There’s nearly a month of summer vacation left, so do something fun and educational without a big investment of time or money. A simple day trip is a great way to bond as a family and maybe even learn a thing or two.

Nature lovers
Venture into the great outdoors and explore.  Whether in your own back yard or a nearby park, you’ll find an abundance of things to explore. See how many insects and birds you can identify. Collect leaves and wildflowers for craft projects or scrapbooking.

History buffs
Visit historical landmarks to learn more about your community’s history. Start at the library, where you can conduct a little research. While you’re at it, look up your own family heritage. Tracing your family tree may lead you to all sorts of interesting places, including courthouses and cemeteries.

Music aficionado
Expose your children to different genres of music. Summers are filled with outdoor music festivals – from steel drum bands to jazz concerts. Your kids may be surprised by how much they like other types of music.

Foodies
Visit a farm to see produce and livestock in their purest form. Tour a food factory to see how the food on your table is made.

Whatever you choose to do, it’ll be fun because you’re doing it together.

For more ideas, go to Affordable and relaxing vacation ideas near home.

The name game is so much fun! Yet it’s also so important, as your baby will be defined by a name for the rest of his or her life.

So what were the most popular baby names in 2007?  You may be surprised:

Boys                                                            Girls

1. Aidan                                                       1. Ava
2. Braden                                                    2. Abigail
3. Kaden                                                     3. Cailyn
4. Ethan                                                      4. Madeline
5. Caleb                                                      5. Isabella
6. Noah                                                       6. Emma
7. Jaden                                                      7. Caitlyn
8. Connor                                                    8. Olivia
9. Landon                                                   9. Chloe
10. Jacob                                                    10. Brianna

And there are a variety of spellings for these popular monikers - Kaden, Caiden; Caitlyn, Katelyn, Jaden, Jayden.

We want to hear your unique baby names…

For just about any baby name you can imagine,
visit Baby Name Central.

Tweens are interesting characters. They innocently do what they want, when they want. They’re usually not trying to be defiant, they honestly don’t know any better.

Tweens are young enough that their parents do things for them - if they don’t get around to cleaning their room, Mom will. There’s no sense of urgency to tend to chores.

Tweens are forgetful. You’re halfway to dance class when your daughter exclaims that she forgot her ballet shoes - she remembered to bring her favorite CD for the drive, but she forgot her shoes?

Tweens have short attention spans. They can concentrate long enough to set up an elaborate science lab on the kitchen table, but they lose interest long before the stuff finds its way back to where it belongs.

Tweens whine. They know they shouldn’t, but they do - just in case it works like it did when they were four years old.

Tweens can be manipulative. If they respond, “just a minute,” to your request for help, it actually means, “I’ve already put it out of my mind.”

Tweens know what they know. How can your 10-year-old assemble complicated video equipment, but be unable to figure out how to load the dishwasher?

Tweens need managing. If you give them something to do, you’d better tell them when to start, how to do it, and when they’re done.

Tweens are frozen by indecisiveness. When your son takes off his clean shirt, he knows it doesn’t belong in the hamper with the dirty clothes, but he’s not sure what sort of hanger to use to put it back in the closet. All he can do is leave it in a heap on the floor.

Tweens are easily distracted. When you instruct them to clean their room, they move everything out into the hall, start organizing their top desk drawer, find an interesting book they never finished, and voila! they’re done cleaning.

While this behavior may drive parents crazy, it’s easily forgiven. Kids grow up all too soon, and it’s nice to know that they still need us.  So, for now, we’ll put up with our tweens’ quirkiness, and clean up after them…

Read Connecting with your kids: Navigating the terrific, turbulent tween years to learn more about this fascinating age group.

Do you want to have a positive impact on your community while instilling good values in your children?

Volunteer. Volunteering as a family introduces children how to give back … and it’s fun!

The USA Freedom Corps Volunteer Network helps you find service projects in your area. You can also contact local volunteer centers, libraries, churches, community and senior centers, police and fire stations, and park services.

Here are some terrific volunteer ideas for your family:

• Join a Habitat for Humanity build. Your family can help another family’s home ownership dream come true.
• Even more exciting for kids is KaBOOM! Your family can take part in a one-day playground build that will serve local children for years to come.
• Participate in a reading program - you and your children can read books to seniors and younger children. Visit the National Endowment for the Humanities We the People Bookshelf for reading suggestions.
• Collect food for your local food bank. Through your church, scouts, or on your own, your family can help keep the shelves well-stocked.

Volunteering as a family will bring you closer together. The opportunities are endless, and you’ll be surprised by what you can do to help your community.

Read more:

• Selecting volunteer projects for your child
• Teaching charity to our children

MySpace is a great socializing tool for older kids, but it can also be dangerous. Here are some things parents should know about the hugely popular site:

MySpace pages are not censored, and children have access to all sorts of inappropriate written content, including four-letter words, talk of drugs and alcohol, detailed sexual references, and even suicide and self-harm. Trustworthy kids who have no intention of seeking out such content can easily happen upon it accidentally.

Kids can post photos and videos of themselves. That wouldn’t be such a bad thing except that so many of the images posted on MySpace are sexually suggestive or otherwise disturbing. Even if you forbid your own child from posting an inappropriate photo, he or she will see countless such pictures of other people.

Kids can easily make new friends on MySpace. That doesn’t sound like such a terrible thing until you realize that you will never have the opportunity to meet and approve of these new friends. Would you approve of your middle-school daughter befriending a male college freshman?

MySpace is a sexual predator’s dream-come-true. Kids post tons of information about themselves on the site - their interests, hobbies, school info, and even where they’re going to be at a particular time and date. The info is just what a predator needs to find a child to harm.

MySpace can be a parent-free utopia for kids. But kids have parents for a reason: they need guidance and help to make informed decisions.

Banning MySpace from your home is not the solution. MySpace can be a fantastic social tool for kids when used appropriately. Explain Internet dangers to your child, and consider installing parental control software which allows you to have some control of what your children are doing online.

It’s not an invasion of your child’s privacy. It’s good parenting.

Read more:

• How to monitor your child’s online activities
• How to protect kids from cyber-bullying
• Six ways to protect your kid on the Internet

Fact or fiction: girls put on 15 pounds - the dreaded “Freshman 15″ - during their first year of college.

Fiction. According to Kids Health.org, some first-year students do gain weight, but on average it’s three to 10 pounds over the first two years.

So what causes the weight gain?

• Some weight gain is normal as the body grows and the metabolism changes.
• College students are on their own and free to eat what they want - potato chips dipped in ice cream, if they’re so inclined - and when they want - a pepperoni pizza and Mountain Dew to get them through an all-night study session.
• Some students are so focused on their studies that they forego extra-curricular activities or exercise and become less active.
• The stress of moving away from home, meeting new people, and the academic demands of college cause some students to overeat.

Doctors advise that students who gradually gain the weight are establishing a pattern of weight gain that could worsen over time. Even if the weight gain is under 15 pounds, it’s still a gain. People who are overweight when they’re younger are more likely to be overweight as adults, and poor eating and exercise habits in college can lead to problems down the road, including heart disease, diabetes, or obesity.

“Gaining weight during the first year of college is not inevitable,” advises Kids Health. “A few simple changes to your daily routine can help you fend off excess weight while keeping you physically and mentally healthy.”

For more about that first year of college, read The Empty Nest: How to cope when your child goes away to college.

Many teens, especially 15- to 17-year-olds, work a part-time job after school, on weekends, or during the summer. Working teaches kids a sense of responsibility while giving them some spending money. Typical teen employers include retail stores, fast-food restaurants, grocery stores, amusement parks, and community swimming pools, among others.

Before giving your teen the green light to take on a job, make sure the job is safe and suitable:

Where did your teen find this job?  If the recommendation came from a trusted acquaintance, it’s likely a good fit. If the job was discovered in the classifieds or on a notice posted on a public bulletin board, plan to investigate further before allowing your child to take the job.

Who’s the boss? Consider setting up a brief meeting with your teen’s supervisor just to get a feel for whom it is your child will be working.

What is the work schedule? Determine whether or not the hours worked (how many hours and when) interfere from your teen’s school, activities, or homework schedule.

Is your teen qualified? If your teen can’t swim, he probably shouldn’t take a job as a pool cleaner.

If you and your teen feel that the job is a good opportunity, then go for it. As your child starts making a few dollars, you can begin working on the next life lesson - money management…

Want to help? Read 5 tips for getting your teen a summer job.

Your toddler - who always rested so peacefully at night - now refuses to go to bed without the lights on.

Younger babies are not afraid of the dark because if they can’t see something, it doesn’t exist. But as they approach toddlerhood and their understanding grows, they figure out that the dark covers up things that are still there even though they can’t see them. What your toddler hasn’t figured out yet, however, is that the dark isn’t hiding anything that wasn’t there in the light - like monsters or scary animals.

Your child’s fears are a natural part of growing up. Here’s how you can help:

Encourage your child to talk about what’s frightening him. Say something like, “Telling me what you’re afraid of may help make it go away.” He may have trouble expressing exactly what’s scaring him, but he’ll feel safer knowing that you’re not afraid. If he wants to talk about it obsessively, allow him. Oftentimes, a child overcomes his fear by talking about or playing out what it is he’s afraid of.

Understand that however unreasonable her fears may seem to you, they are very real and upsetting to her. While you can reassure your child by modeling bravery, you shouldn’t discount how she feels or belittle her.

Explore the room with your child - first with, then without the lights on. Show him how his dresser looks one way during the day and different in the dark. Show him how nothing new can appear just because it’s dark.

If your child wants to be with you throughout the night, give in a little. Keep her in her own room, but consider snuggling in bed with her for awhile until she feels less afraid.

Read Banishing bedtime blues for more helpful tips.

Jaundice - a common condition in newborns - is the yellowing of skin and eyes due to excess bilirubin in the blood. Normally, bilirubin passes through the liver and is excreted. When it builds up faster than a newborn’s liver can break it down, jaundice occurs.

Very high levels (more than 25 mg) of bilirubin can cause deafness, cerebral palsy, or other brain damage. Jaundice usually appears around the second or third day of life. The American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) recommends that all infants be examined for jaundice within a few days of birth. Many babies are released from the hospital prior to jaundice setting in, so parents are encouraged to visit a doctor within one to two days of leaving the hospital.

Jaundice begins at the baby’s head and progresses downward - yellowing skin first on the face (and possibly the whites of the eyes), followed by the torso, and then, the legs. Call the doctor if:

• you notice your baby’s skin or eyes looking yellowish
• the jaudice appears to be spreading or getting more intense
• your baby develops a fever over 100 degrees Fahrenheit
• your child looks or acts sick, is not feeding well, or seems sleepier than expected

The doctor’s office may use a light meter to get an approximate measurement of the bilirubin level. If it seems high, then the doctor will take a small blood sample. If high levels of jaundice are diagnosed, the baby will likely be treated with phototherapy, a treatment with a special light that helps rid the body of the bilirubin. Mild to moderate cases of jaundice will be left to go away on their own.

Read more about this at Pregnancy & Baby: Jaundice in breastfed babies

The cervical cancer vaccine, Gardasil, has become part of the routine childhood vaccines schedule. The cervical cancer vaccine is the first vaccine ever developed to prevent a cancer.

Other vaccines have virtually eradicated serious diseases, such as smallpox and polio. The Mayo Clinic advises that the greater the number of girls and women vaccinated with the cervical cancer vaccine, the greater the benefit we’ll see from it.

Cervical cancer is caused by the human papillomavirus (HPV), which spreads through sexual contact. In effect, the cervical cancer vaccine stops cervical cancer before the first step can begin.

Given as a series of three injections over a six-month period, the cervical cancer vaccine is recommended for girls ages 11 or 12 to activate their immune system before they encounter HPV. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) recommends a “catch-up immunization for girls and women ages 13 to 26 who haven’t been vaccinated or who haven’t completed the full vaccine series.” According to the CDC, vaccinating the catch-up group, as well as the younger girls, will increase the effectiveness of the vaccine overall. In fact, the CDC recommends universal vaccination for women ages 18-26, regardless of their sexual history.

The cervical cancer vaccine is safe. Mild side effects may include soreness at the injection site, low-grade fever, or flu-like symptoms.

The cervical cancer vaccine is NOT intended to replace Pap tests. Women must continue routine screening for cervical cancer through regular pelvic exams and Pap tests.

If you’re still undecided about whether or not to have your daughter vaccinated, read
What you need to know about Gardasil, HPV and cervical cancer.