Popular Mechanics has a How To Survive Anything guide with tons of different articles and tips. Examples include 5 Steps to Get Ready for Disaster (Not Stuck in It), 22 Steps to Save Yourself When Natural Disaster Hits and the always useful How to Survive Anything Mother Nature Throws at You.

Richard Tremblay, a professor of pediatrics, psychiatry and psychology at the University of Montreal says that aggressive behavior is natural and usually tapers off as children gain new social skills and ways of dealing with conflict.

Tremblay’s previous results have suggested that children on average reach a peak of violent behavior (biting, scratching, screaming, hitting…) around 18 months of age. The level of aggression begins to taper between the ages of two and five as they begin to learn other, more sophisticated ways of communicating their needs and wants.

The technology to test for these flame retardants — known as polybrominated diphenyl ethers (PBDEs) — and other industrial chemicals is less than 10 years old. Environmentalists call it “body burden” testing, an allusion to the chemical “burden,” or legacy of toxins, running through our bloodstream. Scientists refer to this testing as “biomonitoring.”

The youngest child to have it done, 18 months old, had two to three times the level of flame retardants in his body that’s been known to cause thyroid dysfunction in lab rats.

What are we doing to our bodies and our children’s bodies?

Babies as young as 6 to 10 months old showed crucial social judging skills before they could talk, according to a study by researchers at Yale University’s Infant Cognition Center published in Thursday’s journal Nature.

I’m always surprised that people are surprised at how intelligent humans are at such a early age. Anyone with kids know they can do amazing things within a few months of birth.

Read his entire blog to get some more great ideas about leaving a light footprint on the world.

If you are really concerned, Consumer Reports has a list of some home lead-testing kits that you can purchase and how well they work.

Also, the DailyGreen has a list of 250 lead-free toys. I can’t believe you actually need a list!

Thinking you should ban Made in China toys from your house? Well, Palm Bay, Florida is trying to ban all made in china products from the entire town. I doubt it will succeed but it will be interesting to see how far this goes.

The tech toys are the worst, you probably will need plenty of batteries and accessories. Plus, by this time next year they will be in the bottom of the toy box or even broken. Save yourself the hassle and try and get timeless toys that aren’t one dimensional.

We headed for our favorite department store, ready to take that leap into the world of 7–16. Bye-bye, 4–6X, I thought to myself with a tug of sadness. My baby was growing up.

And apparently into a prostitute.

Read on for more hilarity as one mother ponders just what is going on with her daughter’s clothes.

It seems every other day a study comes out that changes the standard way of thinking that we got from a previous study! Baby Einstein is good, Baby Einstein is bad. Day care makes bad kids, day care doesn’t change your kids.

How do you keep your sanity as a parent?

Take food home. An excellent way to stretch your restaurant dollar is to actually plan to take home leftovers. Kris and I have done this for years, yet I don’t know how wide-spread the practice is. If you do this, keep it in mind when browsing the menu; some foods keep and reheat much better than others.

Plus it will save a little of your waistline if you don’t eat those huge plates of foods that are served in most places.

2. Food: Cook It

Actually, I highly recommend all of her tips, also be sure to read her other articles, she has some good advice.

“If product quality is sub-standard, foreign businesses and joint ventures cannot shirk their blame”, it said.

While it is easy to blame Chinese companies, remember that American companies also need to do some quality control and not just assume a country with sketchy human rights and safety records should be able to ship anything they want overseas. If you allow another country to produce most of the stuff you purchase, you have to make sure they have the same standards as you would want in your own country.

1. They are Noisy
   
   Seeing the pure joy, coupled with giggling/screaming with laughter while going down a slide or going so high on the swings that they think they are going into low earth orbit can’t be beat. And sometimes out of all that noise comes the funniest comments you have ever heard.

2. Social Responsibility
   
   Raising your children to be outstanding world citizens can make you so proud your heart will burst. Until you have kids you never realize why your parents wanted you to be successful in everything you did and how your achievements may have meant more to them then to you.

3. They Are an Economic Drain
   
   Money is only money and by managing it, say from websites with great single income parenting advice, you can spend more time having fun with your children then worrying about money.

4. You Have to Teach them Things
   
   For those people out there without kids, a kid is like a pet that learns to talk and never stops learning tricks. You get to teach them all kinds of nifty things. You can be a minor deity just by knowing how to make a proper mud pie or how to rub a balloon on their hair and stick it to a wall.

5. The TV Shows and Books you will have to Endure
   
   You get to rehash some of your favorite books from when you were a kid and can make up funny voices for them that will have the kids rolling in the aisles. Also, you can expose them to older shows like the Muppet Show and the original Scooby Doo.

6. Their Friends
   
   They bring home the most interesting people and you realize that not everyone raises their kids like you and amazingly it works out. Plus you can be the cool parent that always has the homemade cookies or the cardboard box fort to play in.

7. Constant Illness
   
   The parenting bond is never stronger than when you are nursing a kid back to health. The feeling you get when they finally fall asleep and look so peaceful after throwing up all over the place is priceless.

8. They Attract the Ill-Will of Strangers
   
   A phrase that sticks in my mind. “I’ve got a .45 and shovel, you won’t be missed.”

9. Once they are Born you are Pretty much Stuck with them
   
   You get to see your children go from drooling blobs to feisty teenagers to respectable adults to parents themselves. And you can look back on it all and be amazed at how much you have accomplished by having children. You won’t remember having to spend $200 on that new carseat but you will remember reaching back and having your child grasp your fingers for the first time while riding in it.

10. They are Ungrateful
    
    They only go through this phase for a while and then they realize how smart you have “become” and maybe you do know something.

I’m looking forward to 20 years or so from now when I find out if I’ve done a good job.

One of my favorite tips and something I try to do every night is number 19, Clean Before Bed.

I also do a quick clean-up right before I go to bed, getting any little things the little ones forgot to put away. It makes my mornings much more pleasant.

Waking up to a tidy house is a great way to start the morning, seeing dirty dishes in the sink and toys on the floor can really sap your energy.

Parents tend to think kids need toys that the parents find interesting, but to a kid, some of the most basic items can become great toys. I think most parents can remember the first birthday or gift giving occasion where your kid is only interested in the wrapping paper and ribbon!

A great read, especially the last one.

Which one of those doesn’t go with the others? If you are anything like me, you picked the 7 year old. These days, it seems kids never really go without anything and don’t understand how hard you and your family work to give them the things they have. Some people think we are raising an entitled generation and I would have to agree with them.

Make sure you talk to your kids about money and how you need to work hard for the things you want. They should understand that sometimes you have to sacrifice one thing for another. If they want that iPod, they should mow some lawns or weed the yard to help pay for it.

In the past decade, the percentage of working mothers who say full-time work is ideal dropped from 32 to 21, according to a new survey by the Pew Research Center. Now, 60 percent of them say they’d rather work part-time, up from 48 percent in 1997.

The bottom line here is that it is possible to start a family without breaking the bank. In fact, if you were to wait until you’re financially “ready” to have kids, complete with all the trappings that new parents often view as absolute necessities, you’d probably never start a family.

It should come as no surprise to people that having everything you and your children eat, wear and play with come from a country with horrible environmental and human rights records might be a bad thing.

One more reason to plant some heirloom crops, try make do with not made in China and eat locally grown foods.