Having a sick child is no fun for anyone and we all try to avoid it as best we can. For me, not wanting my 7-year-old to get sick is more than about not wanting her to feel bad and maybe miss a day or two of school. It's the medicine. Getting meds down her throat is almost as difficult as bathing the cat. But with the cat, I can at least employ some brute force to get it done. With Ellie, I have a more subtle bag of tricks involving child psychology, bribes and usually something sweet to help wash it down. That something sweet is often juice, which according to new research, might not actually be the best way to help the medicine go down.

Grapefruit juice has long been known to interact with some drugs in a way that can cause blood concentration of the medication to reach toxic levels. But a new study has found that grapefruit and other fruit juices may also block the effects of some drugs. In the study, which was conducted with adult patients, grapefruit, orange and apple juices were found to reduce the absorption of the anticancer drug etoposide; certain beta blockers; cyclosporine, which is used to prevent rejection of transplanted organs; and some antibiotics.

"This is just the tip of the iceberg," says Dr. David G. Bailey, a professor of clinical pharmacology at the University of Ontario. "I'm sure we'll find more and more drugs that are affected this way."

Dr. Bailey recommends taking most medications with water and advises patients to consult their doctor or pharmacist before taking any medications with grapefruit or other juices.

In some families, the original isn't always the best when it comes to fathers. For 'fragile families', described as low-income urban families prone to non marital births, mothers say that stepfathers are often more engaged, cooperative and willing to share responsibilities than married biological fathers.

A new study finds that while married biological fathers and stepfathers may be almost equally engaged with the children themselves, it is their interaction with mom that often makes stepfathers better parents. The mothers surveyed reported that stepfathers shared their parental views and were more open to talking about their parental wants than natural fathers. Rebekah Levine Coley, a developmental psychologist at Boston College, says this is probably because stepfathers "have to work harder to fit in and to have a useful productive role."

Coley says the findings contradict the popular view among social workers and experts that dads are more invested if the child is of their own flesh and blood. "I think this research does, to some extent, call some of those assumptions into question," she said.

The conclusions were made after interviewing 2,098 urban mothers from the The Fragile Families and Child Wellbeing study and will be published in the Journal of Marriage and Family.

Since 1992, author R. L. Stine has been scaring the pants off young readers with his Goosebumps books. The science fiction/horror series for the under-twelve set has inspired several board games, PC games and even a television series. Having already made tons of money for Stine and Scholastic, the Goosebumps series may soon be making even more.

With Stine's recent release of a new 12-book series, Goosebumps in Horrorland, and a forthcoming video game, the series is seeing a resurgence in popularity. Columbia Pictures wants to get in on that and are currently negotiating with screenwriters to bring the books to life on the big screen. Just which book will be adapted hasn't been determined yet, but considering that the Goosebumps books are second only to the Harry Potter series in making money for Scholastic, you can assume it will be popular.

Or will it? Aren't the kids who made the Goosebumps series so popular adults now? And reading a scary horror book is a lot different than actually seeing it up on the big screen. Will you let your kid see it?

In the United States, you're considered an adult and old enough to vote, make your own legal decision, and be drafted into military service at the age of 18. However, you're not old enough to have a beer for three more years.

The Amethyst Initiative is made up of chancellors and presidents of universities and colleges across the United States who think that rather than curbing drinking issues in young adults, the 21 drinking law actually promotes a culture of binge drinking on campus. So far over 100 university leaders have signed a petition asking lawmakers to lower the drinking age to 18 and the reasons why are very thought-provoking.

If you thought 'funny' lady Roseanne Barr had quietly disappeared to wherever it is that loud, opinionated comedians disappear to, you were wrong. She's still out there and she's still making her opinions known. A few days ago, she posted a rather nasty piece on her blog taking aim at actor John Voight, his daughter Angelina Jolie, as well as Brad Pitt and the kids.

Barr appears to be angry that Voight isn't supporting Barack Obama and that Jolie has said she likes McCain but is undecided as to who will get her vote. According to Barr, that makes Voight a "frightened little girl in a pink ballet tutu" and Jolie his "evil spawn." Brad did not escape Barr's wrath either as she refers to him as Jolie's "vacuous husband."

Addressing Jolie, Barr writes: "....it might be good for your Asian and African children's self esteem to know you support a brown man for the leader of the free world. How nice of Barr to be so concerned for the self-esteem of the Jolie-Pitt children. It is unfortunate that she refers to their biological children as "dunces that will consume more than their fair share and wreck the earth even more."

Of course, Barr is entitled to her opinions and her political point of view, but I am just not sure what she was trying to accomplish with this rant. Calling someone an evil spawn and referring to their children as dunces is probably not the best way to bring them around to your way of thinking.

Suri Cruise is nearly two and a half years old. Heaven knows you couldn't forget that if you tried. And while she has more fashion sense than pretty much any other tot on the planet, there is one thing that seems to still give us all pause. No, it's not how her celebrity parents could have actually spawned her, nor is it how much is spent keeping her best-dressed and -tressed. Nah--it's that thing where she's still carrying around a baby bottle.

Yes, still. It seems like this first made the news when Suri was more than a year old and still using a bottle. Like sippy cups are so great. Now she's making headlines again for still sporting the baby bottle--when she's not even really a baby. My question is this: what is the big deal? My kid is nearly seventeen months old and he still occasionally uses a bottle. We've tried really hard to break him of the habit, but, for a while, he simply eschewed the sippy cup. He could use one, sure, but he couldn't get the same amount of milk from the sippy as from the bottle. So, we let him roll with it. Eventually, he switched over to predominantly using the sippy.

I know there are standards and practices for how we're supposed to raise our children. I know that guidelines have been set to help us make our way through this crazy maze called parenthood. But with issues as large as world hunger, violence, abuse and immunizations out there for us to tackle, why does anyone give a rat's butt about whether or not Suri Cruise still uses her baby bottle? I feel sorry for Tom Cruise and Katie Holmes--they're busy people who are trying to raise a kid and have full-time jobs too. it ain't easy. And not every kid fits the model she's supposed to. Is it really the end of the world if Suri still uses a bottle?

Just last month, eldest Hanson brother Isaac and his wife Nikki had their second child, a son named James Monroe. That brought the total number Hanson babies to six, but not for long. Middle Hanson Taylor, 25, and his wife Natalie, 24, have announced that they are expecting their fourth child this winter. "Each of our kids has made life richer and more exciting," say Taylor and Natalie. "We can't wait for this guy to join the party."

The Hanson brothers aren't just hanging around making babies with their lovely wives, they are also gearing up for their Walk Around the World Tour, which begins next month. The guys aren't actually walking around the world, but they want to encourage their fans to do some walking of their own. With the goal of reaching a total of 24,902 miles (the equivalent of once around the globe), the Walk Around the World campaign is working to fight AIDS and poverty in Africa one mile at a time. To learn more about hosting a walk in your town or joining Hanson on their walk, check out Takethewalk.net.

Who ever could have imagined that those cute boys who sang MMMbop would turn out to be such great family men and philanthropists?

This summer, the Olympics are providing lots of great family entertainment. The opening ceremony's parade of nations inspired my son to plop his globe on the kitchen table for an impromptu geography game. The gymnastics and swimming competition stirred discussions about health, discipline and sportsmanship. But it's the Olympic host country itself that is generating the best conversations.

My kids have always been fascinated by China. Evidence of their love for all things Chinese abounds. My Chinese bathrobes have been absorbed into their play clothes collection; they beg to use chop sticks (even if we're having spaghetti); they can be convinced to eat new vegetables if I proclaim them "Chinese"; they love Mulan; and my four year-old regularly breaks into a foreign language she claims is Chinese. We have high hopes that the Beijing Olympics and accompanying coverage will expand their knowledge of China beyond Kung Fu Panda and Chinese restaurants.

Thanks to years of careful planning on the part of the Chinese government, China put on the most spectacular opening ceremony in recent memory. Viewers were rightfully dazzled by the combination of Chinese artistry and technology. If my kids are any indication, interest in China is at an all-time high.

Who knew that former party girl Nicole Richie was such a giving and charitable person? I think that the way she has turned her life around and started giving back to those less fortunate is wonderful and I applaud her efforts. And apparently she has only just begun helping children - here and around the world.

Through the Richie-Madden Children's Foundation, Nicole is launching an online gift registry that will help needy mothers and their children. Families in need can sign up through local social service agencies and submit a list of the things they need for their children. Asked-for items could include cribs, blankets and other essentials. Donors could then look at the registry and choose what they want to contribute. Initially, the registry will benefit families in New York and Los Angeles, but the hope is to take it nationally and then internationally.

I think this is fantastic idea and love the idea of being able to choose a family to give to and personally pick out what they receive. Way to go Nicole!

Ghazala Khamis made history last week when she gave birth to seven apparently healthy babies via c-section, making her only the second mother ever to successfully give birth to septuplets. The children, four girls and three boys, all appear to be doing well and range in weight from 2 pounds to 4 pounds. Khamis recently told the media that she has only seen her children via TV, but that she intends to try and breastfeed them all. (Can you even imagine? Newborns feed up to 12 times a day. Twelve multiplied by seven equals... when do you go to the bathroom?)

Khamis and her farmer husband, who earns only £2 a day, one or two days per week, underwent IVF to conceive the children, in a desperate attempt to have a son. The couple are already parents to three daughters. Now that the babies are here, family members are concerned about how they'll care for them. The government has pledged free diapers and milk for two years, but what the family really needs, says Khamis's brother, is a home.

When I was in labor with our second (and last) child, I teased my husband that if he wanted a son, he was on his own, because two times through labor was enough for me. He reassured me that he was perfectly happy with his mini-brood of two girls. The pressure that women must feel in cultures that revere sons over daughters must be extraordinary. Khamis can breathe easy now that she has three sons, but the risks she had to take to get there had to be overwhelming, as their life will likely be from here on out.

Vanessa Lovelace and her son Lenny were both excited about enrolling him in his new school in Kenosha, Wisconsin until it came to actually filling out the enrollment forms. In the section where it asked what race/ethnic group the child belonged to, none of the available options fit 10-year-old Kenny. Lovelace was asked to choose from Asian/Pacific Islander, Black not Hispanic, Hispanic, American Indian/Alaska native, or White not Hispanic. Since Kenny is biracial with one white parent and one black, Lovelace checked both Black and White boxes.

That didn't go over well with the secretary at the Kenosha Unified School District's Educational Support Center. "She handed the form back to me and said I had to pick one, otherwise, someone would pick his race for me," Lovelace said. District policy dictates that if the race of the child is not indicated by the person filling out the form, an "observer identification" must be made. By that logic, Kenny Lovelace looks white, so he is white.

How is it that a form with such a narrow field of choices should even exist? According to Patrick Gasper, of the Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction, a multi-racial category has been allowed since 2007, but that change won't go into effect for all Wisconsin public school districts until the 2010-11 school year.

If you are wondering why the school even needs to have a check box for a child's race, Gasper explains that as well. He says that racial demographic data is gathered by the federal government and can indirectly affect funding for certain programs. He encourages parents in the district to choose a race even if it is incorrect, otherwise their child cannot be enrolled in school.

With the change allowing a biracial checkbox not going into effect for several years, Lovelace is considering her options. She is thinking about moving back to Illinois, where Kenny attended school last year, or even homeschooling him. But in the end, it is Kenny who is stuck in the middle and feeling like the odd one out. "It made me feel kind of weird," he said. "I'm sad because I'm not only one race. I'm black and I'm white."

School dress codes are getting a lot of attention lately, mostly as a result of school officials actually trying to enforce them. In a sad twist on the dress code debate, a family in California is suing the Hueneme school district for not enforcing the dress code.

Dawn and Gregory King claim that E.O. Green Junior High School official's failure to enforce the dress code resulted in the murder of their 15-year-old son, Larry King. Larry was gay and liked to wear feminine clothing and makeup to school. Apparently this angered classmate Brandon McInerney so much that he felt it necessary shoot Larry to death as he sat in class.

King's parents say that Larry's "unique vulnerabilities" made him a target for abuse and that the school should have protected him by not allowing him to dress this way. You may be asking yourself why Larry's own parents weren't enforcing the dress code, especially if they were so concerned, but the answer is simple: Larry didn't live with is parents. At the time of the shooting, Larry was a ward of the court and living at a shelter for abused, neglected and emotionally troubled children.

The Kings have filed a personal injury claim against the district and are seeking unspecified damages. As for Brandon McInerney, he has been charged as an adult in the shooting and also faces a charge of committing a hate crime. He has pleaded not guilty.

How could the school have bettered handled this situation? I just don't know. Had they enforced the dress code, they surely risked being accused of violating Larry's rights. And by not enforcing it, they are now being held responsible for the consequences of Larry exercising his rights.

The latest Batman movie, The Dark Knight, features Heath Ledger's scary-looking Joker as the bad guy. In the film, the Joker marks the scenes of his crimes by leaving behind jester-faced playing cards. Apparently some kids in Pembroke, Virginia are fans of that movie and decided to make the Joker's calling card their own. They left playing cards with handwritten messages on them at different locations around town. What exactly the messages were isn't clear, but police say some of them referred to a specific date (August 15th) and had the word "Joker" written on them.

18-year-olds Justin Colby Dirico and Bryan Eugene Stafford say they were just having some fun and didn't mean any harm with the Joker cards, but officials are taking the prank quite seriously. They have both been charged with conspiracy to commit an act of terrorism. This severe charge may stem from the fact that many feel the Joker character in The Dark Knight is a terrorist himself. The boys copied something a fictional terrorist does, therefore they must be terrorist themselves.

I think what these kids did was supremely stupid and they deserve to be punished. But they are facing up to twenty years in prison. Isn't that a bit harsh?

In a draft report recently issued, the Federal Drug Administration has concluded that Bisphenol A is safe --at least when used in food containers. Commonly known as BPA to consumers, the chemical can be found in all sorts of children's products as well as cars, plastic food containers and lining aluminum cans.

This most recent study was one of two funded by the industry itself. Gee, of course any study funded by the industry that stands to make money off it is going to come out with data supporting a chemical's safety. There rationale is that people are exposed to so little of it that it won't do them harm. In other studies BPA has been found in 93% of testees' urine and has been known to cause cancer and behavioral disorders in lab animals. The EPA (Environmental Protection Agency) supports the findings as well.

Opponents of the decision say the study agencies don't have enough data to support their findings that BPA is safe. The country of Canada has banned the use of BPA and products containing the chemical, and national retail chain giants Wal-Mart and Toys R Us are set to remove all children's merchandise containing the chemical from their shelves as of January 2009.

Usually a school prank is a harmless trick or a clever gag designed to get attention and hopefully some laughs. But some pranks go way beyond what is considered amusing and venture into the sick and twisted territory. That would be the case with the prank 19-year-old Myles Frost pulled at Glenbard East High School near Chicago last year.

Frost has just been convicted of misdemeanor charges of animal cruelty and criminal defacement after scattering mutilated mice and a decapitated rat around his school campus in 2007. He left the rodent corpses in the stairwell, the bathroom, the drinking fountain and in the slot of a vending machine.

"Even if it's a prank, to say it's in bad taste would be an extraordinary understatement,'' said Judge Robert G. Kleeman. Judge Kleeman ordered Frost to undergo a psychological evaluation and serve two years probation. During the trial, Frost's attorney denied that his client was responsible for the disgusting prank, but a school official and the police say that Frost confessed to them.

According to his lawyer, Frost is continuing his education and has high hopes for his future. "He has dreams of working with animals -- that's really what his dream is," said Frank Fanella. I am sure his court-appointed psychologist will be very interested in hearing about those dreams.