from spending too much time reading Harry Potter books.

The Hartford Courant in Connecticut reports another study found fewer children go to the emergency room when new Harry Potter books go on sale.

In all, PubMed, an online database of medical studies, lists 30 studies that mention Harry Potter. So, if you're starved for fresh Harry Potter literature, you might turn to "Harry Potter and the Recessive Allele."

A recessive allele, by the way, is an allele whose phenotypic effect is not expressed in a heterozygote. Maybe Hermione Granger can explain it to you.

Or, you might try Martha Driessnack, an assistant professor at the college of nursing at the University of Iowa.

The Courant reports she published a study in the Journal of Pediatric Nursing on how the books can help explain complex ideas about genetics.

Then, there's Jennifer Pfeifer, a professor of psychology at the University of Oregon. The Courant reports she found most children have as much familiarity with Harry Potter as adults do with President Obama. And both Potter and Obama are expected to magically change things.

That could explain the appeal of Harry Potter books -- both to the public and scientific community, Colman Noctor, a psychotherapist in Ireland, tells the Courant.

"Who wouldn't fantasize about using magic to overcome life's challenges?" he said. "Also, isn't it reassuring that wizards struggle, too?"

Noctor examined how the use of metaphor and symbolism in Harry Potter books can be incorporated into psychotherapy with children.

"The books deal with racism, anger, feeling different, love, hate, loss and lots more," he tells the Courant. "As an adolescent psychotherapist, this is really useful stuff."

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Accused Molester Given Access to Child Pornography in Case Against Him

Tom Henderson — Thu, 14 Jul 2011 15:00:00 EST

Filed under: In The News, Weird But True

Accused child molester Weldon Marc Gilbert of Washington state is acting as his own defense counsel, so he gets to personally review the evidence against him.

That means he gets to watch the hundreds of child pornography videos police seized from his home.

The Washington Supreme Court ruled defense attorneys must be allowed to review the evidence against their clients. A judge ruled that right applies to people representing themselves, so Gilbert gets to curl up with his videos.

Pierce County Prosecutor Mark Lindquist is not happy about this.

"In my 16 years as a prosecutor, this is one of the most absurd and maddening results I've ever heard of, and this is the first time I'm aware of this happening in Pierce County," he tells ABC News. "We don't have to turn over the guns used as evidence for a defendant ... and it's absurd that we have to turn over the child porn as evidence."

ABC News reports Gilbert even appears in several of the videos. He is accused of child rape, child molestation and sexual exploitation of a minor following incidents in 2007. The older brothers of two of the alleged victims called the police on him.

Gilbert allegedly lured boys as young as 12 to his Lake Tapps home near Seattle after providing them sea-plane, boat or helicopter rides. ABC News reports witnesses claim the 50-year-old man gave the boys alcohol and spanked their bare buttocks and (in several cases) engaged the teens in masturbation, oral sex and anal sex.

According to ABC News, authorities found a stash of pornographic videotapes and DVDs depicting 250 scenes involving 40 individuals, including one of a boy who was 12 years old. Police also allegedly found a cassette tape on which Gilbert described his spanking fantasies in addition to a variety of sex toys, paddles, blindfolds, spanking devices and two handguns.

And this is a guy who gets to watch child pornography?

"Make no mistake. I don't like it. But it is not my choice whether to do it or not to do it," Pierce County Sheriff Paul Pastor tells ABC. "There's no question that I don't like it, no question that this makes me grind my teeth."

What can be done about it?

"This is a law that needs to be fixed," Lindquist tells ABC. He adds he is not only appealing the judge's ruling but taking the issue to the Legislature.

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Father Saves Baby Using CPR Learned From Watching TV

Tom Henderson — Mon, 27 Jun 2011 17:00:00 EST

Filed under: In The News, Weird But True

Watching television can be beneficial -- and can save a life. Credit: Getty Images

A New Jersey couple learned a horrifying lesson on the importance of parents knowing CPR.

Their 20-month-old baby stopped breathing.

The father, Arif Mahmood, began giving the child CPR. There was only one problem: Mahmood had absolutely no CPR training. He had only seen people perform the procedure on television. That would be a little like defending a murder suspect in court after watching "Perry Mason."

Nonetheless, it worked.

Mahmood saved his son's life, but he has not been patting himself on the back. Instead, he's urging parents to get proper CPR training and certification.

The Daily Record in Morris Plains, N.J, reports Arif and Nadia Mahmood feel sheepish about not getting trained before -- especially because their baby, Sarim, is genetically predisposed to sudden cardiac death because of a condition called Long QT Syndrome. The inherited disorder disrupts the heart's electrical system.

When it happened to Sarim, his father tells the newspaper, it was a nightmare.

"My wife started screaming," Mahmood tells the Daily Record. "He was not moving, he was not breathing."

Mahmood must have seen accurate TV shows, because his CPR worked. The Daily Record reports Sarim began breathing, weakly, when police and an ambulance arrived and the boy began crying by the time the oxygen mask was placed over his mouth.

The Mahmoods have since gotten CPR training and certification.

In addition, the Daily Record reports, they had an implantable cardiac defibrillator placed inside their son. Like a pacemaker, the device helps prevent a patient from suffering sudden cardiac death by monitoring the heart to detect any abnormal rhythms.

In an emergency, it delivers an electrical shock to restore the heart's normal rhythm and prevent sudden cardiac death.

Dr. Steven Fishberger, a New York University pediatric electrophysiologist, praises Mahmood for being able to perform CPR, without knowing it, under pressure.

"To be able to do it under those circumstances is remarkable," he tells the Daily Record.

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Water Balloons Gets Seniors Banned from Graduation

Tom Henderson — Wed, 22 Jun 2011 18:00:00 EST

Filed under: In The News, Weird But True

Something these students won't be wearing. Credit: Corbis

Adults can be soooo touchy.

You splatter the school principal, assistant principal, crossing guard and a few other people with water balloons, and they get all bent out of shape.

Then again, some Long Island high school students are learning that bombing those around you with water balloons is just not the done thing. Better to get that lesson now than when they're working at the Pentagon.

A water balloon fight is an annual tradition at East Rockaway High School. It is considered good, clean fun -- for those who want to get soaked. That would not include school administrators.

CBS News reports the seniors responsible for escalating the war were banned from the prom and graduation ceremony. Some parents tell CBS that's going too far.

"Gone through four years of high school and then they made one mistake," a father tells the network. "I mean I think it's a little bit too far. I mean, these kids, they were having fun."

"Kids are kids. You know, to ban them from graduation, I think is ridiculous," another father chimes in.

Both fathers tells CBS that they believe community service would be a more appropriate punishment.

Melissa Erul, one of the seniors banned from graduation, says the whole thing is (wait for it, wait for it): unfair. "I'm just so upset," she tells CBS. "None of my family's gonna be able to see me."

Senior Mike Castellano adds, "I didn't even throw a water balloon and I'm being penalized."

Anthony Gallegro, another senior, tells CBS only two people chucked water balloons at administrators. "Because of two bad seeds in the bunch we're all going down for it," Gallegro tells CBS.

However, school Superintendent Rosanne Melucci tells the network that students were warned ahead of time of the penalties and chose to have the water balloon fight anyway. "The actions of these students created a disorderly and unsafe situation by obstructing vehicular and pedestrian traffic," she says.

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Study Says 1 in 13 US Children Have Food Allergy

Associated Press — Mon, 20 Jun 2011 11:30:00 EST

Filed under: Nutrition: Health, In The News, Weird But True, Mealtime

1 in 13 children in the U.S. have a food allergy. Credit: Getty Images

CHICAGO (AP) - Food allergies affect about one in 13 U.S. children, double the latest government estimate, a new study suggests.

The researchers say about 40 percent of them have severe reactions - a finding they hope will erase misconceptions that food allergies are just like hay fever and other seasonal allergies that are troublesome but not dangerous.

Overall, 8 percent of the children studied had food allergies; peanuts and milk were the most common sources. That translates to nearly 6 million U.S. children.

The most recent government estimate, from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, was based on in-home interviews and found that about 3 million children were affected, or about 4 percent. Other estimates based on different methods have ranged from 2 percent to 8 percent.

The new study, funded by an advocacy group, is based on online interviews with parents of kids younger than age 18 and involved 40,104 children. Research firm Knowledge Networks conducted the survey. Families were recruited through random telephone dialing.

Results were released online Monday in Pediatrics.

The findings suggest that food allergies affect two kids per classroom, said lead author Dr. Ruchi Gupta, a pediatrician and researcher with Chicago's Children's Memorial Hospital.

Dr. Calman Prussin, an investigator with the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, said the study "confirms that food allergy is a substantial public health problem."

Prussin said differences in estimates are due to different survey methods and definitions of what constitutes a food allergy. He said the only way to know for sure how many kids are affected would be lab tests on scores of children, which isn't practical.

Because the new figure is within the range of previous estimates, he said the study doesn't mean prevalence has increased, although experts generally believe allergies including those to food are on the rise, Prussin noted.

He said some people mistake food intolerances for food allergies. For instance, many people are lactose intolerant, meaning they can't properly digest milk. That can cause bloating and digestive problems, but not an allergic reaction.

Typical signs of a true food allergy include skin rashes, wheezing, tightness in the throat or difficulty breathing.

The new survey asked parents whether their children had those symptoms - a big strength of the study, Prussin said.

Many children outgrow allergies to some foods, including eggs and wheat, but they're less likely to outgrow allergies to peanuts and other nuts.

The study was funded by the Food Allergy Initiative, a nonprofit advocacy group founded by parents of children with allergies.

Mary Jane Marchisotto, the group's executive director, said the study "paints a more comprehensive picture" of food allergies, and should help raise awareness.

The group, funded privately but without industry money, is working with the CDC on national guidelines on how to manage food allergies in schools, she said.

Copyright 2011 The Associated Press. The information contained in the AP news report may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or otherwise distributed without the prior written authority of The Associated Press. All active hyperlinks have been inserted by AOL.

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Bringing Novelty Gum to School Could Get Student Expelled

Tom Henderson — Mon, 13 Jun 2011 13:00:00 EST

Filed under: In The News, Weird But True

Aieee! Everyone panic! He ... has ... novelty gum!

Bear in mind this is not the kind of novelty gum you used to order off the back of your comic books -- you know, the kind that tasteed like garlic. This is weapons-grade novelty gum. It gives off a mild electric shock.

Like a joy buzzer.

Fortunately, a 13-year-old at Andrew Jackson Middle School in Cross Lanes, W.Va., did not bring a joy buzzer on a school field trip. That might have landed him in Guantanamo Bay. Because we're talking novelty gum, he may get by with just being expelled from school.

For novelty gum?!

Times have changed. WOWK, the CBS affiliate in Charleston, W. Va., reports school officials consider any gag items that give off electric shocks to be potentially deadly weapons. A joy buzzer could presumably kill someone with a heart condition.

The gum-packing hooligan apparently wasn't considering such a grim possibility when he brought the gum on a school field trip last month. WOWK reports a teacher confiscated the gum, and the boy was immediately suspended for 10 days -- pending an expulsion hearing.

Kanawha County School District Superintendent Ron Duerring refused to answer questions from the station on the case. He simply cited state law that school districts are required to follow in such cases.

"Obviously, I'm upset, because my son has never been in trouble before," the boy's father, Harry Glaspell, tells the station. "It's a toy. I don't understand how they consider it a deadly weapon. It's not a gun or a knife."

Glaspell tells WOWK school officials recommend his son be expelled for 12 months.

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Preschool Makes for Happier Adults, Study Finds

Tom Henderson — Fri, 10 Jun 2011 13:30:00 EST

Filed under: In The News, Weird But True

These girls must have gone to preschool! Credit: Getty Images

Children who went to preschool 25 years ago are better off as adults because of it.

They are better educated and make more money than their peers who put off school until kindergarten. Preschool graduates are also less likely abuse drugs or become criminals. They work and play well with others, use their inside voices and almost never run with scissors.

What's more, they're more likely to have fancy luxury items like health insurance coverage.

All this is the conclusion of researchers at the University of Minnesota in a study that concludes preschool is aaawesome!

"These effects haven't been found before for public programs, so the findings are encouraging to provide access to high-quality programs through public funding for kids at risk," lead researcher Arthur J. Reynolds, a professor in the university's Institute of Child Development, tells U.S. News & World Report.

The magazine reports researchers found preschool especially beneficial for boys and children from high-risk or poor families.

Reynolds and his team tracked 1,386 children -- 989 of them enrolled in a Chicago preschool from 1983 to 1989.

All the children went to full-day kindergarten and received social services. Fifteen percent of the control group attended Head Start. The rest were cared for at home.

Reynolds tells U.S. News & World Report the particular preschool in the study succeeded because kids were enrolled when they were 3 so they get more participation in the program.

"We know that the amount of time in the program is associated with gains," he tells the magazine.

Because this particular preschool was run by local schools, the teachers were certified in early childhood education. That's not true in a lot of preschools, Reynolds cautioned.

"Because it's a school-based, there is continuing access to services, and kids stay in the same environment through elementary school," he adds. "It promotes positive transitions from one grade to the next."

Hooray for one Chicago preschool in the early '80s, says Andrew J. Coulson, the director of the Cato Institute's Center for Educational Freedom. However, a snapshot of one preschool 25 years ago is not enough to support researchers' recommendation for more government-funded preschools, he tells the magazine.

"While a few specific pre-K programs seem to have had lasting impacts, they appear to be exceptions rather than the rule," he adds.

"More specifically, the federal government's efforts to scale-up the success of those particular programs, over four decades and at very great cost, have not proven effective. Yet another study pointing to the effect of one of the three pre-K programs that did have lasting effects does not alter that picture."

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Preschoolers Sense That More Attention is Paid to Middle-Class Kids

Tom Henderson — Wed, 08 Jun 2011 13:30:00 EST

Filed under: In The News, Weird But True, Education: Big Kids

Middle-class children tend to speak adults as equals, interrupt more and "use their words." Credit: Getty Images

While they should be learning to work and play well with others, preschoolers are apparently learning society is divided into classes.

And they quickly figure out where they fall in the pecking order.

Researchers at the University of Michigan looked at the ways preschoolers act and how teachers respond to their students, as reported in the Vancouver Sun.

They noticed that middle-class children tend to speak adults as equals, interrupt more and "use their words." Teachers, in turn, reward this behavior.

All of this does not go unnoticed by kids from working-class and poor families who may, researchers suggest, decide early on that the game is rigged against them and therefore become cynical about school.

"As early as preschool, children have a sense that certain students get their needs met more often than others, and that certain students get attention more often than others," lead researcher Jessi Streib tells the Vancouver Sun.

The Sun reports researchers observed 4-year-olds for over eight months. Middle-class kids were more likely to speak up in class, direct classroom conversations, win disputes with their peers and interact better with adults.

"Middle-class students are constantly asking for attention in a way that working-class students are not," Streib tells Reuters. "So, even when the teachers are really trying hard to talk to everyone, they get interrupted a lot by the middle-class children and their attention is diverted."

Lower-income and poor students often get ignored or treated with a "hands off" approach as a result, she says.

This can have life-long consequences, Streib tells the news service.

"We know that over the life course, working-class children are more likely than upper middle-class children to feel like school isn't a place for them," she mentions. "But on the other hand, preschool is really important for low-income kids. So I would warn not to throw the baby out with the bathwater."

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More Toys Equal More Excercise, Study Finds

Tom Henderson — Mon, 06 Jun 2011 15:30:00 EST

Filed under: In The News, Weird But True, Toys

Researchers found overall playtime jumped 95 percent among the children who had three or five toys. Credit: Getty

As the popular bumper sticker saying goes: The one who dies with the most toys wins.

Maybe. Maybe not -- that's a philosophical argument.

However, if you believe researchers at the University of Buffalo, the one with the most toys actually does get more exercise.

US News & World Report explains how providing children with more toys may improve their level of physical activity. Researchers reportedly found that having more active toys to choose from boosts the intensity of play among children -- particularly girls.

Denise Feda, a postdoctoral associate at the University of Buffalo, tells the magazine that researchers offered three different quantities of toys to 36 children ranging in age from 8 to 12 years old. The participant's heart rates and activity were monitored for one hour.

Researchers found that overall playtime jumped 95 percent among the children who had three or five toys. Girls given more toys played with greater intensity than boys with the same number of choices.

Unfortunately, according to US News & World Report, researchers didn't specify what types of toys were used.

"The results of this study are significant, considering the epidemic of childhood obesity plaguing this country," Feda tells the magazine.

"Adults looking for effective ways to increase their child's exercise time should take a look at toy variety. Adding an active toy or two could help, especially for girls. Girls can be motivated to engage in equal physical activity as boys by simply providing them with a greater choice of active toys."

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Facebook Party Spins Out of Control

Associated Press — Mon, 06 Jun 2011 14:00:00 EST

Filed under: In The News, Weird But True, Alcohol & Drugs, Media, Funny Stuff

A teenage girl in Germany who forgot to mark her birthday invitation as private on Facebook fled her own party when more than 1,500 guests showed up. Credit: AP

BERLIN (AP) - Better check your Facebook settings before posting a party invitation online.

A teenage girl in Germany who forgot to mark her birthday invitation as private on Facebook fled her own party when more than 1,500 guests showed up and around 100 police officers, some on horses, were needed to keep the crowd under control.

Eleven people were temporarily detained, one police officer was injured, dozens of girls wearing flip-flops cut their feet on broken glass and firefighters had to extinguish two small fires at the 16th birthday party in Hamburg, police spokesman Mirko Streiber said Sunday.

The birthday girl, identified only as Thessa, went into hiding, Streiber said, but "nonetheless the party was a hit."

Thessa had initially only wanted to ask some friends over to her home in Hamburg-Bramfeld when she posted her invitation on Facebook, but mistakenly she published it so that everyone on Facebook could see it.

The invitation quickly went viral, and some 15,000 people confirmed online they would come to the party - without even knowing the girl, weekly paper Bild am Sonntag reported.

When Thessa's parents found out, they made their daughter cancel the party, informed police and hired a private security service to protect their home on Friday night.

Despite public announcements in Hamburg that the party had been canceled, some 1,500 teenagers and young adults showed up on the street in front of Thessa's home, Streiber told The Associated Press.

"We had cordoned off the house, some 100 police were on the ground, four of them on horses - but that did not keep the kids from celebrating," Streiber said.

Some revelers held up signs asking "Where is Thessa?" others brought birthday presents and homemade cake, there was lots of alcohol and the crowd chanted again and again, "Thessa, celebrating a birthday is not a crime," - in obvious relation to the massive police presence, Bild reported.

The police officer was injured when he tried to keep a party reveler from breaking off the Mercedes-Benz logo of his patrol car.

"It was sheer insanity but mostly peaceful," Streiber summed up the night with a laugh.

As for Thessa - she was nowhere to be seen. Police confirmed she "was not at home that night" and Bild reported that she celebrated quietly with her grandparents at an undisclosed location.

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Boy, 13, Invited Out for Free Drinks and Strippers

Tom Henderson — Wed, 18 May 2011 12:30:00 EST

Filed under: In The News, Weird But True

Nothing like getting a text message invite to a strip club -- free drinks included! -- after a hard lacrosse practice. Credit: AFP/Getty Images

President Barack Obama refused to make photos of Osama bin Laden's dead body public. You can understand why.

This is America. We don't shoot a guy -- even a bad guy -- and parade a photo of his mutilated head around like a trophy.

That would be tacky.

We invite our boys in uniform out for a night of free drinks and strippers. And that 13-year-old kid? What the heck. He's invited, too.

Actually, er, uh, inviting the kid might have been an accident. Still, as the NBC affiliate in Denver reports, it's a day Jack Warta will never forget. Even if he didn't get to see any strippers.

"I just finished my lacrosse practice and I looked at my phone," the boy tells Denver's 9News. "It asked me if I wanted to come and celebrate Osama bin Laden's death with free cover and free drafts. It was kind of confusing."

Confusing? Perhaps. But you have to admit, it's more fun than celebrating bin Laden's death by playing Whack-a-Mole down at Chuck E. Cheese's.

Matt Warta, the boy's father, didn't quite see at that way. He told the news station the text message was "shocking" and "inappropriate."

"You'd like to think you can protect your child from those kind of things," he tells 9News. "As a parent, that's really frustrating."

Clearly, the folks at Diamond Cabaret had some explaining to do if they wanted to salvage their squeaky-clean reputation. They promised to take the boy's name off their list.

"There's enough stuff out there that pollutes their minds," Matt Warta tells the station. "That's the last thing we want to do, is use a personal device like a cell phone to send those messages to them. Why would you send a 13-year-old a text message asking them to come to a strip club and give them free beer and alcohol? It's just wrong."

Let that be a lesson to you, kids. You should definitely wait until you turn 18 before you celebrate a confirmed kill by getting plastered and leering at naked women. Such activities are strictly for mature adults.

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Just What Opera Was Missing: Baby Noises

Tom Henderson — Wed, 18 May 2011 11:00:00 EST

Filed under: In The News, Weird But True

"BabyO" combines recorded music with live singing. Credit: Getty Images

Mark Twain was no fan of opera. After watching a performance of Giuseppe Verdi's "Travatore," the author quipped it contained "that sort of intense but incoherent noise which always so reminds me of the time the orphan asylum burned down."

Hmmm ... Orphans. Babies.

Twain's remark may have given someone a very strange idea. Britain's Manchester Evening News reports the city will host a very unique opera. For babies.

Don't worry. Nothing is burning down, no matter what impression you might get from people fleeing the Manchester Opera House. However, producers of the show "BabyO" are literally banking on crowds staying glued to their seats -- and babies in the audience will play a vital role in making that happen.

According to the Evening News, the show combines recorded music with live singing and uses sounds and words that babies can understand, helping stimulate the beginning of language development. The show premieres during the Manchester International Festival.

Adult vocalists will recreate baby-friendly noises such as quacking ducks, splashing fish and buzzing bees, the newspaper reports. The audience -- children between 6 months and 2 years, and their parents -- will then be asked to gurgle along and crawl over a furry garden set, featuring hand puppets and a range of themed props.

Producers tell the Evening News exposing children to music boosts IQ, improves health and strengthens family ties.

The show's composer, Rachel Drury, tells the newspaper melody, rhythm and harmony attract babies' developing sense of hearing. She's looked at how nursery rhymes match operatic musical patterns.

Jennifer Cleary, the festival's head of creative learning, tells the Evening News "BabyO" is "a magical musical experience for young children."

"Creativity starts at a very young age and 'BabyO' offers mums and babies a fresh and fun environment to explore and enjoy music together," she adds.

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Facebook Button Inspires Dad to Name His Daughter 'Like'

Lesley Kennedy — Tue, 17 May 2011 12:00:00 EST

Filed under: In The News, Weird But True, Baby Names

Dad names his daughter "Like" after the Facebook button. Credit: Toby Talbot, AP

Go ahead and give celebs like Alicia Silverstone and Mariah Carey a break for naming their babies Bear Blu, Moroccan and Monroe.

Those names are downright normal compared to the newest baby name to grab headlines: Like.

Yep, little Like Adler was named after the Facebook Like button, PCWorld reports, and Lior and Vardit Adler, her Israeli parents, tell Israeli news site Galgalatz they chose the name because they "liked" the way it sounded and found it "modern and innovative."

Dad Lior Adler, however, tells the site he actually has fewer than 120 friends on Facebook and doesn't really care for the social networking site.

"In our opinion, it's the modern equivalent of the name Ahava (Love)," he tells Galgalatz. "It's just my way of saying to my fantastic daughter, 'love.' "

Perhaps Like will someday meet Facebook, a girl born earlier this year to an Egyptian father, PCWorld reports.

But, for now, Like will join her big sisters -- who go by Pie and Vash (Hebrew for honey).

Eat your heart out Frank Zappa. Moon Unit, Dweezil, Diva? So old-school. Now, who wants to place odds on when a baby named Twitter will make her debut?

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Almost One-Third of Girls' Clothing is Deemed Sexy, Study Finds

Lesley Kennedy — Wed, 11 May 2011 08:00:00 EST

Filed under: In The News, Weird But True, Fashion

One-third of girls' clothing is deemed sexy. Credit: Getty Images

Are stores to blame for sending sexual stereotypes being foisted on young girls?

A new study finds up to 30 percent of clothes for young girls found online in the United States is deemed either sexy or sexualizing, ScienceDaily reports.

Researchers at Kenyon College in Ohio looked at the frequency and sexualizing of clothing for preteen girls on the websites of 15 popular U.S. stores, according to ScienceDaily, defining sexualizing as clothing that "reveals or emphasizes a sexualized body part, has characteristics associated with sexiness and/or carries sexually suggestive writing."

The team studied 5,666 clothing items, ScienceDaily reports; 69 percent only possessed childlike characteristics, while 4 percent "had only sexualized characteristics, 25 percent had both sexualizing and childlike features and 1 percent had neither sexualized nor childlike elements."

The website says sexualized items included shirts and dresses cut to create the look of a bosom or pockets that were embellished to emphasis a girl's rear end. Tween-specific stores were more apt to offer sexualized clothes than children's stores, the researchers add.

"Confused parents might be persuaded to buy the leopard-print miniskirt if it's bright pink," the authors of the study to be published in the journal Sex Roles write. "Clearly, sexiness is still visible beneath the bows or tie-dye colors. We propose that dressing girls in this way could contribute to socializing them into the narrow role of the sexually objectified woman."

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Nearly 25 Percent of Moms and Dads Say They Put 'Some Trust' in Celeb Parenting Advice

Mary Beth Sammons — Wed, 27 Apr 2011 15:30:00 EST

Filed under: Celeb Parents, In The News, Weird But True

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In a survey, 24 percent of parents say they place "some trust" in information provided by celebrities such as Jenny McCarthy. Credit: Getty Images

Looking for a little medical advice about your kid? Forget turning to Dr. Spock and T. Berry Brazelton -- a growing number of parents are looking to Hollywood stars.

There's no shortage of celebs spooning up parenting advice, and it turns out real-life parents are taking heed, according to the findings of University of Michigan researchers, Time reports.

Almost 25 percent of parents surveyed say they place "some trust" in information provided by celebrities such as Jenny McCarthy, a former Playboy bunny, mom and author, when it comes to the safety of vaccines, according to Time.

The researchers studied 1,552 parents of children younger than 18 in a study published in the journal Pediatrics.

Most parents -- 76 percent -- ranked their doctor's advice highest, but 67 percent placed "some" trust in family and friends and 65 percent said they trusted parents who thought vaccines had harmed their children. Just two percent of parents trusted celeb parents "a lot," but 24 percent trusted them to "some" extent, according to a University of Michigan release.

"It's great that parents trust physicians as their primary source for vaccine information, but it's terribly concerning that 24 percent of parents have some trust in information provided by celebrities," Gary Freed, study lead at the University of Michigan, tells Time.

Freed says in the release that trusting celebrities and other non-experts for medical information is not healthy for parents.

"Even if only a fraction of parents receive, believe and act on misinformation about vaccine safety provided by these different sources, individual children's health and the population's health may suffer because of vaccine preventable illnesses," he says in the release.

Freed blames the media for giving celebrities such as McCarthy -- the most vocal star to have denounced vaccinations, associating them with autism -- a platform. McCarthy has written a book, "Healing and Preventing Autism: a Complete Guide," and speaks regularly in favor of chelation therapy, or the removal of heavy metals from the body, which she says cured her son.

"I don't understand why when a celebrity says something about which they have no training, that is reported more than someone who has done rigorous scientific training," Freed tells Time.

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First-Born Boys Demand More Mommy Time

Mary Beth Sammons — Thu, 21 Apr 2011 17:00:00 EST

Filed under: In The News, Weird But True, Behavior, Research Reveals: Babies

Baby boys demand more attention from moms than baby girls. Credit: Getty Images

Women have thought for years that men are really more high maintenance. A new study confirms that this royal highness syndrome starts at birth, as these little princes demand more of mom's time than baby girls. By requiring more of mom's presence, moms of first born sons are working less, the study claims.

British researchers who have keen insight into royal entitlement have released a new study that says "...women whose first child is a boy are less likely to work in a typical week and work fewer hours than women with first-born girls," according to the Wall Street Journal's Real Time Economics blog.

The results, though "statistically significant" and suggesting "quantitatively relevant" losses in lifetime labor income, are nonetheless "a puzzle," the authors write. They say future studies are required to answer the "whys."

But, one reason possibly contributing to the findings, they say, is the desire to have the baby boy.

"A first-born girl reduces substantially the stability of a marriage," thus women are working. It also finds that the divorce rate is four percent higher in families where the first-born is a girl. The first-born boys evidently positively affect the probability that the marriage will survive, so moms aren't racing back to work.

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Study: Staying Together 'For the Kids' Not Always a Good Idea

Tom Henderson — Thu, 21 Apr 2011 16:00:00 EST

Filed under: Divorce & Custody, In The News, Weird But True

Watch a video on how to help your child adjust to divorce.

Maybe divorce is best for everyone involved. Credit: Getty Images

Sure, you and your spouse are constantly at each other's throats. You used to call each other "sweetheart," but now you are known to each other as "pig face" or "slimeball," and screaming has become your native language.

Still, you really ought to stay together, you insist. Think of the children -- you want to set a good example.

Then again, there are all sorts of ways to set an example.

Constance Gager, a sociologist and associate professor of Family and Child Studies at Montclair State University in New Jersey, conducted research and found that children having successful marriages later in life doesn't depend on their parents staying married.

It depends on how parents treat each other -- even if they do get divorced.

Previous research indicated that children from what we used to call "broken homes," are more likely to get divorced themselves. However, according to Gager, that's not necessarily true.

Gager teamed up with Scott Yabiku, an associate professor of sociology at Arizona State University, and Miriam Linver, an associate professor of Family and Child Studies at Montclair State University, to take a deeper look.

They compared adult children who grew up in high and low conflict families and whether or not their parents were divorced. Turns out the children of parents who had cordial marriages, followed by cordial divorces, are more likely to have successful relationships.

On the other hand, children whose parents bickered and bickered but never divorced are less likely to live happily ever after.

"We find that adult children exposed to high conflict and whose parents divorced are less likely to experience a cohabiting or marital break up compared to those who grew up with high conflict parents who remained married," Gager explains in the press release.

"Our research suggests that 'staying together for the sake of the children' may be misguided if children are exposed to high parental conflict."

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Gender Reveal Parties Use Cake to Announce Baby's Sex

Mary Beth Sammons — Thu, 21 Apr 2011 13:30:00 EST

Filed under: In The News, Weird But True

Finding out the sex of a baby? It's a piece of cake -- and an excuse for yet another party parents-to-be expect you to attend with gift in tow.

Gender reveal parties are popping up all over the Internet, according to all sorts of blogs, including TheAwl.

Basically, the expectant baby mama asks her ultrasound tech to jot down the baby's sex on a piece of paper and the note is tucked into a sealed envelope. Then, she scurries over to a bakery, where the baker reads the sex and uses either blue or pink-colored cake batter, frosting the cake in a gender-neutral color.

The parents-to-be then host the gender reveal party for family and friends, with the baby's sex announced when they cut into the cake and discover the color.

Josh and Anna Duggar, son and daughter-in-law of the parents with 19 kids, who star in "19 and Counting" on TLC, helped launch this new trend when they revealed they are having a girl earlier this year on "Today."

But although the gender cake trend is getting a lot of attention on the Internet, not everyone thinks it's such a sweet idea.

"What I do have a problem with, is how obnoxious and self-centered it is to expect a bunch of people to give up an entire afternoon or evening just for the purpose of finding out the sex of your unborn child," Same Old Shannon writes on the Chicago Moms blog. "Now, obviously we all attend baby showers to celebrate upcoming arrivals, but baby showers are enough."

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Zsa Zsa Gabor Having a Baby at 94? Her Hubby, 67, Is Working on It

Lesley Kennedy — Wed, 20 Apr 2011 13:00:00 EST

Filed under: In The News, Weird But True

Think 94 is a wee bit old to become a mother? Don't tell that to Zsa Zsa Gabor's hubby.

CNN reports Prince Frederic von Anhalt, 67, wants his elderly wife to use an egg donor, artificial insemination and a surrogate mother to have another baby.

"I've gone through the initial steps of donor matching and blood work and next week the donation process will begin," von Anhalt tells the network.

Francesca Hilton, 64, Gabor's only child, tells CNN she was shocked at the news.

"That's just weird," she tells the network.

Von Anhalt, CNN reports, is working with a doctor from the Southern California Reproductive Center in Beverly Hills on the process, which would cost an estimated $100,000.

The ailing actress recently underwent a leg amputation and hip replacement surgery, according to the network, and hasn't walked since 2002, when she was involved in a car accident.

"I'm a retired guy," von Anhalt, tells CNN. "I can take care of it."

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