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

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!

Gummy bears. They're small, chewy, colorful, and, when they get hot, rather gooey. They stick to your teeth, and they're full of sugar. That may soon give way to a new breed of bear, the sugarless gummy. These gummy bears contain an ingredient I've long been noting with raised eyebrow in sugarless gum: Xylitol. I don't trust anything "gummy," and I certainly don't trust anything that I can't pronounce (or spell without the aid of spell check). So you can imagine I suspect a claim that sugarless gummy bears fight cavities.

While not all dentists are readily hopping on the ursine sugarless gummy wagon, researchers are suggesting sugarless gummy bears could be used to target cavities. Xylitol is a sugar that comes from plants and berries, and does not provide energy to the streptococcus bacteria responsible for cavities like other sugars. In a study of 154 school-age children, who were given daily doses of sugarless gummy bears containing either xylitol or maltitol, a different sugar substitute, both sets of kids showed a reduced level of bacteria in the kids' mouths.

What remains to be seen is whether or not the sugarless gummies actually prevent cavities. It should also be noted that the sugarless, xylitol gummy bears are not currently available on the market. No information was available as to whether or not the sugarless variety are as likely to get stuck in your teeth.

Many of us will face the multitude of pregnancy ups and downs. During our first trimester we may be nauseous day and night, leading us to wonder why they call it morning sickness. We may swell in places we never dreamed could get any bigger. Our boobs--well, let's not even get into those. As for diet, there may be some things we can't be near and some things we can't live without. And then there's the heartburn.

My mother had heartburn the entire time she was pregnant with me. I got it--bad--in the third trimester of my first pregnancy. This go around, I've had it nearly the entire time. What causes it? Well, there's a baby in there vying for space with everything else. That could be it. It could also be hormones. Progesterone, a hormone that pumps up during pregnancy, relaxes the muscles in the uterus and allows gastric acid to seep up. According to one pal--who turned out to be right, at least in one instance with the birth of my son--heartburn means the unborn baby has a full head of hair.

How to treat heartburn while pregnant? That, luckily, is not so tough. Some of us had better be prepared to buy stock in Tums, which are recommended by OBGYNs. The modern version comes in a variety of fruit flavors and tastes less chalky than its predecessor and even offers a bit of calcium, which is extremely important for pregnant women to get. Another pal suggested apple cider vinegar as perhaps a healthier alternative to the Tums. While this method could work fine for non-preggies, pregnant women are advised against consuming cider. It has also been recommended to drink plenty of water and to imbibe milk when heartburn strikes. The other remedy? Have the baby!

Pic by pixthree.

Turn off your cell phone.

And this father has some unusual suggestions regarding getting his children--his daughter, to be exact--to eat vegetables. According to Chef Ramsay, he gets his daughter to eat her leafy greens by telling her they'll make her boobs get bigger! Ramsay admits he tells his ten-year-old daughter, Megan, this story, and that she believes him. His proof? He claims she eats whole heads of lettuce and says, "Dad, look!"

Before I know it, I will have a daughter on my hands. Eventually, she will be old enough to wonder such things as what might make her breasts bigger. I'm more inclined to leave such things to the schoolyard than try this trick. I'm not sure what freaks me out more--Gordon talking to his daughter about her boobs (which shouldn't really be such a big deal), his assistance in helping her think they need to be bigger, or the fact that he refers to them as 'boobies!' Ah, to each their own I suppose.

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I don't know about in this country, but in Italy apparently they are. Of all the fears I have for my son, perhaps the one that gets to me the most is that I will turn my son into a mama's boy. Is there anything I want more than to keep my son around me for the rest of my life, to have him as a constant companion I can love and protect? Uhm, yeah--but that would be h-e-double-hockey-sticks for his social life.

According to a recent article in Psychology Today, Italian men between the ages of 30-34 are twice as likely to stay at home with mom than other men that age. In October 2007, Italy's economic minister, who was apparently fed up with all these sons still living with their mothers, made a bold move to try to "get those big babies out of the house." The response from Italians? Outrage!

Italians cite the economic difficulties in Italy (and probably everywhere) for grown men staying at home. As one person put it, at least the sons have shelter. Mention is also made of the long cultural history Italians have of close family ties. Detractors might say this keeps a son from ever truly growing up. Others say it is perfectly normal for an unmarried--and especially unemployed--son to remain at home until either of those factors change.

So what do you think? Do the Italians have it right, or are they living in the past (and, if so, is that such a bad thing)?