GoodyBlog

Spankin' New Headlines

Never leave your kid alone in the car—child safety advocates are pushing states to make this child death risk illegal. USA Today

Texting like crazy may actually be improving your kid's English skills. Newsweek

The competition for private kindergarten spots in New York City is as intense as ever. The New York Times

Meningitis is a fast-acting, deadly disease—so why aren’t more parents vaccinating their children against it? The Wall Street Journal

Men adopt children at a higher rate than women and only 1% of single moms put their babies up for adoption, finds the first federal survey on U.S. adoption. Yahoo! News

Original photo via

Introducing MimosBlog.com!

Let's give a warm GoodyBlog welcome to the newest member of our bloggy family: Our sister Spanish-language publication Ser Padres is launching their brand-new blog today! Check out MimosBlog.com for the latest parenting info en Español. I'll go ahead and admit that I can't technically read what my fabulous colleagues are writing (those measly 2 years of high school French were the extent of my language training), but they're pretty awesome so I know their blog will be too. Head on over and say "Hola!" to the MimosBlog crew.

Teach Your Baby About the Internet

Hilarious. Check out the entire Baby's First Internet gallery, featuring such classics as "It doesn’t matter what you say, just publish it twelve times per day."

Found via neatorama.

Goody Green: Earth-Friendly HP Printer

For those of us who take pride in recycling, this is the next best thing when it comes to eco-friendly home printing. The HP D2545 is a compact, Energy Star qualified deskjet made of 83% recycled plastics. It uses HP 60 ink cartridges (which are made from newly molded recycled HP ink cartridges and water bottles) to print everything from your kid's homework documents to bright and colorful family photos. And - no surprise here - it's packaged in 100% recycled materials. Plus, at $49, this low environmental impact printer is a steal!

Before you buy a new printer or computer, check out HP's recycling program or this guide from the EPA for more info on how to properly dispose of your old one!

Goody Green: An Eco Search Engine

It's simple: Search for everything from car seat safety ratings to college savings plans, all while helping save the earth. Just log onto EcoSearch.org for all of your "googling" needs. You get the same search results that Google produces (promise!), but with one difference - each search helps raise money for eco-charities. EcoSearch is the first non-profit search engine, and is committed to donating 100% of it's proceeds directly to improving and supporting our environment. (They've already donated to non-profits like the Rainforest Alliance, the Sierra Club, and the National Resource Defense Council.) If this isn't one of the easiest ways to "Go Green" I'm not sure what is. So help me spread the word and send this post to all your friends. Then, make EcoSearch.org your homepage. And, finally, if you know of a charity that you'd love for them to support, email the EcoSearch team at info@ecosearch.org and let them know your thoughts - then tell us about them too!

Green Fact: If one million users search twice every day on EcoSearch.org, the corporation will raise $15 million for green initiatives every year!

Vacation Prep List

Just in time for summer vacation, check out this FREE vacation-ready prep list that you can easily download. TimeToo, the makers of home organization tools for busy families, has developed a cute, click-and-print preplist for quick and stress-free family vacation planning—a checklist for everything from informing the house sitter of “garbage day” and watering plants to making sure your pet sitter has a key. To get the list, click here; or go to TimeToo, click on the yellow box that says, "summer's here," and then print!

Around the 'Net in 7 Days

You may be wondering why there's an orange balloon floating on the bottom right. It's there because GoodyBlog is a stop on the world's first internet balloon race. Snag your own (free) balloon and race around the 'net to win cool prizes (turns out you can only win prizes in the U.K. Sad! We're still going to be a stop just for fun though). I'm partial to the camel (he's just so cute!) but maybe you want to go with the speedy canary or the no-nonsense raccoon. Get ready (and set) to go: The race starts in just 4 days.

Who's Your Daddy?

Check out ManBabies—a new blog that does nothing but post pictures of fathers and babies, with the heads swapped. It's a simple concept, but totally hilarious. If you're so moved you can submit your own photo to them to digitally alter and post. Father's Day present, anyone?

Good Deed Friday: A Month of Giving

A very lovely GoodyBlog reader sent us info about the 29-Day Giving Challenge, a wonderful program that challenges you to give away one item a day for 29 days in a row and share how the experience impacts your life. They're trying to get 2,000 people to sign up, and there's a great online community that you become a part of once you join. The community offers tips on how to give, blog posts, and even social networking capabilities where you can connect with other givers. Plus, if you're not sure what to give, just check out what Cami Walker, the founder of the challenge, gave—she documented all 29 days with photos and everything! So can you do it? Can you give away 29 things in 29 days? I challenge you!

Wii Had So Much Fun

I spent the weekend with my niece and nephew in Chicago, and in just 72 hours I developed a severe and troubling addiction to Wii. I know I'm kind of a latecomer to the whole thing, but hello....is this the funnest game ever or what? I especially got into bowling, which I stink at in real life but which I am killer at on screen. So here's my question: How many of you moms out there secretly practice Wii when your kids are napping or at school?