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Parents Rights vs Teachers Rights

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A story on MSN earlier this week caught my attention, and I will admit, got me a little upset! The story revolves around a 12 year old student who was suspended from school for having pink hair. The student, who recently lost her father to cancer, is a model student with A grades. Earlier in the summer, with her mother’s permission, she dyed her hair pink in honor of her father. Upon returning to school this fall, she was suspended because her hair apparently violates a school policy stating that students may not have hair colors that would be distracting.

Now, I understand the need for regulations. My children’s schools policy states that clothing with vulgar images or text are not allow, neither are belly shirts and short shorts. But in my opinion, there is a line where schools are violating the parents’ rights to decide these things for their children.

Take a look at this video - her hair is pink. It’s a cute cut, it’s almost looks strawberry blonde. As a mother who’s 9 year old has had pink and blue streaks (when she was 6, see side photo) and who’s 7 year old son regularly has shapes shaved into his hair, I find this story disturbing. Shouldn’t I, as a parent, have the right to choose what is acceptable for my child’s hair? If I, as the mother, decide that it is okay for my daughter to dye her hair a particular color, is that not my choice to make?

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5 Bits Worth Knowing

It’s been a busy news day today, and there were five stories that I wanted to share with you. Let’s start with the more serious stories.

A school shooting in Tennessee earlier today claimed the life of a 16 year old student. The incident took place in the school cafeteria and was not a random shooting. Police believe the shooting was a result of a confrontation between two students.  The shooter is currently in custody but no names have been released.

The Bush administration has finally got it right for once, proposing stronger job protection for doctors who elect not to preform abortions based on religious or moral objections. The proposed legislation would protect medical staff from retaliation from employers should they choose not to preform abortions.

Also earlier today, it was reported that  a 61 year old Japanese woman reportable gave birth to her own grandchild earlier this year. The woman’s daughter was unable to carry a baby, so her mother acted as a surrogate for her, carrying a baby from her daughter’s fertilized eggs.

And on a lighter side, it was also reported this week that 3 year old Alyssa’s grandfather made a catch of a lifetime this week. While fishing with his granddaughter and her 2 1/2 foot long hot pink Barbie rod and reel, he landed a 21 lb, 32 inch long catfish!

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International Youth Day Blog Carnival

Welcome to the first every Moms In A Blog Carnival! Today, we are honoring youth for International Youth Day. On December 17, 99 the General Assembly of the United Nations endorsed a recommendation made by the World Conference of Ministers Responsible for Youth and declared August 12th International Youth Day. In honor of International Youth Day, we have collected a great selection of posts from our writers and other great blogs around the web covering educations, business, books, parenting, decor and more.

Enjoy:)

Education:

Back To School The Green Way - eco-friendly tips for everything from homework to school supplies!

Time For College Already? - Frugal living tips for preparing for college

Teen Entrepreneurs:

My Kid’s Summer Business - Business ideas for kids.

Teens In Business: Tessa - An interview with a high school junior who loves basketball and runs her own business.

Things Teens Can Make to Earn Money - Great income ideas for crafty teens.

Kids In Business: Sites That Encourage The Kidpreneur - a selection of wonderful online resources for kids who want to start a business of their own.

Parenting Your Teen:

How to Speak Really Nicely to your Children - Great advice EVERY parent should read!

Tips for Teaching Kids to Save Money - Wise financial management begins now.

It Begins At Home - Because most of our habits - both good and bad, began at home.

Setting Firm Boundaries for Teens - Tips for setting boundaries, sticking to them, and still getting along.

Be Her Biggest Cheerleader - A teen girl’s mom should be her biggest cheerleader and strongest support.

Raising A Green Teen - Tips on teaching your teen Green Living habits.

The Birds & The Bees - A topic we all avoid, but must all face before they learn it elsewhere.

Your Secret Is Safe - Can your teen trust you?

Start ‘Em Early - Great ideas for teaching your children smart money management.

Books For Teens:

The Twilight Series - A review by 13 year old Tiffanie

Book Reviews By Teens - Some great new books reviewed by teen readers.

Chicken Soup For Teens - Four new books in the Chicken Soup Series you won’t want to miss.

Teen Decor:

The 4 S’s of a Functional Teen Room - 4 things you should consider when planning a teen bedroom.

Solid Colors Perfect for Youth Rooms - Save money and time with a solid color base.

Other Stuff For Teens:

International Youth Day - 4H Recipes - a great selection of recipes from 4H members!

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Coming Soon: The Banana Splits

If you’re as old as I am and not quite as young as Crystal then you might remember The Banana Splits.

Well, starting September 2, 2008 you’ll get to see The Banana Splits on Cartoon Network.

For those of you who might need to catch up - The Banana Splits are Fleegle (a dog), Drooper (a lion), Bingo (a gorilla) and Snorky (an elephant).

If you don’t want to wait until September you can check out The Banana Splits’ website.  Geared towards kids ages 4-7 you can watch short comedy and music videos, play games, and join the Banana Splits Club.  OK, I’m not 4-7 but I am a proud Banana Splits Club Member.

Take a look around The Banana Splits’ Website and see what you think.  My little ones, ages 8 mos and 3 years old, really enjoyed taking a look at the videos - and I liked reliving my childhood.

Five Cool Things About BananaSplits.com

1. Phone-A-Joke:  Have your kids call in their favorite jokes using a toll-free phone number in the Jokes Section.  If the ‘Splits like it, they’ll use it on the website.
2. Great Music: Adult and kid friendly music
3. Secret Codes:  Check in daily to decipher a code and solve a word puzzle.
4. Fan Mail:  Email the Banana Splits and see if they answer in their Fan Mail Video
5. The Banana Splits Club:  Check out my downloadable & printable membership certificate and Club Card above.  All you have to do is enter your name.  No other personal information required.

Let us know what you think about the site in the comments section.  You can still catch the old re-runs on Boomerang at Noon Eastern.

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Youth Day Carnival: JOIN US!!!

August 12 is International Youth Day, and we thought a Youth Themed Blog Carnival was in order! So - here’s your chance to get some extra traffic and link love!

TO PARTICIPATE:

1. Write a post related to teens, or pick on you have written in the past. It can be about parenting a teen, feeding a teen, decorating for a teen, being a teen, teaching a teen, and anything that has to do with teens!

2. Steal the image above and add it to your post. Please link it back to this post:)

3. Email your post link to crystal@momsinablog.com by midnight EST on August 11.

4. Come back on August 12 at noon to see a great list of posts about and/or for teens!

RULES (sorry, but we have to have a few)

1. Limit of 5 posts per participant

2. MUST be family friendly - both the post and the site.

That’s it, that’s all!! I can’t wait to see what you all come up with!!

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Testimonials Needed!

We’ve got a great page here on the blog where we share some of the awesome stuff that other moms have said about our site, and we’d like to expand it! We’d like to hear what YOU think about our site! Leave your feedback in the comments section of this post, along with your URL and if we use yours we will link back to you for some link love as well!

To check out what types of things we’ve included so far, check out our Testimonials page.

So give it to us - we can’t wait to hear what you have to say:)

Crystal & Tracy

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Prayers & Praise

A few news stories caught my eye today, and I wanted to share.

The first is a sad story that needs our prayers. A fire in a Philadelphia row home claimed 3 families’ homes earlier today (Sunday). A young couple with an infant suffered the worst. The young mother was unable to escape on time, and lost her life to the smoke at the scene. The father was able to climb out onto the roof and hand the baby through to another neighbor, but not before the baby suffered a great deal of smoke inhalation. The infant is currently in a hyperbaric chamber at Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, fighting for her life tonight and needs prayers.

On a more happy note, another story that caught my attention was about the youth group at .he Shiloh Baptist Church in Tennessee. This year, instead of planning a yearly missions trip for the youth, they decided to use the money to build a new, wheelchair accessible home for a fellow church member with a wheelchair bound daughter. The girl, who until now was dealing with having to shower in the middle of the bathroom floor and navigate through 32″ hallways, now has a new home with extra wide hallways and a shower she can wheel right into. Amazing! I know that youth group must have learned some important lessons this summer about missions, and the ability to make a huge impact even here at home!

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Sweetie Reaches 1000 Milestone

Earlier today, Alice -aka the Internet Marketing Sweetie - reached a new milestone as she prepared her 1000th blog post. A well known marketing professional, Alice has been doing business online since 2002 and began blogging in 4 years ago, in July of 2004.

Alice has learned many valuable lessons over the years, and has learned them well - developing a successful marketing career by concentrating on helping other businesses reach success. Her business, Internet Marketing Sweetie, provides valuable courses and resources on marketing, copyrighting, affiliate management, information products, email marketing, outsourcing, press releases and more!

Alice’s offerings also include a number of outstanding free resources including Free Blogging Tips, Free No More Chaos Guide for MOMS and for those just starting out, there is the Free New Online Business Guide.h po

After a twitter discussion, Alice decided to mark this milestone by using her 1000th post to share her success journey and highlight some of the key posts along the way.

Congratulations Alice on reaching 1000! Here is to 1000 more!

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Jolie-Pitt Twins Arrive

PEOPLE has reported that Angelina Jolie gave birth to twins on Saturday, July 12. Knox Leon, a boy, weighed in at 5.03 lbs. His sister, Vivienne Marcheline weighed in at 5 lbs.

This makes six children for Angelina and Brad Pitt who have a two year old daughter and 3 adopted children (ages 6, 4 and 3). The twins were born by c-section in Nice, France at the Fondation Lenval hospital.

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Wall-E, A Review

This Friday, we decided to have a family movie night and took the kids out to the theatre. We decided to see Wall-E. I think what I enjoyed most about this movie was that is was a surprise. I hadn’t seen or heard much about it before, so I didn’t know much of the story line at all before the movie started. That doesn’t happen often, and it makes the movie a unique experience.

As for the movie itself, I really enjoyed it. It wasn’t a movie that I walked away saying “OH WOW, I LOVED IT” but the movie had laughter and tears, some super cute moments and some super great messages about love, life and taking care of what we have before it’s to late. We all enjoyed it and I would highly recommended it as a family night out movie.

— PLOT SPOILER BELOW —

The movie revolves around a lonely garbage collecting robot (wall-e) who is the only thing left on  an Earth that has been overcome by garbage. He meets a new robot who comes looking for signs of new life - and falls in love. Together, the two of them end up on a mission to get the humans back to Earth and learn a little about love in the meantime.

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