LilSugar

Mommy Alert: Beware of Allowing Your Tots to Stray in Stores

LilSugar — Fri, 19 Dec 2008 07:00:03 -0800

This latest clip is just too close for comfort. Similar to the story we told you about in May, another lil girl was molested in plain site at a big name bookstore. The first incident happened in the children's section of an Arcadia Borders and the most recent occurred at a Corte Madera Barnes & Noble, also in California.

This time, a five-year-old stepped just feet away from her mother who was at the counter paying for goods. But, the short distance and those split seconds provided a predator, who was silent during the attack, enough time to take the child's hand and put it inside his pants. Another incident happened at the same store this past Summer. While holiday shopping, you may be tempted to let your tots peruse the next toy aisle or stray a bit while you're in the checkout line, but in light of these reports, you should think twice about doing so.

Lil Links: Kid's Republic Bookstore

LilSugar — Mon, 18 Aug 2008 11:00:29 -0700

Kid's Republic Bookstore - Ohdeedoh
Jessica Alba is considering adoption - Celebrity Baby Scoop
Eva Longoria desperately wants a baby - Celebrity Baby Blog
For some kids whining is everything - Parent Dish
When is it okay to leave your child home alone - Alpha Mom

Did You Change Your Diet Before Conception?

LilSugar — Wed, 11 Nov 2009 10:00:00 -0800

When couples plan conception they generally prepare by tracking ovulation and take all the helpful hints they can get.

I recently stumbled on Cooking to Conceive: Fertility-Boosting Foods & Recipes to Help You Get Pregnant ($17) at the bookstore and was intrigued by the concept. It focuses on healthy dishes filled with veggies that add extra calcium, folate, and antioxidants to your diet (no champagne and oysters, but chocolate makes the cut!). It's all logical stuff, but I was impressed by the lineup. Did you change your diet when trying to get pregnant, or did you eat the same until you were eating for two?

Man Molests Girl in Plain Sight in Borders Bookstore

LilSugar — Thu, 29 May 2008 14:30:35 -0700

You can never be too careful when it comes to your kids. Sexual predators are brazen so parents need to be aware of who their children are with at all times whether they are at a the local playground, a family event or even the children's section of a bookstore. And, as an adult it's important to trust your instincts and err on the side of caution rather than dismissing something as a fleeting feeling and have your offspring pay the price.

A southern Californian girl was reading a book at Borders when she was molested by a sex offender who had at least one prior for the same offense. The five-year-old was in plain sight of adults, but the perpetrator used subtle tactics to victimize her. The man was caught on tape so watch the unsettling footage for yourself.

Texts and Tunes: Halloween Tales to Scare Off Fright

LilSugar — Thu, 29 Oct 2009 09:30:53 -0700

Halloween can be scary for tots - especially toddlers who have become more aware of their emotions or are afraid of the dark. My daughter acted squeamish around ghosts and goblins her first few Halloweens, so we opted to keep things light with charming costumes and princess fanfare. Talking and reading books about the holiday - minus the gory details - can help scare off fright.

Dr. Seuss What Was I Scared Of Halloween Book? A Glow-in-the Dark Encounter ($12) is a bit spooky, but offers a rhyming conversation to springboard a discussion about fear. If your child is younger, stop by the library or bookstore and opt for a lighter tale like the ones below.

lilsugar's Summer Reading List For Mommies Short on Time

LilSugar — Wed, 22 Jul 2009 16:11:01 -0700

Sneak in time to get lost in the pages of a few texts this Summer. Nothing can breathe new life into a tired mama like a literary escape! It's a quick and easy indulgence, and won't set you back too many bills. There's no need to spend time perusing the aisles of your local bookstore, since we've rounded up our favorite mommy reads! From those that are laugh-out-loud funny to stories you can relate to, check out our picks !

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Will You Buy Kate Gosselin's Cookbook?

LilSugar — Fri, 15 May 2009 14:00:46 -0700

TLC's mom of eight, Kate Gosselin, has found much success with her first two books, Multiple Bles8ings ($11) and Eight Little Faces ($14) - both hit the New York Times Best Seller list.

In November, Kate's third book, Love Is in the Mix ($30), will hit bookstores and help fellow parents "make meals into memories." Known for feeding her family organic, the star of Jon and Kate Plus 8 will share her nutritious recipes, tips for making traditions, mealtime blessings, and craft projects. Will you buy the book to use in your kitchen?

Source

Interview With Alex McCord: Real Housewife Talks Children

LilSugar — Thu, 16 Apr 2009 08:00:11 -0700

Made famous by her family's everyday antics on Bravo's show, The Real Housewives of New York City, Alex McCord has written a parenting book that will hit bookstore shelves at the end of this year or the beginning of next. Rather than an instructional read, the text will be a he said, she said penned by Alex and her hubby, Simon, about raising their young sons - Francois, 5, and Johan, 3, - in an urban environment. And, since they don't always agree, Alex said it makes for an interesting read.

I recently had a chance to chat via phone with the reality star who wouldn't say who was the most maternal housewife or which castmates's parenting style she identified with, but was happy to dish on what really happened during last season's finale and the fact that she and Simon initially didn't plan to enter parenthood.

lilsugar: At a time in your children's lives when most parents are looking to purchase a parenting book, what made you feel equipped to write one?
Alex McCord: I remembered the books that resonated the most with me when I was pregnant and they were not how to books written by doctors and psychologists, but collections of stories about people living their lives with children and what happened - the good, the bad, the ugly - and by reading that you could see what they learned from it. I had started writing down stories myself in 2004 when I was a mom of one. And now that we have the show, we have the platform to do something like this. There's a huge demand for slice of life entertainment and that's the same viewpoint that we are approaching this book from. It's crazy, off the wall stories about something that happened when we were out with the kids, something that happened when we were at home and my take on it and Simon's take on it.

To see what Alex had to say about childcare and the construction hazards filmed in their home, read more.

lilsugar: What is unique about the way you and Simon are raising the boys?
Alex McCord: We share everything 50 percent. We are both so invested in giving our children a good experience. We live in a very liberal city and environment which we love and have a really strong family unit. We both lost our fathers at a very young age. Simon was 5 and I was 11 and you don't know how long you are going to get to be together. The relationships with your family are the primary thing that shapes your outlook on life. It's absolutely vital to make sure that it is high quality - it's the most important job you can do. We have an appreciation for that while having full lives that involve traveling, both of us working full time, though at the moment I am looking for work full time. We do a lot of things with our children that other people thought were strange. We traveled extensively with them since Francois was 13 days old. We also came into this not wanting to have children. When we first got together, as individuals we decided we did not want to be parents and then once we were married and had been together a while, we changed our minds and threw ourselves into the experience of being parents. We couldn't be happier the way things turned out.

lilsugar: On the show you had a live-in French speaking au pair. Is she still with you?
Alex McCord: The au pair program is just for a year so we had au pairs for three years and when we finished with our last au pair, we made the decision to bring on a full time nanny instead. She does not live with us, but is with us quite a lot. We were ready to have someone not live with us.

lilsugar: Can you speak to Francois's behavior in last season's finale? Was it just a long dinner and a restless child or is that the freedom of expression you want your children to have?
Alex McCord: Hardly. It was a bunch of things. It was our naivete about the way reality shows are put together. We had never watched reality shows before doing this show. It was a family dinner with all of the children expected to attend. Dinner ran two hours late because of late arrivals of the cast members. There's a lot that you didn't see that night. It's the job of the producers to create entertaining television and more often than not with children, no one wants to see beautiful children behaving beautifully. You don't see me taking for a time-out, you do see someone asking Simon if we let our children act this way, and he says, "Oh, yeah sure we do", but the sarcasm doesn't read. We were sorry to see that it came out the way it did.

lilsugar: Did you have any regret of allowing him to be filmed. Are you more protective as a result and is that why we see less of your sons this season?
Alex McCord: We wanted them to be involved to the extent that they wanted to be if that makes any sense. It's really difficult to film a show with children. There is a lot of waiting around and we need you to do this or that and that's not natural for kids. If you want to capture those moments that are real, then you really need to manage it so that they are in for a few minutes. If you get something great. It's not good TV for kids to be held in a room for hours. We tried to balance.

lilsugar: What about the safety hazards that were filmed in your home in both seasons? Or are those areas that were filmed, but are off limits to the boys?
Alex McCord: Completely. All the construction happened behind a dead bolted door that was sealed with plastic all over the entire doorway. For example, this season when we took Jill on a tour when we got home from St. Bart's, that was the first time they ever saw it.

lilsugar: Why didn't anyone tell me blank about motherhood?
Alex McCord: Why didn't anyone tell me how much a very jaded individual would love motherhood.

lilsugar: You know you're a mother when?
Alex McCord: You know you're a mother when you can have conversations with both your children at the same time while preparing dinner and tracing out a project for work.

lilsugar: What's the best trick your mother or father taught you?
Alex McCord: Don't condescend to your children.

lilsugar: Helicopter mom or free range kids?
Alex McCord: Neither. You never want to be a parental extreme, it's really a balance. There are times when you need to be right there with them and that can be construed as helicoptering and there are times when you really need to step back and let them do their own thing and make their own mistakes.

Everyone's got an opinion on this parenting book so don't forget anonymous comments are open.

The Very Hungry Caterpillar Pops Up For Its 40th Anniversary!

LilSugar — Fri, 20 Feb 2009 13:00:00 -0800

The Very Hungry Caterpillar is a staple of every tot's library collection. First published in 1969, the children’s book was written and illustrated by beloved author Eric Carle and has since sold more than 29 million copies. To commemorate the 40th anniversary of this classic story, a brand new popup edition is about to be released. Carle's distinctive illustrations come to life in an even more spectacular way with this version than in his original innovative interactive book. Kids faces will light up discovering the caterpillar literally pop off the pages in three-dimensional form. Don't miss this text, which is available for preorder online or in bookstores March 10.

Sugardaddy: Ben Affleck

LilSugar — Fri, 23 Jan 2009 13:00:23 -0800

He has one Oscar, several Golden Globe nominations and the "Sexiest Man Alive" title, but the name Ben Affleck seems most proud of is Dad. Like his good friend Matt Damon, this Sugardaddy can often be seen out and about with his family, visiting bookstores in NYC, shopping at farmers markets in LA and most recently picking up daughter Violet, age 3, from school following the birth of her lil sister, Seraphina, two weeks ago.

It has been an eventful month for the 36-year-old Boston native. Aside from the new addition, the politically active Affleck was seen in Washington, DC earlier this week, celebrating the inauguration of the candidate he supported early-on, attending the National Hunger Rally hosted by Feeding America on MLK Day and showing his latest flick, Reporter, at the Sundance Film Festival. The writer/actor/director has also recently made a name for himself as a humanitarian, helping the United Nations Commission for Refugees launch the 'Gimme Shelter' campaign to aid those uprooted by continuing conflict in eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo.

While this father of two keeps himself busy with his off-screen activities, we can always count on him to put a smile on our faces with his duet with Jimmy Kimmel last year.

Flynet

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HarperCollins Sneak a Peek Book Series: It's Halloween Night - $6.99	Who's There on Halloween? Board Book - $4.99
Scholastic Here Comes Halloween! Board Book - $7.99	Scholastic Wow! Wow! Wubbzy! Ghost of Wuzzleburg Halloween Book - $4.99
Scholastic The Best Halloween Hunt Ever Book - $4.99	Americhip Monsters, Be Gone! Halloween Interactive Book - $4.99
Dr. Seuss What Was I Scared Of Halloween Book? A Glow-in-the Dark Encounter - $11.99	Happy Halloween, Wonder Pets! Book - $7.99
Trick or Treat? Lift-the-Flap Halloween Board Book - $6.99	Biscuit's Pet & Play Halloween - $6.99
Scholastic The Biggest Pumpkin Ever Halloween Book - $4.99	Simon & Schuster Mouse's First Halloween Board Book - $7.99
Disney Classic Scary Story Book - $15.99