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?
It seems that expressing your views via signs, protests and letters to the editor has become passé. These days, it is all about using your name (or the name of your newborn child) to get your point across. Like this teen who decided that her given name, Jennifer Thornburg, didn't really convey her passion. To bring awareness to her opposition to the dissection of animals in schools, the 19-year-old legally changed her name to CutoutDissection.com.
Her family still calls her Jennifer, but to the rest of the world she is Cutout. She says that she first began opposing animal dissections in middle school and while in high school, helped create a policy that allows like-minded students to complete an alternative assignment rather than dissect an animal.
Having graduated high school, Cutout is now working as an intern at - you guessed it - People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals. Her Web address name is the same as PETA's anti-dissection page, where you can learn all about the horrors of cutting up creatures in the name of education.
Cutout says that her name is a great conversation starter and that it gives her lots of opportunities to spread the word about alternatives to dissection. I am sure her name also provides lots of opportunities to be laughed at and made fun of, but I admire her willingness to suffer for her cause.
How do you show support for your presidential candidate? Signs in your yard? Bumper stickers on your car? Maybe you just show up and vote on the first Tuesday in November? Whatever you do, I'll bet it doesn't compare to what this dad in Elizabethton, Tennessee did: he named his newborn daughter Sarah McCain Palin. Without his wife's knowledge. That's hardcore.
Mark Ciptak and his wife had settled on the perfectly lovely name of Ava Grace for their third child. But Ciptak decided that he needed to "to get the word out" about the Republican ticket for president and vice president and secretly filled in the birth certificate with a combination of John McCain's and Sarah Palin's names.
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And how did his wife and the mother of his child take the news? "I don't think she believes me yet," he told a local paper. "It's going to take some more convincing."
"I took one for the cause," he said. "I can't give a lot of financial support for the (McCain/Palin) campaign. I do have a sign up in my yard, but I can do very little."
Sarah McCain Palin is a nice name and all, but who does this? I don't mean who would name their child after political candidates - I mean who would risk the wrath of a mother by secretly changing the name of her child? If he really wanted to take one for the cause, perhaps he should have changed his own name. Any bets on how long he will be sleeping on the couch?
If you're tired of the same old alphabets for your little ones (and Sweet Juniper's doesn't do it for you), have a look at this collection of twenty-three different alphabets. There is the well-known butterfly wing alphabet, of course, but also some very creative and fascinating new ones as well.
There is the rather unexpected meat alphabet, the mind-boggling buildings and sky alphabet, and even a few found alphabets. I think my favorites are the matchbook alphabet (very creative idea), the pebble alphabet (amazing), and the truck rear end alphabet (just plain cool). You might like the whimsical beard alphabet or the binder clip alphabet more, however.
I have to say -- this makes me want to grab my camera and come up with my own set of alphabet photos. Anyone have any ideas for a creative alphabet?
Across the country, kids are gearing up for the one holiday when it is socially acceptable to ask perfect strangers for candy, and some people are scouting out locations that might offer a better selection for their little ghosts and goblins.
Just what makes a neighborhood prime trick-or-treating real estate? Thickly settled, well-lit streets with plenty of porch lights glowing, and low automobile traffic, well as a high ratio of homes decked out in Halloween finery. Perception doesn't hurt, either -- neighborhoods with a reputation for wealth are more likely to draw visitors from other areas.
Just how acceptable is it to engage in drive-by trick-or-treating? It depends on which side of the street you're on. Those in popular locations grumble that parents are looking for a way get "better pickings" for their kids, without having to reciprocate, while others claim it is a matter of safety. Imagine what it's like for parents of kids who live in Chicago's notorious public housing, for example.
What do you think? Would you drop your child off in a "better" neighborhood on Halloween, or do you find the practice obnoxious and greedy?
They disagree on the economy. They disagree about foreign policy. They even disagree on how to pronounce "Pakistan". But whatever their philosophical, economic, military or social differences, there is one thing the two presidential candidates, Barack Obama and John McCain, can agree upon -- pirates are cool.
In interviews with Nick News, both candidates told the thirteen-year-olds quizzing them that their favorite costume from their own past was that of a pirate. Now, having dressed as a pirate for a friend's son's birthday party, complete with real saber, I can understand that. There's something to be said for the romantic notion of a pirate's life -- sailing the seas, answering to no one, sort of an ocean-going hobo. Only, with plundering and pillaging thrown in.
McCain seems partial to that part; "When I see the way they behave in the United States Senate," he said in the interview, "sometimes I wish I (could) put my costume on and take my sword out or my dagger and get 'em back in line."
Obama, on the other hand, remembers fondly the costume he wore when he was three years old. He says it was "one of the best costumes of all time," adding that it even came complete with a pirate sword and a "little mustache."
I think we've finally found something that truly crosses all party lines and that everyone, republican or democrat, liberal or conservative, boxers or briefs, can agree on. And if we're all into being pirates, surely the rest of these problems can be solved? What say ye? Arrr!
For women who use it regularly and never miss a day, the pill is an effective form of birth control 98-99% of the time. So while it's possible to get pregnant while using this particular form of birth control, the odds are definitely in a woman's favor.
Imagine Kristy Hale's surprise, then, when she found out that she was pregnant. Kristy told her fiance Toby on a Friday, and the couple found themselves shocked but happy at the thought of a baby. The following Monday brought a much news -- Kristy was expecting identical triplets. Doctors say the odds of conceiving triplets while taking the pill are a shocking one in 200 million. I think Kristy better go buy herself a lottery ticket.
The babies were delivered recently, 13 weeks early but doing well. "We weren't even trying for a family," said dad Toby Wilson. "When Kristy got pregnant, she was on the pill. But we are so excited -- it's an instant family." The young couple are definitely taking this turn of events in stride, but I bet they don't depend too heavily on that particular form of birth control in the future!
The latest nominee for the Bad Dads Hall of Shame comes from Tennessee. A dad downed 15 beers and a few mixed drinks before it suddenly occurred to him that he should have a designated driver. Since his gal pal was high on her own mixture of four different kinds of pills, he turned to the next obvious (to him) choice ... his 10-year-old son.
Unfortunately, the boy was no driving prodigy. He drove the van at speeds up to 90 mph before flipping it over. The police found the van upside down, the passengers -- which included two other children -- sitting in the middle of the road. The woman suffered a broken bone in her neck, one child had a broken hand, and the rest had cuts and bruises.
As if this story could be any more over the top, the man was arrested wearing a t-shirt that said, "Buy This Dad a Beer." What you won't see him wearing anytime soon is a t-shirt that says, "World's Greatest Dad."
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.
Last week, when a student at Trinity Lutheran School in Monroe, Michigan found she was missing $42, the principal of the school assumed the money must have been stolen. Determined to find the thief, principal John Hilken ordered teachers to strip-search a group of 7th grade girls.
According to one mom, this treatment was uncalled for and she and others have filed police complaints. "Some were taken down to their bra and panties and some had to pull their tops out and shake them," said Martha Feller, whose daughter was among the stripped and searched suspects. "They treat criminals like that, not 12-year-old innocent children," she said.
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In hindsight, principal Hilken realizes that perhaps this wasn't the best way to handle the situation. He has apologized, but some parents feel this isn't enough. Martha Feller's daughter is so upset about it that she hasn't returned to school since the incident. "I hope that they will take them out of that school and make them pay for what they did to the children," Feller says.
I remember an incident in third grade that made me not want to return to school. After complaining to my teacher about an itchy chest, she unbuttoned my top to have a look. Right there in front of the whole class, she opened my shirt wide and examined my body. The fact that all these years later I can still vividly recall that humiliation is a testament to just how mortifying it was. I agree with Feller and think the principal owes more than an apology to these girls. Maybe he should be strip-searched to see if his compassion and common sense can be located.
Show and tell at school is great. Kids love it because it is a chance for them to bring something personal from home and show it off to all their classmates. Choosing just what to bring for show and tell can be difficult, but favorite toys and vacation souvenirs are always good ideas. But if you are looking for bad ideas of what to bring for show and tell, look no further than this mom in Stevensville, Montana. She brought a dead bat to her kid's elementary school. And if that wasn't bad enough, that bat was dead because it had rabies.
Now, I don't know if it was really show and tell day for her two kids at Stevensville Elementary, but she did more than show and tell about it anyway. She allowed the students in one kindergarten class and four fifth grade classes to actually handle the dead creature.
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According to Superintendent Kent Kultgen, her bad idea was well thought out. She presented the bat along with "good information" and even brought hand sanitizer for the kids to use after touching it. Maybe she thought this would be a really cool Halloween-related presentation, but clearly it was not. Although the risk of contracting rabies from touching the bat is fairly small, the school is taking no chances. About 90 kids are now receiving rabies shots just in case they came in contact with the bat's saliva.
Those shots could end up costing over $70,000, which will be paid for by the school's liability insurance. As bad as that is, the worst pain will be felt by the students themselves. Over the next few weeks, they will undergo a series of six shots to ensure that they are not infected with a potentially fatal neurological virus. Way to go, mom.
Vinnie England, of Southmead, Bristol, got the tattoo at a street stall in Benidorm, Spain. The two-inch image was supposedly done in henna, a typically temporary, reddish-brown ink that fades within 10 days. Vinnie's tattoo was black, causing speculation that the ink used may have contained the chemical paraphenylenediamine or PPD, most often found in hair dye.
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Vinnie's mum, Hayley Shipway, 24, noticed a red ring forming around Bart's outline and took him to see the doctor. The reaction was treated with a steroid cream, but the next day it appeared to be worse. Shipway said the reaction resembled a series of pin pricks, and was red and sore.
The reaction is so severe that Shipway was warned that it may scar.
Shipway expressed her guilt over the incident, saying that she often allowed her son to have stick-on tattoos, and that she never expected he'd have a reaction to the one he got in Spain.
I have a tattoo, but I was over 21 when I decided to mark my body for the rest of my life. This poor kid didn't have a choice. But hey, if he ever decides to join the Navy, he'll be ahead of the game.
There's more to Halloween than costumes and candy. Coming, as it does, just a few days before one of the most important elections we've had in a long time, it's also a potential predictor of the outcome of that election. You see, one of the perennial favorite categories for adult costumes is politicians and what better than to pick one's favorite candidate?
According to costume suppliers, mask sales have successfully predicted the outcome of the last few elections. So which of the two presidential candidates is winning, at least in mask sales? So far, it's Obama, but there's more to it, this time around. Sarah Palin has added an unexpected twist to the mix -- she was a late announcement so vendors were caught unprepared and she is a rare opportunity for women to dress as a candidate.
Personally, if I thought the correlation at all implied causation, I'd be in line to buy a dozen or so masks of my favorite candidate, but instead, I think I'll just chuckle a bit and make sure I vote in November.
There's nothing quite like it -- dressing up as your favorite character, heading out (at night! in the dark!) to ask strangers for candy and getting ... wait for it ... a brand-new toothbrush.
Yes, friends, it's that time again.
Halloween is just around the corner and children (not to mention some adults) are counting the days until it's time to bring home a giant bag o' cavities. But not every treat in your huge plastic pumpkin is pleasing to the palate. Some of the all-time worst Halloween treats include apples, boxed raisins and old, loose hard candy.
My personal least favorite Halloween treat? That really hard bubble gum. You know of what I speak - the kind that breaks your jaw because it was manufactured in 1976 and sat on the shelf at your local Big Box store ever since.
How about you? Plastic bugs? Pencils? Play Doh (yes, I got that once). What's the worst treat you ever got?
Want to get smarter? Have a kid.
It seems that expressing your views via signs, protests and letters to the editor has become passé. These days, it is all about using your name (or the name of your 
If you're tired of the same old alphabets for your little ones (and 
Across the country, kids are gearing up for the one holiday when it is socially acceptable to ask perfect strangers for candy, and some people are scouting out locations that might offer a better selection for their little ghosts and goblins.
They disagree on the economy. They disagree about foreign policy. They even disagree on how to pronounce "Pakistan". But whatever their philosophical, economic, military or social differences, there is one thing the two presidential candidates, Barack Obama and John McCain, can agree upon -- pirates are cool.
The latest nominee for the Bad Dads Hall of Shame comes from Tennessee. A dad downed 15 beers and a few mixed drinks before it suddenly occurred to him that he should have a designated driver. Since his gal pal was high on her own mixture of four different kinds of pills, he turned to the next obvious (to him) choice ... 
Boy meets girl. Boy and girl fall in love. Boy and girl find out they are related.
Elmo Live may be the hot toy of the season this year, but it's 
Last week, when a student at Trinity Lutheran School in Monroe, Michigan found she was missing $42, the principal of the school assumed the money must have been stolen. Determined to find the thief, principal John Hilken ordered teachers to 
A British boy on holiday in Spain 
There's more to Halloween than costumes and candy. Coming, as it does, just a few days before one of the most important elections we've had in a long time, it's also a potential predictor of the outcome of that election. You see, one of the perennial favorite categories for adult costumes is politicians and what better than to pick one's favorite candidate?
There's nothing quite like it -- dressing up as your favorite character, heading out (at night! in the dark!) to ask strangers for candy and getting ... wait for it ... a brand-new toothbrush.
