Media outlet TMZ on Monday broke the news this week that Puppeteer Kevin Clash, the voice of the iconic Muppet Elmo, has been accused of having a sexual relationship with a 16-year-old seven years ago. The accuser, now 23, has since recanted his story of alleging the sexual relationship occurred when he was 16 and Clash was 45. Clash never denied the relationship. "I had a relationship with [the accuser]," he told TMZ. "It was between two consenting adults and I am deeply saddened that he is trying to make it into something it was not." Andreozzi & Associates, a law firm that said it …

This week's Parents Talk topic deals with bullying. It's a topic previously discussed here in this column, only this time, a parent has made headlines for telling her son to fight back. An Indiana mother who sent her gay son to school with a stun gun after she felt administrators hadn't done enough to stop bullying against him told CNN anchor Don Lemon she would do it again, even though the teen expelled for doing so. "I do not promote violence -- not at all -- but what is a parent to do when she has done everything that she felt she was supposed to do ... at the school?" the mother, Chelisa …

Last week, a situation at Hazelwood West High School resulted in the campus being locked down for almost an hour while school officials and Hazelwood police assigned to the school as community resource officers, searched for something based on a student tip. The Hazelwood School District (HSD) through Hazelwood West's electronic mail system sent out an email to parents after the situation was over that described what happened and how it was handled. Hazelwood Patch emailed HSD's communication department regarding protocol for counseling and speaking with students after a situation as such, …

Ah spring. I've been waiting on it since the last 75 degree day the City of Hazelwood had back in November. Winter is great and all, but I love the long days of sunlight, mild temperatures and bright colors in nature that seem to only appear during this time of year. One thing I don't like since becoming a mother and moving back to the place I grew up from Florida, is the asthma and allergies my son seemed to develop the minute the family saw the "Welcome to Missouri" sign. This can be quite a task to keep under control for the little one we call "nature boy" around the house. He naturally …

Initially I decided on the topic of toddlers and dentistry to get input from parents on how to prepare my two year old for his first trip to the dentist. I've found a dentist in the City of Hazelwood after doing some research and an extensive poll on my personal Facebook page (sarcasm). My son had always been excited about brushing his teeth and reminds me when he wakes up, after lunch and before he gets in the bed at night. But I feel uneasy about how he'll react to the chair, noises, tools, and mostly the man behind the mask! As I started doing some research for this article, I ran across a…

This week's Parents Talk topic deals with breastfeeding. An always controversial topic, it can become even more inflamed when you bring in two aspects—breastfeeding in public and breastfeeding on Seasame Street. The National Post has a story out of Vancouver, Canada of a breastfeeding mom who is taking on Facebook's nudity policy about the subject. Facebook and the breastfeeding activists are engaged in a battle over the posting of photographs that show mothers feeding their babies. According to the article Facebook has a very strict nudity policy and the latest incident happened Saturday, …

A National Public Radio broadcast on Tuesday discussed the perils of Congress and the many things it has to decide. The newest hot topic includes your child's lunch menu at school. The idea of pizza sauce serving as a vegetable is being tossed around. As part of new nutrition standards proposed by the U.S. Department of Agriculture, schools would need to use about one-half cup of tomato paste on pizza in order for the sauce to count as a vegetable serving. During the broadcast, Corey Henry of the American Frozen Food Institute said "A slice of pizza would literally be swimming in tomato paste…

Be prepared for all kinds of inquiries but here’s the main question most children will want to know, “What about ME?” Then, “How will my schedule change?” “Will you still have time for me?” “Is this my fault?” “Am I going to get it?” “Will I lose my hair, too?” Even the most compassionate children, who will surely want to know that their parent is going to be OK, will want to know the impact the disease and treatment will have on them, said Marsha T. Oakley, nursing coordinator at The Hoffberger Breast Cancer Center at Mercy Medical Center in Maryland. “It’s good to be positive and to let …

My birthday was about one month ago and to celebrate it, I went out to lunch with my 21-month-old daughter and her father. Usually when I take my daughter to a restaurant, she is an adorable, angelic cherub of a child who pulls in adoring fans by the time we hit the front door. Not this time. I am pretty sure a demon crawled into my child and took over as soon as we sat down. To say she had a tantrum would be to call New York City a town or the Grand Canyon a hole. Upon entering, she immediately began to size up her audience, instantly realizing she could "perform" better if she was not bound…

"Dora, Boots, Map, Backpack" is what I hear most every morning from my 20-month-old daughter Macy. As soon as she opens her little eyes in the morning it seems she has been dreaming of these characters and can't wait to tell me all about them. She will yell Dora's name in a store if the culprit is spotted. Beach towels, yogurts, swimming diapers, none are safe if they feature the face of her beloved Dora and friends. Seeing this significant, almost cult-like pull that Dora has over my daughter, I decided to take advantage of the situation and buy a Dora "big-girl bed" and a Dora potty. I hate…

Some may think of chunky baby rolls in a bikini as cute, and other people may see it as inappropriate. But baby bikini makers have been making headlines on ABC News' Good Mornining America, The Huffington Post and a bunch of parenting blogs for making the swimwear for babies as young as 3 months old. These aren't your typical child swimming suits. These two-piece swimsuits come in an array of styles: leopard print, along with stripes and bold colors entrenched with lace and ruffles. Others may reflect a young adult theme with wording such as "Juicy" monogrammed on the butt. You be the judge. …

As a journalist and mother I am conflicted in hearing that Casey Anthony was found not guilty of killing her 2-year-old daughter, Caylee. I lived in Florida when Caylee was reported missing and worked for a television news outlet near the area, where we covered the situation from the beginning. At that time, I was not a mother but have since given birth to a son. In my mind she was beyond guilty then, and when I became a mother it was solidified in my mind that no mother who really loved their child would behave the way she did in the days following Caylee's disappearance. I was even more …

First lady Michelle Obama, announced Thursday that the food pyramid was no more. Instead, a New York Times piece describes its replacement---a plate--as "unveiling a new, simpler image of a plate divided into basic food groups." It's called MyPlate. The new design is considered a key aspect of first lady Obama’s campaign against obesity. The plate is split into four sections for fruit, vegetables, grains and protein. A smaller circle sits beside it for dairy products. “This is a quick, simple reminder for all of us to be more mindful of the foods that we’re eating,” said Mrs. Obama at a …

My daughter, Macy, just turned 19 months old, and she is absolutely the best thing I've ever done, although I'm sure we all feel this way about our children. I was with her father for five years, and though we are no longer "together," we are still close. He lives a block away from my home and sees his daughter all the time. (If any of you are wondering, we broke up over financial issues we couldn't agree on.) We have a strange relationship in that we can hang out and barbeque and then go to court the next day (regarding him not paying support). A lot of people give me grief over this dynamic…

For many moms, it’s not difficult to take charge at an anonymous place such as a playground by scolding an unruly child who is bullying others or encouraging children to share or take turns. Maybe in the back of our minds we find these situations relatively easy to deal with because we think, “I’ll never see this child or his mother again. I’ll just do my best to fix this situation right now, and I won’t have to deal with it again.” It’s not as easy when you’re dealing with friends and family. These are people whose feelings are important to you, and people who you will be seeing again and …

When our children are little, it is often easy to fix the "boo-boo's" in their lives. A Band-Aid and a kiss can make almost any small hurt better. When they are sick, we give them medicine, chicken soup and popsicles to ease their discomfort. As they grow up, however, the "boo-boo's" get bigger and the remedies can be all but impossible to find. Recently, we traveled to Tennessee to visit some of my ex-husband's family. One of the things my daughter wanted to do was to try to reach their step-grandfather who they call "Pa." (A quick background - the children's grandmother "MeMee" died from …

I don’t know about you, but I have to admit that I secretly hoped I’d be able to shelter my kids from certain things, at least until they were old enough to understand. Unfortunately, back in my new mom days, I didn’t realize how much influence other kids could have as they got older. For example, my oldest son, who is in middle school in the Hazelwood School District, recently confided that a friend at school had shown him pornographic photos on his phone. Naturally, I immediately wanted to call his friend’s mother and tell her what he’d done, but my son assured me that she already knew and …

In a recent issue of Parents magazine, a mom offers her advice on how to deal with children’s tantrums. She writes, “Instead of saying ‘no,’ which usually triggers a tantrum, I try to give a positive reply. If my kids ask, ‘Mommy, can I have a cookie?’ I’ll say, ‘Of course you can—right after you eat dinner.’" Several things bothered me about this advice. What stood out to me above anything else was that this woman appeared to be avoiding telling her children “no,” almost as though she was afraid to do so. She justifies this by pointing out that she’s trying to stay positive, even adding a …

While doing some errands, I was wondering what is happening to all the children. I saw some children while in the store, but they weren't children in my eyes. A friend of mine was telling me that the boys in her daughter's third-grade class were talking about a porn site they all visited. That made me open my eyes to what was going on with kids around me, and what I saw was sad. In this day and time, you see 10-year-old girls wearing makeup and talking on their cellphones. Five-year old children no longer believe in the magic of Santa Clause and at 11, little boys and girls feel they are too …

From the moment my cute baby bump appeared when I was pregnant with my first son, it seemed unwanted strangers were approaching me everywhere I went.  I had both ladies and gentlemen (although I associate the term "gentlemen" with polite, so maybe we’ll just say, “men”) come up to my belly and talk to it, rub it, and during one incredibly uncomfortable encounter, one lady even tried to kiss it! I dealt with the uneasiness of trying to figure out how to respond to people who were being kind or doting upon me, but making me very uncomfortable or uneasy. I needed to know how to do so in a firm …