President George Bush has signed into law the Children's Gasoline Burn Prevention Act, which is designed to prevent kids from being burned or otherwise injured from gasoline. The Act requires portable gasoline containers to conform to child resistance safety requirements already in place for other flammable liquids. This new requirement applies to containers manufactured for sale in the United States on or after January 17, 2009.

"Families who purchase gasoline cans with child resistant gas caps and who keep all flammable liquids out of the sight and reach of children are improving the safety of their homes," said Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) Acting Chairman Nancy Nord.

Keep your kids safe around gasoline by following this tips, courtesy of CPSC:

• Buy a gasoline container that is child resistant.
• Place a gasoline container in a well ventilated, cool area.
• Never store gasoline or other fuel inside the house, in the basement, or near a fuel-burning appliance, open flames, pilot lights, stoves, heaters, electric mowers, or any other sources of ignition.
• Never smoke near gasoline.
• Never carry gasoline in the trunk of the car. Escaping vapors can easily ignite.
• Keep gasoline, kerosene and other fuels out of the reach of children. Never permit children to play with matches or fuel.

The Children's Gasoline Burn Prevention Act was introduced to Congress by Dennis Moore, D-Kansas, after he learned of a tragic accident involving two children in his state. A four-year-old boy died and his younger brother was permanently scarred after they opened a gas can and spilled its contents near a hot water heater.

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After a bedtime routine of bath, brushing teeth, and book reading, my daughters still often resist settling in under getting under the covers and settling in for the night. So we started a new routine where, once they are tucked in and quiet, we turn off all the lights and I read them a few pages from a chapter book (with my booklight). Not only does this give them incentive to get settled into bed, I figure, they're imaginations get a workout as they try to picture the story in their heads. Last week, my three-year-old pulled out Stuart Little. I wasn't sure if they were ready for it yet, but they seem mesmerized by the story so far, and it's so much fun to sink back into an old children's classic.

Stuart Little has delighted children for decades, but did you know that the book got off to a rocky start? The New Yorker has an excellent piece about the relationship between E.B. White, his wife Katherine, and book reviewer Anne Carroll Moore. Moore is credited with creating the idea of a children's library and story time, and became a powerful influence in children's literature. Though she pushed White for years to finish his book, once the manuscript was finished she fought its publication. Saying "I was never so disappointed in a book in my life," and that it had been written by "a sick mind," she refused to order it for the New York Public Library, and therefore influences libraries across the nation as well.

It's a story that's nearly as interesting as the book itself. Parents with an interest in children's literature, classics, or even the history of the New York City Library will find this piece of the past engrossing.

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Lots of little boys dream of careers in law enforcement. In preparation, they spend hours playing cop, arresting their little friends and writing tickets. But this sort of pretend police work is just child's play for Landon Wilburn of Louisville, Kentucky. He found an effective way to actually enforce the law and has become a neighborhood hero because of it.

Like a lot of subdivisions, the one where 11-year-old Landon lives has a problem with cars speeding through the streets. Residents have complained to police and Landon and his friends regularly yell at drivers to slow down. But when these efforts failed, Landon came up with a better idea. He got out his Hot Wheels toy radar gun, donned a bright orange vest, and grabbed his siren-equipped flashlight. He set himself up on the side of the street and began tracking the speed of passing cars.

Yeah, it's a toy but it actually works! The speed limit in Landon's neighborhood is 25 mph, but he clocked some cars going close to 55 mph. At least they were until they spotted what they assumed was a police officer with a radar gun aimed at them. Neighbor George Ayers says, "When I saw it happening, I got the biggest kick out of it. People were locking up their brakes when they saw him."

Fortunately, Landon may soon find his radar gun is no longer needed. After commissioning a study on speeding in the area, speed humps are being installed in the neighborhood.

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When life gives you lemons, you make lemonade, or so the old saying goes. But what about when life gives you expensive lemons? Although that may seem like an oxymoron, kids are getting hit hard with the rising price of lemons just as their parents suffer the insanity of gas price gouging.

When I was a kid I used to both buy and sell lemonade for less than a quarter. And I made a little bit of money. These days though, kids are charging more for their lemonade, to the tune of anywhere from 50 cents to a dollar. A dollar for lemonade?? Yep. And these kids are making some money, too.

Just ask the kids interviewed for the New York Magazine article linked to above. Now, granted, they live in New York City, where things are more expensive in general. Some of them charge 25 cents and some of them charge a dollar. All of them are making a profit, one group up to $240! Why? Well, because people feel sorry for them in the current economy. Being cute doesn't hurt either. What about you? What is the most you would pay for a glass of lemonade? And, how much do you think it's appropriate for your kids to charge when they sell it? After all, most likely you're the one buying those lemons!

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Barbie has always provoked strong emotions in some, but with the introduction of Bratz dolls, she seemed downright quaint. Well, she is quaint no more. With Mattel's September release of a doll based on the DC comic superhero Black Canary, Barbie is going to find herself back on the naughty girl list.

Clad in black thigh-high leather boots and gloves, fishnet stockings and a motorcycle jacket, this S&M Barbie is stirring more than little girls' imaginations. A spokesman for the religious group Christian Voice finds this sexed-up plaything to be just too much. "Barbie has always been on the tarty side and this is taking it too far. A children's doll in sexually suggestive clothing is irresponsible – it's filth."

I agree that perhaps this isn't Barbie's best look and wouldn't buy it for my kid. But that won't be a problem because she doesn't want Black Canary. When I showed her this photo and asked for her opinion, she looked aghast. "She's not wearing any pants!" she exclaimed. Good girl.

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Summer is almost over. It happens so fast, really, though I say this from the standpoint of a teacher--and not as a parent (although I have a three year old who does his share of crawling up my legs in boredom.) I know that for most of you, the end of July starts feeling like the final stage in a marathon: you're counting the days until you can send your kids back to school and enjoy your morning cup of coffee in peace.

Still, there are a couple weeks of summer left, and it is the perfect time to help your child review and practice number concepts that may have gotten left on the back burner for most of vacation. Strong math skills are critical for young learners to excel, and all too often the focus in the early grades is unduly put on reading.

Without a solid understanding of numbers, children in first and second grade can really struggle as new and more complex mathematical concepts are introduced. But a good foundation in math depends on a whole lot more than algorithms and repetition. While the workbooks that many kids do over the summer can build confidence, what they rarely do is build comprehension. Children need to understand the concepts behind number operations in order problem solve with flexibility.

So, while a grade-level appropriate workbook might have been a great way to practice and review some concepts at the beginning of the summer, now is the time to set it aside, and start playing with numbers.

Following are a few activities that you can integrate into your daily routine at home that will give your child practice with the most fundamental concepts in math: comparing, quantifying, counting on, counting back, etc. Mastery of these apparently simple skills is actually what allows young learners to problem solve with flexiblility and apply multiple strategies when encountering new math problems--rather than relying only on a memorized algorithm.

· While cooking dinner: take a handful of dried pasta, beans, etc and have your child count the pile. Notice how she counts. Is it by ones? Twos? Challenge her to count it in at least three different ways.

· While driving to and from anywhere: count by twos, fives, tens, and ones. Once your child has mastered counting forward (to 100) practice counting backwards. Then shake things up by starting at random numbers (i.e. "count by twos starting at 46" or for an even greater challenge ask your child to count by twos starting at an odd number like 37.)

· While eating breakfast: ask your child to estimate how many pieces of cereal might fit into a measuring cup. Talk about what it means to make an estimate (in school I tell kids it's a "good guess") and what might be a reasonable or an unreasonable estimate.

· Anytime: ask your child to compare amounts of objects. Buttons, beads, marbles, stickers, etc are all fun objects to count and compare: which has most? Which has the fewest? How do they know?

· Before dinner: tell your child you need his help finding out what the family wants for dinner. Give him two menu options and have him take a survey of what each family member prefers. Surveys are a great way for children to practice collecting and organizing data. Other survey ideas: let your child use the phone to poll relatives on their favorite color, food, sport, etc. Or take a clipboard and a pencil to the park for some informal tallying.

· If you only have 3 minutes: Ask your child a bunch of quickie questions to get them thinking about the number system. "What comes before 21?" "What comes after 56?" What is one more than 18?" etc.

· If you have 5 minutes: Grab a ball to toss in the yard. Every time you toss your child the ball ask a question relating to a number pattern (such as any number plus one, any number plus two, doubles facts, any number plus 10.) This activity is especially great for hands-on learners. If your kiddo stumbles on a particular fact, keep coming back to it until it becomes familiar.

· If you have 10 minutes, ask your child to solve a problem using pictures, numbers and words. Using multiple approaches helps children become flexible with their problems solving, and encourages them to double check and support their thinking. Problems can be as simple as: how many legs are in our family? To something more complex-such as how many fingers and toes (knees, elbows, and tongues!) are in our family all together?

Almost anytime and anyplace presents itself as an opportunity for playing with numbers, once you're in the mindset. So have fun, and give your child a head start on the school year by using numbers daily in various settings.

Humanity has done its best to destroy itself, but didn't succeed completely -- a few plucky individuals have survived and have banded together to rebuild society... It's not an uncommon theme; in fact post-apocalyptic tales are a whole sub-genre of science fiction, with recent films like the Terminator, Matrix, and, of course, the Mad Max series bringing them to the mainstream. These darker tales can be fun, exciting, and even enlightening.

What's new about the genre, however, is the number of such stories aimed at kids. Jeanne DuPrau's "Books of Ember" series, for example, coming to the big screen soon and featuring Bill Murray, is about a group of kids who have to figure out how to survive and save their civilization. It's aimed at pre-teens. Even Pixar's Wall-E is a sort of post-apocalyptic tale, with the title character doggedly trying to clean up a world too polluted for humans to live in.

So are these darker tales appropriate fodder for kids? "We have more ways of ending the world than we had before," explains DuPrau. "These are big, hard truths that are facing kids, and they need to know these things."

"There's a direct connection between things [kids] may do and the end of the world," notes author Michael Grant, whose novel "Gone" tells the story of a world where everyone over the age of fourteen has disappeared and the kids are left to fend for themselves. "When I was a kid hiding under the desk from Russian missiles, no one ever said, 'Here, Michael, here's what we need to do to avoid that'."

In reading books like this, I always focused on the adventure of post-disaster survival, rather than the lessons to be learned from the disasters and ensuing chaos, but perhaps kids need these lessons more these days. We do have a lot hanging over our heads now -- economic collapse, war, political instability, global climate change -- so perhaps kids do need an outlet for dealing with the word as it is today.

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They say that experience is the best teacher, but I don't think that applies in all cases. For example, Susan Olsen, better known as Cindy from the Brady Bunch, is teaching her 10-year-old son the dangers of alcohol by binge drinking and showing up for work with a vomit-inducing hangover.

The 47-year-old Olsen was being interviewed on a Colorado radio show when she began showing signs of intestinal distress. Clutching her stomach and covering her mouth, the former cutie-pie suddenly bolted for the bathroom. When asked what happened, she proudly told the truth: she drank too much wine the night before and was dealing with a bad hangover. "Of course I threw up in the bathroom. It's better than throwing up on their face," she said. "I'm a very, very, very honest person. I also am a person who doesn't drink."

I agree, cookies are better tossed in the bathroom than on the table. And honesty usually is the best policy. But what about her 10-year-old son, who was with her in the studio? When asked if she was at all bothered by the fact that he witnessed this display, she she insisted she was not. "That's the way kids learn," she said.

The way that kids learn what, exactly? That mom can't hold her booze? That getting drunk the night before you have to work is perfectly acceptable as long as you are honest about it? And if she really never drinks, what prompted her son to invite listeners to come "watch her drink like a pig" at a local bar?

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Because of an argument I recently had with my mom, an article titled "House of lies: Is fibbing to your kids ever OK?" grabbed my attention.

A few months ago, my 8 and 6 year old spent spring break in Arizona visiting their grandparents. My kids are very close with my parents and while there, the subject of peer pressure came up in a conversation they were having about school with their grandmother. My mother explained that both children and adults are susceptible to peer pressure. As an example, she said it was like "when Uncle Pat goes out to smoke on the patio and convinces your Daddy to smoke with him.".

The problem is that our kids have no idea that their Dad has ever smoked cigarettes. My mom, apparently, didn't know that.

It's true that my husband, Sean, shared a cigarette with my brother a couple years ago. However, it is the rare social occasion where Sean smokes and it is always out of the sight of the kids.

When the kids returned home, one of the first things they told us was that Grandma told them "Daddy smoked with Uncle Pat." Clearly they were shocked and wanted to sort out the story. Totally surprised by the revelation, my husband told them that grandma must have been mistaken and left it at that. The kids believed him and that was the end of the story ... sort of.

When my mom found out, she was upset because she felt that Sean's explanation undermined her credibility with the kids. She also thinks that this could have been a teachable moment: children and adults must overcome temptations to give in to peer pressure -- even Daddy. More importantly, she insists that we should not lie to the children, lest they catch Sean smoking one day.

My husband and I do not believe that we need to tell our kids everything. While it would be best if Sean never smoked at all (and he hasn't in a long time), I agree with his decision to "lie" in this instance given how rarely he smokes. In this case, I do not think it is something we need to discuss or explain to the kids. Sometimes, withholding some information, especially when they are young, is for their own good.

So, is it OK to lie to your kids? Weigh in. Both my mom and I are curious about your answers.

To learn more about Rachel, visit her website @ www.rachelcamposduffy.com

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Spice Girl Melanie Brown has a working wish list that a lot of parents would envy. She says that before she will agree to take a job, her prospective employer must agree to some basic ground rules: her children must be allowed to accompany her to work and she must be allowed to finish up for the day in time to put the kids to bed.

My first thought was that she is pretty lucky to be in a position to make such demands. She gets to have a career and not miss a minute with her kids. But then I thought more about it and realized that if Mel gets her way, 9-year-old Phoenix Chi and 1-year-old Angel Iris are likely spending all day, every day, on a set or wherever it is that Melanie makes her money (what does she do these days?).

While on some level, I guess I do envy her ability to have her working parent demands met, I wonder how the kids feel about it. Is she really doing what is best for her children by dragging them to work with her? Or is she being selfish in trying to have it all?

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A good friend of mine called the other day. "Andrew (who is 11) wants to take a friend to the fair, but it's so expensive, I don't think I can afford it." She's right, the fair is expensive. But I was surprised to learn that when her son invites friends along on outings, the parents rarely -- if ever -- send them with their own money.

Is this normal? My girls are young enough that outings with friends usually include other parents, so I haven't had much experience with this. I had assumed, wrongly apparently, that when you invite a friend to do something special, parents tuck a few dollars in their pockets to cover costs. But according to my friend, when a parent invites another child along, they're essentially responsible for footing the bill.

For smaller events, like movies, for instance, this probably isn't a big deal. But for bigger outings, like the fair -- where in our town, rides are $3-$4 a piece -- or a water park, this might make inviting a friend along cost-prohibitive. I'm curious, who should be responsible for paying on a playdate?

At the end of the school year parents often ask me is how much should their child be reading independently over the summer? I could answer this several ways. As a mom, I get that summer time is meant for lounging, for late mornings, summer camp, and unstructured afternoons. And certainly I get how it might not be a kid's number one favorite thing to do to sit down with a good book... But as a teacher this makes my heart ache.

Okay, maybe I'm being a twinge dramatic. Still, I don't know a single teacher who doesn't wish her students were spending the summer sprawled out on the lawn reading one good book after the next, instead of say, playing with his new Nintendo Wii, or watching episodes of High School Musical. But the truth is, there is time during the summer for both: for extra screen time, and for time spent engaged in a good book-every day.

Here is why this is important: any school age child will make progress over the summer if he or she continues to practice read. It's like any thing else in life really. Becoming a confident and fluent reader, like getting in shape or learning a new sport, requires daily practice. Without the daily practice, kids can regress by a month or more, which can result in them starting the new school year scrambling to catch up.

A good rule of thumb for summer reading: you child should read at a minimum ten minutes per day for each grade they've completed (10 minute for First, 20 for Second, etc.) Ideally, your child should be spending this time independently with a book. This builds stamina, and focus, which are two crucial aspects of being an independent reader. If your child is not yet an independent reader, spend this time every day reading with your child.

Some things you can do to make summer reading into a fun and rewarding habit for your kids:

· Make a special "reading nook" or place in the house that your child can go to read quietly. Ideally, you should be able to see and hear your child reading, but your child should be out of the way of central activities taking place in the household.

· Buy your child a bunch of fun stickers-and keep track of the time he reads by putting stickers on a book mark. 1 sticker for every 10 minutes.

· Get a fun kitchen timer and set it-or get a digital timer-so that your child can see the time ticking down. This especially helps highly distracted kiddos who want to dash off to other things!

· Reward your child for every 50 minutes read with something fun and reading related: a trip to the library, or bookstore for a new book of their choice. Or they could be rewarded by spending some time on a fun interactive reading website. (More to come on this! Keep an eye out.)

· Switch things up every few days: send your child on a word hunt around the house-finding as many words as she can that fit a particular spelling patter or rule (such as words that rhyme with CAT or are spelled with the same 'silent e' rule as CAKE and SAFE.)

· Set a goal for the whole summer-take out the calendar and count by tens together-all the days they can possibly read (skipping days set aside for camp, family trips, weekend adventures, etc.) Then decide on a reward for achieving the goal.

A few other things that are really important to keep in mind: almost every child does best with highly focused activities like reading first thing in the morning. Don't save independent reading time for just before bed. Carve out some quite time right after breakfast. Send littler siblings out into the back yard, or get them busy with a drawing project. Reward everyone by reading for a few minutes from a picture book or chapter book on the couch.

The man at the library, walking with 2 canes, drags his thin, weak legs behind him up to the water fountain, and one of my boys asks, "What's wrong with him?"

I lift my finger to my mouth in the universal sign for "shhhh." All 3 of my children look at me, confused. They don't understand why I don't want to talk about it--we usually talk about everything, a running dialog on the state of the day, like watching a DVD with the comments turned on, the director and the writers and the actors all adding in their 2 cents.

Just today, we'd discussed why grass is green (and a word that begins with P and sounds like "eff", photosynthesis!) and the new, Harry Potter-esque mural painted on the library wall ("Creepy!" said 5-year-old Bennett; "Cool!" said 9-year-old Carter), so my reluctance to talk about the man using canes stood out simply because of its difference.

Just like the man, himself. And the thing is, I don't know why I was reluctant to talk about it.

Here is a man with a story to tell. One he may, or may not feel like discussing at the water fountain with me and 3 little boys of varying ages and abilities. But how he talks about his life, and how he feels about it, is something I'll never know. I won't know because I didn't have the right words to use to ask.

I've written before about wishing there were a secret handshake for people who love children and adults with Down syndrome. A way of recognizing each other in a crowd--a way of saying hello, without actually having to speak. I'm thinking here of motorcyclists flashing their headlights as they pass each other; a little gesture that announces, I see you.

My son Avery's speech therapist, Molly, would be proud of me for these thoughts. Very early into our sessions, she began trying to explain the concept of Total Communication. What she taught me was that language is only one of the tools we use to communicate with each other. There's also how you say the words--the tone you use, its timbre and pitch. And there's what you choose not to say, which often speaks volumes.

You might be tempted, as I was, to think of the '80s concept of body language, and if you're recalling those cheesy come-on lines ("I can tell by the flip of your hair that you're into me...") you wouldn't be too far off. So Molly worked at teaching me to see the complexities in everyday speech and language; and I worked at breaking down those sequences into their smallest parts, to better teach Avery.

As it happens, even the smallest parts of communication are complicated. Take, for instance, a smile: is it happy, or sneaky? Is it smiling-through-the-tears, or shy? Malicious? Or simply joyful?

Which brings me back to the man at the water fountain in the library--sometimes communicating with each other can be a very tricky endeavor. Later, after the kids and I had left the library and everyone was buckled in the car, I tried to explain, and failed miserably.

I began with a story about a man with one blue finger, and I tried to show how his finger was normal to him; something he may, or may not want to talk about. He might want to have a little discussion about it, or he might want to go about his day, drinking a cool arc of water from the fountain.

And then I realized that my story, and my reaction to the man, was based on the assumption that he would feel bad about his legs, and not want to have attention drawn to them. I don't know this to be true. And I don't know if not talking about disability is any better than talking about it.

When people ask me about Avery, most of the time I'm happy to share what I know about Down syndrome. I'd rather people hear it from us, than make assumptions. I see it as a chance to encourage right-thinking, as opposed to wrong-thinking.

But what is right-thinking, in this case? I suspect the answer is as varied as the 50 million Americans living with disability. In this instance, I take my cues from Total Communication--the man kept his back to us, his eyes down. He didn't engage the boys or me in any way; he seemed busy and intent, a person not interested in casual conversation. And therein lies the key: seeing the person as well as the disability. It's what I wish for Avery--and what I wish for us all.

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He may be the presumptive Democratic nominee, but Barack Obama is also a dad to Malia, 10, and Sasha, 7. And while he may be able to make inspiring speeches that cause his supporters to cheer, he's also really, really good at embarrassing his daughters, reports Malia.

His crime? Shaking her friends' hands. "You don't really shake kids' hands that much," she told him, "You just wave or say hi." I can relate, Malia. My dad used to tell really bad jokes when I was your age.

The Obamas typically keep their girls out of the media, but they've allowed Access Hollywood a glimpse into their lives as a family. Malia reports that she was excited to see her mom in a tabloid magazine like Angelina Jolie, and wonders what decorating her room at the White House might be like. The show airs tonight, but you can get a sneak peek here. The Obama girls are not only utterly adorable, it's nice to see them all interact as a family.

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So far, this is turning out to be a retro summer! By foregoing the organized sport/activity route, my kids are busy making themselves busy.

Two weeks ago, my budding capitalists set up a lemonade stand in our driveway. They made signs, lemonade, and used their own piggy bank money to buy supplies. They were so excited to have "customers" and I found myself surprised by how seriously they took their job.

With all this free time, there's time for elaborate dress-up games. Most mornings they come down dressed as spies in black leggings, old trench coats and a back pack full of "spy things" which consist primarily of walkie-talkies and primitive telescopes. Today they divulged their secret hiding place in the ravine by the side of the house where they "spy on the cars" that drive by.