Ricky Martin made himself famous with his song Livin' La Vida Loca, which means "living the crazy life." Martin has traded in one kind of crazy life for another... that of a dad. Instead of singing pop songs in front of thousands, he'll be crooning lullabies to his newborn twin boys.

The boys were born by gestational surrogate, and Ricky's keeping mum on any details beyond that. But his spokesman recently released a statement that said, "Ricky is elated to begin this new chapter in his life as a parent and will be spending the remainder of the year out of the public spotlight in order to spend time with his children." Good for him.

Being a single dad is no small feat; being a single dad to twins will definitely keep Ricky busy. If he runs into trouble, there are plenty of fellow celebrities out there he can turn to. Congratulations to the new dad, and welcome to the world little Martins!

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Having a sick child is no fun for anyone and we all try to avoid it as best we can. For me, not wanting my 7-year-old to get sick is more than about not wanting her to feel bad and maybe miss a day or two of school. It's the medicine. Getting meds down her throat is almost as difficult as bathing the cat. But with the cat, I can at least employ some brute force to get it done. With Ellie, I have a more subtle bag of tricks involving child psychology, bribes and usually something sweet to help wash it down. That something sweet is often juice, which according to new research, might not actually be the best way to help the medicine go down.

Grapefruit juice has long been known to interact with some drugs in a way that can cause blood concentration of the medication to reach toxic levels. But a new study has found that grapefruit and other fruit juices may also block the effects of some drugs. In the study, which was conducted with adult patients, grapefruit, orange and apple juices were found to reduce the absorption of the anticancer drug etoposide; certain beta blockers; cyclosporine, which is used to prevent rejection of transplanted organs; and some antibiotics.

"This is just the tip of the iceberg," says Dr. David G. Bailey, a professor of clinical pharmacology at the University of Ontario. "I'm sure we'll find more and more drugs that are affected this way."

Dr. Bailey recommends taking most medications with water and advises patients to consult their doctor or pharmacist before taking any medications with grapefruit or other juices.

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Solving the global warming issue or gazing at a caterpillar? Either way, these cute kids are intrigued. Thanks to cifka for today's image!

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Don't mess with Texas, they say, and that's especially true if you're a student in that particular state. The Human Rights Watch and the ACLU recently released a report on corporal punishment in the United States. They found that 25% of the reported 223,190 instances of corporal punishment last year happened in the Lone Star state. An astonishing twenty other states still use this form of physical punishment.

In the South, African-Americans are 1.4 times as likely to be hit than white students, and African-American girls are especially at risk. They're hit twice as often as their white peers. The two human rights groups want to see corporal punishment banned in the United States, saying that hitting kids creates a hostile environment, teaches violence, and creates a barrier to learning. And every now and then, kids get seriously injured. At school. By their educators.

Spanking is a hot topic issue among parents, and no less so here at ParentDish. But beyond my own personal views about spanking, I think that giving another person -- especially another person that you may not know very well -- the right to hit your child at their discretion and outside of your prescence is sheer insanity. I'm grateful this isn't an issue in my own state, where corporal punishment is illegal, and hope that these groups are successful in bringing awareness to this issue. What do you think?

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In some families, the original isn't always the best when it comes to fathers. For 'fragile families', described as low-income urban families prone to non marital births, mothers say that stepfathers are often more engaged, cooperative and willing to share responsibilities than married biological fathers.

A new study finds that while married biological fathers and stepfathers may be almost equally engaged with the children themselves, it is their interaction with mom that often makes stepfathers better parents. The mothers surveyed reported that stepfathers shared their parental views and were more open to talking about their parental wants than natural fathers. Rebekah Levine Coley, a developmental psychologist at Boston College, says this is probably because stepfathers "have to work harder to fit in and to have a useful productive role."

Coley says the findings contradict the popular view among social workers and experts that dads are more invested if the child is of their own flesh and blood. "I think this research does, to some extent, call some of those assumptions into question," she said.

The conclusions were made after interviewing 2,098 urban mothers from the The Fragile Families and Child Wellbeing study and will be published in the Journal of Marriage and Family.

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As kids head back to school with new backpacks and sneakers and grins missing teeth, you're breathing a sigh of relief. Right? Isn't that what you're doing?

Well, maybe not if your child is going to school for the first time (if that's the case, deep breath, everything will be FINE....) But for kids heading back to school for the second year, or the fifth for that matter, you know your child is re-entering the realm of structured routines, after school activities, and yes, homework.

Is it a good thing? The homework, I mean. Some parents say it's the best thing ever--and they hound me from day one for more homework, more homework. Others say the opposite, and wonder why I ever send any homework home at all.

In my opinion homework in the elementary grades serves only one purpose: to get young students into routine of doing homework in preparation for the later grades. Other than that, I think it interferes with the meaningful and enriching activities children should be doing after school and at home with their families. Call me a renegade, but there is quite a bit of research out there to support my view.

Don't get me wrong-I'm not saying children should go home and play video games all afternoon. I think every child should spend time with books every single day--reading independently and being read. I also think that parents should involve their children in other meaningful academic activities that are incorporated into daily life--like playing math games, or doing research on a topic that the child is interested in.

But homework for homework's sake when your kid is 6 years old? I'm not convinced.

I'm curious. Do you think homework in the early grades is important and necessary--or is it overrated, and perhaps taking precious time away from other activities children could be doing?

Nearly 5 years ago, I found myself at a wedding in a city far from my home, away from my 3-month-old twins who'd been born prematurely, and had recently been released from the NICU.

The fact that I would leave my family at such a time to travel to this wedding says a lot about the couple being married that day: I'd known the bride since girlhood and felt as close to her as if she were a sister.

Being mom to 3 children was still new to me, then; people would ask if I had kids and I'd answer, "Yes, a 4-year-old," and then hastily add, "And twins! The babies are 3 months."

Only sometimes did I say that my son Avery had Down syndrome. I didn't have the words figured out, yet. I didn't know how to manage my reactions as well as the reactions of others. Even the terms were problematic: sometimes I'd say "Down syndrome," sometimes I preferred "Trisomy 21," which sounded (to me) more scientific and was less likely to elicit stereotypes.

Too, I sometimes said too much. I'd go into great detail about all of it--my water breaking at dawn (what a lovely image!) and the premature delivery and Avery's diagnosis, on and on, until I was exhausted and so was my poor conversation partner, whom I'm sure was regretting the one simple question that unlocked Pandora's box.

Make sure your kids brush their teeth long enough with this simple trick

I'm not sure there could be a worse headline, as far as I'm concerned: "Church Attendance Boosts Student GPA's." Luckily, it's not quite that simple. Researchers did find that going to church affects a teenager's grades, chances of dropping out, and sense of school community as much as whether or not the parents had college degrees, but it's not so much God's work as it is several other, identifiable factors.

The reasons for the improved performance include:

• The students have role models they see regularly from multiple generations.
• Parents are more likely to be in touch with the parents of their kids' friends.
• It is more likely that their friends' families will have the same values and expectations as their own.
• They tend toward higher rates of participation in extracurricular activities.

Other studies that have identified benefits of church attendance also pointed to the social networking and psychological aspects of being a member of a church as the key factors. If your kids attend church already, these findings may not be of much use to you, but not everyone goes to church or has any interest in doing so. For those of us in the latter category, this research has great value.

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When the police in Auckland, New Zealand were called to shut down a loud party last Friday, they probably expected that the party-goers would be a bunch of kids. What they probably didn't expect is that the kids would all be about five years old. But that is exactly what they found when they responded to a complaint made by what can only be described as a cranky neighbor.

The One Tree Hill Kindergarten was in the midst of their annual disco party, rocking out to Bob the Builder and the Chicken Dance when noise control officials arrived on the scene around 6:30 pm. Teacher Jenny Skerritt said the officials seemed a bit "red faced" as they ordered them to turn it down or shut it down. "I don't think it was that ragey, but it's all a matter of perspective I guess," she said.

Perspective, indeed. The babies sleeping in the very next room obviously didn't think it was too loud. Nevertheless, they turned the music down and continued with their party. And just for kicks, they plan to frame that noise abatement notice for all to see.

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