PW Editorial Team – Page 37

Study: More children die in ATV accidents than bicycle accidents

August 6, 2007 By PW Editorial Team

Children under the age of 16 are seven times more likely to ride bicycles than all-terrain vehicles, yet ATVs cause more deaths among youngsters than their peddling counterparts, according to a study released Tuesday.

Jim Helmkamp, who tracks ATV statistics as director of West Virginia University’s Injury Control Research Center, found that on average, 171 children died each year across the country in ATV accidents between 2000 and 2004, compared to 157 deaths from bicycle crashes.

Full report: The Associated Press
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Fisher-Price to Recall Nearly 1M Toys

August 1, 2007 By PW Editorial Team

Toy-maker Fisher-Price is recalling 83 types of toys — including the popular Big Bird, Elmo, Dora and Diego characters — because their paint contains excessive amounts of lead.

The recall being announced Thursday involves 967,000 plastic preschool toys made by a Chinese vendor and sold in the United States between May and August. It is the latest in a wave of recalls that has heightened global concern about the safety of Chinese-made products.

The recall is the first for Fisher-Price Inc. and parent company Mattel Inc. involving lead paint. It is the largest for Mattel since 1998 when Fisher-Price had to yank about 10 million Power Wheels from toy stores.

Full report: SFGate.com

30 Ways to Go Green with Your Family

August 1, 2007 By PW Editorial Team

Check out my guest post on Tiffany’s fantastic blog, Nature Moms:

30 Ways to Go Green with Your Family

You’ll find some simple ideas that you and your family can use to create a greener family.

Note: It’s only after reading Tiffany’s blog that I now seriously consider putting natural living in my family as much as possible.

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Asha Dornfest of Parent Hacks – An Interview

July 30, 2007 By PW Editorial Team

It’s our pleasure to feature Asha Dornfest of Parent Hacks, a highly popular blog for parents looking for smart parenting tips, in this exclusive interview. She touched on how she started ParentHacks.com, her biggest parenting challenge, and her advice to new parents.

If you haven’t already visited her website, do it, not now, but after reading this interview. Many tips found there are submitted by parents like you.

1) Where did you get the idea for the ever popular Parent Hacks? What’s your biggest hurdle you faced in creating this site and how did you promote it?

The idea had two sources of inspiration. First, my husband, Rael, was one of the series editors for the O’Reilly Hacks series of books, so the notion of quick, unconventional solutions to problems had been spinning around our house for quite some time. Second, it occurred to me that the best advice I’d ever gotten wasn’t found in books, but shared with other parents. Boom! Parent Hacks was born. It’s the site I wish I could have read when my first child was born.

Biggest hurdle: none, really, unless you count sleep deprivation. I’m also one of the lucky few whose site got picked up early on by a few prominent bloggers, and just took off from there. I’ve done very little promotion.

2) What are the top three hacks you like the most on Parent Hacks?

Impossible to choose! I can point you to readers’ choices for the top ten Parent Hacks of last year though: Top 10 Parent Hacks of 2006

3) You’re a mother of two kids. What’s your biggest parenting challenge so far and how did you overcome it?

My biggest challenge has been to learn to trust myself. My tendency is to run around searching for answers, because someone must feel less clueless than I. Turns out that being “right” as a parent is less important than doing your best with love and humility. I’ve learned to overcome it with time and practice.

4) If there’s only one thing, what would be the best gift you can give to your children?

Unconditional acceptance and love.

5) Every parent wants a happy, confident and successful kid. What’s the best way to achieve this?

My kids are 7 and 4, so I’m not really qualified to answer that question (is anyone, really?). Besides, the answer is different for every kid. But my plan and hope is to give my kids enough encouragement to let them know I believe in them, and enough challenge for them to learn to believe in themselves.

6) What’s your advice for new parents?

Forget perfection, remember to get babysitters so you can go on dates (even if that means an hour at Starbucks between nursing sessions), and know that it will all be okay.

Drug switch plunges boy into hell

July 29, 2007 By PW Editorial Team

When Wade Somani was put on a new drug to calm his hyperactivity and aggression, he suffered hallucinations and completely lost control.

After two years on Ritalin, he was put on Rubifen in April under Government subsidy changes to save $1 million a year.

"He had terrible hallucinations. He had shaking spasms in his legs. He was throwing himself around the room, screaming and howling that he was in agony," his mother, Jude Betham of Pukekohe, recalled yesterday. "We were very frightened because we’ve never seen him like that before."

Full report: NZ Herald
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