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.

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.

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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We've all seen swimmer Micheal Phelps' mother and sisters cheering him on from the stands as he makes history at the Beijing Olympics. Conspicuously missing from this family picture is his father, Fred. Not only is Fred absent in China, he hasn't even spoken to his son since the games began.

"He's so busy, I'm sure not even his agent can get a hold of him," Fred said. "I'm very proud of him and all he's done. This is not about me, it's about him."
Michael's parents were high school sweethearts who divorced when he was just nine years old. "It was like a storybook [marriage], but sometimes chapters go in different directions," says his mother Debbie. "We were close, but we grew apart."

Clearly Fred Phelps grew apart not just from his wife, but from his son as well. When Fred showed up at the 2004 Olympic Games in Athens, Michael admitted that up until that point, he hadn't been in contact with his father since he graduated high school. He also revealed that his father hadn't even reached out to him after he set his first world record in 2001. "There are reasons and I really don't want to get into that," Michael said.

Whatever those reasons were, they clearly were not resolved. After the 2004 Games, father and son became estranged once more. And while Fred Phelps watches from afar, Michael Phelps gives credit for his success where credit is due. "The person I love the most is sitting in the front row - my mom - for everything she's done," Michael told reporters in Beijing.

Since 1992, author R. L. Stine has been scaring the pants off young readers with his Goosebumps books. The science fiction/horror series for the under-twelve set has inspired several board games, PC games and even a television series. Having already made tons of money for Stine and Scholastic, the Goosebumps series may soon be making even more.

With Stine's recent release of a new 12-book series, Goosebumps in Horrorland, and a forthcoming video game, the series is seeing a resurgence in popularity. Columbia Pictures wants to get in on that and are currently negotiating with screenwriters to bring the books to life on the big screen. Just which book will be adapted hasn't been determined yet, but considering that the Goosebumps books are second only to the Harry Potter series in making money for Scholastic, you can assume it will be popular.

Or will it? Aren't the kids who made the Goosebumps series so popular adults now? And reading a scary horror book is a lot different than actually seeing it up on the big screen. Will you let your kid see it?

If you thought 'funny' lady Roseanne Barr had quietly disappeared to wherever it is that loud, opinionated comedians disappear to, you were wrong. She's still out there and she's still making her opinions known. A few days ago, she posted a rather nasty piece on her blog taking aim at actor John Voight, his daughter Angelina Jolie, as well as Brad Pitt and the kids.

Barr appears to be angry that Voight isn't supporting Barack Obama and that Jolie has said she likes McCain but is undecided as to who will get her vote. According to Barr, that makes Voight a "frightened little girl in a pink ballet tutu" and Jolie his "evil spawn." Brad did not escape Barr's wrath either as she refers to him as Jolie's "vacuous husband."

Addressing Jolie, Barr writes: "....it might be good for your Asian and African children's self esteem to know you support a brown man for the leader of the free world. How nice of Barr to be so concerned for the self-esteem of the Jolie-Pitt children. It is unfortunate that she refers to their biological children as "dunces that will consume more than their fair share and wreck the earth even more."

Of course, Barr is entitled to her opinions and her political point of view, but I am just not sure what she was trying to accomplish with this rant. Calling someone an evil spawn and referring to their children as dunces is probably not the best way to bring them around to your way of thinking.

Just last month, eldest Hanson brother Isaac and his wife Nikki had their second child, a son named James Monroe. That brought the total number Hanson babies to six, but not for long. Middle Hanson Taylor, 25, and his wife Natalie, 24, have announced that they are expecting their fourth child this winter. "Each of our kids has made life richer and more exciting," say Taylor and Natalie. "We can't wait for this guy to join the party."

The Hanson brothers aren't just hanging around making babies with their lovely wives, they are also gearing up for their Walk Around the World Tour, which begins next month. The guys aren't actually walking around the world, but they want to encourage their fans to do some walking of their own. With the goal of reaching a total of 24,902 miles (the equivalent of once around the globe), the Walk Around the World campaign is working to fight AIDS and poverty in Africa one mile at a time. To learn more about hosting a walk in your town or joining Hanson on their walk, check out Takethewalk.net.

Who ever could have imagined that those cute boys who sang MMMbop would turn out to be such great family men and philanthropists?

Who knew that former party girl Nicole Richie was such a giving and charitable person? I think that the way she has turned her life around and started giving back to those less fortunate is wonderful and I applaud her efforts. And apparently she has only just begun helping children - here and around the world.

Through the Richie-Madden Children's Foundation, Nicole is launching an online gift registry that will help needy mothers and their children. Families in need can sign up through local social service agencies and submit a list of the things they need for their children. Asked-for items could include cribs, blankets and other essentials. Donors could then look at the registry and choose what they want to contribute. Initially, the registry will benefit families in New York and Los Angeles, but the hope is to take it nationally and then internationally.

I think this is fantastic idea and love the idea of being able to choose a family to give to and personally pick out what they receive. Way to go Nicole!

Vanessa Lovelace and her son Lenny were both excited about enrolling him in his new school in Kenosha, Wisconsin until it came to actually filling out the enrollment forms. In the section where it asked what race/ethnic group the child belonged to, none of the available options fit 10-year-old Kenny. Lovelace was asked to choose from Asian/Pacific Islander, Black not Hispanic, Hispanic, American Indian/Alaska native, or White not Hispanic. Since Kenny is biracial with one white parent and one black, Lovelace checked both Black and White boxes.

That didn't go over well with the secretary at the Kenosha Unified School District's Educational Support Center. "She handed the form back to me and said I had to pick one, otherwise, someone would pick his race for me," Lovelace said. District policy dictates that if the race of the child is not indicated by the person filling out the form, an "observer identification" must be made. By that logic, Kenny Lovelace looks white, so he is white.

How is it that a form with such a narrow field of choices should even exist? According to Patrick Gasper, of the Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction, a multi-racial category has been allowed since 2007, but that change won't go into effect for all Wisconsin public school districts until the 2010-11 school year.

If you are wondering why the school even needs to have a check box for a child's race, Gasper explains that as well. He says that racial demographic data is gathered by the federal government and can indirectly affect funding for certain programs. He encourages parents in the district to choose a race even if it is incorrect, otherwise their child cannot be enrolled in school.

With the change allowing a biracial checkbox not going into effect for several years, Lovelace is considering her options. She is thinking about moving back to Illinois, where Kenny attended school last year, or even homeschooling him. But in the end, it is Kenny who is stuck in the middle and feeling like the odd one out. "It made me feel kind of weird," he said. "I'm sad because I'm not only one race. I'm black and I'm white."

School dress codes are getting a lot of attention lately, mostly as a result of school officials actually trying to enforce them. In a sad twist on the dress code debate, a family in California is suing the Hueneme school district for not enforcing the dress code.

Dawn and Gregory King claim that E.O. Green Junior High School official's failure to enforce the dress code resulted in the murder of their 15-year-old son, Larry King. Larry was gay and liked to wear feminine clothing and makeup to school. Apparently this angered classmate Brandon McInerney so much that he felt it necessary shoot Larry to death as he sat in class.

King's parents say that Larry's "unique vulnerabilities" made him a target for abuse and that the school should have protected him by not allowing him to dress this way. You may be asking yourself why Larry's own parents weren't enforcing the dress code, especially if they were so concerned, but the answer is simple: Larry didn't live with is parents. At the time of the shooting, Larry was a ward of the court and living at a shelter for abused, neglected and emotionally troubled children.

The Kings have filed a personal injury claim against the district and are seeking unspecified damages. As for Brandon McInerney, he has been charged as an adult in the shooting and also faces a charge of committing a hate crime. He has pleaded not guilty.

How could the school have bettered handled this situation? I just don't know. Had they enforced the dress code, they surely risked being accused of violating Larry's rights. And by not enforcing it, they are now being held responsible for the consequences of Larry exercising his rights.

Whether you are heading to the beach, the park or just hanging out in the back yard, great snacks are an essential ingredient to a fun day. But spending hours in the kitchen preparing for your outing can spoil the fun before it has even begun. Simple snacks like fruit, chips and sandwiches are fine, but why not whip up something a little more special next time you are packing your picnic basket?

Cheaper than buying prepared foods from the store and quicker than you would think, The Observer has a list of 101 picnic recipes that can be put together in 20 minutes or less. Not all are kid-friendly (curried egg salad) and some sound downright strange (cold pizza and lemon), but all are unique and a lot more interesting than plain old potato salad and ham sandwiches.

I've bookmarked the page and will definitely reference it the next time we head out to the beach. What about you? Do you have your own crowd-pleasing picnic basket favorite?

The latest Batman movie, The Dark Knight, features Heath Ledger's scary-looking Joker as the bad guy. In the film, the Joker marks the scenes of his crimes by leaving behind jester-faced playing cards. Apparently some kids in Pembroke, Virginia are fans of that movie and decided to make the Joker's calling card their own. They left playing cards with handwritten messages on them at different locations around town. What exactly the messages were isn't clear, but police say some of them referred to a specific date (August 15th) and had the word "Joker" written on them.

18-year-olds Justin Colby Dirico and Bryan Eugene Stafford say they were just having some fun and didn't mean any harm with the Joker cards, but officials are taking the prank quite seriously. They have both been charged with conspiracy to commit an act of terrorism. This severe charge may stem from the fact that many feel the Joker character in The Dark Knight is a terrorist himself. The boys copied something a fictional terrorist does, therefore they must be terrorist themselves.

I think what these kids did was supremely stupid and they deserve to be punished. But they are facing up to twenty years in prison. Isn't that a bit harsh?

Around here, nothing ruins Friday game night quicker than a bad deal on Uno. As my seven-year-old draws card after card, not getting what she needs to play, her chin starts to quiver and her eyes fill with tears. "It's not fair!" she howls as she finally gives in to the frustration and tosses her cards on the table in disgust. Yes, she's a sore loser.

I've witnessed this scene many times and it never fails to bring back memories of my own childhood. You see, I was a sore loser, too. My family played cards a lot and if I wasn't winning, I was pouting. If the pouting didn't work, I would begin complaining loudly. If things still didn't turn around, I would inevitably quit the game and stomp off in anger. Eventually, they stopped letting me play.

I don't understand why it was so important for me to win, but it was. And those feelings of frustration, anger and the unfairness of it all were very real to me, as I know they must be for Ellie. By this age, she knows that her sore loser behavior is unacceptable and she tries, she really tries, but she just can't help herself.

I never grew out of my competitiveness, but I did learn to handle the disappointment of losing. Unfortunately, what it took for me was being excluded from games not only by my family, but by my friends, too. Being known as the cry-baby loser among my peers was a painful experience and I am trying to help Ellie avoid that. We've had the "it's just a game" talk and we've discussed ways she can try to calm herself when she gets upset.

I've read that sore losers like Ellie (and myself) generally fall into two categories: those who are by nature easily frustrated and angered and those whose self-esteem is tied to winning and who worry about what others think of them. I think there is a little of both at play here. Do you have a sore loser in your house? How have you helped them deal?

Have you seen these pictures of Lindsay Lohan's little sister, Ali? Look closely at her chest in both photos and you will notice a big difference. Taken just months apart, the latest picture shows Ali with undeniably larger breasts. This, of course, has the rumor mill flying. Ali has made no secret of wanting to be a star and her mom is obviously on-board with the plan. Did Dina Lohan really allow her fourteen year old daughter to get breast plants in an effort further her career? Or did Ali have one heck of a growth spurt over the summer?

Responding to a paparazzo who asked about the rumors, big sister Lindsay Lohan insists that their mother would never allow it and accuses the guy of being a pedophile for even asking.

I don't think the question makes the guy a pedophile, but it does ignore an obvious answer to the riddle that is Ali Lohan's breasts: a really great bra. Grown up girls wear them all the time and I know from personal experience that the right bra can transform an ordinary B-cup into a rather impressive C-cup. And while a padded, push-up bra is certainly better for a fourteen-year-old than breast implants, I still wouldn't let my kid wear one. But maybe Dina Lohan would.

Usually a school prank is a harmless trick or a clever gag designed to get attention and hopefully some laughs. But some pranks go way beyond what is considered amusing and venture into the sick and twisted territory. That would be the case with the prank 19-year-old Myles Frost pulled at Glenbard East High School near Chicago last year.

Frost has just been convicted of misdemeanor charges of animal cruelty and criminal defacement after scattering mutilated mice and a decapitated rat around his school campus in 2007. He left the rodent corpses in the stairwell, the bathroom, the drinking fountain and in the slot of a vending machine.

"Even if it's a prank, to say it's in bad taste would be an extraordinary understatement,'' said Judge Robert G. Kleeman. Judge Kleeman ordered Frost to undergo a psychological evaluation and serve two years probation. During the trial, Frost's attorney denied that his client was responsible for the disgusting prank, but a school official and the police say that Frost confessed to them.

According to his lawyer, Frost is continuing his education and has high hopes for his future. "He has dreams of working with animals -- that's really what his dream is," said Frank Fanella. I am sure his court-appointed psychologist will be very interested in hearing about those dreams.