This may sound like common sense, but Canadian researchers have recently shown that kids who get flu shots help to protect others who haven’t been vaccinated.

Dr. Mark Loeb, a professor of pathology and molecular medicine at McMaster University says…

There is an additional benefit in immunizing children and adolescents in terms of reducing the spread of influenza in the community. It doesn’t only benefit them, but it will protect their grandparents and older people in the community as well.

Many kids aren’t aware of their potential at spreading germs. In the U.S., the seasonal flu kills around 36,000 people each year. If your kids haven’t gotten their flu shots yet, take them to your doctor or local pharmacy as soon as you can.

Let’s all do everyone else a favor by getting vaccinated.

Did your kids get their flu shots yet? Did they get the flu this year?

Kids Who Get Flu Shots Protect the Unvaccinated [Yahoo!]

Related articles:

1. Should You Get The Swine Flu Vaccine For Your Kids?
2. Obama Declares Swine Flu A National Emergency – What Does It Mean For You?
3. What To Do If You Think Your Child Has Swine Flu (H1N1)

Gever Tulley, founder of the Tinkering School, talks about 5 things you should let your kids do…even if those things are a little dangerous.

1. Play with Fire
2. Own a Pocket Knife
3. Throw a Spear
4. Deconstruct Appliances
5. Drive a Car

These activities will help your kids grow up to be creative, confident, and safe. Throwing, for example, stimulates various parts of the brain, and it will help your kids develop visualization, analytical, and physical skills.

Take a look at the video for Tulley’s short speech. What do you think of Tulley’s suggestions?

5 Dangerous Things You Should Let Your Kids Do [TED]

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1. Top 10 Most Dangerous Foods
2. Video Game Content: Not The Only Problem To Worry About
3. Playing – More Important Than Homework?

Let’s get one thing straight: kids hate being yelled at. So it’s no wonder that your kids don’t listen to you when you yell at them to do things like clean their rooms.

If you want them to listen to you, cater your demands to what they want to do.

Take a look at these 6 steps from Modern Mom to get a better idea of how to do that…

1. Turn cleaning into a game.
2. Sing your commands instead of straight up telling your kids to clean.
3. Practice counting toys with your kids.
4. Suggest a little competition by timing the cleanup.
5. Establish organization to make cleanup easier.
6. Remind your kids of a clean room by taping a picture of the cleanliness outside the door.

Recognizing these steps is one thing, but actually carrying out the steps is another. Give this a try and see if it works for you!

How to Get Kids to Clean Their Own Room [Modern Mom]

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2. Snacks Even Your Kids Can Make
3. The Good Thing About Sharing a Room

If you’ve never had a pet in the family, the idea of kids and pets can be an attractive one.

But before you decide to get your kids that cute puppy or kitten, there are 3 main things you should keep in mind…

• Are the pets age-appropriate when it comes to children?
  According to Anne Vasquez on SunSentinel.com, the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (ASPCA) recommends smaller pets for children ages 3-5. If you’re going to get a larger animal, like a grown dog, make sure the animal is friendly towards kids.
• Pets can be teachers
  A pet in the family is a great way for your kids to learn responsibility. Assign chores like feeding and socializing the animal. Quality time with pets will help your kids recognize trust, companionship, and compassion.
• Your current pet may not be used to a new bab
  Pets need to get used to new additions to the family, too.

Do you have a pet? How do you kids get along with the pet?

Kids and Pets: What Parents Need to  Consider [SunSentinel.com]

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We at Just Parenting Advice recently published a blog that features Jamie Oliver’s TED speech. Oliver emphasized the importance of home-cooked foods as opposed to the fast food that is making so many kids today obese.

It’s important that kids learn how to cook at an early stage so that they don’t rely on eating out when they get older.

Here’s a list of snacks that your kids can make. These aren’t recipes for food; however, they have to start with foods that they can handle. And what kind of child can’t handle snacks and munchies?

• Trail Mix
• Fruit Salad
• Cereal Bracelets
• Sandwich Kabobs
• Painted Toast

These are all things your kids can easily make. With a little supervision from you, your kids will be on their way to a much healthier lifestyle by starting with these simple snacks.

Check out the link below for all 10 snack ideas, and specific instructions on how to make them.

Do your kids know how to cook simple foods?

10 Easy Snacks That Kids Can Make [Modern Mom]

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2. Top Five After-School Snacks
3. Which Allergen-Free Snacks Taste Good?

Do your kids have something interesting to say about practically everything? Do you get a kick out of what they say, and do you think others will, too?

Maybe it’s time for your kids start their own blogs.

I think this is actually an interesting idea, and there’s an innocence in children that will bring fresh perspectives to topics that pertain to parenting and to the real world.

Before you set up that blog account, read this list of tips from Radical Parenting so that your kids’ blogging experience will be both fun and safe.

1. Know your kids’ usernames and passwords for their blogs.
2. Think twice about disclosing their full name.
3. Don’t add personal pictures on the blog.
4. Don’t add full names of family members or friends.
5. Help your kids choose a theme to tie the blog together.
6. Make sure your kids know the difference between a diary and a blog.
7. Read their posts before posting to make sure they’re appropriate.
8. Use the blog as a way to practice spelling and grammar.
9. Create a separate account for blogs. Consider using an email account linked to you so that you can monitor password changes and comments.
10. Use blogging as a way to be creative.

By following these tips, you and your kids will have a safer and more fulfilling blogging experience!

Do any of your kids have a blog? What is the theme and how often do they post? Care to share the blog with us?

10 Tips: Want to Give Your Kid Their Own Blog? [Radical Parenting]

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The increasing number of young child stars these days greatly influences how your own kids feel about themselves and what they think about society as a space where physical beauty and looks dominate success.

Makeup products, for example, are being marketed to kids as young as 3 years old with Hannah Montana packaging. Kids see this and think it’s okay if they use these products–after all, they watch the show.

But it’s not okay.

Research has found that many cosmetics products contain many toxins that aren’t labeled on the packaging. Many of these toxins are linked to cancer. Some even alter hormones.

Is this what you want your kids using? Products that can adversely affect their health?

And what about the ethics behind kids and makeup? I personally don’t think it’s psychologically healthy for kids to wear makeup. They don’t need to hide anything, and as parents you should try to get your kids to understand that.

How do you feel about makeup and kids? Do your kids wear makeup?

Kids and Makeup: A Dangerous Mix? [The Boston Channel]

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2. When Sorry Doesn’t Cut It
3. Is the iPad For You and Your Kids?

When I was younger I was in love with *NSYNC…you know, the boy band? I imagined myself getting married to one of the members. I needed their CDs, and just HAD to have their albums the same day they were released.

Thinking back, I probably didn’t NEED those music albums, although I certainly did want to be one of the first of my friends to buy their CDs…

Celebrities can really change the way your kids behave. You may find yourself asking, “Who are so-and-so and what have they done to my kids?”

Many kids go through their celebrity obsession stage. It’s not necessarily unhealthy behavior. It’s more amusing than anything.

Your young daughters may be in love with Justin Bieber, but so are all the other kids…so don’t worry about it. The phase will pass and you’ll be relieved of those songs that have been playing over and over and over again!

Who are your kids currently obsessed with?

Who Is Justin Bieber and What Has He Done With My Daughter? [Families.com]

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Mark Bauerlein, an English professor at Emory University in Atlanta and author of The Dumbest Generation: How the Digital Age Stupefies Young Americans and Jeopardizes Our Future, believes that technology is to blame for the downfall of intelligence in today’s Generation Y.

Bauerlein argues that…

If you go into a room of strangers, you don’t know how to relate. You can’t replicate your IM habits. It closes people off from a wider engagement with the world.

On the other hand, director of the Center of Aging at University of California, Los Angeles believes that technology “teaches our brain a different way of processing things,” and that it’s not necessarily making us dumber.

I personally think that there are some disadvantages to technology, but the goods greatly outweigh the bads. Technological advances in the medical field, for example, are helping scientists expedite certain processes that used to take weeks or months.

What do you think? Is technology making us dumber?

‘Dumbest Generation’? Professor Blames Technology [USA Today]

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2. Tracking Kids By GPS
3. Killing Kids With Bad Food

Jamie Oliver won the 2010 Technology, Entertainment, Design (TED) award with his vision that diet habits in kids can be changed in the home and at school.

I wish for everyone to help create a strong, sustainable movement to educate every child about food, inspire families to cook again and empower people everywhere to fight obesity.

Diet-related diseases are the biggest killers in the U.S. today. But these diseases are entirely preventable, as Oliver repeats in his talk over and over again.

In watching the video below, you will learn…

• How often Americans die as a result of the food they eat
• How much children’s lives are shortened by diet habits
• How to teach kids about food at home and in schools.

Oliver believes that we are all capable of making real, tangible change in the way we feed our children. Do you believe?

Watch the video and tell us what you think!

Jamie Oliver’s TED Talk: How We’re Killing Our Kids With Bad Food [Barking Robot]

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1. Snacks Even Your Kids Can Make
2. A Simple (And Nutritious) Trick To Use With Your Kids When Their Food Is Too Hot
3. Video: Five Dangerous Things You Should Let Your Kids Do