By Rebeldad Brian Reid

The calendar says October, which marks the screwy time of the year when I start caring deeply about baseball (and, more recently, Big Ten football). This has always come as something of a surprise to my family, who lives 11 months of the year in a kind of baseball-free existence. And then everyone wakes up one crisp fall morning to realize that I suddenly care deeply about Josh Beckett’s right oblique.

My seasonal obsession aside, I haven’t tried that hard to get my kids to care, which reflects the fact that I’m not sure what baseball symbolizes anymore. When I was born, the average baseball player made about $45,000, which still wasn’t bad money. But it did make it possible to see the guys on the diamond as working-class heroes who had to show up every day and hustle for their next paycheck.

Now, the average payday in baseball is up around $3 million. It’s even higher in basketball, and the average football or hockey salary are also in the seven-figure range. And, there are concerns about performance-enhancing drugs and plenty of generally boorish behavior that is probably not unrelated to the enormous amounts of money sloshing around. I know I’m still a bit young for nostalgia, but it sure seems like the game has changed.

And that makes it harder for me to share the celebrations of October. I can explain the intricacies of each game and matchup perfectly well, but I’m not sure what it all means in the larger sense. When I was a kid, the guys up at the plate were a testament to hard work and dedication. They were living examples of what you might be able to do if you really put your mind to it, and it was worth staying up late on a couple of fall nights to see that in action.

This year, my kids will be tucked tight in their beds this weekend, pennant chase or no pennant chase. Of course, I’m worried that I’ve been jaded by adulthood: Have any of you managed to transfer your childhood passion for pro sports to your children? Is the magic still there?

Brian Reid writes about parenting and work-family balance. You can read his blog at rebeldad.com.

Tonight is the start of Yom Kippur, the Jewish high holiday of repentance. For those of you not up on Jewish tradition, it's a time to throw away all the bad things we did over the past year and start fresh.

And so, what better time to repent to my children for all my "bad" momminess?

I'm sorry for throwing away those shrinky dinks you created months ago -- only to have you ask for them again last week. Ditto for the shreds of paper you glued to other shreds of paper in the name of art. Double-ditto for the hundreds of drawings and worksheets you brought home from school and camp over the past year.

I'm sorry for taking the pedals off your bike to teach you balance -- though I'm thrilled you now love to ride like a daredevil on two wheels.

I'm sorry for threatening to give away any toy I had to pick up off the floor. And I'm sorry for hiding all those Lego pieces that have scarred my feet for life.

I'm sorry for giving you that over-the-counter cold medicine so you and I could FINALLY get one night's sleep during that runny nose-cold incident earlier this year.

I'm sorry for serving you foods 1,000 times just so you'd try one bite -- eventually -- and tell me it was the grossest thing you'd ever eaten.

I'm sorry for my years and years of inflicting BPA plastic on your little bodies. I'm sure you'll be paying the price when I'm long gone.

I'm sorry for yelling at you when you clearly weren't listening and for forcing you to go into time out against your will.

I'm sorry for all my forgetfulness. It's called "momnesia." What was that again? Oh, you want to go to whose house? Oh, yeah, I'll try to remember to arrange it. Oops.

Anyone else want to join me? Go ahead, fess up about all our less-than-perfect parenting.

10 a.m. Update: I just had to post this one, too: A mom in Montana truly has something to apologize for after bringing a dead bat into an elementary school for a presentation. She allowed the children to touch the bat, which was later confirmed to have rabies. About 90 exposed students are now undergoing rabies shots.

For the first time in more than a decade, the U.S. has taken a hard look at how -- practically speaking -- we're feeding our infants and putting them to sleep. The study, which looks at singleton babies, comes courtesy of the Food and Drug Administration and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. It appears in this month's issue of Pediatrics.

The study isn't without its flaws, which are acknowledged heavily throughout the 100-page report. For instance, moreso than in other national samplings, the parents who participated in the study tend to have more education and to be older, as well as middle income, white and employed.

Still, the sampling gives some indication of our "norm:"

* You give birth and are breastfeeding, but your baby is supplemented with infant formula in the hospital. Other than at the hospital, your baby receives only breastmilk until age 4 months.

* If you stopped nursing in the first two months, your reason was because you experienced lactation problems such as an inability to latch or suck properly or you felt you breastmilk didn't fill your baby up.

* If you fed your child formula, you were not taught how to prepare or store it by a health professional. You may have thought that powdered and ready-to-feed formulas were equally unlikely to contain germs (not true). You did not always wash hands with soap before preparing formula and you may not have adequately washed bottle nipples. About 1 in 3 of you heated formula bottles in the microwave.

* Your baby sleeps in the same room as mom for the first three months (recommended by the American Academy of Pediatrics). During that time mom and baby were likely to lie down and sleep together (not recommended). About a quarter of us did not put our infants to sleep on their backs at 3 months old.

* You introduced cereal between your baby's fourth and fifth months of life.

* Even with some servings of iron-fortified cereal (most likely less than the doctor-recommended amount), your breastfed child is not getting enough iron. And you're not supplementing with iron drops.

* Fruits and vegetables entered your child's diet between ages 5 months and 6 months.

* After your child turned 6 months, you turned from exclusively nursing or mixing breastmilk and formula to all formula.

* Your child began eating meat or a meat substitute around 8 months.

* If you stopped nursing between 3 months and 8 months, your reason was either that you felt your milk was no longer satisfying your baby, that you didn't have enough milk or that your baby began to wean himself. If you stopped nursing after 9 months, baby biting might have been your reason in addition to those previously mentioned.

* Cheese and yogurt entered your child's diet around the age of 10 months and cows' milk at 1 year.

* By age 1, your child was consuming foods high in sugar and fat but low in nutritional value -- such as sweetened drinks, french fries, cookies, cakes, or candies -- at least weekly in addition to a diet of cereals, fruits, vegetables, meats and milk products.

So, does all this match up with your children's first years? Does any of this surprise you or did you find yourself nodding in agreement with most of it?

In late September, Nebraskan Gary Staton decided he'd had enough. Rather than ask relatives for help, he drove his nine underaged children to a hospital and left them there. Staton could do this without legal repercussions because Nebraska has a law allowing parents of minor children to abandon those children in safe places such as a hospital or fire station with no questions asked.

Staton's life began to fall apart when his wife died from a brain aneurysm soon after giving birth to the couple's 10th child. According to MSNBC and other news outlets, he was unemployed and struggled with bills.

His eldest daughter, 18-year-old Amoria Micek told WOWT-TV in Omaha that "he felt like he couldn't provide for them and rather than having the kids homeless or without utilities, he decided he would take up on the safe haven act." Amoria, who was not abandoned, said she speaks with her father daily.

The Staton children joined six teenagers who were also abandoned in Nebraska last month under the state's safe haven law, reports the New York Times.

All 50 states -- though not the District of Columbia -- have safe haven laws that are designed to save babies from being left to die in dumpsters or elsewhere. The first safe haven law was enacted in Texas in 1999. The National Safe Haven Alliance reports uncertainty about the exact number of children abandoned under the laws, but estimates the number at more than 2,000, according to the New York Times. In 2003, a report by the Evan B. Donaldson Adoption Institute, cautioned that safe haven laws were causing more problems by encouraging women to conceal pregnancies and abandon babies rather than receive counseling and by undermining child welfare practices.

But child welfare practices themselves have come under scrutiny. In the Washington area, children in two families that have had some interaction with child welfare agencies have been found dead. In one, two girls were found dead in their adopted mother's freezer, and in the other, Banita Jacks is accused of killing her four children.

Do you think Nebraska's safe haven law is a model for other states or too broad? And what help should we and can we provide to families in need?

Almost exactly a year ago, we had our first fundraising discussion. The Sally Foster packets had arrived -- as they did again a couple weeks ago in my house. This year, though, it's not the PTA fundraisers that have me up in arms -- it's the one sponsored directly by the school: Sell cookie dough and the school's principal gets a chunk of cash to spend directly on school needs without consulting parents.

Like any other parent, I "get" the fact that school budgets are tight. I know they want and need to pay for more than budgets will allow. And I recognize that they're looking ahead to even tighter budgets next year. In counties throughout the Washington area, parents are being hit up for fees to cover lots of school expenses, Daniel de Vise wrote in August. Pay up if you want your child to have workbooks, computer supplies, paintbrushes and gym suits. Does your child need a locker? A sports uniform? Or a parking space? Expect those to cost you.

But back to that darned cookie dough. The kids lost class time at an assembly telling them to sell the stuff that surely can't be helping our national obesity epidemic. And kids who sell a certain amount of dough get prizes that others won't receive. If we oppose the cookie dough sale, we have an out that still allows us to contribute -- write a check directly to the school.

For now, I'm compiling a list of healthy fundraisers to present to the school. The Center for Science in the Public Interest has an amazing list, including walk-a-thons and fun runs; Scrip or Schoolpop cards; sales of non-food products such as toys, jewelry, coupon books and magazine subscriptions; and silent auctions. I've heard of very successful dance-a-thons in which the dances were held in the school gym for an hour at the end of the school day.

Still, even while pulling all the information together, a question keeps gnawing inside: Should public schools (not PTAs, mind you, but the schools themselves) be in the business of fundraising to support their needs?

How many of you have faced such school-sponsored fundraisers? Are you seeing more of them in this tight economy? What fundraisers do you support and which ones do you oppose? What other types of school fees and fundraisers are eating away at your income?

One booster seat is not as good as another. That's the word from the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety in conjunction with the University of Michigan Transportation Research Institute, which released a list of the best, good and bad boosters.

But don't rush out to the store for a new booster just yet. Unlike car seats, booster seats are designed simply to make adult seat belts align properly on smaller bodies. So, you should assess where your booster falls on your own children's good or bad list simply by looking at the shoulder and lap belts. Here's the criteria: Shoulder straps should cross snugly over the middle part of a child's shoulder. Lap belts should cross on the thigh and not the abdomen. Most kids need to use a booster until they are 4'9", according to the IIHS report. Based on CDC growth charts, an average-sized child would reach that height about age 11.

Thirty-eight states and Washington, D.C., have laws requiring boosters for kids who have graduated by age and weight from infant and toddler car seats. Other states have been considering the issue, sparking debate over whether states should enact laws requiring booster seats.

Unlike those more expensive car seats, a good booster doesn't need to cost much. Two of the best-rated backless boosters were on sale online yesterday for about $30. The booster seats were tested on dummies of average-sized 6-year-olds (3'9" tall). According to the IIHS, the best of the 31 boosters tested are:

* Graco TurboBooster backless with clip; model #8493BRG; manufactured date: 05/14/2003 (top) 05/28/2003 (bottom)

* Fisher-Price Safe Voyage backless with clip; model #EF35B0A; manufactured date: 07/31/2006

* Combi Kobuk backless with clip; model #8970; manufactured date: 05/28/2005

* Fisher-Price Safe Voyage; model #EF35B0A; manufactured date: 07/31/2006

* Britax Parkway; model #E904157; manufactured date: 11/12/2006

* LaRoche Bros. Teddy Bear; model #2-2004; manufactured date: 12/30/2006

* Safeguard Go backless with clip; model #F100165; manufactured date: 20070219

* Volvo booster cushion; model #PN backseat 3529907; manufactured date: undetermined

* Recaro Young Style; model #500074242; manufactured date: 20070129

* Britax Monarch; model #E9053E9; manufactured date: 20070214

And the worst performers, which all placed lap belts either on the abdomen or too far down the legs, were:

* Safety Angel Ride Ryte backless; model #NB321/FB322; manufactured date: 02/2006

* Cosco/Dorel (Eddie Bauer) Summit; model #22-862-EBCE; manufactured date: 12/30/2006

* Graco CarGo Zephyr; model #8D01ZPH; manufactured date: 10/12/2006

* Evenflo Big Kid Confidence; model #3131765A; manufactured date: 11/03/2006

* Cosco/Dorel Traveler; model #22-270-CBA; manufactured date: 12/21/2006

* Compass B505; model #B505-PISTACHIO; manufactured date: 11/08/2006

* Compass B510; model #B510-ASPEN; manufactured date: 11/08/2006

* Evenflo Generations; model #3521607L1; manufactured date: 11/07/2006

* Dorel/Safety 1st (Eddie Bauer) Prospect; model #22-880-HID; manufactured date: 12/12/2006

* Cosco Highback Booster; model #02-442-WAL; manufactured date: 03/25/2001

* Cosco/Dorel Alpha Omega; model #22155-TRP; manufactured date: 02/27/2007

* Evenflo Chase Comfort Touch; model #3261722L1; manufactured date: 01/22/2007

* Safety 1st/Dorel Intera; model #22-460-WALA; manufactured date: 07/10/2006

Do you think states should regulate booster-seat use? Do you have one of the "good" or "bad" boosters? Does the IIHS testing match what you see in your everyday use of the seats?

By Rebeldad Brian Reid

I had a heck of a time getting any work done on Monday -- frozen wide-eyed as the S&P Index dropped like a rock as the market imagined a world missing huge swaths of the financial services industry. Everyone I talked to was worried. Even if the credit crunch doesn't hit personally, it will hit our neighbors and our employers in one way or another.

Adding to the unease is the fact that I don't entirely get everything that's going on. Does anyone?

That confusion makes it tougher to talk about the issue with kids. We've talked here about the typical money stuff -- allowances and chores and the like -- but while reckless corporate lending is a decent segue to a conversation about credit cards with a teen, it only gets you so far today.

How do you start to talk about a global financial meltdown? Job losses? Foreclosures? With pre-teens? Younger?

The Wall Street Journal tried to tackle this last week, suggesting different tactics for different ages. Elementary school kids need help understanding that financial calamity is not an all-or-nothing, black-or-white ordeal. Just because the Dow is fluctuating wildly and the talking heads have started screaming, it doesn't mean that they -- personally -- are headed for ruin. Middle school children can handle "a little more detail" about the news, according the WSJ. And teens can be engaged in finding solutions and taking part in the family talks that can accompany this kind of news.

Like sex, it seems like honesty is the best policy -- it's natural to want to shield kids from painful realities, but you can't let them be blindsided. I haven't started getting the questions yet. Have you? And if so, how have you handled them?

Brian Reid writes about parenting and work-family balance. You can read his blog at rebeldad.com.