Parents Daily News Roundup

February 10, 2012 at 10:47 am , by April Rueb

Chemo During Pregnancy Doesn't Seem to Harm Baby
A new study finds that the babies of women who had chemotherapy while pregnant aren’t at higher risk for a variety of medical disorders, a sign that the treatment should be safe for the fetus in most instances.

Education Gap Grows Between Rich and Poor, Studies Say
The widening achievement gap between affluent and low-income students has received less attention than the divide between white and black students, which has narrowed significantly.

Like Father Like Son? Y Chromosome Linked to Heart Disease
A new study suggests that heart disease risk may be passed from father to son.

Video of Chinese Toddler Sobbing in Snow Sparks Outrage Over Parenting
A video of a toddler crying while running in the snow nearly naked has sparked a firestorm in China, but the boy’s father says the exercise was meant to strengthen his son.

Amid Protesters’ Disruptions, City Board Votes to Close 18 Schools and Truncate 5
A NYC board voted on Thursday night to close 18 schools and eliminate the middle school grades at five others, citing poor performance.

‘Tuba Raids’ Plague Schools in California
The popularity of banda music, in which the tuba plays a dominant role, is seen by some as the cause of a recent rash of thefts.

Celebrity Parents On The Pros and Cons of the Paparazzi

February 10, 2012 at 10:22 am , by Jessie Assimon

Our friends at Celebrity Baby Scoop wrote this post.

There are some experiences that are unique to celebrity parents alone.

Sure, there’s the perks of full-time nannies, house cleaners and gourmet chefs! But with the fame, comes the invasion of privacy…and the paparazzi. Whether they’re waiting at LAX for the jet-setting Beckham family-of-six, or following Heidi Klum and her kids to a local playground, the shutterbugs are never too far from the perfect snapshot. But how do celebrity families deal with their daily presence?

Read about 5 high-profile couples who weigh in on the pros and cons of the paparazzi.

Gwen Stefani & Gavin Rossdale:

Rockstar parents Gwen Stefani and Gavin Rossdale have been outspoken about the ever-present paparazzi in their daily lives. The mom-of-two boys - Kingston, 5, and Zuma, 3 – recently admitted there are good and bad parts about having the paparazzi follow her and the family around. “What’s nice is even though they’re annoying, these guys that follow us around, it’s really nice having all these family photos!” Gwen said.

The singer/fashion designer also said she worries about the possible dangers of raising her family in Tinseltown. “The kids, their privacy, a responsibility for them and not knowing if this is going to ruin their lives,” Gwen contemplated about their high-profile life. “They’re so exposed and they don’t have a choice – that scares me a lot. But I think it’s going to be fine,” Gwen added. “My children are very loved. Hopefully, they’re going to grow up and not be crazy because of it. I don’t think there are that many sacrifices – I really don’t want it all to go away.”

Gavin has also talked about the lurking presence of the paparazzi in their day-to-day lives. “We haven’t found the words to explain it,” Gavin said of explaining the paps to their sons. “I’ll want to take my kid to the beach, and there’s six grown men chasing us. He’s running around in his underwear as every child should, and I have to go up to them and say, ‘Can you not photograph my son running around in his underwear?’”

That being said, the Bush rocker can’t deny that the shutterbugs can take amazing snapshots from time to time. He recalled a conversation with his mother Lucy who praised the paps for a sweet shot of her gorgeous grandson. “She goes, ‘I saw a great picture of you guys.’ I played a show in L.A. and there’s a picture of Kingston at the sound mixer – he’s wearing a Rasta hat, he’s got sunglasses on and he’s got a microphone that’s switched off – but he’s singing. My mom’s like, ‘Did you see that picture? That was the best picture!’ I was like, ‘Yeah, it was a paparazzi picture.’ And she says, ‘Yeah, but if we didn’t have that we wouldn’t see what you’re doing.’”

David & Victoria Beckham:

Whether in Europe or North America, power couple David and Victoria Beckham are more than well acquainted with the paparazzi. How does Posh and Becks deal with the nonstop presence of the paps? The mom-of-four said she tries to boost her kids’ self-esteem when explaining the shutterbugs. “I don’t complain about paparazzi because I’ve put myself in that position, and so has David,” Victoria said. “But I always say to the boys, someone is going to take your picture because you’re handsome or you’re smart or because you’re so good at soccer. But every now and again, Romeo might pick up one of David’s cameras and say, ‘Victoria, Victoria, over here!’ And his attitude is sort of angry.”

 Tom Cruise & Katie Holmes:

While most stars have a rocky relationship with the paparazzi especially when their children are being photographed, Tom Cruise said how much he admires some of the shots taken of his beautiful daughter Suri, 5, with wife Katie Holmes. “I have to say some of those paparazzi shots of my daughter are incredible,” Tom said. “As a parent you protect your children but Suri is a very open and warm child and she will just wave to people on the street. She is such [a] happy, fun girl. It is certainly different these days with the media, but people have been very good to us and do give us space so I am not going to be difficult.”

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New No Child Left Behind Rules

February 9, 2012 at 4:03 pm , by dsparrow

For years, the Obama Administration has tried to reform the No Child Left Behind (NCLB) Act of 2001. The law holds schools directly accountable for student progress in reading and math and leads them to face sanctions, including potential closure, if they don’t meet set standards. NCLB’s criticisms have been manifold: that it forces schools to teach to the test and deemphasize (if not outright ignore) other subjects; that it is a negative, punitive approach; that it doesn’t truly reform the educational system; and that the standards are unrealistic (48 percent of the nation’s 100,000 public schools were labeled as failing under the law last year).

With no consensus in Congress on how to fix the problem, the President has taken matters into his own hands. In a press conference this afternoon, Secretary of Education Arne Duncan announced that 10 states—Colorado, Florida, Georgia, Indiana, Kentucky, Massachusetts, Minnesota, New Jersey, Oklahoma, and Tennessee—have agreed to work within the Administration’s reform guidelines and will thus receive a waiver from the potential sanctions slated to go into effect in 2014. These states will continue to set a higher bar for achievement—including college- and career-ready standards—but now have more freedom in how they implement it. More important, they can focus on tailoring solutions to the individual needs of poor-performing schools and students. They’ve also agreed to reward schools ranked at the top and that display clear gains (something NCLB didn’t do), and to implement meaningful teacher and principal evaluation systems.

This NCLB bypass effectively puts more control of education back in the hands of individual states. Assuming the states follow through as promised and look at long-term structural fixes, granting them waivers should be a good thing for public students in these states. But it is also a clear acknowledgment that that the United States is nowhere near to achieving the law’s goal of getting kids up to grade level in reading and math within the next two years. No wonder 28 other states have indicated that they, too, plan to seek waivers.

What do you think: Are the NCLB waivers a good thing or merely an admission that our system remains broken with few signs of improvement?

Get a Chance to Win $100,000: Enter the ASAP Innovation Competition

February 9, 2012 at 3:29 pm , by Sherry Huang

First Lady Michelle Obama is urging you to combat childhood obesity and encourage exercise by entering the nationwide Active Schools Acceleration Project (ASAP) Innovation Competition. ASAP was launched this past Tuesday by ChildObesity180 (a team of experts dedicated to ending childhood obesity), which also supports the First Lady’s “Let’s Move!” program.   

The competition is divided into two categories: School Programs and Technology Innovation.  Teachers, schools, and school districts can enter School Programs by submitting their school’s unique physical activity programs, which can include curriculums, activities, environmental modifications, events, or any other initiatives that are currently being implemented.  Regional winners will receive $25,000 prizes and national winners will receive $100,000 prizes. 

Technology developers can enter Technology Innovation with ideas of how existing and emerging technology can be used to inspire kids to get active.  Technology can include devices, tracking and measurement systems, software applications, social media, gaming systems, and smartphones.  Winners will receive $50,000 in funding and the chance to present at this year’s Health 2.0 conference. 

Learn more about the Innovation Competition and read details about how to apply at activeschoolsasap.org. The competition ends April 2 at 5:00 pm EDT.

Watch a video message from First Lady Michelle Obama about the competition below.

Parents Daily News Roundup

February 9, 2012 at 1:00 pm , by April Rueb

10 States Given Waivers From No Child Left Behind Law
President Obama will waive central provisions of the No Child Left Behind federal education law for 10 states that have embraced his educational agenda and promised to raise standards, and improve accountability and teacher effectiveness, the White House announced on Thursday morning.

FDA Approves a 10-Minute, No-Comb Treatment for Head Lice
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration approved on Tuesday a prescription-strength lotion for the treatment of head lice in children 6 months and older.

C-Sections Can Increase Premature Babies’ Risk of Breathing Problems
Contrary to popular belief, cesarean section appears not to be the best way to deliver preterm babies who are small for their age, according to research presented Thursday at the annual meeting of the Society for Maternal-Fetal Medicine.

Youths Are Watching, but Less Often on TV
Americans ages 12 to 34 are spending less time in front of TV sets, even as those 35 and older are spending more, according to research that will be released on Thursday by Nielsen, a company that tracks media use.

Pageant Mom’s ‘Go-Go’ Juice Comes Under Fire
One mother routinely gives her daughter caffeine before each pageant competition.

A Mom You Won’t Forget

February 9, 2012 at 10:27 am , by Kara Corridan

Margret Ericsdottir, of Iceland, has a 14-year-old son named Keli. Keli has severe autism and cannot speak. (That’s Keli in the photo.) In 2010, Margret made a documentary about her son and her quest to understand what’s happening in her son’s mind and other children like him. You can watch the trailer here.

Through a stroke of luck—or fate—involving both the First Lady of Iceland and the wife of the former British Prime Minister, Tony Blair—”A Mother’s Courage: Talking Back to Autism” ended up being narrated by Kate Winslet. As Kate says in the March issue of Ladies’ Home Journal, “I knew I couldn’t just lend my voice to this documentary and go home.” She forged an immediate friendship with Margret and Keli, and together they created the Golden Hat Foundation to raise awareness about children and adults with autism—specifically those who are nonverbal and whose abilities are mistakenly believed to be severely limited.

I was honored to meet Margret yesterday at an event hosted by Ladies’ Home Journal (our sister publication) to spread the word about the Golden Hat Foundation. Its first high-profile project is a book called The Golden Hat: Talking Back to Autism, out March 27. The book was all Kate’s idea and the premise is simple: She’d send one of her favorite hats to celebrities, who had to take a self-portrait with it and provide one quote that was important to them. She got everyone from Oprah Winfrey to Conan O’Brien to Leonardo DiCaprio to Michael Phelps to Meryl Streep to participate.

The book contains a breathtaking section featuring the first thoughts communicated by nonverbal children, which were articulated on a letterboard used to spell out words. Keli’s: “I am real.” An 11-year-old girl named Carly’s: “Teeth—hurt—help.” Keli now writes poetry on his letterboard, and among his poems is one about a hat who speaks for a boy with autism who cannot talk. It’s called, of course, “The Golden Hat.” (And in a bizarre coincidence, Kate didn’t know about that particular poem when she came up with her book idea.)

Margret was effusive in her praise for Kate Winslet, calling her “a light in the darkness.” She said that with Kate’s help, the Golden Hat Foundation is progressing rapidly (“nothing moves slowly with her”). She also shared a wonderful video clip from a visit Kate and her children made to Margret’s home in Austin, Texas; they spent Thanksgiving together in 2010. In the clip, Kate is meeting other nonverbal children with autism, mostly teenage boys. One boy, thanks to his letterboard, tells her she’s beautiful; she gives the camera a wink and a thumbs’ up, and repays the compliment right back to him. We saw footage of Kate giving Keli a big bear hug when he told her he loved her—and we all laughed, since Margret had told us that Keli really, really doesn’t like being hugged. She said it was a struggle for Kate not to embrace Keli for their book cover shoot—but if you look closely at the photo above, you’ll see that Keli reached out to hold Kate’s hand.

Aside from helping society understand how intelligent nonverbal kids with autism can be, Margret and Kate have a more tangible goal: to build assisted-living campuses where children and adults with autism can live, learn, and work. I don’t know if anyone at yesterday’s event wasn’t in tears when Margret read an email to Kate that said, in essence, “I cannot leave this place until I know that my son has somewhere to go.”

If you’d like to help support the Golden Hat Foundation, click here. You can pre-order the book here. And for those of you who will be in NYC on World Autism Day, Monday, April 2, you can meet Margret and Keli at the United Nations Bookshop for a book signing. (Wondering how Keli will sign books if he can’t write? His mom wondered the same thing. His answer, via letterboard: “Stamp.”)

 

Win a Cooking Lesson with Celebrity Chef Cat Cora

February 8, 2012 at 2:33 pm , by April Rueb

Cooking with your kids is a great way to teach them about the importance of healthy eating, but we know it’s not always easy to find the time and energy to do so.

Which is exactly why you and your child should enter Loukoumi’s Secret Ingredient Recipe Contest! The contest is part of the release of Nick Katsoris’s latest book, Loukoumi’s Celebrity Cookbook (which we’ve already raved about). Children between the ages of 4 and 12 simply submit their favorite recipe and why they love it in 10 words or less. One child will win a private cooking lesson with celebrity chef Cat Cora.

The contest is accepting submissions until March 1. Download the contest entry form and enter today!

Read more about Cat Cora on Parents.com:

• An Interview with Cat Cora (Plus Kitchen Tips!)
• Cool Cat Cora
• Pack Lunch Like a Celebrity Chef

Image of Cat Cora courtesy of Nick Katsoris

Nancy O’Dell’s Book of Love

February 8, 2012 at 1:49 pm , by Kourtney Eidam

Between co-hosting Entertainment Tonight, raising a 4-year-old, and working as our new entertainment correspondent, Nancy O’Dell somehow found the time to publish a crafty photo-album collection. She loves scrapbooking–and it shows in the Love Simply Said Book. She’s done all the hard work for you: The album makes it easy for other busy moms to create a photo-book keepsake for their family, thanks to spaces for creative writing, inspiring quotes, and other helpful features. Check out her new Creative Memories collection by clicking here. And make sure to pick up the March issue of Parents to read her second celeb Q&A for us.

 

Photo via Creative Memories