Today's must reads for parents

Do you own a Maclaren stroller? If so, you need to know about a massive recall of about a million Maclaren umbrella strollers. It's kind of a gruesome story, but in the United States, 12 children have had fingers amputated after getting them stuck in the hinges of the strollers. The distributor there is offering to send parents a special hinge-pad cover to make the stroller safe. Meanwhile, Health Canada is trying to reach the manufacturer in Hong Kong to determine if the strollers sold in Canada also have the same defect. Read more to get the list of affected models, including Volo, Triumph and others.

Here are some other developing news stories parents won't want to miss:

A Catholic school board trustee is offering a "bootcamp" for new trustees to outline appropriate expensing habits, among other things. This follows a spending scandal at the Toronto Catholic School Board that involved trustees charging taxpayers for everything from Dairy Queen treats to holidays.

There are 172 Ontario schools slated for closure due to declining enrolment.Yesterday the advocacy group People for Education suggested the empty school should be used to accommodate all-day learning or turned into child and family resource centres.

Academic Pandemic: Does flu get worse on the day of the test? Education reporter Kristin Rushowy looks at whether schools are sending students home at the first sound of cough or sniffle, and whether kids are taking advantage.

In other H1N1 news, parents may be interested to learn the latest on hospital board members and other VIPs who say they are entitled to their pandemic vaccine shots before children five years of age or more. Better news, Ontario received some new swine flu vaccine yesterday, but clinics haven't been extended to any additional groups, including school-aged children. Here's where you can find the latest on vaccine clinic hours.

Downtown Toronto could become a child-free zone Developers showed up at city hall last week to oppose a regulation that would require them to make at least 10 per cent of new condo units family-sized.

A program to help young single moms graduate high school will soon be out of funding. Catherine Porter explores the unique program in her new column.

Check out our latest on the Santa Claus parade!

Top news stories of the day for parents

The mood around H1N1 has shifted this week. It's as though the death of 13-year-old Evan Frustaglio made a light go on for parents all over Ontario. Worried moms and dads across the GTA have flooded vaccine clinics as they opened, prompting York Region to essentially cry uncle late yesterday afternoon with news that the clinics could only hope to vaccinate those currently in line.

Wondering where and when to get your family vaccinated? I've pulled together a list of links to H1N1 vaccine clinic hours at all the public health regions in the GTA. Canada's chief medical office of health, Dr. David Butler-Jones is one of many leading health authorities who express frustration at the number of vaccine myths circulating around the blogosphere and playground circuits. He likens believing that vaccines cause harm to blaming umbrellas for the rain.

I found a good overview of common vaccine myths and why they're not accurate from the Canadian authority, the Public Health Agency of Canada yesterday.

It's also available as part of my list of frequently asked H1N1 questions, including tips on when to call the doctor, how to care for a flu patient, and more.

Parents who think their child has H1N1 should be prepared for a bit of a health-care odyssey. This woman's story of trying to get care for her son, tells the tale.

But it's also important not to panic at every cough (I'm reminding myself this as much as anyone else, because I've got a child home from school with a cough and fever, and it's hard not to worry). Health reporter Joseph Hall's story, No matter what, kids always get the flu, gives us some important direction on when to go to the doctor and when to stay home, but also clarifies the likelihood that if your child has the flu, it is likely H1N1.

Some other news stories not to miss:

'Alarming' weight gain for kids on psych drugs

Catherine Porter's column on the swine flu vaccine and pregnancy

East York flu clinic opens a few hours early to meet demand

Ann Douglas's Mother of All Parenting Blogs on how H1N1 is affecting Canadian parents

Some fun diversions from all this heavy stuff:

How news stories influence Halloween costume choice

Stella McCartney's new line of kids' clothes for the Gap

Today's top news stories for parents

Today is a bit of a big day on the H1N1 story. Sadly, a 13-year-old boy has been confirmed to have succumbed to complications of swine flu.

If you're wondering where to find a clinic in your area, go to our swine flu page and look under "Swine flu Info Links" on the left. Absenteeism from H1N1 is now on the rise in Ontario schools, which is an important indicator of influenza spread.

We've also got an update for pregnant moms. Canada will import 200,000 adjuvant-free H1N1 shots from Australia, rather than wait for our version to make it through our regulatory system. Pregnant women are four times as likely to develop severe complications from swine flu.

Other major news stories you'll want to read:

The 10 least nutritious breakfast cereals Note, they're all the type marketed to kids.

Teenagers at risk for heart disease are on the rise. A two-decade study of teens in the Niagara region of Ontario found that the number with risk factors for heart disease - obesity and high cholesterol - had risen to 21 per cent of all kids in Grade 9.

Price tag for all-day kindergarten rises by $500 million The Ontario government has decided to ignore the Pascal Report's suggestion of using early childhood educators to round out the kindergarten day, and instead put teacher's in charge for the full day. Follow this story on our Early Learning page.

School boards' backers blast 'achievement reform'  They say a bill that would amend the Ontario Education Act would limit the powers of school boards to set education priorities, making those second-fiddle to standardized test results.

New column on women's issues Former environment reporter Catherine Porter has launched a new column. Today she share a little about the juggle between motherhood and work.

A couple of things from yesterday when I was off sick:

Disney will be refunding money to Canadians who purchased Baby Einstein DVDs. That's because it turned out to be such a crock that any form of screen time is good for baby brain development. Talk about a fall from the mom-preneur pedestal for creator Julie Aigner-Clark.

Curriculum examines what puts kids on the street York University has developed lessons plans - including gritty skits performed by students - aimed at busting stereotypes and misconceptions about homelessness.

Some fun diversions:

Parentcentral's Halloween Guide

Fun-filled family events for this week

The Star's Halloween page

Today's top news stories for parents

Have your kids had to miss school or daycare yet this fall because of a cold or flu? Both of mine have had sick days, but luckily, their illnesses have been the minor sort that can be managed with small doses of Advil and large doses of television.

But something we've come to take for granted - in this world of 24-hour pharmacies - is that we'll be able to get the meds we need for our children, when we need them. I guess that's why this story is so shocking:

Angry parents can't believe lack of H1N1 meds for kids  With all the time to anticipate the H1N1 pandemic, these parents are wondering why a solution needed to administer Tamiflu to children is in such short supply.

If you're wondering where your family can get vaccinated, watch our Swine Flu page. I'm adding links to the clinic hours and locations of each public health unit as the information becomes available. Look for it on the left under "Swine flu info links." For up-to-the-minute swine flu news bulletins, please follow me on Twitter.

Yesterday I saw a tweet asking for prayers for a seven-months-pregnant woman in hospital isolation with H1N1. If you're pregnant or know someone who is, you may want to read Why pregnant women need to be at the front of the vaccine line. We've also got an article that looks at how prepared the hospitals are to handle the demand that swine flu may present.

Other news stories you don't want to miss today:

Plan for all-boys school creating controversy  See how opinions are differing on Chris Spence's efforts to improve school performance of boys. To get an idea of how passionately people are reacting, check out the comments on this story.

Quebec English school law quashed A court has overturned legislation that limited immigrants' access to English education.

iPods in the classroom. Should these be confiscated and returned at the end of the school year? Or incorporated into the way material is taught? The Calgary Board of Education is experimenting with the latter.

Barbie needs a kink in her hair Mattel has come out with some new darker-skin Barbies, but critics say the hair isn't what it should be.

Boy named "Chief Play Officer" for Toys "R" Us What do you think of corporations using kids as mini product ambassadors?

How young is too young for a frightening, blood-smeared Halloween? Have you been surprised at the level of Halloween gore in costumes marketed to kids? Check this out.

Other fun diversions:

Some cute, non-gory Halloween costumes

Tell your spouse to vacuum: Couples who do more housework also have more sex

Crazy Halloween decorations for the front lawn

Balloon Boy Halloween costume

Complete Halloween Guide

Today's top news stories for parents

Among the most-read topics on thestar.com right now is single-sex classrooms. Toronto District School Board education director Chris Spence said earlier this week his new academic plan will include a raft of initiatives aimed at addressing the unique learning needs of boys, including more single-sex classrooms.

There's been strong reaction to this notion, both for and against. If you want to read what people are saying, check out the comments on School plan calls for boys-only classes and Boys-only school 'issue of choice,' not segregation, director says.

I'm pretty new to being a school parent, so I'm not quite sure where I stand on this. But I've been raising my two boys long enough to get the idea. There is a unique exuberance in boys. Many are not big on sitting still. Based on the number of times I say, "Two bum cheeks on your chair," or "Belly button facing the table," over the course of dinner, I can appreciate the job it is to get a dozen or more boys to sit at desks completing worksheets for long stretches. For her latest story in this series, Louis Brown takes us into a school with sex-segregated classes to see how it works. What do you think?

Here are the other major stories you're going to want to read today:

Students to protest police role in schools  A student's arrest at Toronto's Northern Secondary School, which made the rounds on YouTube, has become a point of controversy between those for and against having police and students under the same roof.

A hospital clerk has been fired after turning away a mother and her 7-year-old son The Mexican refugee family was refused help at Humber River Regional Hospital even though the boy had suffered a head injury.

The new bill to protect nannies includes jail time. Legislation introduced yesterday, following a Star investigation, includes a maximum fine of $50,000 and a year in jail for those caught charging a fee for work in Ontario.

Some fun stuff not to miss:

Michelle Obama performed 142 swivels of a hula-hoop at a healthy kids fair yesterday. How many can you do? Vegetable gardening...hula hooping...how are we ever going to keep up?

Love Joe Fresh? Here's some budget fashion inspiration. A photo gallery of Joe Fresh spring 2010 fashion from Toronto Fashion Week.

Ann Douglas's round-up of baby naming tools and advice on naming your baby Check it out, and make sure you subscribe to the RSS feed for The Mother of All Parenting Blogs while you're at it.

How to stylishly declutter your kids' art There's some good advice here on sorting the masterpieces from the, um, non-keepers.

The pop culture influences on this year's Halloween costumes. Learn about this year's best-selling costumes, and find all kinds of other tools on our Halloween Guide.

Today's top news stories for parents

It's no surprise that I'm getting a lot of questions from parents about swine flu these days. Whether or not you choose to vaccinate is a personal choice, but I'm urging parents to make informed decisions based on facts. Please take your advice from family doctors and public health authorities. I'm seeing all kinds of factually shaky and misguided emails and YouTube videos making the rounds in mommy circles, so it may be wise to consider the source.

Here are some news stories that may help you get informed:

Health reporter Theresa Boyle has compiled a list of common questions about swine flu.

Here's the latest on when swine flu vaccination is likely to begin.

This story contains information on the availability of adjuvant-free vaccine for pregnant women, and this one answers more questions regarding the vaccine and pregnancy.

In other news:

Food editor Jennifer Bain takes a critical look at the school cafeteria in a profile of a unique pilot project called the Good Food Cafe. Run by FoodShare, this place is whipping up yummy lunch choices and helping city kids make a real connection between what's grown in the field and what lands on the table.

In the latest in her series on the state of children's aid societies, Tanya Talaga takes a look at the sad state of Family and Children's services in Rainy River.

Fun diversions:

Michele Henry's hilarious blog admission of baby milestone jealousy

A Halloween craft you can make from those little cereal boxes

Our Halloween Guide

Please let me know if you think I've missed something that should be included in this list.

Oh, let them sleep

Have you checked out today's story by education reporter Kristin Rushowy on the high school that's starting at 10 a.m. this year?

Toronto's Eastern Commerce Collegiate has a pilot program to see how students perform - in both grades and attendance - with a school day that starts and ends an hour later.

I think it's about time. We've heard endlessly in recent years that teenagers have a child-like need for sleep (8.5 hours plus), but circadian rhythms that keep them from nodding off at child-like bedtimes. In fact, teens may get a dose of melatonin - the sleep-inducing brain chemical - even later in the evening than adults. That, along with your exhausting juggle and his Grand Theft Auto addiction, at least partly explains why your teen may be up later than you these days.

But in most schools, he's still expected to be alert and ready to learn somewhere between 8:45 and 9 a.m.

I agree with Principal Sam Miceli's view that start times should be approached with the same compassion and acceptance with which preschool's embrace nap time. After all, teens are still children.

The critics' view that this sort of policy will encourage laziness and leave kids ill-prepared for the real-world just doesn't hold. As the story points out, at university or college - presumably the next destination for many - students can design their own timetables. That leaves plenty of years to grow into a nine-to-five work-world that may actually be less and less the norm.

Looking around The Star newsroom, as just one example of a real-world workplace, I see few departments that are fully staffed at 9 a.m. There are plenty of hard-working people here who start at 10 a.m. because that's when their news day is getting underway, their kids are delivered to school, and so on. There are others who start at 4 or 5 p.m. and work all evening to get the paper ready to print. A handful work all night to keep the website fresh and cover events that happen overnight. We settle into the schedules that work for us, and it's hard to imagine that the kid who grows up to be an animator or to video-game designer (likely self-employed or working on contract) is going to have to report to work at the crack of dawn.

The "I-had-to-and-so-should-you" logic of those opposed is simply arcane. It's the same line of reasoning used to justify 24-hour shifts for emergency medicine residents, simply because that's always the way it's been done.

I think we can all agree we don't want to be operated on by a surgeon who's 23 hours into that kind of shift. Why not let go of that sort of thinking, and at the same time, give teens a fighting chance to do the best they can at their jobs - learning?

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And don't miss this: The Catholic School board has reversed a decision to shutdown the Arrowsmith program for special needs students.

The first day of school

By now you've heard enough about our back-to-school prep and some of the associated angst. So I'll let the photos do most of the sharing about Cameron's highly-anticipated first day of Grade 1.

We have a tradition of having chocolate-chip pancakes on the first day of school, established at the start of Junior and Senior Kindergarten. (Truthfully, we find a lot of occasions special enough to warrant chocolate-chip pancakes. But there are toothbrushes and fruit smoothies and things like that to ensure our nourishment and good standing with the Children's Aid Society.)

Cameron was feeling pretty good.

After only the most minor of tensions over elusive Tupperware lids, we got out of the door at 8:30 with just enough time for the annual picture out front.

We made the walk with our neighbours -- Cameron's best buddy and his parents -- with plenty of assurances that our boys will see lots of each other, even though they aren't in the same class this year. Getting reacquainted with the playground equipment helped.

As did catching up with pals on the schoolyard.

After he knew his teacher had been apprised of his peanut allergy, he was feeling pretty confident.

And looked like this as his class marched into the school.

Now it's time for me to go pick him up and find out how things went.

Be sure you don't miss our latest education news:

No more pencils, lots more fun

Enrolment up at Africentric school

Classroom flu fight

P.S. Even though he wasn't going back to anything other than story time  at the library, Alister got a back-to-school shirt, too.

Back-to-school party

My oldest boy, Cameron, is headed back to school tomorrow. Not only that, but he starts Grade 1, which is a pretty big deal when you're accustomed to calling it a day at 11:30 a.m. and everything that happens outside of the kindergarten wing is cloaked in mystery.

Cam has taken a while to get comfortable with the notion of being in Grade 1. He doesn't yet know how to read and some of his friends do, so he's been concerned that he's not "proper for Grade 1." A little pomp and ceremony have been required to nudge him from plain old nervous to nervous excitement.

I wrote last week about the transitions that September brings, some of them welcome, some of them, not so much. Suffice it to say we both needed something to give Labour Day some shape, mark the end of summer on a high note and welcome the start of school.

We decided on a back-to-school lunch at noon. This way everyone could have a leisurely meal and good long play and still get to bed on time. (You could do this with school-bus themed invitations and a school-bus cake, but this was planned on short-notice, which I think is the easiest and lowest-pressure way to throw a party.)

I didn't feel like manning the barbecue all day, and I wanted to be able to talk to my friends, so I made platters of sandwiches (school-lunch theme, right?) that I could pull out of the fridge when guests were assembled. Along with a selection of other kid-friendly snacks, Irene's veggie tray and a plate of watermelon, this was all that was needed.

 

(Unfortunately, 2-year-old Alister sidled up to this tiered snack tray when I was busy setting up, and polished off the chips.)

It was a gorgeous day, so the backyard was the perfect place to gather.

 

Left to right, that's Alister (he's not going back to school), Maddie, Davis, Ella (who declared her intention to marry Davis several times during the party), Cameron and Emerson.

The kids had plenty of opportunity to burn off some last-day-of-summer energy...

...sliding...

...climbing...

...colouring...

and playing "Octopus." (Octopus? Cameron explains: "One person is the octopus and they say 'run!' and if you get touched, you're seaweed.")

Naturally, all of this requires refreshments...

Of one kind,

Or another.

Because after keeping kids entertained through nine weeks of summer vacation,

the grown-ups deserve a little fun, too.

Hurray!

Naturally, the centrepiece of this sort of gathering is always the cake (who doesn't like cake?).

 

I swung by Baskin-Robbins late Sunday afternoon and selected this ice cream cake from the few left on the shelf. I asked the young man helping me if someone could pipe the words "Back to school!" on top.  He said yes, but added, "I dunno why anyone would want to celebrate THAT." He then proceeded to spell it S-H-C-O-O-L. The above is his fix-it job.

It went over Okay.

 

 

But the important part is that, by dinnertime, Cameron had declared that he was now more excited than nervous, and that going into Grade 1 "makes me feel so much bigger."

And that's the point.

Have a great first day of school.

Some comments on all-day learning

Earlier this week I shared my concern about teachers standing in the way of proposed all-day learning in Ontario elementary schools.

Today social justice reporter Laurie Monsebraaten has a positive update on the early learning front - Education Minister Kathleen Wynne says the province DOES support the idea of integrated education and childcare.

Some of the commenters had very interesting things to say, so I'm going to share those with you here:

"S. Morgan" made a very good point about having the physical space to accommodate childcare, particularly for kindergarten students:

Please be sure that you are representing the thoughts of actual individual teachers, not the unions that represent them. The opinions of individuals are not necessarily the same as the party line. The one huge concern over full day kindergarten, and the creation of education hubs is the space! Where will we put the children? In a school with 6 classes of half-day kindergarten children, you currently need 3 rooms. If they stay all day, you need 6! The government would have to invest millions to enlarge existing school buildings and the current daycare centres would be boarded up.

Certainly, bricks and mortar are huge factors here. While it seems fairly achievable that before- and after-school programs for grade-school students could be housed in current classrooms, gym facilities, cafeterias and play yards, it is potentially very tricky to figure out what to do with double the kindergartners.

However, the expectation is that it WILL take time to roll out the program at all schools where there is demand. It will take creativity and juggling and out-of-the box thinking. But it's also important to note that it likely won't be quite a doubling of kindergarten kids. Some will still have stay-at-home parents, grandparents or other caregivers that their families prefer to use.

When we look at how universal childcare supports families in countries elsewhere in the world, it's reasonable to expect that the program will become quite popular (in fact, we only need to look at Quebec's $7-a-day childcare to see that). Here's what "Secondina" had to say (clever alias, by the way):

I am a Canadian expat living abroad for over 14 years now. I live in Italy. I have two small children and no family living close by. We have a school system identical to the one proposed and I must say that it is by far the best situation one could hope for in my situation. My children are in Kindergarten (my 3 yr old) and in 1st grade. We take them to school in the morning at 8-8.15 and pick them up between 5-5.30. We pay a minimal cost of approx 400 Euros each per year for pre- and post-school programs and would be lost and financially inhibited without them. My children get hot lunches served from a school catering service and are cared for throughout the day, which allows me to work serenely and not worry about them being picked up by a baby sitter or neighbour and taken to daycare or sitting in front of someone's TV for hours!

I can relate to "Secondina" because I also have no family nearby to help with pick-ups and drop-offs, and there are many thousands of us in the same boat here in Toronto. "M. Lucic" concurred the proposed program would be a huge weight off:

What a great idea. Not only do the kids get early stimulus and education but the parents would get piece of mind knowing that their child is in a safe learning environment, and you don't have to worry about mid-day transportation to and from school and daycare. If this had been available when my kids were young I would have gladly paid a fee for such a program. Government will always find reasons to tax us at least this one would be worth the expense.

Predictably, there are always those who think programs like this are nanny-state interference. That children are some kind of extravagant lifestyle choice for which parents should shoulder all expenses. And that (snore) the only moral choice is for one parent to stay at home to look after the children. "Not amused" says:

Let's call it what it is: daycare, not education. It's an extra half day of play time so mom and dad don't have to spend a couple of years paying for daycare or spending time with preschoolers. But its also $500 million out of the pockets of the taxpayers, so there are other reasons to consider this kind of thing very carefully.

I could respond to this but I'd rather share the words of commenter "M. Alton:"

Note to "Not amused" I am on the board of a not-for-profit daycare, which is exceptional in its delivery of not only good, safe care, with playtime, but also education. Housed in a public school, almost all of the children graduate to grade 1 knowing addition, subtraction, and, if not reading, then the alphabet and how words fit together. I am always surprised at not only the under-estimation of children's abilities but the disdain that the public-school teachers in our school give our ECE educated staff. By properly instituting early education in caring environments we could give all kids a better start. We could relieve the most incredible stress on parents - knowing that our children are safe - while we work, which, please, most of us need to do. The 500 million out of the pockets of taxpayers is much better spent educating our children than the billions spent bailing out auto manufacturers.