The main component for a memorable (and simple!) Halloween costume can be found in a recycle bin.

For some reason, when out and about with my sons, strangers feel inclined to either warn me about how much trouble the future holds ("All boys?! I don't envy YOU!") or how very fortunate I am to have offspring that won't get all hormonal and pissy every four weeks. I assume parents of girls experience the same thing ("All girls? Whew, no jock straps or foot funk for you, lucky thing!") and I've have never given much thought to these infoprophecies. But there was one I did buy into-that having boys is less expensive than girls.

It starts early on. For every five racks of lacy pink apparel in a children's store, there is one row of blue clothing embellished with either a dinosaur, a vehicle, or some type of ball. Sometimes all three! Boys don't wear tights or ruffle panties, need matching headbands or shoes every color of the rainbow so parents spend way less on accessories. And according to the old rules, other than the rehearsal dinner and booze at the reception, the groom's parents definitely had a sweetheart when it came to paying for weddings. Being all modern and progressive, we'll pay for half the wedding expenses (provided the bride stealing my baby boy is not a total hag, of course.)

However, having just experienced our first high school homecoming formal as parents, I'm starting to rethink the whole boys-are-bargains myth.

Renting the tuxedo was our first clue that this would be a night our VISA card would remember. We had rented cars in the past for less than one night of being a sharp dressed man cost! Savvy shopper high school girls found adorable dresses on sale (or at consignment shops or Ebay) that they own and can wear again. Point for girls.

Then there were the flowers. The single rose boutonniere that no one knows how to attach to a lapel anymore -$8 plus tax. A lovely wristlet of baby roses for a lovely wrist- $25. Again, point for the girls.

Guys (or rather, the guys' parents) are in charge of paying for tickets for the dance, dinner for two, gassing and cleaning the car, while girls' expenses include a hair appointment, manicure, pedicure, and new shoes.

Assuming the boys attended every formal from sophomore year on, we'll have paid the expenses for 12 Homecomings and 4 Senior Proms. Suddenly those antiquated wedding payment plans don't seem quite as lopsided-the parents of boys have pre-paid in high school!

As a college student, I learned about the various stages of grief outlined by Dr. Elisbeth Kübler-Ross: denial, anger, bargaining, depression and acceptance.

I've done a bit of air travel over the summer and one thing I noticed is how parents' reactions to their child wailing during a flight mirrors Kübler-Ross' list. I saw saw parents who:

No, there will never be an evil glance from me due to a crying baby on a plane. However, the preschooler who kicks the back of my seat the entire trip is another story........

One of the things people without school-age kids might not realize is how much the homework requirements have changed- for the parents. When I was a kid, if there was an assignment that require adult assistance at home, parents would have sensibly said, "I had to do that stuff when I was in school. Now I'm done." and that would have been that.

However, between that time and now, some do-gooder parent got a wild pencil stuck in their sharpener and did something fancy like put their kindergartner's three sentence report on fish on a tri-fold board with glitter after driving them to four aquariums in three different states and then laminated everything. Just like that, the bar on homework was raised requiring parental involvement from everyone and now we all suffer. In my years with kids at school I have seen a life-size robot that could do actual math problems (this was a kindergarten project, by the way) and seen a science fair exhibit that explored the likelihood of the existence of worm holes in space (5th grade project, different kid than the robot one.)

This explains how I, someone who grew up with absolutely no idea how her relatives fell on the political spectrum (and still doesn't) and has never allowed a political sign of any nature to be stuck in her lawn, found myself being interviewed by my junior high student on my thoughts on the presidential candidates, it was part of his government class assignment. Students were to ask parents what experiences qualify each candidate to be President of the United States, why that experience is important and then give an example of someone else who had similar experience. Assignments like this are extra painful because you know your child is going to being judged by your responses. You don't want to be the dummy OR the smart ass of the group, but in the off-chance that this teacher might serve on the committee that doles out college scholarship recommendations someday, you don't want your child to be bland and forgettable either.

By the time the interview concluded, I had spent more time mulling my responses than I had deciding what to name the child querying me. Was I coming across as fair? Balanced? Since when did having an 8th grader in the house mean you had to be a political analyst?!

They say it takes a village to raise a child. So far, I've taught mine to walk, talk, use the bathroom, have basic manners, look both ways, say no to drugs, take a bite out of crime, and floss. I'm ready for someone else in the village to step in and help out regarding when it comes to these school assignments.

Not only did I have the very good fortune of marrying a man with a built-in intuition for when to bring home a bar of dark chocolate, he's also a finance professor. This means our television is generally parked on strange channels with endless crawls on the bottom of the screen comprised of random letters and numbers in a strange code where SATC does not stand for "Sex and the City" and PPDI is not "Post Partum Depression, Intensified."

Because Dr. Brilliant had predicted a financial meltdown a long time ago, in addition to tightening household spending and working to reduce our debts, I recently started a full-time job outside the home. With our oldest son a mere three years from finishing high school, our longtime plan of him getting a full-ride scholarship somewhere (Anywhere! Not picky!) seems a bit more shaky and building up a little account to help with tuition payments as a back-up plan seemed prudent.

Every day during lunch hour, I race across town to start/dry/fold a load of laundry, get supper ready for one of the boys to pop in the oven later, and eat a sandwich feeling very thrifty and practical for not requiring outside assistance to maintain the house. Freddie and Fannie might be circling the drain, but we're okay!

So it was more than a little odd when my 1st grader handed me a note on the dreaded goldenrod paper. In this elementary school, a note on goldenrod from the office is the equivalent of those pink envelopes companies send after a bill is delinquent. I've forgotten the rainbow sequence of collection envelopes, but I used to know thanks to a college roommate who got them all the time. She actually told collection agents who called on her outstanding balances, "Look, I only have so much money every month to pay you guys, so I write your names on a piece of paper and put it a hat to decide. You're annoying me so much, I'm not even PUTTING YOU IN THE HAT THIS MONTH!"

According to the goldenrod statement, we had a significant negative balance on our son's lunch account, which was odd, as we'd loaded up the account just six weeks prior at the beginning of the school year. Looking more closely at the statement, the Mystery of the Missing Lunch Money was quickly solved.

Apparently someone had decided the Free/Reduced Price breakfasts the school makes available for kids who might otherwise go hungry looked way more appetizing than the selection of cereals we have at home. Only because that little someone didn't qualify for free or reduced food, Momma has been working to pay for someone's $3 Pop-Tart. Even better, during the time we've been the most fiscally responsible we've ever been, people walking their kids into school have been sadly shaking their heads that we're unable to feed our young.

In the end, because it was less than $700 billion, we decided to bail the little bugger out. But next time, he's on his own.

When it comes to KP duty, it's never to early to start getting kids comfortable in the kitchen!

Lindsay over at Suburban Turmoil wrote an interesting post about her experience with a "red shirted" kindergartener. What used to be a bit of a shameful secret, holding a child back from starting kindergarten at their appointed time has become nearly standard practice in some communities and is considered a way to help kids get an academic (and possibly athletic) leg up.

I have an elementary education degree and managed to have three sons with fall birthdays, which meant we had to determine when they started kindergarten. Having seen kindergarteners struggling in school firsthand meant a huge amount of soul-searching. In the end, it came down to using our best judgment as parents as well as taking into consideration the professional recommendations of the boys' preschool teacher, who was an invaluable resource to figure out what to do with our borderline birthday boys.

The oldest of the trio started kindergarten a month before his 5th birthday. He was a great listener, could sit still, pay attention, follow instructions, and got along with others. Years later, he still has these skills and completed 8th grade with a 4.0 grade point, a lot of friends, and because he takes after his tall father, excelled in sports against kids nearly a year older them him.

My 2nd and 3rd fall birthday boys were both held back for maturity reasons. The older of the two later skipped a grade and seems to have landed exactly where he belongs academically and socially. The younger was our biggest question mark. He probably could have started earlier, but I believe it's easier to skip ahead a grade then to be suffer the embarrassment of being held back. He's doing great and loves his teacher and school in general.

Holding a child back so they'll have the advantage of being physically larger for high school sports is a shameful practice that needs to be addressed. However, holding a child back because they're not emotionally, socially, or behaviorally ready isn't the same thing. In those cases, "red shirting" might be the greatest academic assistance a parent could ever give.

There's no prize for finishing high school at the youngest age, the point is to learn. For some kids, allowing that extra year to mature can make a world of difference.

Parents with no time for tradition baby books quickly discovered that blogging baby was time-saving electronic alternative to keep friends and relatives updated on their child's growth and development.

Now parents have a new option for sharing the daily minutia with friends and relatives- Twitter-like social networks that are kept under the baby's name and written from a first-person perspective.

"It's an interesting model," said Amanda Lenhart, a senior research specialist for the Pew Internet & American Life Project. "Everyone can decide how much or little they want to know about a baby, which avoids the situation of receiving a few too many e-mails about someone's wonderful child, and parents can decide how much they want to share - in minimal or maximal ways."

Parents can also use the networking platforms to create a group of cyberspace peer "friends" for their infants, but one has to wonder.........why?! Is this a way for parents to now cyberly helicopter their children before the tots can even speak for themselves or is it an attempt to create the next generation's Dooce, or simply a way to lighten the monotony of caring for a sleepless infant?

The number of people (especially children) afflicted with asthma continues to skyrocket, so it's a bit unusual to have the researchers who may have uncovered a clue in asthma/allergy puzzle less than jubilant about their findings.

The reason behind the trepidation? The possible link for developing asthma was found in acetaminophen, the popular fever and pain-reducer recommended for children in lieu of aspirin which can cause the potentially deadly Reyes Syndrome. "We are saying there may be a(n acetaminophen) link. We don't yet know whether it is causative," said Richard Beasley who led the international study on acetaminophen involving more than 200,000 children in 31 countries.

In the study, parents of children ages 6-7 were asked to fill out a questionnaire regarding their children's history of acetaminophen usage and whether the child had developed asthma or other allergies. The results revealed that children who received acetaminophen for the treatment of fever in the first year of life were, on average, 46 per cent more likely to develop asthma by the age of 6 or 7, compared with infants not given the medication.

However, those involved with the research were quick to point out that the study was far from definitive proof that acetaminophen is behind the recent dearth of asthma cases. "I think there is potential for harm from our findings if we don't get the correct message to the public," Dr. Beasley said.

That message is: acetaminophen remains the safest way to treat children with fevers but parents should still consider it a serious medication.

Folding and sorting laundry is a breeze when you only have one child. Here's an easy tip that will speed up the last step in the laundry day line-up even if your quiver is full.

(Darkly comic, or just tacky? Click the photo to see which celebs contemplated suicide for real)

It's hard to believe, but Frances Bean Cobain, daughter of Courtney Love and the late Kurt Cobain is old enough to have had her Sweet Sixteen birthday party. Frances was only a toddler in 1994 when Cobain was found dead of a self-inflicted gunshot wound, which makes her "My Suicidal Sixteen" party theme all the more disturbing.

Frances' soiree, marking the "death of childhood," was held at the House of Blues in Los Angeles. Frances asked her guests to wear black or red and to participate in a "Who Looks the Most Dead" contest (prizes: "IPOD TOUCH and a $200 gift certificate to amoeba"). Guests were also warned that, due to House of Blues rules, bags would be searched at the door ("so don't be stupid and try to bring shit it do it b4 you get into the party if you have to and try to be stealth!"). Apparently, Frances can plan a party but cannot spell check her email invitation.

The party reportedly cost mom Courtney Love a whopping $323,000. Love arrived for the soiree in the dress Angelica Houston wore in the movie "The Addams Family." Ooooh classy.

Looking at her family tree, it's pretty amazing that France Bean has never made the news for drug abuse or mental health issues, so I'll give her a pass on hosting such a tacky themed party. Growing up with Courtney Love as a mom, a woman with a long history of drug abuse, it's not likely that Frances could count on her to step in and tell her what is inappropriate and what is acceptable.

Hopefully the Suicidal Sixteen party was just a dark humor joke and not a sign of what is to come for Frances Bean.

%Gallery-32029%

For many kids, the day they receive a jersey or uniform with their name printed boldly on the back is proud one. They are on the team and everyone who goes to the games will know exactly who they are!

Which is precisely what worried one parent enough to lobby for the removal of children's first names from the jerseys of the Carmel Dads Club. "She raised the concern about someone coming up to a kid and saying, 'Hi, Mary' or 'Hi, Jimmy,' and that might lead the youngster to believe that they knew them," said Mike McKinley, president of the organization that involves 12,000 kids in nearly a dozen different sports.

While some support the change, others feel it's catering to a culture of paranoia. The National Center for Missing and Exploited Children cautions parents that kids wearing clothing or carrying personalized items could put strangers "on a first name basis with the kids", but also acknowledges that in the majority of cases, children are abducted or exploited by someone the child or the child's parents knows not by a stranger.

We've never been on a team where first names were used on uniforms, only last names. Maybe I'm just naive, but my biggest worry was that someone with "Felton" across their back would do something embarrassing like scratch their butt or pick their nose in front of everyone. For me, having names on the players helps me figure out who is who on the field better than just a number. However, plain jerseys have the economical advantage of being reusable and reducing the cost of sports for parents.

Also, removing names from uniforms may make parents feel safer, but it doesn't completely remove the danger. There are enough people yelling out kids' names during sporting events to make it pretty easy for a profiler to figure out who is who if this is information they really want to know.

What do you think is this a prudent preventative measure or just parental paranoia?

For many, BC could easily stand for "Before Cellphones," so unimaginable is life without these handy devices.

And while giving a child his or her own cell phone is now nearly as common a ritual as buying them a bike, the age cellphone ownership is appropriate for children is still rather uncharted territory. The allure of GPS tracking capability has parents of children as young as three considering a cell phone a worthwhile investment in safety, in the even of the child being separated from them in a crowd.

While giving a toddler their own cell phone seems rather extreme, the age at which a child is given a cell phone is rapidly plummeting. The Center on Media and Child Health web site states that 54 percent of 8- to 12-year-olds will have a cell phone in the next three years.

In our house, we didn't feel the kids needed cell phones until they were old enough to be involved in after school activities. Having a cell phone meant they could call when the bus was returning after an out of town game and save us from a forty-five minute wait in the school parking lot. And with pay phones practically on the endangered species list, a cell phone means they can get 911 assistance where ever they might be.

But kids and cell phones also have downsides. For one thing, there's the money issue. Kids are notorious for losing items and cell phones are not cheap. Nor are most cell phone plans or the overage charges when kids get a little too chatty or succumb to the allure of downloading. There's also the back-of-the-mind worry on what the long-term effect radiation waves from a device held so close to the brain might have on developing bodies.

Does you child have a cell phone? If so, how did you decide when they were old enough to have one?

As helicopter parents are starting to discover, doing everything for kids stunts their ability to function and leads to the development of college students who aimlessly wander through grocery stores thoughtlessly leaving carts in the middle of aisles whenever something shiny (or beery) catches their eye, driving harried mothers, just trying to grab some milk and bread and get on with their lives, to use their own carts to smash clear a path while their children watch in slack-jawed horror a safe distance away. Hypothetically speaking, of course.

One way to combat this sad scenario is to get kids comfortable in the kitchen at an early age. Making brownies and cookies are a fun introduction to the magic of baking, but sadly, you can't live on baked goods alone. (But oh, how I have tried!)

An easy way to get children acquainted with cooking on a stove top is to start by showing them how to prepare a simple dish. Scrambled eggs are easy enough for even preschoolers to make with a little adult assistance. Cracking eggs, whisking, seasoning, and using a spatula to help stir the final product as it cooks (with shredded cheese or other fun add-ons if you're feeling fancy, like diced ham or crumbles of leftover bacon!) gives youngsters experience making a protein-filled dish that will serve them well for future brunches or lean years.

Personalized pancakes are much more fun than plain old round ones and are nearly as easy to make. Using a spoon, trickle batter from a box mix (or try this homemade baking mix that can increased to make as many pancakes as you have hungry mouths in your house: 1 cup flour, 1 TB sugar, 2 tsp. baking powder, 1/4 tsp. salt. In another bowl, whisk together 1 egg, 1 cup milk, 2 TB oil and add to dry mixture. Stir until smooth.) onto a hot griddle with a spoon to form the initial of someone you'll be feeding, only make the letter BACKWARDS. (Your helper might have to practice on a piece of paper and use it as a guide to make sure they get it right.) When the bottom side of the letter starts to brown, use a soup ladle to pour batter OVER the letter, covering the it up and making what appears to be a regular pancake. Bake until the batter bubbles, then turn and flip to cook the other side.

Applesauce tastes best when it's fresh from the stove, and when apples are in season, it's way cheaper too! Helpers can use an apple slicer/corer (if you don't have one, this inexpensive kitchen gadget makes slicing an apple child's play and is available at most grocery and discount stores) to section 4 medium size apples. Older kids can practice peeling the skin off the slices and then cutting the slices into chunks. Parents should use their best judgment with younger kids, who could chop the apple into chunks with a butter knife if supervised. Place apple pieces into a saucepan and simmer for 15 minutes. Stir in 1/4 cup of sugar and a sprinkling of cinnamon. Cool and serve alongside the special scrambled eggs and personalized pancakes and rest easy that when YOUR kids are college kids, they'll know EXACTLY what they need in a grocery store to make themselves a meal!