Back when I was a kid, the worst thing that could happen if you got caught toilet papering a house was a call to your parents. Times have changed and the risks of childish pranks have changed with them. On Sunday, a 14-year-old was shot while he and his buddies were draping a southwestern Michigan house with toilet paper.

The owner of the home claims he thought that someone was trying to break into his house. So, he did what any red-blooded American would do - he came out shooting. He fired three shots from his 12-gauge shotgun, striking the boy in the chest, stomach and leg.

Fortunately, the child survived and is recovering in the hospital. The homeowner wasn't arrested, but a prosecutor is considering charges against him.

Given the fact that is was one o-clock in the morning, I can see where the homeowner might be a bit startled to hear activity outside his home. But I question his instinct to shoot first and ask questions later. Considering that the boys were in his yard - not his house - wouldn't a call to 911 have been a better course of action?

Every four years since 1940, Scholastic Magazine has asked young readers to pick the next president. In all but two of those 'elections', the kids have chosen the candidate who went on to win the presidency (they failed to predict Harry Truman in 1948 and John F. Kennedy in 1960).

Because of that impressive record, some people put a lot of stock in the results of Scholastic's election results. So, who did about 250,000 pre-K through 12th grade students choose for our next president this time? Democrat Barack Obama. And not just by a little bit, either. Obama got 57% of the vote compared to Republican John McCain's 39%.

Now, you might be wondering just what do these kids know that would allow them to correctly predict our next president 88% of the time. Rebecca Bondor, editor in chief of Scholastic's classroom magazine, credits family influence. "Kids do listen to their parents, and they discuss politics in their families," she says . But she also says that with today's easy access to information, many kids are forming their own opinions.

As for the remaining 4% of the vote, those went to write-in candidates. Hilary Clinton got most of those, but Ralph Nader, Ron Paul, Stephen Colbert and "my dad" also garnered some votes.

So, there you have it. Like it or not, the kids have spoken. Do you think they've got it right?

Reality show relationships have a tendency to crash and burn once the cameras have been turned off. A little time in the real world usually reveals that happily-ever-after isn't going to happen and the couples split up. But at least one made-for-television hookup seems to be standing the test of time - Trista and Ryan Sutter.

Perennially perky Trista and hunky fireman Ryan met on the first season of the Bachelorette and married in a lavish, televised wedding ceremony in 2003. In July of 2007, the couple welcomed their first child, Max.

The three Sutters may be just settling into family life, but soon they will be four. She tells Life & Style that she is about three months along with her second child. And while she admits that getting pregnant so soon after Max was a bit of a surprise, she and Ryan couldn't be happier.

"I was in total shock! I took a few tests, and they all came back negative. But a few weeks after Max's 1st birthday, all of a sudden I thought to myself, I don't think I've had my period in a while. So I took another test - the line was extremely faint, but it was there!" she said. And Ryan's reaction? "His first words were, "Holy crap!" It was positive shock, one of the best kinds you can have in your life," she said.

Trista admits that she longs for a girl, but would be happy with another happy and healthy boy. Although she is leaning towards having her tubes tied after this baby, she says doesn't rule out the possibility of adopting to get the little girl she's always wanted.

Congratulations Trista and Ryan!

Want to get smarter? Have a kid.

The human brain makes new cells constantly over a lifetime, but the cells are most likely to survive and flourish when challenged with emotional and novel experiences. Scientists now say that parenthood provides the perfect "revolution for the brain."

After all, what could be more challenging than teaching a person to use the toilet? Or figuring out which cry means "I'm hungry?" Or coming up with new and different ways to disguise green vegetables?

Leading neuroscientists across the country are studying the ways that parenthood -- and, in particular, motherhood -- strengthens our mental abilities. One study showed that mother lab rats, like working mothers, excel at time management and efficiency, racing through mazes to get back to their babies as quickly as possible. Other research revealed that hormones created by labor and breastfeeding are linked to the ability to learn.

Katherine Ellison explores this concept in her book, The Mommy Brain. I heard Ellison talk about the mental gymnastics required by motherhood on my local pubic radio station, as I drove home from a late-night run to the drugstore for gas drops to administer to my newborn.

I laughed out loud when she said the mommy brain is a smarter brain, but then I realized just how often I apply complex problem solving skills in my job as a work-at-home mom. Dads aren't exactly slouches in this department, either. Keeping these kids alive is a lot of work, y'all.

Did parenthood make you smarter? Do you agree with Ellison, or is it just more mother-knows-best propaganda?

When San Francisco first graders took a special field trip to surprise their beloved teacher at her wedding, they learned a few things about marriage. "Marriage is people falling in love" said one student, "You stay with someone the rest of your life."

So why, then, are people protesting the field trip? Because the person that the teacher married was another woman.

People who support Proposal 8 -- which would ban same sex marriage in California -- are using the field trip as "an example" of how kids would learn about same sex marriage in school if the measure doesn't pass. But school administrators and most of the classroom parents approved of the field trip, saying it was a "teachable moment" and an opportunity to make memories. Two parents opted out of the trip, and their children stayed behind with another first grade class.

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As a teacher who frequently had to justify my field trips to school administrators, I think this is a gray area, but not because of the gender of the people getting married. Is a wedding an appropriate learning experience for a first grader? As a member of a community, yes. As a school child, I'm not so sure, though the kids did get to take a city bus and visit City Hall, so there's that.

But as a parent, I probably would have let my child go. An hour and a half out of their day to share such an important occasion with a beloved teacher is worth the lost class time. What do you think?

Welcome to Red Mom Blue Mom, ParentDish's special coverage of the 2008 Presidential election. Each Tuesday through November 4, columnists Rachel Campos-Duffy (Red Mom) and Ada Calhoun (Blue Mom) will take on issues relevant to parents on both sides of the aisle. You can find past Red Mom/Blue Mom posts here.

Red Mom: Ohio plumber deconstructs Obama
By Rachel Campos-Duffy

Leave it to an Ohio plumber to catch Barack Obama off guard and ask the question we all want to ask:
"Your new tax plan is going to tax me more, isn't it?"

And lo and behold, Obama's response to this off-the-cuff question is more damning than any of the negative ads being aired about him.

"My attitude is that if the economy's good for folks from the bottom up, it's gonna be good for everybody ... I think when you spread the wealth around, it's good for everybody."

It's what his most famous supporter would call an "Ah-ha moment."

This rare, unscripted and honest exchange between a citizen and a candidate did what all the William Ayers commercials with their ominous music and menacing voice-overs could not. Using Barack's own words, it explained why his association with William Ayers, Reverend Wright, A.C.O.R.N and other radicals and radical institutions matters. It cut through the noise and politics and revealed a simple truth about who Obama is and what he believes.

Yes, William Ayers is an unrepentant domestic terrorist, but that's beside the point. The reason Barack served as chairman of William Ayers' education board and used Ayer's home to kick-off his political career is that they have a shared political and economic philosophy, one rooted in socialism that advocates for wealth redistribution and radical community organizing. Ayers describes himself as "a radical, leftist, small-c communist." As chairman of Ayer's Chicago Annenburg Challenge, Obama didn't direct funds to needy Chicago schools. Instead, he directed them to left-wing radical organizations that "partnered" with schools. Obama and Ayers weren't "pal'n around," as Sarah Palin asserted in a campaign speech last week. They were working together to advance a common cause.

Obama knows that if he tells the American public the truth about his core beliefs, or if they are exposed by scrutiny of his associations, the electorate will reject him -- especially since an Obama administration comes with a filibuster-proof Democratic House and Senate.

Without a press actively pursuing these questions, McCain resorted to negative ads to inform the voters. The problem is that 30-second spots are not enough to connect the dots between Obama, his friends (Ayers, Wright, Alinsky, and Frank Marshall Daves etc.), and a shared political and economic philosophy rooted in socialism.

Without more thorough explanations from McCain and Palin, less sophisticated voters end up getting caught up in the negative ad buzz words (terrorist), and the candidate's Muslim-sounding name (Hussein); essentially, they're connecting the wrong dots.

But this time in Ohio, a plumber's unassuming, cut-through-the-bull question disarmed Barack and did what Brokaw, Couric, and Lehrer could not: get Obama to connect the dots for us.


Blue Mom: McCain's Dangerous New Direction
By Ada Calhoun

Frank Rich yesterday in the New York Times warned that the McCain campaign's fear-mongering talking points ("Who IS Obama?," for example) could have dire consequences. It's not crazy to think, as Rich points out, that "a crazy person might take a shot at him."

Indeed, anyone who's seen the videos of recent GOP rallies in Florida and New Mexico can see that the Republicans, in apparent desperation, are playing to their audience's greatest fears. Sarah Palin says Obama is "palling around with terrorists," referring to his minor professional affiliation with the former radical and current University of Chicago professor William Ayers. The campaign is irresponsibly allowing its base to connect the dots between the otherness of the name Barack Hussein Obama and the threat implied by Palin's repeated use of the word terrorist.

John McCain suggests Obama is an enigma, fueling the Muslim Manchurian Candidate insanity. To Senator McCain, Senator Obama is a mystery. But so are the economy, national security and everything else that matters to the American middle class.

And then McCain acts surprised when audiences yell out "Treason," and "Kill him!"

As Khaled Hosseini wrote in The Washington Post recently, McCain and Palin are "playing with fire." He's right that the Republicans are clearly trying "to distract Americans by provoking fear, anxiety and hatred."

The campaign's timing could hardly be more fiendish. With the economy in peril and our future uncertain, McCain's doing everything to distract us from the fact that he and his running mate are unprepared to deal with the economy. Instead, even as Obama yesterday presented a cogent, thorough economic rescue plan, McCain was doing everything he could to avoid talking about the central issue facing our nation. He's so eager to win that he'd rather take the risk of painting his rival as our common enemy than to admit what our true enemies are: fear, hatred and an unwillingness to do the hard work necessary to protect us all.

How are the negative campaign ads affecting you?

They haven't changed my mind or my vote.I'm rethinking my vote because of the ads.I'm angry with both parties for participating in this.Vote

It is hard to find anything good to say about the economic crisis that has gripped not just the United States, but much of the world. People are losing their retirement savings, their jobs, their homes, their sense of security. Many of us have altered our normal spending habits and instead of going out to dinner or a movie, we stay home and find something else to do. Apparently in Britain, that 'something else' is sex. And according to some, this at-home recreation is having an impact on the sales maternity clothes, pregnancy tests, and sex toys (not necessarily in that order).

While many businesses are downsizing and wondering just how they will survive, those who specialize in sex-related merchandise are experiencing a boom. Pharmacies report a 20% increase in the sales of pregnancy tests and one chain selling maternity wear boasts of a 46% increase. As Miranda Levy, editor of Mother & Baby Magazine, points out: "What's cheaper and more fun than making babies?

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Making babies with the help of sex toys, that's what! One online sex toy shop claims to have experienced a 27% increase in sales since the economy began melting down. "We are gobsmacked by the upturn in sales, while everyone else seems to be suffering. We've especially noticed the rise in sales of couples' toys, showing that people are buying for play with their partners," said Monique Carty, a spokesperson for the store.

I think it is great that couples are rekindling their romance in these times of trouble. But in about nine months, those who end up shopping in the maternity stores are going to find that staying home and having sex is a play now, pay later kind of fun. Ultimately, dinner and a movie would have been much cheaper.

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Thanks to Google's Street View, anyone with an Internet connection can virtually tour the streets of cities across the United States. The tool allows you to see 360° images of neighborhoods just as if you were driving down that very street. It's a unique way to get an up-close and personal look at places like Times Square in New York and the Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco. But Street View also lets users get up-close and personal looks at homes, schools and playgrounds. And those views, says a children's advocacy group, put kids at risk.

Stop Internet Predators has asked Google to remove the city of Pittsburgh from Street View because they say that images showing kids, toys and family cars make it easier for pedophiles to find potential victims. A spokesperson for Google says they have a process in which users may request certain images be blurred or removed from Street View, but Stop Internet Predators executive Director Stacie Rumenap says that isn't good enough.

"We want parents to have the opportunity to safeguard their children and for them to have the level of privacy and security they deserve," she said. "Our children's safety should always be the No. 1 concern when allowing a new technology to come into our neighborhoods, and putting the burden on parents to opt out of the system seems unacceptable."

Although Rumenap acknowledges that there have been no crimes against children attributed to Street View, she still thinks it should go offline until all images that might identify where children live, study or play are removed. I am not sure how this could realistically be accomplished, but Rumenap's group is actively pursuing that goal in several other cities as well. I've never used Street View for anything other than wasting time online and wouldn't care one way or the other if it went away. But does showing actual images of schools, playgrounds and homes really put children at higher risk of being victimized? Or is this just pedophile paranoia?

If you are heading out to a fair or amusement park this weekend, don't be surprised to find the YO-YO ride closed. The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) and Chance Rides Manufacturing Inc. have closed down about 85 of the rides in order to inspect and repair them. This action was brought about by two incidents in which children and adults were injured when the sweep arms suspending the circular swinging chairs broke free from the ride's center rod. Yikes!

Chance Rides is offering ride owners and state safety officials inspection and repair kits and has also created new inspection and maintenance guidelines for the rides. CPSC has jurisdiction over amusement rides, but state and local officials are responsible for inspections and oversight.

For more information about which states have amusement ride inspection programs and which agencies carry out those responsibilities, CPSC has published a Directory of State Amusement Ride Safety Officials which can be downloaded in PDF format from the CPSC Website.

What were you thinking? If you're a parent of a teen, you may have found yourself asking this question more than once. According to recent research, if a teen answered the question honestly, they might says, "I wasn't." Experts say that a teen's risky behavior often has little thought behind it at all.

Which makes the fact that teens often have free reign over technology a little scary. Take the new trend of teens taking naked pictures of themselves or others and either sending them to friends or posting them on the Internet. What a lot of these kids may not realize, as their parents do, is that once a picture is on the Internet, it has the potential to exist forever.

One 15-year-old girl is learning that lesson the hard way. She took naked pictures of herself, then sent them off to classmates. If she was looking for attention, she got it. Authorities recently charged her with illegal use of a minor in nudity-oriented materials, and she could even be named a sex offender. The students who received her photos may face charges as well, since the photos are considered child pornography.

Authorities say that the practice is ballooning and that kids don't realize how much trouble they can get themselves into, not to mention others. A field hockey coach was recently convicted on child pornography charges after one of his athletes sent him a photo of herself in her underwear. If you think that this issue warrants a discussion in your house, visit SafetyClicks for advice on how to keep kids safe online.

Many cities have alternative schools where kids who might otherwise drop out are given the opportunity to stay in school and graduate. These at-risk kids are often the victims of neglect or poverty and may have already found themselves on the wrong side of the law. But, according to a 2003 Chicago Public School District study, there is another group of at-risk kids who might benefit from an alternative school of their own: gay, lesbian and transgender teenagers.

Studies show that gay high school students are three times more likely to miss school because they feel unsafe. Because the stigma and fear of violence puts these kids at greater risk of dropping out altogether, the Chicago Public School District has proposed a school just for them. The School for Social Justice Pride would have a maximum enrollment of 600 students who would be admitted on a lottery basis. The school would have the same staffing and oversight as other schools, but would include lessons about sexual identity in literature and history as well as offering counseling.

"We want to create great new options for communities that have been traditionally underserved," said schools chief Arne Duncan. "If you look at national studies, you see gay and lesbian students with high dropout rates. . . . I think there is a niche there we need to fill."

While the idea seems to have plenty of support, it is not going over well with some gay rights advocates. They want to see schools focus on fostering acceptance, not segregation.

The Board of Education is scheduled to vote on the matter on October 22nd and if passed, Chicago's first gay high school would open in 2009.

Boy meets girl. Boy and girl fall in love. Boy and girl find out they are related.

Lifetime Movie Network or just your average Australian romance?

Australian laws are forcing gays and lesbians to seek "unregulated" sperm donors in order to have children, worrying state officials who say a generation of half-siblings could commit "accident incest" if the trend continues.

One man is thought to have impregnated at least 30 lesbians, while another man's sperm may have been used to father 29 babies.

According to FOXNews, sperm donation in South Australia is limited to heterosexual couples experiencing infertility and other reproductive hurdles, forcing same-sex couples to seek "donations" from willing parties online, or from casual sex. The same laws also require sperm donors to reveal their identities, putting off many men from donating at legitimate clinics.

Authorities fear that the children could grow up, meet and form sexual relationships with one another -- they are particularly worried because 29 half-siblings may all reside in Adelaide, one "big county town." Doctors fault the laws, which they say push gays and lesbians outside the system to have children of their own, and called for the South Australian laws to be repealed.

Ambitious entrepreneurs take note -- the DNA analysis business is going to be HUGE down under.

Elmo Live may be the hot toy of the season this year, but it's a cute little baby doll who is getting all the attention right now. Fisher Price's Little Mommy Real Loving Baby Cuddle and Coo doll is supposed to utter only one actual word: Mama. The rest of the sounds emanating from the speakers inside the doll are just cooing and giggling sounds. Or are they? Some say they hear the words "Islam is the Light" among the baby babble are demanding the toy be removed from the shelves.

Gary Rofkahr of Owasso, Oklahoma says he bought the doll and was shocked by what he heard. "I have a 1-year-old granddaughter," he said. "It makes me mad that someone is trying to indoctrinate our children with an innocent toy."

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But wait, there's more. Others say in addition to promoting Islam, the doll also utters the phrase "Satan is King". Now, that makes absolutely no sense to me as Islam is most definitely not a pro-Satan religion. Is someone trying to indoctrinate our children or just confuse them?

This may sound like a few parents getting up in arms over what is in all likelihood just a misunderstanding, but the Wal-Mart in Owasso is taking it seriously. They've pulled the doll from the shelves. And in response to emails from a local television station, Fisher Price's parent company, Mattell, has issued a statement on the matter. They admit that one of the baby noises may indeed sound like the word "light", but insist that the rest is just gibberish. "We have found that if told to listen for a particular phrase, you may hear something similar due to the power of suggestion," the statement says.

Have a listen for yourself and tell us what you hear.

Chef-prepared vegan meals? Organic salad bar? Free-range meats?

This ain't your mama's lunch lady, folks -- kids at one Kansas City private school say their lunch fare rivals that of their favorite restaurants, thanks to a for-profit business promoting organic school lunches.

The Kansas City Academy offers kids in grades 6-12 foods like pizza with whole wheat crust, hormone-free cheese and organic toppings. What salad with that? Help yourself to greens and veggies grown in a nearby organic, pesticide-free garden.

The school is one of three in the Kansas City area participating in Bistro Kids' Farm 2 School program, which replaces your basic, high-fat cafeteria fare like cheeseburgers and chicken nuggets with natural, locally grown food, such as free-range meats.

Whats that? You're vegetarian, you say? Vegan, even? No worries, just ask the chef to prepare you a special, fresh meal that meets your dietary requirements.

Bistro Kids' owner, Kiersten Firquain, believes kids' dietary habits contribute to poor physical and mental health, and she isn't alone in that belief. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the number of overweight kids has increased drastically in the past 20 years, which in turn has increased the number of kids with diabetes.

Schools have responded by trying to offer fresh-food alternatives, but are often stymied by cost. Those with high poverty rates suffer the most -- the federal government reimburses schools about $2.57 per free meal served, but most districts say an average meal costs $2.88.

Students who participate in free-lunch programs are often the ones most in need of a nutritional boost. I, for one, would be more than willing to put a few more bucks in my school-tax bill to help children in my neighborhood eat a healthier diet. How about you?

A six-year-old girl in Bristow, Virginia is being hailed as 'amazing' for fighting off an intruder who jumped into the backseat of her mother's car while it was parked in the family's garage. The girl was strapped into the car alone while her mother dropped a note in a mailbox a few doors down. In the blink of an eye, a man ran into the garage, lowered the door and got into the back seat of the car with the little girl.

According to Sgt. Kim Chinn, the girl gets an A+ for remembering her stranger danger lesson. "The 6-year-old fought him," Sgt. Chinn said. "She screamed, she kicked, and she pinched him. And I just think that was amazing for a 6-year-old to think to do that. Screaming was fantastic; the other stuff, even better."

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The girl's screams alerted her mother, who ran back into the garage in time to see the intruder flee the scene. News reports are referring to this guy as a would-be burglar, but I question why he got in the backseat with the girl if all he intended to do was steal. What was he after? Her lunch box?

Talking to your kids about what to do should a stranger approach can be a scary thing. Scary for you because the idea that someone would want to harm your child is at the top of the list of Very Bad Things that could happen in life. Scary for your child because it makes the world seem like a big, unfriendly place where horrible strangers are out to get them. Unfortunately, sometimes the world is a big, unfriendly place. But this story proves that those stranger danger lessons are important and that being small doesn't have to mean being powerless.