Given the spate of media bs floating around the Internet these days part of me finds it hard to believe a rumor that anyone would want to botox their kid's feet. Then, part of me realizes the drama is surrounding Sharon Stone and thinks there could be a kernel of truth to the rumor. After all, the actress and one-time sexpot has basically gone off the wall in recent years, making crazy statements and acting crazy in general--and it no longer seems like a publicity stunt to draw attention and viewers to Basic Instinct 2.
Stone is mom to eight-year-old Roan, and her custody of him is currently under question. Allegedly she has lost custody of her son after overreacting to his foot odor by thinking he should get botox in his feet. According to reports (rumors!) the judge agreed that Stone was overreacting and causing pain to her child, and has granted primary custody to the actress' ex, Phil Bronstein. Sharon will get to see him one weekend a month.
That seems so terrible for a mother to lose custody of her child and to only be able to see him on a monthly basis. I would be crushed if that happened to me. Of course, as crazy and hormonal as I am in the last stages of pregnancy, I still wouldn't think it was a good idea to botox my son's feet. Poor Sharon--she really must be suffering from some sort of emotional disorder or complications from her brain surgery to make those sorts of decision (if they're true, and they appear to be).
Research has shown that girls who get their period earlier on are at higher risk of breast cancer, depression and teen pregnancy. There are a lot of factors that can contribute to reaching puberty earlier, including obesity, nutrition, and exposure to chemicals. Now, there's another factor that appears to trigger earlier onset of puberty: fathers -- specifically fathers who are addicted to drugs or alcohol, are abusive, or are involved in criminal activity.
It's not so much the living with an abusive or drug-using father, however, that spurred the early development as it was his leaving. The theory is that the girls are responding to a "window of opportunity" by developing faster. "In the world in which humans evolved, dangerous or unstable home environments meant a shorter lifespan, and going into puberty earlier in this context increased chances of surviving, reproducing and passing on your genes," said Professor Bruce Ellis who worked on the study.
It seems to me that the practical application of this information is not that abusive fathers should necessarily stick around, but that fathers shouldn't be such a problem in the first place. This is just one more reason to work really hard to be the best father possible.
So say you're in love with someone. Totally and completely. And not just them, but their kids too. So you want to get married and legally adopt the kids. But there's a problem. Perhaps you're disabled and, if you marry, you'll lose your disability benefits. Or maybe you just don't go for the whole marriage thing. Or maybe you can't get married because the state is more concerned with sex than love and you don't fit their definition of what's acceptable. So you decide to do a "second-parent" adoption where you adopt the kids without terminating the biological parent's rights.
Only, in Kentucky, you can't do that anymore. It seems a couple did that there, but when negotiations over visitation and other issues -- the adoption came after the couple split up -- broke down, the biological mother went to court saying that the adoption should never have happened in the first place. Sadly, the court of appeals agreed in principle, and now the state does not allow adoption unless the adoptive parent is married to the biological parent or the biological parent's rights are terminated.
The net effect of this? Same-sex couples can no longer adopt each other's children because they cannot marry. And the irony of it all -- because the issues were raised more than a year after it took place, the court ruled that the adoption in question is still valid. Hopefully, in time, the court will see the error of its ways and let any loving, caring, able parent adopt, regardless of marital or gender status.
Very few people in my high school managed to get through those years without at least dabbling in recreational drugs. While I think that speaks volumes about the high school I attended, it also reveals the inexperience and ignorance of most of our parents. Having grown up in a different era, our parents just had no idea the kind of trouble available to us kids.
These days, most of my high school classmates are parents themselves and have long since lost interest in getting high. But for some people nearing middle age, these are the years to experiment. In Australia, a national study has revealed that many suburban moms over the age of 30 are discovering the drug ecstasy - and liking it.
Ecstasy produces a euphoric feeling while at the same time diminishing fears and anxieties. Experts say this type of high appeals to people who see it as a safe alternative to alcohol. Relationships Australia vice-president Anne Hollonds says that these women are misinformed about the harmful effects of the drug and are putting themselves - and their children - at risk. "These are people who sometimes haven't had involvement with substances the first time round, but second time round they might, particularly to reinforce their youthfulness, to be able to fit in and all of those things because they're often quite emotionally vulnerable," she said. "There's also a lot of risks associated with that in relation to the care of the children."
There have been very few studies into the harmful effects of ecstasy, but what is known about the drug is pretty scary. The main ingredient, methylene-dioxy-methamphetamine (MDMA), is a neurotoxin which kills brain cells and can possibly cause permanent brain damage. And that is if you get the real stuff. Authorities say that some dealers are selling 'fake ecstasy', which contains no MDMA, but is loaded with amphetamines and ketamine, a horse tranquilizer. That cannot be good.
Of course, this study focuses on Australian women, but I would imagine the chances are good that this is happening in the U.S. as well.
Actor Mark Wahlberg says he is committed to making his relationship work. The former Funky Bunch member has realized, right along with the rest of us, that staying together and keeping a relationship going is hard work, but is committed to staying the course.
Walhberg at one time broke up with partner Rhea Durham, who is the mother of two of his children. The couple, now very much back together, are expecting a third child together in a matter of months. The two are planning on getting married at some point after being on and off again several times over the years. Wahlberg admits that walking away from the relationship was a mistake.
It takes a strong person to admit mistakes and an even stronger one to try to work them out. Harder still is staying together in the Hollywood climate. Couples seem to get together and break up with the weather, even when there are children involved. Kudos to Wahlberg for not giving up (Durham too--she could have said no to getting back together). As Wahlberg said in his own words, "...going away doesn't make it work."
A new trend is on the rise among those about to get married, and it ain't whether or not to wear a sleeveless gown. More often, those signing prenuptial agreements are including health-related clauses in their lists of musts and must nots. What used to be about money, frankly, and protection of assets, has moved to the body. For example, if a wife gets fat, her husband has the right to divorce her or perhaps leave her penniless. Let's just hope she doesn't like ice cream too much. Smoking is also finding its way into the agreements as is a due date for pregnancy (like there's much control over that one!).
Health concerns are certainly more on our minds these days as we try to swim our way out of a nation of obesity and rising healthcare costs driven by insurance companies who care more about making money for their top brass than actually helping the nation's citizens take care of themselves. Hence, it would seem natural that health concerns would be a large part of the conversation when two people decide to spend the rest of their lives together.
I suppose I could have forced my husband to be to sign a prenup stating he would remain vegetarian and raise our kids to be such, but I'm flexible and a little bit of a softy. I suppose he could have banned soft cheeses from our fridge or taken me to court. But we didn't. Maybe I could have said I wanted to have a baby by the time I was 30 or he was outta there. Know what would have happened? I'd be single and still have no kids (I am 33 and expecting number two, but didn't have number one until I was 32).
Are these people crazy to be suggesting such prenups, and worse to be agreeing to them, or are they right on the money given the way the modern world works?
How would you describe your marriage? Happy? Satisfying? Meh? Does it depend on the checking account balance? Or how the kids are behaving? Or just on the weather? You know, divorce is always an option. And according to Ellen Tien, it is an option that many of us fantasize about on a regular basis.
In an essay titled "She's happily married, dreaming of divorce" originally published in the May issue of O Magazine, Tien describes her own marriage as "Less than bliss, better than disaster." She says that she and her husband "remain if not happily married, then steadily so." In other words, they're not divorced. Yet.
But, she claims, she thinks constantly about the possibility of divorce, acknowledges it as an option. It is just an option she has not yet exercised. In this, she says, she is not unlike other women her age and class -- we are all dreaming of divorce despite the fact that we claim to be happily married.
"Brooke and I are thrilled," he said in a released statement. "She's the best step mom Sam, Lola, and Cassandra could every hope for. Seeing her love and affection for those three, I'll know she'll be an amazing mom." (Awwww. It's almost enough to make you feel warm and fuzzy inside, but yet....) Sheen is referring to his three daughters: He had Cassandra with ex-girlfriend Paula Profit in 1985, and daughters Sam, 3, and Lola, 4, with Richards.
Maybe this is a sign that Sheen really is moving forward with his life and is ready to let the healing begin between him and Richards. No word on what she thinks of the couple's exciting news, but if she's not happy about it, there's no doubt we'll be hearing about it before too long.
We've all seen swimmer Micheal Phelps' mother and sisters cheering him on from the stands as he makes history at the Beijing Olympics. Conspicuously missing from this family picture is his father, Fred. Not only is Fred absent in China, he hasn't even spoken to his son since the games began.
"He's so busy, I'm sure not even his agent can get a hold of him," Fred said. "I'm very proud of him and all he's done. This is not about me, it's about him." Michael's parents were high school sweethearts who divorced when he was just nine years old. "It was like a storybook [marriage], but sometimes chapters go in different directions," says his mother Debbie. "We were close, but we grew apart."
Clearly Fred Phelps grew apart not just from his wife, but from his son as well. When Fred showed up at the 2004 Olympic Games in Athens, Michael admitted that up until that point, he hadn't been in contact with his father since he graduated high school. He also revealed that his father hadn't even reached out to him after he set his first world record in 2001. "There are reasons and I really don't want to get into that," Michael said.
Whatever those reasons were, they clearly were not resolved. After the 2004 Games, father and son became estranged once more. And while Fred Phelps watches from afar, Michael Phelps gives credit for his success where credit is due. "The person I love the most is sitting in the front row - my mom - for everything she's done," Michael told reporters in Beijing.
Looks like being married doesn't necessarily make you healthier than being single. A new study from Michigan State University points to the gap narrowing between married men and their bachelor counterparts with regard to health. Those who are confirmed bachelors should perk up at this--according the results of the study they have as much longevity as married men.
Widowers, however, claimed to be in poorer health than their still-married counterparts. The study also suggested that both widows and widowers need to be ingratiated into the community in order to sustain themselves emotionally and physically.
The study covered over a million surveys taken from people between the ages of 25 and 80 with a time span covering 1972 to 2003. During those approximately thirty years a lot of notions about marriage have changed. People are getting married later in life or not at all and divorce is more common place. No word on whether these factors were considered in the results, which showed more never-married men confirming each year they were happy.
It's been a long time since we've heard from Britney Spears. Just over a year ago, OK! magazine attempted to sit down with the pop star, but that interview and accompanying photo shoot were scrapped after Spear's erratic behavior (and non-housebroken dog) made it evident things were not going to proceed as planned.
What a difference a year makes! This time around, with her father at her side, a healthier Britney was able to sit down and finally have that talk with OK! magazine.
(Click the photo to see the 10 Worst Celebrity Dads)
When parents hold differing view on basic issues like discipline, education, or medical care for their children, it can be difficult to come to an agreeable compromise. However, when the parents have been mired in a messy divorce and bitter custody battle, those roadblocks can be insurmountable.
It doesn't appear that Charlie Sheen and Denise Richards have come to the realization that they will be forever linked by their daughters Sam and Lola. According to reports, the pair remains strongly divided on the issue of immunizations, with Denise voting for shots and Charlie maintaining the opinion that they are a potential danger that should be avoided.
So when Sheen received a nearly $400 bill from his daughter' pediatrician for the immunizations they had been given, Charlie didn't just get mad, got even in his own childish way-by paying the bill in nickels.
It doesn't matter where you stand on immunizations, one parent going ahead on an irreversible thing like that without telling the other is some dirty, dirty pool that might get what you want in the short term, but opens you up to the same treatment by your spouse down the road.
How have you handled difficult parenting decision with an ex?
When Janna Mintz wanted to become a mother, she turned to her friend Kevin Zoernig for help. Zoernig agreed to donate his sperm, and through artificial insemination, a boy was born shortly after. Zoernig found himself caught up in fatherhood and the two soon worked out a visitation schedule. It was all going so well, that he agreed to be a sperm donor for Mintz a second time, and a daughter was born.
But when Zoernig wanted a voice in their children's upbringing, including where Mintz could live, things started to go wrong. Eventually, Mintz took Zoernig to court for child support, and after an eight year battle, the court ruled in Mintz's favor.
If the name Mary Winkler doesn't ring a bell, perhaps her crime will. In 2006, Winkler was convicted of manslaughter after shooting and killing her husband, Rev. Michael Winkler. She avoided a murder charge by convincing a jury that she had suffered years of emotional and sexual abuse at the hands of her husband. She was sentenced to three years in prison, but in the end served only a small fraction of that time, some of it in a mental health facility.
Upon her release last year, Winkler immediately set about trying to get her three children back. While she had been allowed visitation rights since her release, the kids, ages 11, 9 and 3, remained in the temporary custody of her slain husband's parents. Dan and Diane Winkler had initially hoped to end their former daughter-in-law's visitation rights and gain permanent custody of their grandchildren, but it seems they have changed their minds. On Friday, Diane Winkler got her kids back, apparently through an agreement with her former in-laws.
While this move doesn't give Winkler permanent custody of her children, it certainly looks like that is what the future holds. Rachael Putnam, a custody attorney, sees this development as a positive thing for all involved. "It should be seen as a sign that the family is healing," she said. "It's a good thing for everyone."
I sincerely hope it is a good thing for those children. After the nightmare inflicted upon them by the gruesome murder of their father, these children deserve a shot at normalcy.
There has been much discussion here about unusual baby names. From Superman to Metallica, we've covered them all. Today, I bring you yet another one: Talula Does The Hula From Hawaii. Other than her parents, I can't believe anyone would think that a suitable name for a child. A judge in New Plymouth, New Zealand clearly disapproves. He not only ordered the name changed, he had the poor child temporarily placed under court guardianship until a suitable name could be chosen.
This story is a little different from most in that this child is not a baby. She's a nine-year-old girl whose unusual name came to the attention of the court during a custody hearing. Family Court Judge Rob Murfitt was appalled and concerned for the girl. "It makes a fool of the child and sets her up with a social disability and handicap," he said.
Talula Does The Hula From Hawaii's parents might be too dense to recognize the impact a ridiculous name can have on a child, but Talula herself is not. Her attorney says that she has never told any of her friends her real name and that she instead goes by "K".
This all took place back in February, but apparently Judge Murfitt was so disturbed he went on a fact-finding mission looking for another inappropriate names in New Zealand. He discovered a Number 16 Bus Shelter, Violence and Benson and Hedges (twins).
Research has shown that girls who get their period earlier on are at higher risk of breast cancer, depression and teen pregnancy. There are a lot of factors that can contribute to reaching puberty earlier, including obesity, nutrition, and exposure to chemicals. Now, there's another factor that appears to 
So say you're in love with someone. Totally and completely. And not just them, but their kids too. So you want to get married and legally adopt the kids. But there's a problem. Perhaps you're disabled and, if you marry, you'll lose your disability benefits. Or maybe you just don't go for the whole marriage thing. Or maybe you can't get married because the state is more concerned with sex than love and you don't fit their definition of what's acceptable. So you decide to do a "second-parent" adoption where you adopt the kids without terminating the biological parent's rights.
Very few people in my high school managed to get through those years without at least dabbling in recreational drugs. While I think that speaks volumes about the high school I attended, it also reveals the inexperience and ignorance of most of our parents. Having grown up in a different era, our parents just had no idea the kind of trouble available to us kids.
How would you describe your marriage? Happy? Satisfying? Meh? Does it depend on the checking account balance? Or how the kids are behaving? Or just on the weather? You know, divorce is always an option. And according to Ellen Tien, it is an option that many of us fantasize about on a regular basis.
He may be embroiled in one of Hollywood's 
We've all seen swimmer Micheal Phelps' mother and sisters cheering him on from the stands as he makes history at the Beijing Olympics. Conspicuously missing from this family picture is his father, Fred. Not only is Fred absent in China, he 
It's been a long time since we've heard from 
When Janna Mintz wanted to become a mother, she turned to her friend Kevin Zoernig for help. Zoernig agreed to donate his sperm, and through artificial insemination, 
If the name Mary Winkler doesn't ring a bell, perhaps her crime will. In 2006, Winkler was convicted of manslaughter after shooting and killing her husband, Rev. Michael Winkler. She avoided a murder charge by convincing a jury that she had suffered years of emotional and sexual abuse at the hands of her husband. She was sentenced to three years in prison, but in the end served only a small fraction of that time, some of it in a mental health facility.
There has been much discussion here about 
