Help get your child motivated for a great school year by helping them create an inspiration board, a gathering of clippings, quotes, photographs and treasures to provide a reminder of what is important and most of all, what is possible.

To start, work with your child to determine where an inspiration board could fit in their room. Is wall space available? If so, you could:

• hang a purchased cork bulletin board
• create your own custom-made version with an old frame and corkboard
• homasote is also a great material for creating a bulletin board
• chicken wire, either stapled inside an old frame or attached directly to a wall (with sharp edges carefully folded over) in conjunction with clothes pins makes a quick and inexpensive bulletin board

If wall space is unavailable, set aside some real estate on a desk, dresser, shelf, or floor for:

• a purchased easel that could safely support a bulletin board
• make an easel out of cardboard that could support something lightweight like poster board or a piece of foam core
• an old music stand

Once the display has been created is when the kid fun begins! Anything from old magazine clippings to candy bar wrappers that inspire can be attached to the board. If there seems to be an absence of motivational sayings, it can be a fun parental project to explore the words of others, whether it be Spongbob Squarepants or Eleanor Roosevelt and see if anything resonates. A trip to the library or internet search can turn up plenty of quotable quotes.

If your child needs a hero outside the family for inspiration, look no further than Beijing. Here are a couple of Olympic athletes that seem worthy of emulation for their deeds:

• Michael Phelps- An ADHD kid growing up to be "the greatest athlete of all time" is pretty awesome all on its own. But what I found particularly impressive was Phelps' humble words after winning that 8th gold medal, "Without the help of my teammates, this [wouldn't have been] possible."
• Dara Torres- While many athletes block out the world to prepare for a race, Dara Torres used her time before a semi-final race helping rival Therese Alshammar of Sweden deal with a torn swimsuit. When Torres noticed Alshammar was missing from the march into the area, she asked officials to delay the race. As if that wasn't good sportsmanlike enough, Torres also told the other swimmers what was going on so they wouldn't get anxious during the delay and was always the first to congratulate those around her once the race was finished, even when she lost the gold medal by 1/100th of a second.
• Jason Lezak- Michael Phelps got most of the press, but it was Lezak's amazing anchor leg that won the Men's 400 Relay and helped Phelps get his gold medal count to 8.

An inspiration board can serve as more than a motivational tool and gathering place for your child's favorite things, it can also provide parents a glimpse of their dreams.

Has enough dirt accumulated under your child's fingernails to grow a garden this summer?

In the United States, you're considered an adult and old enough to vote, make your own legal decision, and be drafted into military service at the age of 18. However, you're not old enough to have a beer for three more years.

The Amethyst Initiative is made up of chancellors and presidents of universities and colleges across the United States who think that rather than curbing drinking issues in young adults, the 21 drinking law actually promotes a culture of binge drinking on campus. So far over 100 university leaders have signed a petition asking lawmakers to lower the drinking age to 18 and the reasons why are very thought-provoking.

Source

Although it appears to be happening with greater frequency, celebrities giving their children unusual names is not new, just ask Frank Zappa's kids: Moon Unit, Dweezil, Ahmet Emuukha Rodan, or Diva Thin Muffin Pigeen. What is rather unique is hearing what it was like growing up with such a unique moniker.

Rumer Willis, oldest daughter of Demi Moore and Bruce Willis told the New York Post that around the age of 12 she realized she had been given a raw deal name-wise.

"My sisters, Scout and Talullah, had cute nicknames," said Rumer, who apparently had no such luck. "In school, kids would sing, 'Rumer, Rumer with a big hairy tumor.'"

Even aimless doodling on notebook paper didn't work out for the superstar celeb spawn. "When I was 12 and had crushes on guys, I'd put my first name with their last name, but it never sounded right. Rumer Depp? Nope."

Poor kid. She didn't even mention the complete absence of mass-produced personalized key rings available for Rumers at gift shops!

Source

My teenager asked me to look at some bug bites on his back the other morning. The Cross Country team had been taking long runs through the woods and he thought something had chewed him up while he ran the trails.

A half hour later, we were sitting at the doctor's office. The itching and burning was actually poison ivy and it was spreading rapidly. My son was given a predisone shot, oral medications, and a cream to be applied twice a day. However, that left many itchy hours in between.

After conferring with friends, researching on the internet, and talking to local homeopaths, here's what we ended up trying:

• Rhus Toxicodendron (known as "rhus tox") is a homeopathic pill that my son says relieves the itch almost immediately after it dissolves under the tongue
• Soaking in a bath of tepid water and apple cider vinegar or baking soda 2 or 3xs a day
• Vitamin C to promote healing of the skin
• Black Walnut capsules which are supposed to help the body fight the poison ivy toxins
• Burt's Bees poison ivy soap

Of course, if your child found leaves of three and didn't let them be, check with your doctor before trying any of these treatments out. Good luck!

There's a brand new reason not to mess with Texas-the teachers might be packing heat!

The board members of the Harrold Independent School District voted unanimously that teachers who are certified to carry a concealed weapon, get crisis training, and have permission of school officials will be allowed to bring guns into their classrooms starting this fall.

The superintendent of the small, rural district (Harrold Independent includes 110 students and is 150 miles from Fort Worth) David Thweatt says the reason behind the decision all comes down to safety. "We have a lock-down situation, we have cameras, but the question we had to answer is, 'What if somebody gets in? What are we going to do?" Thweatt said. "It's just common sense."

I attended a rural school district and understand that not everyone is fortunate enough to have the protection of school police officers or a nearby police station. However, the thought of armed teachers in the classroom still gives me pause. While there have been some horrific, tragic school shootings, they are pretty rare. Accidental shootings happen much more often than Columbine situations and as a parent, that would be a bigger concern.

Source

Last week, Utah lost one of its most famous (and photographed) arches in Arches National Park to time and gravity. Visitors to National Parks are down, due to what is believe to be increasing competition from theme parks, high gas prices, and a sedentary lifestyle.

Theme parks may make it easier to entertain kids with low-attention spans from electronic gaming, but they can never match the feeling of awe one gets when viewing the vastness of the Grand Canyon, taking a tour of Mammoth Cave, or discovering a waterfall after hiking in the mountains.

It's easy to take natural wonders for granted. But as Wall Arch reminds us, these marvels may not be around forever. Instead of going to Disney again, why not spend some family time exploring some of Mother Nature's parks?

Most National Parks offer free activities and information packets geared toward children and have friendly rangers on staff trained to answer any questions about the natural world kid campers might have.

Source

It doesn't take a lot of foresight to realize the list of acceptable words or phrases acceptable to print little girl underpants is very short. But apparently the people involved in the production of Disney High School Musical panties either lack the skill of looking ahead or just aren't very bright when it comes to double entrendre.

A British woman bought a pack of High School Musical underpants for her seven-year-old granddaughter was appalled to find the words "Dive In" on one of pairs.

"I was extremely shocked when I saw what was on them and I don't believe Disney or anyone else is so stupid not to realize the implications of the wording they chose." said Sue Ralph who said she would never have made the purchase if the phrase had been visible through the packaging.

A Disney spokesperson: 'The knickers in question were designed using our High School Musical 2 artwork, which uses the creative theme of a swimming pool, as this is a key part of the film's storyline. Unfortunately a genuine oversight was made and the text on this product was used outside the context of the swimming pool. This product will not be part of any forthcoming collections."

While it's good to hear that the number of High School Musical fans wearing "Dive In!" panties will be limited, I still think it's a bit far-fetched that THAT many people could be that clueless. Sounds like what the Disney product development team really needs is the addition of parents with common sense to help them out.

Source

Whether it's from improvements in nutrition or chemicals in the food, the fact is many children are physically maturing at a much earlier age. While menstruation used to start around age 12, girls are reaching that developmental milestone much earlier, which is one of the reason salons are seeing the age of hair removal clients getting younger and younger.

"It's not uncommon for girls to get their period at 9 or 10 years old, and with that development comes increased hair growth," said Dr. Doris Pastor, a clinical associate professor of pediatrics at Mount Sinai Hospital.

Taking an early developer's feelings into consideration and getting hair removal at a young age to prevent or curb teasing is one thing, but salon workers see more than just motherly concern from some women. Many pre-teen hair removal appointments are for girls accompanied by women who appear to be trying to make their daughters look perfect.

"I had a mother who brought her daughter in, pulled up her shirt and asked us to wax the girl's back. The hair didn't seem to be bothering the little girl, but the mom was embarrassed and wanted it done," said Diane Fisher, owner of Eclips Salon and Eclips Kids Day Spa in McLean and Ashburn, Va. "I told the mom to wait until the child wanted it, but she refused." That little girl was just six years old.

Humans aren't supposed to be completely hairless save for the top of their head and eyebrows, but it seems like the new ideal is to look like a life-size Bratz doll. That there are mothers so invested in the appearance of their kindergartner's backs that they're willing to pay to have hot wax applied and the hair yanked off appalls me.

What is going on with the adults?!

Source

You don't have to be in Beijing to catch the Olympic spirit!

The funny people at JibJab, masterminds behind the popular Elf cards and snowball fight have come up with a way for everyone to participate in Mount Olympus games. All you need is a digital head-shot (nearly any photo on your computer can be manipulated with JibJab's dummy-proof program) to create postcards or video highlights from the weight lifting, high dive, or rhythmic dance competitions.

My fifteen-year-old son achieved a perfect score on the high dive! We're so proud!