ParentDish

Reviews: What's New This Week

Sandy Maple — Fri, 06 Nov 2009 17:27:00 EST

Here is a look at what's new this week in family entertainment as adapted from reviews and ratings by Common Sense Media. Click on the links to read the reviews in full.

In Theaters Now: Disney's A Christmas Carol
A perfectly cast Jim Carrey stars as Ebeneezer Scrooge in "Disney's A Christmas Carol." This classic tale about the importance of doing right by others is a 3-D fright fest with intense special effects and some terrifying imagery. For children brave enough to take it, the film is an excellent remake of the Charles Dickens classic Christmas tale. Rated PG, OK for Kids 8+

DVD: Aliens in the Attic
Kids will recognize some of their favorite Disney and Nickelodeon stars in the silly adventure comedy "Aliens in the Attic." In the film, a family vacation is upended by the discovery of some extra-terrestrials set on world domination. While the kids battle the bad guys, there are a few comically scary scenes, lots of immature name-calling and some pretty heavy flirting. Rated PG, OK for Kids 8+

TV: Fanboy and Chum Chum
Two thrill-seeking friends imagine themselves superheros in "Fanboy and Chum Chum." While there is little educational value in this film, there is also little to worry parents. The main characters are goofy, the action scenes are comical and the language doesn't get any worse than the occasional "butt." Rated TV-Y, OK for Kids 7+

Books: Love is the Higher Law
A novel set against the September 11 terrorist attacks in New York City, "Love is the Higher Law" is a somber look at the tragedy through the eyes of three teens. Along with teaching a history lesson, the book deals with homosexuality, love, friendship and family. Ultimately about hope and humanity, it's a powerful story with an important message. OK for Kids 14+

Music: Sharing the Same Stars
Funny and smart, "Sharing the Same Stars" is a musical romp for preschoolers and young grade-schoolers. With 14 original songs covering everything from seat belts and ladybugs to animals and potty troubles, it's an impressive first collaboration for artist Ilene "Leeny" Altman and singer/songwriter Tamara Hey. OK for Kids 4+

Web: Moxie Girlz
Despite the focus on beauty and image, "Moxie Girlz" offers up some worthwhile educational content. Inspired by the Moxie Girlz line of dolls, the site teaches about meteorology and lets players design and publish their own magazines. Unfortunately, the site is heavy on promotion and feels more like it was designed to sell dolls than to educate girls. OK for Kids 7+

Games: iCarly
Nickelodeon expands the reach of everybody's favorite Web show star with "iCarly" for Nintendo DS, Nintendo Wii and Nintendo DSi. Simple enough for beginning gamers, players create webisodes by playing mini-games while fending off a hacking rival. Players have little to no effect on how the game unfolds and, as on the show, the characters are rather mean to each other. Rated E, Iffy for Kids 8+

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Jim Carrey's "A Christmas Carol" Creepy in a Good Way

Angie Argabrite — Fri, 06 Nov 2009 17:22:00 EST

Filed under: Fun & Activities, Media, That's Entertainment

When I heard about the latest version of "A Christmas Carol," which opens today and stars Jim Carrey in multiple roles (he's Scrooge, and the ghosts of Christmas Past, Present and Future), I went in with low expectations for this motion-capture-animated flick.

I'll admit this right up front: I'm not a huge fan of the motion-capture method of animation. If you're not familiar with that term, think "Polar Express." It was the first major movie created with motion-capture technology, and to me, it was a little creepy, and gave the characters a sort of soulless, dead-eyed look.

The next major film to use the technology was "Beowulf," starring Ray Winstone, Angelina Jolie, Anthony Hopkins, Robin Wright Penn, John Malkovich and more big-name, respected actors. The creepiness factor didn't bother me so much with this one because it wasn't a movie that was meant to be a heartwarming holiday tale; it was a grown-up take on a literary classic -- a violent, monster-filled fable.

But the whole enterprise left me wondering. Since the actors had to walk through their scenes in order for filmmakers to capture the motions, why animate the film at all? The characters -- with a few exceptions -- looked similar to the real actors, making it seem like it was a movie made with video-game avatars.

So, here comes "A Christmas Carol." I brought three things along with me to watch this film: Two of my kids -- age 11 and 12 -- and plenty of trepidation.

The surprising conclusion? Motion-capture animation makes sense for this movie.

Director Robert Zemeckis (who directed "Polar" and "Beowulf," so apparently he can't get enough of motion capture) has a dark vision for this retelling of the classic holiday tale. The ghosts are scary (be warned, younger kids may be freaked out), and the whole look of the film is dark -- there were some parts that were so murky it was a little hard to see what was going on. But the motion-capture technology was a good choice to showcase Jim Carrey's versatility without getting cheesy. Can you imagine if he'd played all those characters in a live-action movie? It would've ruined any sense of the Zemeckis scary factor.

Bottom line: I'm still not completely sold on motion capture, but I would definitely recommend "A Christmas Carol" for kids 10 and older. The film has substance, humor, a good message ... and a nice dose of creepiness, giving it a little edge that's often missing from standard, cookie-cutter holiday fare.

What do you think? Are you looking forward to seeing "A Christmas Carol"?

Watch more "Christmas Carol" trailers & clips
Jim Carrey's Best Movies

Angie Argabrite, our guest movie reporter, is the features editor for our sister sites, Moviefone and AOL Television.

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Twitter Follow Friday on ParentDish!

Amy Hatch — Fri, 06 Nov 2009 17:20:00 EST

Filed under: Funny Stuff

Love Twitter? So do we! It can be tough to keep tabs on all your favorite "Tweeters" from the "Twitterverse" -- but don't worry, we've got you covered! Here's our favorite parenting Tweets of the week, raw and uncensored, typos and all, just as you see them on Twitter. Follow ParentDish on Twitter to join the discussion (who knows, maybe we'll feature you here!).

mamikaze

mamikaze coffee and cheetos. boo-yeah!

missfish

missfish Some guy just pulled up in his car and took the four soggy Jack o' lanterns I put out with the yard waste. WTH?

notthatyouasked

notthatyouasked No matter what size bottle I make, Lucy doesn't finish it. 8 oz? She drinks 6. 6 oz? She drinks 4. 4 oz? She drinks 3. HOW DOES SHE KNOW?

WinterDaisy

WinterDaisy Can only tweet from work for the next couple of days. What am I supposed to do at home? Clean!?

rockandrollmama

rockandrollmama Things I never like to hear: "Mommy! I poop on the COUCH!" And lord help me, it's true.

Read any good Tweets? Give us a shout on Twitter and let us know all about it!

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Babies Pick Up Mothers' Accents In The Womb

Tom Henderson — Fri, 06 Nov 2009 16:15:00 EST

Filed under: Newborns, Development, In The News

Babies learn accents in the womb. Credit: jupiterimages

Have you ever heard a baby cry with a German accent?

You can -- if you listen hard enough, said Kathleen Wermke of the University of Würzberg in Germany to the BBC. She led a research project which concluded that infants pick up the nuances of their mothers' accents, even while in the womb.

Researchers studied the cries of 60 healthy babies born to families speaking German and French. Wermke told the BBC that they could detect the French babies crying with a rising accent while German babies cried with a falling accent.

Wermke added that the research, which was published in the journal Current Biology, is more than just a slightly interesting curiosity. It suggests that human beings are influenced by the first sounds that penetrate the womb. Scientists already knew that unborn children could memorize sounds from the outside world in the last trimester of pregnancy, especially music and voices.

"The dramatic finding of this study is that not only are human neonates capable of producing different cry melodies, but they prefer to produce those melody patterns that are typical for the ambient language they have heard during their fetal life," Wermke told the British news agency.

Researchers concluded that babies don't need well-developed vocal chords to reflect the accents around them. They just need well-coordinated respiratory-laryngeal systems.

"Newborns are highly motivated to imitate their mother's behavior in order to attract her and hence to foster bonding,'" Wermke said.

Related: Babies In the Womb Learn To Like Vegetables

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Recall: Adventure Playsets

Jeanne Sager — Fri, 06 Nov 2009 15:11:00 EST

Filed under: Health & Safety, Alerts & Recalls

Recall of Adventure Playsets. Credit: CPSC

Rotting ladders on Adventure Playsets have prompted a recall of more than a quarter of a million pieces in the United States and Canada.

Working with the Consumer Product Safety Commission, the Amarillo, Texas company has put out an official recall of the Adventure Playsets Wooden Play Sets, effective immediately.

According to the CPSC alert, the plastic coated lumber on the horizontal ladder (monkey bar/swing beam) can weaken over time due to rotting of the whitewood. The weakening of the structure has already caused 16 injuries, including nine emergency room visits by kids who suffered arm fractures, lacerations, scrapes and bruises.

The recall involves wooden play sets with swings, slides and ladders. The sets involved in the recall have an overhead monkey bar ladder, which functions as both a monkey bar and swing beam. The sets also have an end ladder coated in cranberry or green plastic. The model numbers involved in the recall are as follows:

Durango 1-AP016 and 1- AP018
Yukon 1-AP052
Tacoma 1- AP017 and 1-AP051
El Dorado 1-AP016
Bellevue 1-AP048, and 1-AP012
Dakota 1- AP046
Sherwood 1-AP049
Sedona 1- AP002
Ventura 1-AP008
Madison 1- AP006 and 1-AP015
Belmont 1-AP003

According to the CPSC, the sets were sold at Walmart, Toys R Us, Academy Sports, Menards, Mill stores and online at Walmart.com, ToyRUs.com, Willygoat.com and through the DMSI catalog from January 2004 through December 2007 for between $300 and $600 (although Adventure Playsets itself notes most were sold between 2003 and 2006). Some of these models were recalled before because of a detaching frame and a resultant fall hazard, but that recall did not address the current problem.

Parents can fill out a form on the Adventure Playsets website to obtain replacement parts, or call the company at 877-840-9068 between 8 a.m. and 5 p.m. central time Monday through Friday for more information on how to proceed.

Related: More consumer alerts and recalls.

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Recall: Young Artist Easels Violate Lead Standards

Jeanne Sager — Fri, 06 Nov 2009 13:31:00 EST

Filed under: Health & Safety, Alerts & Recalls

Recall of Young Artist Easels, sold by MacPherson's/Art Alternatives. Credit: CPSC

A chalkboard on 10,000 Young Artist Easels sold by MacPherson's has tested above federal limits for lead allowable in children's products, prompting a recall.

According to the Consumer Product Safety Commission, the company has put out a voluntary recall, asking consumers to take the easels away from their kids until a replacement chalkboard can be sent to them.

The easels were sold mostly at art supply shops and online for about $75 between July 2004 and July of this year. Named Young Artist Easels, they were sold by MacPherson's doing business as Art Alternatives and manufactured in China.

The original packaging has the item number AA13301, and the UPC number is 082435133010. The recall applies only to easels with a chalkboard on one side and a whiteboard on the other.

The National Institutes of Health warn that lead poisoning is especially dangerous in kids. Even low levels of lead have been linked to lower IQ scores in kids, while higher levels are linked to anemia, muscle weakness and brain damage.

Parents can call MacPherson's at 866-319-5335 between 8 a.m. and 4:30 p.m. Pacific time, Monday through Friday for a replacement, or e-mail them at recall@macphersonart.com. To fill out a form to have a replacement chalkboard sent your way, visit the MacPherson's Web site.

Related: More consumer alerts and recalls.

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Dewey The Library Cat Gets a Movie Deal, Meryl Streep Signs on to Play Librarian

Jeanne Sager — Fri, 06 Nov 2009 11:01:00 EST

Filed under: Teens & tweens, Education, Pets, Single parenting, Amazing Parents, Books

Vicki Myron has published another children's book about Dewey, the kitten she rescued from her library's drop box. Credit: Hachette Book Group, USA

He grew up entertaining the children who tromped into an Iowa library for story hour, so it was only a matter of time before this furry friend, aptly named Dewey Readmore Books, starred in his own children's books.

In fact "Dewey: There's a Cat in the Library" is the follow up to Vicki Myron's best-selling memoir "Dewey: The Small-Town Library Cat Who Touched the World," which is set to be made into a movie by New Line Cinema. Meryl Streep has signed on to play Myron, but the former librarian, who discovered Dewey as a kitten abandoned in the Spencer, Iowa library drop box on a chilly winter morning in the 1980s, isn't done telling this feline's tale.

Dewey died in 2006, and his obituary appeared in some 250 American newspapers, including The New York Times. In cat fashion, he's gotten additional lives thanks to Myron. "Dewey: There's a Cat in the Library" was her first children's book and there are several more about the literary kitty expected soon.

Named Dewey by the folks at the library in honor of the Dewey Decimal System for cataloging books in the library, Readmore Books was tacked on to encourage kids to read. Library staff had already been calling him Dewey when a naming contest was held to get more patrons involved -- Dewey won by a landslide.

ParentDish spoke to Myron about how pets help a single mom bond with a teenager and how to find a cat that will be nice to 300 strangers a day.

ParentDish: Was it an obvious jump to do a children's book about Dewey?

Vicki Myron: I think so. We even thought about doing a children's book first because it seemed so obvious. I knew there was a bigger story to tell, so we wanted to do that one first. But we always knew there were children's books in this book. I hope to do a series of them.

PD: You're a librarian, why was it important to do a children's book?

VM: There were many, many adults who adored Dewey during his life. We have visitors still coming from every country. The adult book is sold in 36 countries; we have 10 to 20 tours a day. But it was a natural for a children's book to introduce them to Dewey and to teach them how to treat a cat, how to pet a cat, what animals are like. He has some very funny adventures coming up that are perfect for children's books.

PD: When Dewey first showed up, it seemed he had to adjust to the children more so than them adjusting to him.

VM: It was both ways, actually. He [adjusted] to all of the children around and picking him up and cuddling him. It actually changed not only story hour but our disabled adult visits.

PD: How so?

VM: One thing about Dewey is if you wanted him to stay around and be friendly with you, you had to be quiet and you had to not jump or yell. The kids learned very quickly in story hour -- and this disabled group, too -- if they wanted Dewey to stay in the room and take a lap, that they had to be very quiet and sit still. It totally changed the way we did story hour from then on.

PD: Why was Dewey good at opening up the children?

VM: He was wonderful with anyone at any age who seemed to be alone. I don't know why -- we called it "Dewey's magic" -- but the disabled, the elderly, the homeless, kids, those were his special friends.

PD: Isn't that common with all animals?

VM: He was unusual. I never thought he was just a cat. He was an old soul in a cat's body. He had a sixth sense about who needed him most and what they needed.

The cover of "Dewey: There's a Cat in the Library." Credit: Hachette Book Group, USA

PD: You're a single mom of a daughter, right?

VM: Yes, that was 1988, so she would have been 16 when he came into our life.

PD: What's it like adding a cat into a teenager's life?

VM: It was an amazing adventure. She was entering those hard teen years where they talk to their friends, but not their mom. They don't stay home, they don't talk to their other relatives. Dewey was wonderful at not just giving us both love but being funny so we had something in common to talk about. And he absolutely worshiped her. He loved me most of all, but with Jodi it was a pure love because she never had to take him to the vet or give him medication or any of the bad things I had to do. So his love for her was totally pure, and he would sit outside when she was taking a shower and cry. And he would race her to bed; he'd sleep on her pillow.

PD: Why is it so important for kids to have pets or animals in their lives?

VM: I think it's very important to teach empathy. I found that out with the kids at the library. It also changes their behavior when they have to care for another creature. Even the kids that were allergic to cats, I found that their parents would let them see Dewey or pet Dewey just for a minute because they missed that connection with another living being that is so close and so special.

PD: Do you think you would have been able to add a library cat now, if it hadn't been the '80s?

VM: I think it is different now, but I still think libraries can do it if they pick the right cat. They must have the community behind them. A lot of libraries have tried to follow us. They go to a shelter and pick a cat. That's not the right thing to do; it takes a very special animal to handle 300 strangers a day to not bite, to not tip anything over, to not be frightened. He was the perfect animal at the perfect time.

PD: What should other libraries or parents for that matter look for in a cat to find a Dewey?

VM: It's very important, number one, to get a kitten that they grow up used to being around strangers all day long. It's very important to get an animal that's mellow, not too hyper, not scared at all. It's also very important to get a cute animal -- I've seen libraries that have tried just picking a hairless cat. It only lasted two weeks because people cannot be frightened of the animal.

PD: What are some Dewey tips for introducing the cat to the kids?

VM: I think it's very important that they purr immediately, and they purr no matter who picks them up. Then you know you have a friendly cat who enjoys being held and doesn't mind how it's held -- like upside down sometimes. Dewey never tipped over a book in 19 years; he was just a very special animal, and that's what it takes.

Related: Author Interview: "The Kids Are All Right"

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Kids More Stressed Out Than Ever Before, Survey Shows

Amy Hatch — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 12:20:00 EST

Filed under: Just For Moms, Kids 8-11, Teens & tweens, Just For Dads, Money & Work, Health & Safety, In The News, Extreme Childhood

Kids are more stressed out than they were last year, and they take their cues from their parents. Credit: BrittneyBush, Flickr

Kids are more stressed out than ever, and their worries include family financial troubles, body image issues and getting into a good college or university.

The 2009 Stress in America survey, administered by the American Psychological Association, is the first to ask children about their stress levels, according to U.S. News & World Report. The results are startling: One third of the 1,206 children ages 8 to 17 surveyed admitted that they are more stressed out than they were just one year ago.

Even more surprising is the revelation that parents are missing their kids' cues. Only 18 percent of moms and dads believed their kids were worried about money, while 30 percent of children said that financial concerns stressed them out. Two-thirds of parents surveyed also fail to realize that how they handle their own stress can influence their kids, while 80 percent of children said they learn their healthy living habits from the way their parents behave.

How can you tell if your child is experiencing stress? Headaches, trouble sleeping, lack of appetite and tummy aches are some good indicators. Don't turn a blind eye, because kids who internalize their fears and worries instead of acting out are at a higher risk for developing anxiety problems and depression, according to the APA.

But don't despair -- there are tools for stress relief:

Be available. Turn off that phone and log off the Internet, because 85 percent of kids surveyed said they weren't comfortable talking to their parents because Mom and Dad were too busy.
Respond thoughtfully. Kids will tune out if you act angry or defensive, and remember to focus on your child's feelings about the situation and not your own.
Be honest. Kids know when they're being fed a line. Be upfront in an age-appropriate way -- be it marital problems, money issues or other adult concerns. Tell them you are working together to solve the problem.
Seek additional help. There's no shame in seeking the assistance of a therapist, doctor or psychologist.

Is your child stressed out? How do you cope with it?

Related: Bad Economy Spurs Runaways

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John And Jack: Can Sibling Names Be Too Close?

The Name Lady — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 11:11:00 EST

Filed under: Baby Names

Dear Name Lady:

I have a 2-year-old son named John. We just found out that we're expecting another boy, and my husband and I really want to name him Jack. I come from the generation where Jack is Jack and John is John, but others see them as one and the same. Your thoughts?

- J

The idea that Jack is "short" for John may seem odd on the face of it. The names are the same length and have only one sound in common. In this century they're both standalone names, high on the charts. But for hundreds and hundreds of years, almost every Jack was actually christened John.What's the connection? One theory is that Jack is a shortened form of Jahnkin. ("Kin" was once a popular suffix for a pet name -- picture Harry Potter's Aunt Petunia fussing over her son Dudley as "Diddykins.") However it happened, the association between Jack and John is too old and deep to disappear in a single generation. Attractive as you may find them, I don't recommend using both in the same family.

Let's look at it from the perspective of a young Jack who has an older brother named John. For Jack, it seems an awful lot like he was named for his big brother. The origin of Jack as an offshoot of John takes away from Jack's individuality. It reinforces the idea that his identity is John's little brother, and seems to beg for comparisons between the two boys.

From John's perspective, it's a matter of territorial rights. One of the pleasures of a traditional name is the variety of well-established nicknames. You can try on different facets of identity by being Elizabeth or Charles at work, Liz or Chuck in the band, and Betsy or Charlie at home without anyone batting an eye. The nicknames are all traditional but all have different styles, and each highlights different elements of your personality.

Consider one of the most prominent John/Jacks of the past century, John Fitzgerald Kennedy. John is an eminently trustworthy name for an office holder. It suggests steadiness, trustworthiness and strength. But Jack has a cheery mischievousness and rakish charm (think Jack Kerouac, Jack Nicholson, Jack Black). John F. Kennedy may have been the president, but Jack Kennedy was the charismatic, Camelot figure.

The option of Jack as a nickname is usually a birthright of those named John. Giving it to a second son deprives your John of that optional alter-ego. A different choice would give both boys a little more room to carve out their own name identities.

How did you choose sibling names? Share your experiences! And if you have your own question to Ask the Name Lady, drop her a line!

Related: Creative Baby Names

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Jill Schulz, Daughter of Late 'Peanuts' Creator Charles Schulz Says No One Will Ever Continue Strip

Brett Singer — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 07:54:00 EST

Filed under: Life & Style, Celeb Parenting, Media

Jill Schulz, daughter of "Peanuts" creator Charles M. Schulz. Credit: Lucia Engel

Jill Schulz, daughter of "Peanuts" creator Charles M. Schulz, is a busy woman.

She helps manage the massive "Peanuts" empire, especially Woodstock Ice Productions, drawing on her career as a professional ice skater. She also directs and choreographs the "All Wheels Xtreme" sports entertainment shows and still finds time for her husband, Aaron, and their two children, Kylie, 11, and Tyler, 7. She took time out of her day to chat with ParentDish about her dad, his legacy and the Peanuts 60th Anniversary Photo Look-A-Like contest.

ParentDish: I'm sure you've been asked this 100 times, but what's it like to be the daughter of a legend?

Jill Schulz: I always say that he's the only dad I grew up with, so to me he was always a dad first. I learned a lot from my dad. His philosophy on working hard and enjoying what you do, and enjoying the process. We grew up in Northern California, so we didn't grow up in a sort of celebrity Beverly Hills-esque lifestyle. My parents were from Minnesota, so we were all fairly "Plain Jane." We just grew up in a regular "Brady Bunch"-style house in the country.

PD: Is there a point when you realized how special your dad is to other people?

JS: Throughout the years, just seeing the effect he had on different people, all the way from your average fan to when he had his heart surgery and President Reagan [called] him in the hospital. I think he himself was oftentimes impressed with how famous the entire "Peanuts" empire had become.

I remember we were at a cartoonists' convention, and he [said], this entire room full of people, all of their jobs and their livelihoods are based on his job. He really felt honored, a responsibility to all these people that were making their living and putting their energies into products that were related to this strip that he had started.

People used to say [to him], 'You have all the money you want, why don't you just retire.' My dad would always say, 'Why would I be fortunate enough to have a job that I love to do, the only thing I ever wanted to do [and] not do it?' To him that made no sense. He always taught me the real joy is in the process of finding something you do and in the doing of what it is you have a passion and an interest in, not where you're going to end up.

PD: Do you feel a responsibility to keep the Peanuts legacy safe and special?

JS: Yes. [My family is] very adamant about that. Years ago, before my dad passed away, there were renewals on contracts, and there was a question -- do we someday allow anyone else to write the strip, to continue it. A lot of people [said] you've got to get someone else to draw it, to keep the product out there. They were looking at it from purely a business standpoint.
[My dad] took great pride in the fact that he had never let anybody else letter or draw a single piece of any strip. And we said no, we don't care if it ends up being a less financially beneficial decision. Our first and foremost concern is the integrity of our dad's work, and the legend behind his work.

The new TV specials, we've allowed them to take comic strips and string them together, and you have to write enough to turn it into a half-hour TV special. But there will never be anyone writing a cartoon strip. That will never ever happen. Because we know that's something my dad never wanted.

PD: Why do you think Peanuts continues to resonate with people?

JS: [The strip] is based on emotions and situations in life that nobody escapes. My dad was always a great observer, and he was always a good listener. His own childhood memories were so strong that what was in the strip, all of the things we go through -- the Little Red Haired girl, the rejection, the brothers and sisters fighting, Lucy and Linus...it's nothing that will ever go away. It was happening back when he started to write the strip, and it's still happening now. And I think that's why it continues.

PD: Comic strips, since they appear in the newspaper, are targeted at adults, not kids, right?

JS: You're right. My dad used to say, people don't understand that my cartoon strip is for adults. But a kid can still enjoy looking at the physical gags, the drawings, Snoopy jumping off the dog house, or dancing, because it's really clean and simple. That was one thing my dad intentionally did. He used to point out some strips that had too much going on in the picture, they added too much in the background. Even though the subject matter is definitely written for adults, kids like looking at it.

PD: The TV specials -- were they made for all ages?

JS: Those are definitely for all ages. The Halloween special is really identifiable to kids -- the trick or treating, "I got a rock," the Great Pumpkin. You probably have to be an adult to get to the next layer of what the meaning is in those specials, [but] I think the entertainment is for all ages.

Charlie Brown with celebrity look-a-like Simon Pegg. Credit: Photo by Mike Marsland/WireImage/Getty Images; PEANUTS (C) United Feature Syndicate, Inc.

PD: Tell me about the Peanuts Look Alike contest.

JS: It's just a fun thing to start the year for all the special events that will happen for the 60th anniversary. All the celebrities that agreed to represent themselves as that character, it's all fun. You're always seeing people saying, "Oh, you're so Charlie Brown," "My sister is just like Lucy, she's always yelling at me," things like that. It gives people a chance to send pictures, either people whose personalities are just like these characters or somebody who just looks like them.

PD: Your daughter was in "You're a Good Man, Charlie Brown"?

JS: Yes, she played Sally and sang "My Philosophy" with the local theater club here.

PD: What was that like?

JS: It was neat to see her do it. The director gave her the last line of the play, where Lucy says, "You're a good man, Charlie Brown." Normally it would have gone to Lucy, but he gave it to her. I know it was really special for her. Now my son is starting to do plays. He'll probably be Linus because he has a blue blanket, like I'm sure hundreds of other people do.

PD: Would you mind if your kids went into show business?

JS: No. I want them to do whatever it is they want to do. I continually stress the lesson that my dad always taught me. The most important thing is just to enjoy the process of what you're doing. Understand the difference between wanting to be in the business and working at your craft, or wanting to be in the business because you want to end up on "Entertainment Tonight."

The Peanuts 60th Anniversary Photo Look-A-Like contest kicks off a year-long series of events celebrating Peanuts' 60th Anniversary in 2010. For details about the contest, visit www.peanutsphotocontest.com.

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Hot Topic: Parent Sportsmanship Worse Than Ever?

Mark Hyman — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 07:28:00 EST

Filed under: Sports

Is parent sportsmanship at our kids' games in a steep decline?

That's an easy one to answer, since examples of adults behaving badly on youth sports sidelines are about as easy to find as the games themselves.

Today we heard about former Oakland Raiders player Jeremy Brigham, who went to blows with Alameda County supervisor Scott Haggerty. According to the San Francisco Chronicle, Brigham accused Haggerty - "whom he had just fired as the assistant coach of his Pleasanton squad of 10- and 11-year-old boys" - of leaking plays to an opposing pee-wee football team. This scuffle is under investigation.

And just last month, a football practice near Boston abruptly turned into a bizarre boxing match between a father of a young player and the team's coach. Pop Warner is the largest national youth football league for kids not yet in high school. The Boston Globe reported that the father suffered serious injuries, the coach was suspended and the small community of Wilmington was thrown off-balance by the incident.

Here are the highlights (or low lights, as it were):

Michael VonKahle was escorting his 12-year-old-son Tyler to football practice. The VonKahles arrived 10 minutes late whereupon the coach, William Reynolds, instructed Tyler to run some laps to make up for missing the start of the workout.

Tyler's father objected, saying that he was responsible for the mistake, not his son, according to an account in the Globe.

The two men moved their argument away from the practice. Then punches flew. According to the police report cited by the Globe, each man accused the other of throwing the first punch. VonKahle's injuries included a broken nose, a concussion and a damaged eye socket. Reynolds has been charged with aggravated assault and battery, The Globe reported.

It isn't the only alleged example of really bad behavior at youth sports events of late. In Monaca, Penn., the father of a high school football player got into an argument with a referee at halftime. Before it was over, police had subdued the football dad, Thomas Phillips, with a Taser, according to Pennsylvania's Beaver County Times.

These incidents contribute to the perception that adults are poor role models for good sportsmanship. In fact, when adults were asked about modern sportsmanship behavior, 80 percent of those older than 60 remember their earlier days as more civil.

Could it be that we simply hear more about rude, overbearing sports parents than we did in years past, thanks to CNN, ESPN and Web sites like this one? Is it possible that though parent behavior at youth sports games can be rude, even loutish, that their parents were just as obnoxious and vulgar back in the day?

Related: More on Sports

ParentDish sports reporter Mark Hyman is the author of Until It Hurts: America's Obsession With Youth Sports and How It Harms Our Kids (Beacon Press) Have a suggestion for an article on youth sports? Contact Mark at pdyouthsports@aol.com.

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The Wilson Sisters of Heart: From Rock to Lullabies

Brett Singer — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 07:03:00 EST

Filed under: Celeb Parenting, That's Entertainment, Shopping

Ann and Nancy Wilson of Heart. Credit: Jon Kopaloff, FilmMagic

Ann and Nancy Wilson have had an amazing musical career.

As leaders of the rock group Heart, they've had numerous hit songs including "Crazy on You," "Magic Man," "These Dreams" and "Never." They acquired a new generation of fans when "Barracuda" was featured in the Guitar Hero 3 video game. They also performed the tune with Fergie on the television show "American Idol."

Their latest project aims at an even younger audience. Guitarist Nancy Wilson has released "Baby Guitars," a collection of original acoustic lullabies. The sisters also collaborated on "Dog & Butterfly," a children's book based on their hit song from 1979. ParentDish spoke to the Wilson sisters about their incredible longevity, the new book, their latest CD and how they balance being rock stars with being mothers.

ParentDish: How old were you when you started playing music together?

Nancy Wilson: I was about 8 1/2, Ann was about 13. We were steeped in every kind of music, [we sang] as a family. We had music coming out of our pores. It was a natural when we saw The Beatles on TV to head straight for those guitars. [Laughs.]

Nancy Wilson's new CD, "Baby Guitars." Credit: Amazon.com.

PD: Siblings don't always get along. Were there ever times when you said, "I'm sick of you sis, I can't deal with you anymore"?

NW: The biggest obstacle we ever faced was in the 80's. It was the big-stakes, big-dollar, big-ego-driven era. We had the rockiest time trying to balance out what we really wanted [with] how much time we could be at home ... life versus career. That's always been the hardest thing as women in rock. If you're successful, you have to know how to say no to all the offers so you do have a home life. And if you're not as successful you have to work harder and still fit in your home life. And try to balance your schedule with other people in your family, and your kids, where you don't get separated all the time.

Ann Wilson: It's hard. My 18-year-old girl doesn't want to come out on the road anymore. She's old enough to take care of herself while I'm gone. But my [11-year-old] son is too young to be left here without me. They've been coming out on the road since they were babies. My son was out when he was four weeks old. He wants to come out, he loves it.

PD: So it's up to him, he can decide whether or not he wants to come on tour with you?

AW: Well, it's not really up to him. [Laughs.] I just tell him when, and he always says yes.

PD: Do you want your kids to go into the music business?

NW and AW: [Laugh]

NW: That's a really loaded question. I think both of my boys are talented. [Editor's Note: Nancy has 10-year-old twins.] One is a naturally good singer. And my other son, he's a good writer. We've written songs together. It makes me really nervous because of who I and their Auntie Ann are. They've seen us on stage, and they see what comes with it. I want them to do what they love and what they're good at. But I also want to give them a big taste of music so if they naturally want to go that way, they can.

AW: Music doesn't have to be professional. If they just have that in their life the way we did before we got into a band, that's good enough.

PD: When you wrote the song "Dog & Butterfly" did you think of it as a song for children?

AW: Not particularly. I thought of it mostly as a metaphor. You get a nice lesson from an old, wise man about life, and how maybe something seems impossible but you just keep going after it ... Maybe you never get it, but you just keep going after it and that gives you your life force. It was put in the frame of the dog and the butterfly because I looked out my window one day and saw my dog going after a butterfly, which seemed [like] a really impossible thing for a dog to ever catch one. It kind of morphed naturally into being a children's thing after some time. Because it's a little lesson, you know? It's a gentle little lesson.

"Dog & Butterfly," the new book by Ann and Nancy Wilson of Heart fame. Credit: Amazon.com

PD: The book says "written and illustrated by Ann and Nancy Wilson." Who did what?

NW: Ann wrote the story originally. I kind of came in as an editor-collaborator. And Ann did the renderings, the original drawings, which I then painted with watercolors. [Laughs.] We were in the studio, working on new music, painting, and drawing, and collaborating and editing ... "Wait, wait! I'll put the paint brush down! Go play the guitar in the big room! OK, I'll be right back before the paint dries!" [Laughs.]

PD: If someone had said to you back in the 70's that 30 years from now you'll be releasing a children's book and an album of acoustic lullabies for kids, how would you have responded to that?

NW: To me that would have been a total natural from the way we started. We've always had a child's perspective and a fan's perspective in our work from the beginning. And I think that keeps us authentic to who we are. We come from Seattle. We're not the Tinseltown twins. We never did glam rock in New York. We came from the woods basically, where we found those wooden boxes with strings on them on the forest floor. [Laughs.] That's our joke right now in the studio. When you rediscover something on an instrument you've played your whole life, it's like that. It's like discovering fire in a real elemental sense. It's just a beautiful discovery, a child's perspective.

Remembering Heart's These Dreams, 1985

"Baby Guitars" (CD) and "Dog & Butterfly" (book) are available at Amazon.com. Receive a code for a free download of the new version of the song "Dog & Butterfly" when purchasing the book.

Related: Interview: "The Kids Are All Right" Authors

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Michelle Obama, A Really Close Second

Susan Avery — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 11:51:00 EST

Filed under: Celeb Parenting, In The News, Amazing Parents

Where do you fall in the priority line-up in your family? If you're like most women, you put everyone else first. Michelle Obama has a better approach; she puts herself "a really close second" after her kids.

In an interview with Katie Couric for Glamour magazine's Woman of the Year issue, the First Lady said it was much more difficult to find a work-family balance when she was a senator's wife. Now that she's in the White House, with all its accompanying staff support, life has gotten easier.

While we all can't have that 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue address, Obama encourages moms to reach out and ask for help where they can find it.

Do you agree with this advice?

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Scrubs' Judy Reyes: It's Baby Shower Time

the editors at Life and Style Weekly — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 08:43:00 EST

Filed under: Celeb Parenting, In The News

Mama-to-be Judy Reyes. Photo Credit: Life & Style

Her Scrubs alter ego is a mother, but 42-year-old Judy Reyes is expecting her first child in early December.

"Just two weeks ago, I started getting into the physically uncomfortable and emotional oh my- gosh-she's-coming place," Reyes told Life & Style Weekly during her baby shower at Santa Monica's Casa Del Mar hotel on Nov. 1. "I live in the Hollywood Hills, and I pass the Wonderland Avenue School with all the moms and dads bringing their little girls to school in their little outfits. That's going to be me!"

Indeed, it's a girl for the actress and boyfriend George Valencia, and they couldn't be happier. "I wouldn't know what to do with a boy," Reyes said. "Dressing her is going to be a lot of fun!"Hosted by the Hot Moms Club, Reyes' shower was decorated by Hostess With the Mostess and featured a Berry Sweet theme, with about 30 guests, including Star Trek beauty Zoe Saldana, munching on cupcakes and homemade caramel corn. Reyes, who "chews on ice like it's going out of style," admits she has another favorite indulgence: "I have a Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf muffin every morning."

Whatever she's craving, daddy-to-be Valencia always comes to the rescue. "He's been amazing," she gushes. "He takes care of me in the morning, he takes care of my dog, he cooks for me - he doesn't let me lift a finger."

Related: More from Life & Style Weekly

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Chicken: Safe or Scary?

Jennifer Schonborn — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 08:00:00 EST

Filed under: Health & Safety, Eating & Nutrition, Environment, Mealtime

Choosing the right chicken means better flavor and better quality. Credit: thebittenword.com, Flickr

We've been hearing for years that we should cut down on the amount of red meat we eat. Since these exhortations began, Americans have largely been plunging their forks into chicken instead -- to the tune of 8 billion birds a year -- because it's healthier, right? Well, that depends.

VERDICT:

Big-Brand Chicken: Your basic supermarket chicken is relatively cheap, and a good source of protein and many other nutrients. But unfortunately, it can also be a reliable source of pathogens. Many scientists are also concerned about the role factory-farmed, antibiotic-fed chicken plays in spreading antibiotic-resistant germs to the human population. These are problems that need to be addressed.

Organic and Free-Range Chicken: Organic and free-range chicken isn't necessarily the same thing. The organic label certifies that the chickens were given organic feed and that they were not treated with antibiotics, but it doesn't ensure the birds were actually running free in a pasture. Some free-range birds, on the other hand, may not have earned the official organic seal because they were out in the grass eating their natural diet of bugs rather than government-inspected feed. Whichever you choose, you're going to get a chicken that likely tastes better, contains more nutrients, was raised more humanely and isn't pumped up with antibiotics.

Chicken Nuggets: What's often so irresistible about nuggets isn't the chicken itself, but the fried breading and the dipping sauce (and the dinosaur shapes, if that's what you buy). Given a choice between healthier fare and the salty, fatty comfort of nuggets, most kids will reach for the nuggets. Opt instead to provide a choice between healthy foods only, and your child will never become a nugget addict.

Fast Food/Chain Restaurant Chicken: Kentucy Fried Chicken sells a chicken pot pie that has an ingredient list 518 words in length. Cheesecake Factory's chicken dishes routinely exceed 1,500 calories. And McDonald's Chicken McNuggets contain TBHQ, a form of butane, which is lighter fluid. New studies have also shown that the fat/salt/sugar combinations in fast food and chain restaurant dishes actually lead to overeating -- all those calories, and still you'll want more. Does chicken still seem like a healthy choice? Not in these joints.

Jennifer Schonborn is a holistic nutrition counselor based in New York.

Related: News on Soy

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Vigilante Saves Kids From Parent Abduction

Tom Henderson — Tue, 03 Nov 2009 16:06:00 EST

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

Gustavo Zamora helps parents find their abducted kids. Credit: Nadya Labi, The Atlantic

A globe-trotting vigilante retrieves children from foreign countries? Why would you need one?

Say you marry someone and you have children. You get divorced. There's a custody battle. You win. Your ex-spouse refuses to accept the decision. He or she takes the children and flees overseas to a country that doesn't recognize your custody rights.

What do you do?

This is not a hypothetical question for thousands of parents who go through this exact scenario every year. Their options are limited.

One option, however, is Gus Zamora.

He goes to other countries and gets kids back -- one way or another. "There are lots of ways to recover a child," he said in an interview with ParentDish. "There's no one way."

The Tampa Bay, Fla., resident and former Army Ranger prefers to do things nice and legal. If he can work through a foreign court system, fine. Failing that, he might try to bully foreign officials with threats -- or at least bluffs -- of crushing media attention.

As a last resort, Zamora said, he will grab the child and run. "That's when you've run out of other options," he said.

Remember, these are children whose American parents have legal custody of them. Zamora said he reviews cases to make sure his clients are within their rights. The kidnapping parents can try to continue the custody battle. "But they're going to have to do it on American soil," he said.

Zamora is one of the few professionals who goes Rambo to get kids back. There might be others, he said, but not nearly as many as the dozens upon dozens of scam artists who say they can help parents, but end up doing nothing.

"The experts will come crawling out of the woodwork," he said, "but that's what they'll be doing, they'll be crawling."

Zamora has been getting kids out of foreign countries for 18 years. So far, he said, he has recovered 55 children.

And he is certainly more aggressive about it than more official channels. U.S. State Department officials don't like to meddle in international custody disputes, Zamora said. They have bigger diplomatic fish to fry and don't want to endanger other issues for the sake of what amounts to family conflicts. Nonetheless, Zamora said, it's amazing how many people come to him after hush-hush referrals from government types.

Other child-protection organizations offer little more than sympathy, Zamora said.

Not him. He offers action, which comes with a hefty price tag that varies from client to client. And he doesn't like clients who question his methods. "The client can be your worst enemy," he said in an interview this month in Atlantic Monthly.

Many foreign governments are notoriously indifferent to the custodial rights of American parents, Zamora said. One of them is Japan. Christopher Savoie of Franklin, Tn., found that out when he went to retrieve his children from his ex-wife and wound up in jail.

Japanese law almost universally favors the mother in child custody cases, regardless of circumstances. There's another factor involved in Savoie's case, Zamora said. "Japan is a real tough nut to crack," Zamora said. "They're racist and they don't care about anything except what they think are the interests of their own people."

Germany and France are also difficult, he said. "It's terrible, but that's the reality of it," he added.

Unfortunately, Zamora said, his business is booming as long as there are custody battles over international borders.

"I wish the system worked, but the fact that it doesn't work means I'll be working," he said on his Web site.

"It's kind of a shame."

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World's Tallest Teenager Lives Football Dreams

Tom Henderson — Tue, 03 Nov 2009 15:45:00 EST

Filed under: Teens & tweens, Medical Conditions, Development, In The News, Weird But True, Special Needs, Amazing Kids

Tall teen just wants to play football. Photo credit: KXLY.com

Brendan Adams' mother didn't want him to play middle school football. She was afraid he might get hurt.

Wait a minute. Brendan is almost 7-feet-5-inches tall -- the tallest teenager on the planet, according to the Guinness Book of World Records. And she's worried about him getting hurt?

The sad irony is it took a lot of work to get Brendan on the gridiron. His mother's concerns are more than justified. The 14-year-old eighth-grader from Ellensburg, Wash., about 100 miles east of Seattle, has health problems as formidable as his height. His body is full of tumors. His joints are enlarged. And doctors recently discovered an arrhythmia in his heart.

"I can't run anymore," he told KXLY, the ABC affiliate in Spokane."I can't be active as I used to be."

Getting those assurances was not easy, KXLY reported. Brendan's blood counts were abnormal. Doctors worried a broken bone would result in him bleeding to death. Then, surgery on his spleen got his blood counts back to normal.

Arthritis, another consequence of his height, makes it hard for him to run and jump. "There's not a whole lot he can do," his coach, Kevin Wetzel, told the TV station. "If you want him to get some action, you have to be creative."

The neat thing is that there is no middle schooler who can jump as high as Brendan can hold up his arms. So the team devised a play just for him. All he has do is go about five yards out, hold up his arms and catch a loft from the quarterback.

His teammates call it their "secret weapon."

Brendan's story caught the attention of Oprah Winfrey, and he was a guest on her show last year where she introduced him to basketball star Shaquille O'Neal. Brendan told KXLY that Shaq offered some valuable advice: "Just keep your back straight and have fun."

Brendan hasn't spent much time on the field, but he's a part of the team. That's what is important to him. He told KXLY he wants to show people he is more than just an entry in the Guinness Book of World Records.

"Don't think people are weird because of the way they look because I am a nice person."

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Mother of Baby Run Over By Train Credits Harness And God For Saving Son's Life

Amy Hatch — Tue, 03 Nov 2009 12:42:00 EST

Filed under: Babies, Health & Safety, In The News, Weird But True, Amazing Kids, Amazing Parents

Visit msnbc.com for Breaking News, World News, and News about the Economy

In a heart-stopping split second, an Australian mother watches as her 6-month-old son rolls onto a train track and under an oncoming train -- and escapes with just a scratch.

It could happen to any parent -- you release the brake on the stroller to prepare to board the train, and it rolls away from you. For Shweta Verma, a 29-year-old mother and dentist who lives in Melbourne, it is a nightmare that keeps replaying in her head and on TV, thanks to a surveillance camera that captured the entire terrifying episode on film.

Verma told Today's Matt Lauer about the terrifying moment when her son, Saurish, rolled onto the tracks as a train sped through the station. The video shows her horror as she helplessly watches her baby disappears under it.

"There was this moment I thought I should jump," Verma told Lauer. "But instead of making that suicidal move, I just thought for a second that I should have a look - what has happened to him. I just wanted to have a look, how is he."

Her baby, who was strapped into his stroller, was found beneath the train by 18-year-old student Aaron Dryden: "I was [in] complete shock," Verma said. "As soon as the train stopped, I ran toward the platform where it stopped, and there was this young guy who came and offered to help. And he was going to get down off the platform and then, I told him that I want to come along."

That's when Verma heard the welcome sound of her child's cries. The stroller lost its wheels in the accident but was otherwise intact -- and Saurish was still strapped into the safety harness. His mother struggled to free him, and then finally joined her baby under the train to set him free. The child suffered just a scratch on his head, and after an examination at a hospital was declared healthy.

Verma, who credits the safety harness on the stroller with saving her son's life, shakily said that she often relives the moment when she thought she'd lost her baby forever, but that her already strong faith in a higher power has deepened.

"He is destined to do something, something good, something great in his life," she said. "That is why God is there...Now I don't let [Saurish] out of my sight."

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Help Find Madeleine McCann

Susan Avery — Tue, 03 Nov 2009 12:01:00 EST

Filed under: Preschoolers, Kids 5-7, In The News

The United Kingdom's national law enforcement agency for protecting children - the Child Exploitation and Online Protection (CEOP) Centre - has issued a video message aimed at finding anyone involved in the disappearance of Madeleine McCann, the little girl who went missing during a family vacation in Portugal two years ago.

The 60-second video includes age progressed images that show Madeleine as she may look today, at age 6.

Police ask that anyone with any information about Madeleine should contact local police.

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Frequent Video Game Use Leads to Finger And Wrist Pain in Kids

Melissa Rayworth — Tue, 03 Nov 2009 10:00:00 EST

Filed under: Kids 5-7, Kids 8-11, Health & Safety, Medical Conditions, In The News

Playing video games for an hour a day can increase wrist and finger pain in kids. Credit: Corbis

A study presented last week at the American College of Rheumatology's annual meeting showed kids who play video games for more than an hour a day increase their chances of having wrist and finger pain. Among kids ages 7-12 who play up to three hours per day, each hour of play time increased pain by 50 percent.

The study was inspired by an 11-year-old who noticed his own fingers aching and wanted to know if it related to his video game habit. His rheumatologist dad connected the boy with researchers, who designed the study.

"We came up with a questionnaire and he gave it to all his classmates at school," said Dr. Yusuf Yazici, an assistant professor of medicine at the NYU Hospital for Joint Diseases in New York who served as the study's senior author.

The most troubling news: The younger the kids, the more significant the pain, Yazici told ParentDish. "Age seven might be too early a time to let them play with these devices." Yacizi stops short of recommending that young kids abstain entirely from handheld video games, but he says parents should keep playtime limited.

And earlier last month Iowa State University researchers announced that the hardcore gamers they studied (who play as much as 40 hours per week) have more trouble focusing on tasks requiring longer, more proactive attention than gamers who play only a couple of hours per week. That study, published in the latest issue of the journal Psychophysiology, was conducted by the same researchers who found last spring that high-volume gamers exhibit behavioral traits similar to addicted gamblers.

Related: More on Health & Safety

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