Hip Hop Album Made Exclusively For Kids

With an album cover containing characters reminiscent of the animation in "The Boondocks," this thoroughly enjoyable children's hip-hop album was created by a former teacher and a group of hip-hop industry professionals, as a vehicle to share positive messages with kids through rap music.

MeeWee: Hip-Hop for Kids features a collection of 14 energetic and uplifting songs that have been tested extensively (with overwhelmingly positive responses) in elementary schools and among students from kindergarten to sixth grade.

MeeWee bridges the gap between "urban" entertainment and children's entertainment, creating music that is crosses the traditional lines of pop culture and is accessible to a broad age range.

The album opens with the fantastic and fast-paced "MeeWee Chant." Songs such as "Jumping Jacks," and "Kung Foo Kid" encourage guided movement with their lyrics and fast beats. Were it not for the lyrics, listeners could not distinguish "Planet Brooklyn" or "Extra Cheese" from some of today's Hip-Hop and R & B favorites. "So Much Love to Give," "Sounds Like Music," and "I Need a Hug" (My personal favorite!) give a nod to R&B and Hip-Hop trends in the 60s, 80s, and 90s, respectively.

I personally found "Us Bus," "Me and My Guitar," and "Keyvo" to be somewhat grating departures from Hip-Hop. But what those songs lacked was far made up for in the two most melodic and touching tracks:"I Can Do Anything" (featuring Divinity Roxx), and "Driftee McCloud."

MeeWee:Hip-Hop for Kids was the brainstorm of Daniel Klein and Perry Landesberg.

Landesberg is co-producer of The Lyricist Lounge CD series and creator of MTV's "Lyricist Lounge" TV Show. (Please note: "Lyricist Lounge" is a little like "In Loving Color" with rap and rhyme, and is not appropriate for young children.) His past projects have involved artists such as De La Soul, Black-Eyed Peas, The Roots, Erykah Badu, and Mos Def.

Meewee's album features Divinity (long-time collaborator and bassist for Beyonce Knowles), Keith Middleton (of STOMP), and Michael Viera (star of MTV's "Lyricist Lounge" show.)

In conjunction with the album's release, MeeWee is offering free downloads for teachers, camp counselors, and dance instructors through their website. Use the songs for guided movement, or to encourage children to create their own raps, rhymes, and dances.

The album is available for purchase through online retailers such as iTunes, Amazon, and eMusic. For samples of MeeWee music, information about the MeeWee characters, and MeeWee merchandise, visit http://www.meewee.com/.

Involving Kids in Cleaning the House

Summer has arrived, and your home is probably paying the price in kid-sized messes. (How do such small creatures create such big messes?) You can get kids involved in cleaning using these fun tips from The Maids Home Services:

• Don't expect kids to use adult tools to clean. Instead, create supplies in their size. Use an ice-cream pail for a mop bucket, or shorten the handle of a mop or broom to make it kid-sized.

• Fill a squirt gun from a solution of a gallon of water and drop of dish soap (Ivory works especially well for avoiding streaks). Let kids squirt windows and mirrors and wipe dry with paper towels or crumpled newsprint.

• Cover kids' hands and arms with old athletic socks, then squirt them until lightly damp with a solution of vinegar and water. Then send them off to dust around the house.

• Got a pile of blocks, cars, or action figures strewn across the floor? Scoop up toys in a few swoops using a kid-sized rake, and they are in a pile for easy pickup.

• Make cleaning a game. Give young children grill tongs and challenge them to pick up toys and put them in a toy box or bin using only the utensils. Keep score of the toys they pick up and see who wins.

• Play fun music to help your kids get their groove on as they boogie through their chores.

Remember, children's cleaning may not be as "perfect" as yours, but their skills will improve with patience and practice.

Surrogate to Carry Baby to Save Toddler's Life

(Please Note: This is NOT one of those forwarded e-mails about a child with a dying wish to receive a million birthday cards or what-have-you. This sprang forth from an actual press release from an actual newswire service.)

Hailey Kent, 23 months old and born with a twin brother from a surrogate mother, has a rare and aggressive form of leukemia. She has had chemotherapy and a mis-matched cord blood transplant in an effort to save her life.

If relapse occurs (There is a 75 % chance it will occur.), then her only chance of survival is 100% matching umbilical cord blood from a sibling.

The Surrogacy community has rallied together to carry another child for the Kents. Surrogacy Options, LLC, is coordinating the effort and a benefit fund has been established.

With support from the owners of Surrogate Mothers Online and All About Surrogacy, Surrogacy Options, LLC, posted a request for someone to consider being a gestational carrier for the Kents. Twenty women stepped forward and offered to carry for the Kents with no compensation.

Misti, a Texas mother of three, was chose to be the Kent's surrogate.

The agency is hoping for donations from pharmaceutical companies, airlines, and hotels.

The Hailey Kent Benefit Fund has been established at Wells Fargo Bank in Simi Valley, California. Donations are needed so Misti (the surrogate mother) can begin the journey to bring another beloved baby to the Kent family -- the sibling who could save Hailey.

What do you think? About surrogacy? About saving cord blood? About having a child for the sole purpose of saving another? Is it ethical? What if the child conceived is not a 100% match for Hailey? Do the Kents keep seeking surrogates until they find a match for Hailey?

Music Transforms Lives

In the previous blog, you read about Music in Motions' history and product line. It seems that their products would be excellent for parents who are homeschooling or unschooling their children, as well as for additional enrichment at home for those who choose public or private education.

Ms. Stewart, founder of Music in Motion, suggests a few stories about music's transforming power. Although I have not seen them, the story lines are interesting and inspiring. I am not reviewing anything I have not seen -- this list is strictly informational. If you have seen them, feel free to share your thoughts below.

Some images may be too graphic for young children -- please use discretion and preview clips before sharing the stories with your child.

"Breaking the Silence" tells the story of Afghani musicians regaining their musical freedom from the Taliban, who had prohibited all music and destroyed instruments.

"The Journey of the Butterfly" prompted Ms. Stewart to create the Butterfly Award in memory of the 15,000 children who died in the Terezin concentration camp during the Holocaust. This choral work is based on poems of the children, who had kept their spirits up with music, art, and poetry.

"Song of Survival" is a documentary about women who spent 3 years imprisoned in Sumatra. They arranged orchestral and piano works of Beethoven, Chopin, et al, from memory. Their "symphony of human voices" sustained them.

"The Dancing Man" tells of tap legend "Peg Leg" Bates, who was a world-renowned tap dancer despite having a wooden leg and living in a bad time to be black in America.

Music in Motion

Although funding for arts education continues to decline in America's school districts, the Dallas-based company Music in Motion strives to keep music (and love for music) in schools.

Music in Motion is a music education and gift catalog. Music teacher Mary Ann Stewart founded the company in 1976, from her garage, as a mail-order resource for music and movement teachers and for musicians.

Music in Motion gives out a "Butterfly Award," which is a program designed to encourage schools and organizations "to develop exceptional music programs which help transform the lives of children or adults with special needs."

Music in Motion has more than 5,000 music education products distributed worldwide. The wide range of products includes games, books, videos, "ethnic" instruments, classroom instruments, software and gifts.

According to Ms. Stewart,

"Music is essential to every child's development -- physically, socially, emotionally, and intellectually. Music transcends all barriers of culture, language, and race. My hope is that Music in Motion will inspire parents, teachers, and students to recognize the power of music to transform lives."

For more information, or to request a free catalog, call 1-800-445-0649 or visit the website.

Summer Blockbuster Collectibles

Planning on enjoying any of this summer's blockbuster movies with your kids? Then you are probably also preparing for the inevitable requests for character-based toys and accessories.

AllAboardToys.com is adding to its already full array of themed toys and accessories for kids of all ages to include products from this summer's action movies, including Speed Racer, Iron Man, Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull, Kung Fu Panda, Wall-E, and Batman: The Dark Knight.

Ty Simpson, CEO of AllAboardToys, plans to continue carrying "all of these movie-themed products through their release to home video and beyond, when consumers often have trouble finding their favorite character products."

AllAboardToys recently merged with Ty's Toy Box, forming the largest independent toy for licensed character merchandise available online.

In addition to this summer's movie toy line, the site offers extensive products based on popular characters, such as Thomas the Tank Engine, Disney Cars, Backyardigans, Sesame Street, and the Disney Princess line. Products range from birthday party supplies and costumes to toys, clothing, bedding, and children's decorative items.

Educate or Die

The self-stated goal of Educate or Die, a new website designed as a way to help the youth of "Black America" stay in touch with their dreams and aspirations, is to provide an outlet for students and young professionals to take their education to a whole new level."

The site contains a "Did You Know" section with facts that change with every click. For example, did you know that Silas B. Purnell, working from a small office in the basement of a Chicago housing project, enrolled 55,000 black students in college?

The website also includes profiles of "Star Students" and information on their summer events, as well as links to other helpful sites.

Educate or Die is sponsored by the Black Star Project, a father involvement program.

www.educateordie.org

Protect Family Memories with Free Website

MadMarg offers user-friendly features, including story prompts, to make sharing personal history with loved ones a fun and simple activity.

Steve and Jennifer Churchill launched MadMarg in February 2008, and by May, had 500 members.

MadMarg's "nudges" help you take 5 minutes each day to write a quick story about your child, or about yourself, for your child. A little writing each day stacks up into an enjoyable and nostalgic read for your family and friends.

MadMarg members can also invite family and friends to input their own stories.

Once you have enough stories, MadMarg also offers the option of producing them in the form of a coffee table book.

http://madmarg.com

Quick Change Crib Saves Time, Frustration, Your Back

Ever struggled with changing the sheets on a crib mattress after a middle-of-the-night wetting incident?

Innovative Crib Designs manufactures the Quick Change Crib, a revolutionary new product that can save parents and caregivers time and frustration and even from suffering back pain while changing the sheets on a baby's crib.

The Quick Change Crib, developed by a busy mom, received the Whirlpool Mother of Invention Award, a development grant, and was a 2007 top ten finalist for the JPMA Innovation Awards.

Mary Anne Amato, inventor of the Quick Change Crib, felt that there had to be a way to change the sheets on her baby's crib without so much physical strain.

After frustrating nights of changing crib sheets while her baby cried, Amato started looking for a product to ease her woes, but came up empty-handed.

The crib industry has been so intensely focused on safety modifications that there have been few changes in fundamental crib design.

With the Quick Change Crib, parents and caregivers slide the mattress out one end of the crib instead of bending over its side and wrestling the mattress out. It eliminates the need for lifting, improper bending, tugging sheets, or untying bumpers.

Sheets on the Quick Change Crib mattresses can be changed in one-fifth the time required to change sheets on a conventional crib.

For more information, see www.innovativecribdesigns.com.

Talk To Kids About Internet Safety

You already know to talk to your children about drinking, drugs, smoking, and sex. But have you discussed Internet safety with your kids?

Don't assume that the person your young child or teen is chatting with is safe, just because they found the companion in the Webkinz site or in a Christian chat room. If they don't already know the person, they do not really know who is on the other end of the conversation. And neither do you.

It doesn't take long for youthful prey to inadvertently (or purposely, thinking they are safe) give away their schedule, school, or location.

Here are a few suggestions for helping your kids stay safe online:

Monitor their online activity by looking over their shoulders at the screen. You're not being nosy...you're being a responsible parent.

Check the computer's browsing history (including temporary Internet files and cookies) to see what websites have been visited. If there are no sites in these sections, your children may be hiding their browsing habits.

Use filtering software.

Know the passwords to your kids' social networking profiles.

Talk to your children about identity theft. Explain what it is and how it can happen.

Tell your kids what constitutes "personal information." If your child has already given out her age and hometown, then sends a picture of herself next to the school's mascot, a predator could easily find her school, follow her home, and then know where she lives.

Warn your teen about downloading free software. Downloads that seem harmless could possibly contain malicious code, sexual images, or computer viruses. Some illegal downloads destroy your programs or corrupt certain types of files. Others commandeer the information in your data files for the sole purpose of stealing your identity.

For more quick safety tips and information on software monitoring programs, check out the Digital Doctors website.

Attn: Dads of Great Students

Happy Father's Day! (Read this blog, then get off the computer and call your dad!)

WATCH D.O.G.S. (Dads of Great Students) is the safe-school initiative of the National Center for Fathering, and is also part of the MORE alliance.

The safe-school initiative focuses on prevention of violence in schools by using the positive influence of fathers and father figures.

WATCH D.O.G.S. Director, Eric Snow, helps dedicated men and women increase school safety, and provide positive male role models, for schools across the U.S.

To get involved, visit www.fathers.com.

Real Men Cook

I once saw a refrigerator magnet that read "I love a man with dishpan hands." It has been repeated to every significant (or potential) significant other ever since. What woman doesn't?!?

Real Men Cook is the leading national urban Father's Day family celebration tradition.

Yvette Moyo, co-founder of Real Men Cook, added Health and Wellness to the Real Men Cook events, which promote male involvement in the community and family.

These events take place in several cities. Events in multiple cities have raised more than a million dollars in ticket sales proceeds to nonprofit organizations.

Real Men Cook is part of the MORE alliance (see blog entries on June 12th).

To find out more about whether there are events in your area, visit www.realmencook.com.

PTA -- Not just for moms

What an interesting election year this has been. We looked at the possibility of a woman running the country, and Chuck Saylors became President of the National Parent Teacher Association. Mr. Saylors is PTA's first male national president-elect. It took nearly two decades of active membership for him to be handed the reins.

With more than 5.5 million members, PTA focuses on being a strong and powerful voice for children, on being a resource for families and communities, and on being a champion for children's wellbeing and education.

National Fatherhood Initiative

The National Fatherhood Initiative (NFI) strives to improve the wellbeing of children by increasing the number of kids who will grow up with involved, capable, responsible, committed dads.

Roland C. Warren, President of NFI, oversees the organization's national strategy for increasing the number of involved fathers.

NFI's strategy to strengthen fatherhood in all segments of society can be wrapped up in the "3 E's"

1. Educating
2. Equipping
3. Engaging

The website offers valuable information in an entertaining (and graphically pleasing) way. You can find out how father absence costs the nation one hundred billion dollars, find links to other sites and groups for fathers, and find more information on NFI's Golden Dads program.

www.fatherhood.org

Black Star Project

Our mission is to provide educational services that help pre-school through college students succeed academically and become knowledgeable and productive citizens with the support of their parents, families, schools and communities.
The Black Star project sponsors father involvement/male involvement programs, including the Million Father March, Men in Schools Day, and the Fathers Club.

Philip Jackson, founder and Executive Director of the Black Star Project, is a national leader who advocates for community involvement in education. He also champions the importance of educating parents, so that their children will be properly educated.

Their mission is "to provide educational services that help pre-school through college students succeed academically and become knowledgeable and productive citizens with the support of their parents, families, schools, and communities. The Black Star Project also has scholarship programs for disadvantages students of all races who are seeking post-secondary education.

To find involvement opportunities in your community, visit their website, www.blackstarproject.org

"It's Potty Time" Children's Educational Video

LTE's Potty Training Program was the first film developed for potty training kids. "It's Potty Time" was created as part of the Duke Family Series, almost 16 years ago, in conjunction with and approved by Duke University Medical Center.

This tool was designed for children who are just starting to acclimate to the idea of using the toilet, and for those who are still honing their toileting abilities.

This 30-minute video uses real-life characters to teach potty training by example.

"It's Potty Time" is exclusively distributed through the Duke Family Series.

Snippets of the potty training songs are available on the web link below, and include such rollicking lyrics as "I'm a Super Dooper Pooper...I'm the best pooper you know."

Visit www.itspottytime.com or call 1-877-57-TEACH to order. (You miss out on the adorable video snippets if you call, though!)

MORE - National fatherhood alliance

A lot more families will have more reason to recognize their fathers this Father’s Day.That’s because more men are getting involved in their child’s education than ever before, according to recent poll results released by the national PTA. In fact, almost 50 percent of parent leaders said that the level of male involvement has increased at their PTA in the last three years.

The nation’s top male involvement organizations are looking to continue the trend. That’s why today they joined at National PTA Headquarters to announce an unprecedented partnership—Men Organized to Raise Engagement (MORE).

Simply put, research shows that greater involvement of men in the lives of children helps them achieve success socially, intellectually and academically. The MORE partnership intends to ensure greater father and male involvement to produce positive outcomes and successful relationships for children, parents, schools and communities.

MORE will call attention to the need to increase male involvement across the country by:

• Working with schools and communities to provide programs that engage fathers and positive male figures in the educational and social development of children;
• Developing male leaders who work with fathers and male role models to enhance positive male parenting and involvement with youth;
• Acting as a resource for families, communities and schools on fatherhood initiatives and issues; and
• Increasing the visibility and outreach of the quality programming of the coalition members.

For more information, go to www.pta.org/MORE.

All Pro Dads, and more

The nation's top experts on male involvement recently met in Chicago to announce an alliance, to provide tips on being involved in every stage of your child's life, and to discuss education, family, and health issues related to male involvement.

All Pro Dads is just one of the organizations that were represented June 5th at a conference at the national PTA headquarters. To read about more organizations for involved fathers, and father figures, who are participating in the summit, keep checking back daily through Father's Day.

All Pro Dads, founded by Tony Dungy, is composed of current and former NFL coaches and players. These gentleman speak to others on the importance of fatherhood.

Bryan Davis, director of All Pro Dads, works with more than 1,000 schools, churches, and businesses across the U.S., in order to help them become more father-friendly.

Mr. Davis recently published his book, "Play of the Day," (AMG Publishers) and sends daily e-mail tips to over 45,000 fathers.

Easy and Private Way to Breastfeed

Dr. R.G. Rodriguez has invented the Buddy Bib, a breastfeeding coverup available from Buddy Boutique. While providing privacy for nursing mothers, the Buddy Bib also allows babies to stay cooler and breathe more easily while breastfeeding than when they are covered by a blanket.

According to Dr. Rodriguez and many other experts, covering a baby during nursing raises its internal body temperature and "lowers its immature immune system, making the infant more susceptible to viruses, infections, and respiratory problems."

Buddy Boutique offers a choice of brown or pink baby faces in their brand logo, as support for concept of racial identity's being important to a healthy family.

The Buddy Bib coverup fastens around the mother's neck and covers the mother's breast, but not her baby's face or head. It doubles as a burping bib.

Numerous lawsuits have been filed against companies such as Applebee's Restaurants, Delta Airlines, and Lifestyle Family Fitness Centers for forbidding mothers to breastfeed on the property.

The Buddy Bib is a safe, convenient alternative to heavy blanket coverings and to being persecuted for feeding one's child from a bare, uncovered breast.

For more info, go to www.BuddyBoutique.com.

Animals for Kids - Educational Website

Sheppard Software's free educational website section "Animals for Kids" is now in its 6th month of providing 60 online games and activities, as well as supplemental education pages.

Topics include:

Animal Classification
Endangered Animals
Carnivores, Herbivores, and Omnivores
The Food Chain

Animals for Kids is primarily for elementary and middle school students, but there are also animal activities geared for even younger learners, such as painting, making an environment, seek-and-finds, puzzles, and memory match games.

Sheppard Software is a teachers' and homeschoolers' staple with its games, articles, quizzes, and trivia, which are all available online for free. There are also over 300 geography games!

Links:

www.sheppardsoftware.com
www.sheppardsoftware.com/animalsforkids.htm
www.sheppardsoftware.com/foodchaingame.htm (pictured top right)
www.sheppardsoftware.com/animalclassification.htm

Nursery Rhymes Go High-Tech

Is it possible that children these days have not stopped reading? Perhaps, instead, there has simply been a shift in the ways in which they read.

Leveractive, LLC, embraces the younger set's familiarity with online media with the release of "Nursery Rhymes," the latest in Leveractive's award-winning Giggles Computer Funtime for Baby software series, which is designed for children aged 6 to 24 months.

Babies touch and tap the keys on any computer keyboard (no special equipment to attach or program) to initiate on-screen feedback.

The software is designed to lock out system files so that data and settings are protected.

"Nursery Rhymes" is available for both PC and Mac, and contains more than 50 songs. The software can be operated in both Baby Mode and Toddler Mode.

Suggested retail $19.99. English and Spanish versions on same CD.

www.leveractive.com

www.giggles.net

Protecting Against Unethical Adoption Practices

International adoptions have decreased 15% in the last year, largely due to stricter international adoption policies. More American couples are competing for domestic newborns, which translates into longer waits, and greater potential for adoption fraud.

Infant Adoption Coach Cindy Simonson suggests that potential adoptive parents do the following things to avoid falling prey to adoption scams:

• Conduct thorough background and reputation checks
• Research various adoption options
• Utilize services designed to educate potential adoptive parents
• Take advantage of no-fee websites that research the background of specific adoption companies
• Join support groups or online communities of newly adoptive parents and of parents hoping to adopt

Infant Adoption Coaching is a low-cost service that can help potential adoptive parents with reducing adoption wait times and shave thousands of dollars from the costs of adoption. And infant adoption coach helps potential adoptive parents to ask the right questions of the right people and to avoid unnecessary risks so that your infant is in your arms with as little frustration as possible.

To learn more, visit www.infantadoptioncoach.com or www.alovingalternative.com.

Child Safety Videos Available on MonkeySee.com

In February 2008, the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children (NCMEC) and how-to website MonkeySee.com added a series of online child safety videos to their catalog.

The professionally produced videos contain tips every parent should know on topics ranging from Internet and school safety to child identification to abduction prevention.

MonkeySee videos are broken into short segments, allowing parents and caregivers to watch separate NCMEC videos in the series, choose topics of interest, and pick up where they left off.

NCMEC and MonkeySee are using the power or online media to help protect children and inform their guardians about potentially dangerous situations.

Helpful Links:
www.monkeysee.com/missingandexploited
www.missingkids.com

Quick Fix Post-Baby Crash Dieting not part of the Take Care Project

Is fitting back into your pre-pregnancy jeans more important than having stable moods and the energy to lift your child?

In the June 2008 Glamour magazine's list of 5o most glamorous women, we are told that "real-woman beauty" is "big this year." We are greeted with Jennifer Lopez in a flowing ball gown, looking for all the world as though she had never given birth, and certainly not recently, and to twins, at that.

We tuned in back in May to find out exactly how Christina Aguilera lost 40 pounds in 4 months. On one hand, it was allegedly from exercising 5 days a week and avoiding items such as white bread. But she was voted in FHM as being one of the sexiest two months before she hit that forty-pound weight loss. Her post-natal hot factor coincided with a fuller figure.

Bombarded with images of celebrity mothers in ball gowns and jewels, holding infants that are sleeping peacefully, today's new mother might decide that weakness and mood swings are worth the weight loss.

But does spending the first few weeks of motherhood covered in breastmilk, wearing your grandmother's nightgown, make you an inadequate parent? Of course not!

Fitness expert and author Vianesa Vargas says "Mothers who are serious about weight loss need to take a balanced approach to eating and exercise and not look for a quick fix...Mothers need to be strong and healthy."

Vargas's eating plan emphasizes balance, not calories, carbs, or fat grams.

Every meal should include protein, carbohydrates, and either antioxidant-rich fruits or leafy green vegetables.

Skipping meals is ill-advised. Eating regularly throughout the day (including high-protein snacks) balances blood sugar levels and moods.

Vargas has degrees in biology and nutrition studies. She has a four-year-old son, and a newborn. Vargas, who formerly specialized in helping obese adults reach health and fitness goals, has founded the Take Care Project as an online resource for mothers who are finding balance in their busy lives by taking care of themselves first.

This free website includes:

• Articles on health and wellness, fitness, nutrition, recreation, and relaxation
• Forums for mothers to connect with one another
• Links to places in local neighborhoods for "me" time
• Vargas's blog, with personal insights, as well as expert advice on nutrition, fitness, and motherhood