Teen sexting of nude photos online or via cellphone may be far less common than people think, new research suggests. Only 1 percent of kids aged 10 to 17 have shared images of themselves or others that involve explicit nudity, a nationally representative study found. Roughly the same number said they’d shared suggestive but less graphic photos; while 7 percent said they’d received either type of picture.

The research focused on teens only — not people in their 20s, an age group included in some earlier studies which showed considerably higher sexting participation. The new study suggests texting of sexual photos among younger kids is rare.

The results are reassuring, showing that teen sexting isn’t rampant, usually isn’t malicious, and is generally not something parents should panic over, said lead author Kimberly Mitchell, a research assistant psychology professor at the University of New Hampshire.

Previous reports said as many as 1 in 5, or 20 percent, of an age group from 14 to 24 have participated in sexting. But some of those also used definitions of sexting that included racy text messages without photos, or images “no more revealing than what someone might see at a beach,” authors of the new study said.

In the new study, researchers focused only on pictures, and asked more detailed questions about the kinds of racy photos kids are sharing. The researchers did a separate study on how police deal with teen sexting of photos. Contrary to some reports, that research suggests few kids are being prosecuted or forced to register as sex offenders for sexting. It estimates that nearly 4,000 teen sexting cases were reported to police nationwide in 2008 and 2009.

Slightly more than one-third of those cases resulted in arrests. About one-third of all cases involved teens and young adults; the adults were much more likely to be arrested. The studies were released Monday in the journal Pediatrics.

The research shows that sexting can range from incidents that some teen health experts consider typical adolescent exploring — the 21st century version of sneaking a look at dad’s Playboy magazine, to malicious cases with serious consequences made possible by today’s technology.

For example, one case involved a 10-year-old boy who sent a cellphone picture of his genitals to an 11-year-old classmate “to gross her out.” The girl’s mother called police; the boy cried when questioned by police, who concluded he didn’t understand the magnitude of his actions and left the matter to his parents.

Another involved a 16-year-old girl who said she accidentally posted a nude photo of herself on a social networking site. A 16-year-old boy at her school found the photo and distributed it to 100 people when she refused his demand to send him more nude pictures. He was charged with a felony and was put on probation.

The results suggest that police generally aren’t overreacting to teen sexting, said Janis Wolak, lead author of the second study. Some cases that aren’t clearly criminal are still worrisome and warrant intervention by parents or others, she said.

In the first study, researchers questioned 1,560 kids nationwide by phone, with parents’ permission, between in August 2010 and January of this year. The second study is based on mailed questionnaires to nearly 3,000 police departments and follow-up phone interviews with investigating officers about sexting cases handled in 2008 and 2009.

The studies illustrate how sexting may include a wide range of teen behavior, and highlight an issue “about which we as a society have gotten pretty hysterical and probably blew out of proportion,” said Dr. Michael Rich, director of the Center on Media and Child Health at Children’s Hospital Boston.

Exploring sexuality is normal behavior for teens and taking pictures of themselves and others is one way “just to find out what it is like,” he said. “We’ve been doing that since somebody scribbled a picture of a nude woman on the side of a cave and the guys gathered around to check it out.”Sexting is different only because it is happening “in an environment that the adult community doesn’t understand as well as kids,” Rich said.

Dr. Victor Strasburger, an adolescent medicine expert at the University of New Mexico, said parents, schools and law enforcement authorities “need to understand that teenagers are neurologically programmed to do dumb things.” Their brains aren’t mature enough to fully realize the consequences of their actions, including sexting, until early adulthood, he said.

Instead of prosecution, he said, there should be more emphasis on teaching teens to be responsible with new technology. Kids need to be told “that when you put things online and even when you send them via cellphone, they’re potentially there forever.”

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Some high school students put together a special Christmas party for kids in the community Sunday. It's for children who are surviving cancer. This is the 24th year for the event. Several North Side students did all the work raising money, shopping for gifts and organizing entertainment and activities. "Just that feeling that you get when you know you made a difference in that child and the parent's life. It just makes you feel good inside," Jordyn Rigler, the event director, said. Around 20 families were at Sunday's Christmas party.

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It's bedtime in Louisville, Ky., and 7-year-old Jeremiah squirts "Monster Spray" under his bed, in his closet and on his pillow before saying his nightly prayers. The spray -- a homemade concoction of water, food coloring and a dab of courage -- is an old standby for many parents with children afraid of the dark, but in this instance, it's been prescribed by Jeremiah's therapist, David Crowley, to protect Jeremiah from memories of the past that haunt his nights.

Jeremiah and his three siblings are part of the foster program run by Maryhurst, a nonprofit agency that devotes itself to neglected and abused children in Kentucky. The agency takes in foster children who have endured some of the most horrific situations in the state. In Jeremiah's case, he and his siblings entered foster care in 2009 amid allegations of extreme neglect. They rarely saw doctors or went to school, and were frequently hungry. Jeremiah still has nightmares of a house fire that nearly killed them.

In therapy, Jeremiah talks about the fire with Crowley. "It was getting bigger and bigger," he said. To control his moods, Jeremiah was prescribed a psychotropic medication. At Maryhurst, Crowley also uses therapy to help Jeremiah work through his bad memories.

"We focus on relying on the strengths that the child has and using a team approach by consulting with psychiatrists, with the individuals that work with them on a daily basis, with the therapists, with parents, and with foster or adoptive parents," Crowley said. "If we just focus solely on medications to fix acting out behavior or to help improve their mood, then if you take those medications away, then the core issue's still there."

Three-quarters of the children who enter Maryhurst's program are on psychotropic drugs, but by the time they leave, well over half are on reduced or no medication at all.

"Our children come to us on many medications, but over time we want to reduce the medication as much as possible and hopefully, to where they wouldn't need any at all. That's a fine balance, but we want them to be able to participate in the treatment and if they're overmedicated, they can't do that," said Maryhurst president and CEO Judy Lambeth.

It's an old-fashioned approach to taking care of kids within a foster care system that's under increased scrutiny this week. A Government Accountability Report released Thursday revealed that America's foster children have been prescribed powerful psychotropic drugs at doses beyond what the Food and Drug Administration has approved. At a congressional hearing Thursday, lawmakers were interested in hearing about both the problem and possible solutions.

"We need to find out what works and do more of that," said Sen. Thomas Carper, D-Del., who asked for the GAO investigation. Former foster child Ke'onte Cook, 12, testified at the hearing, Ke'Onte was on multiple psychotropic medications during the four years he was in foster care, but is now on none.

"I think therapy is a better choice over meds if meds are not a necessity in that moment," he said. The children at Maryhurst agree -- and say it's the patience and care of the staff that has changed them.

Gabby, 16, says that being at Maryhurst saved her life. When she was 12 years old, she moved into one of Maryhurst's residential treatment facilities weighing 220 pounds. She says the weight gain was a result of all the psychotropic medications she was prescribed in foster care.

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Foster children on Medicaid received psychotropic drugs—including antipsychotics and antidepressants at a higher rate than other children covered by the government insurance program, according to a federal report released Thursday.

The study by the Government Accountability Office is raising concern among lawmakers and medical experts that doctors are overprescribing psychiatric drugs to treat children in the foster-care system.

Foster children are wards of the state placed in the homes of certified caregivers, or foster parents, often on a short-term basis until a permanent situation can be arranged. While such children often struggle with emotional problems, medical experts say some are receiving the medications at unjustifiably high levels.

The report found that drug amounts exceeding maximum doses for a child's age were many times more likely to be prescribed to foster children than to other children in the federal-state program for lower-income people. The GAO, which submitted its findings as part of a Senate hearing, also found that foster children were several times more likely than other Medicaid youngsters to be taking five or more psychotropic drugs at the same time.

Among the drugs analyzed were antipsychotics such as Abilify and Risperdal, antidepressants such as Cymbalta and Paxil, and attention-deficit hyperactivity-disorder drugs such as Ritalin and Strattera. The GAO found that foster children were between 2.7 and 4.5 times as likely to be on psychotropics as non-foster youngsters in Medicaid, depending on which state they lived in.

Foster kids often have more emotional troubles and painful pasts than other Medicaid children, but both groups can be overmedicated because they're often seen by general doctors rather than getting counseling.

"The high-risk practices identified by the GAO study raise significant concerns regarding the treatment of severely mentally ill and vulnerable youth," child psychiatrist Jon McClellan of the University of Washington told lawmakers Thursday. Senators in both parties said federal and state agencies supervising Medicaid need to curb overprescription of the drugs.

"There is no evidence for use of five mind-altering medications in an adult, let alone a child," said Democratic Sen. Tom Carper of Delaware. Sen. Scott Brown, a Massachusetts Republican, called the findings "shocking."

Bryan Samuels, a senior official overseeing Medicaid at the federal Department of Health and Human Services, agreed that "the current use of psychotropic medications among children, particularly children in foster care, goes beyond that which is supported by empirical research." He said his department has written to state Medicaid agencies "to raise awareness of these issues."

The GAO study focused on Medicaid programs in Florida, Massachusetts, Michigan, Oregon and Texas in 2008. The GAO said 1,752 children in those programs were getting five or more such drugs at the same time.

At the hearing, 12-year-old Ke'onte Cook, a former foster child from McKinney, Texas, said he was taking five psychotropic drugs at times while in foster care. Describing occasions when the drugs made him lethargic, he said. "Some of the meds were for bipolar disease and seizures, and I am not bipolar or have seizures," he testified.

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Dear Abby: I want you to know how much I agree with your answer to “Paying for My Popcorn in Oregon” (Sept. 15), who complained about her niece sneaking food into the theater.

I used to teach a parenting class to parents who had kids in trouble with the law. I started out by asking, “How many of you teach your children to lie, cheat or steal?” Of course nobody admitted they did. I then had about 20 items I’d list, the movie food issue being one, driving over the speed limit, and so on. At least one of the 20 applied to everybody.

Then I’d say: “You taught your kids that it was OK to lie, cheat and steal — it’s only getting caught that’s bad. That’s why you are in my class today.” This is what that niece is teaching her children.

Paul In Denver

Dear Paul: Thank you for agreeing. However, I’m sorry to say that many readers thought the issue was more about the cost and selection of snacks than that of cheating the theater owners. My newspaper readers comment:

Dear Abby: For a family of four to see a movie and get a drink and popcorn or candy costs about $80. This is highway robbery. The cost of a drink is about 5 or 10 cents to the theater, and they charge a whopping $5. The same goes for popcorn. Let’s be serious. How much does popcorn cost? A tub of popcorn at a theater is $7.50.

My children want the whole theater experience, which includes a snack. How can a family afford to go to the movies at these prices? Theater owners should be able to make a reasonable profit on the snacks, but this is ridiculous. Sorry, I will continue to bring my snacks in.

Kim in California

Dear Abby: While I agree that it is the theater operators’ prerogative to set policy and make money, I have done what the niece is doing, but for different reasons. My children and I are allergic to corn products as well as artificial colors and flavorings — ingredients in every product commonly sold at movie concession stands.

Recently my family has made a different choice. We either eat before we go, or we wait for the DVD and stay home. I would like companies to know that when they exclude outside food, they also exclude my family.

Allergic in New York

Dear Abby: “Paying” could search for activities to help them see another way of looking at the world. Instead of going to a movie, I suggest that the aunt arrange to take the children (with or without her niece) to an outing such as craft time at a library, a visit to a museum, or gather in the kitchen to share a family recipe and donate the food to a local shelter.

They could spend an afternoon helping at the local food pantry, which would provide an opportunity for her to discuss values and priorities. In this way she could interact with her niece and the children and build lasting memories. They could even go to the grocery store and make a game out of seeing how much food they could buy for the amount they would have spent at the movie.

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If your child is asking for Ugg boots, a pricey hot toy or a smartphone for the holidays, it's time for a teachable moment. Even if your kid has less lofty tastes, the holidays are still a great time to hammer home some important financial lessons. "Parents want kids to have everything they want, but if they're not teaching limit-setting, it's doing them a terrible disservice," says money coach Olivia Mellan.

Financial literacy expert Susan Beacham says parents have to lead by example. If they buy gifts for their kids that stretch their own budgets, they're only hurting their families when the bills cause financial hardship and stress in January.

Money is an abstract concept for young people, which can contribute to an "I want it all" approach to holidays. Studies have shown their brains don't develop enough to deal with such concepts until they're in their early 20s, says Beacham, who owns financial education company Money Savvy Generation.
That's especially true when young people don't pay their own expenses or make spending decisions.
Mellan, a psychotherapist and author, recommends giving children allowances "as soon as they are old enough to make change." That money should be divided into "spending, saving, investing and charitable giving," she says. Beacham sells a piggy bank with sections for each.

It may not look as good under the tree, but Mellan and Beacham say cash is a great gift. Coupled with that allowance money, your kids could get the gifts of their dreams — or might reconsider . Children need to recognize the costs associated with phones, for example. The cost of a smartphone averages $50 to $300 with carrier contracts, says Bob Harris, CEO of utility comparison website WhiteFence. That doesn't include monthly bills, replacement costs or insurance. Say your children are asking for $160 Ugg boots. Try giving them the money and let them see how far it could go at the mall if they chose less expensive footwear.

There is no shortage of options if you're faced with a budget-busting wish list from one or more children. If the $100 LeapPad Explorer kids' tablet is too pricey, Toy Industry Association spokeswoman Adrienne Appell suggests the $20 Disney AppMates (downloadable apps) for kids who are allowed to share a family tablet.

Legos and Barbie dolls were two of the most searched toys in the past two weeks, says digital analytics firm Compete. Compete retail expert Lindsay Steinbach says those reasonably priced — and more traditional — toys' popularity show "how much of a role parents have in influencing the toys that their children are interested in."

Appell recommends affordably priced collectible toys, such as the new DaGeDar balls that have different "personalities" and can be raced or used in play battle. They're good options for families trying to keep spending in check: "Kids can save their own money to build on their collection," she says.
Other ways to set limits this season:

•Get children of all ages involved in setting a holiday budget and deciding what gifts to give those outside the family, including grandparents. Beacham suggests coming up with "homespun" gifts that don't cost anything but are far more meaningful, such as biweekly calls or a letter as a present to grandparents. She has told her two daughters each year since they were in high school that all she wants is a letter from both of them at Christmas. And she gets and cherishes them.

•Give children who believe in Santa Claus a piece of paper with room for only three wants and three needs that they can send to the North Pole, says Beacham. Financial lessons for kids at the holidays don't have to spoil the spirit. "Scale it back and define good boundaries," says Beacham. "This is going to sound so cold for so many people, but the whole tone of the house in January is going to be different."

How to buy a phone for your child
Each week, we consult experts on buying different products that make good gifts. Here, Susan Beacham of financial education company Money Savvy Generation offers advice on how to buy a phone for your child.

•Don't overbuy. Smartphone data plans are expensive. A phone that makes calls and allows them to text is all a younger kid needs to start.

•Consider prepaid as a low-cost option. There's no contract, and you can take some time to determine what you and your child need a phone to do before you pay for unnecessary options.

•Wrap a great phone case with some cash towards the price of the smartphone your kid wants. Throw in a few odd jobs they can do to earn the rest.

•Talk about the ongoing cost of the phone upfront. Make a copy of the data plan, and create a coupon that entitles the child to a 50% contribution towards the monthly bill.

•Bring your child with you after the holidays to get the phone. Wrap a picture of a phone. Include cash and set a date when you will go together to shop based on price, models and features.

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A rising number of parents in more than half of states are opting out of school shots for their kids. And in eight states, more than 1 in 20 public school kindergartners do not get all the vaccines required for attendance, an Associated Press analysis found. That has health officials worried about possible new outbreaks of diseases that were all but stamped out.

The AP analysis found more than half of states have seen at least a slight rise in the rate of exemptions over the past five years. States with the highest exemption rates are in the West and Upper Midwest.
It's "really gotten much worse," said Mary Selecky, secretary of health for Washington state, where 6 percent of public school parents have opted out. Rules for exemptions vary by state and can include medical, religious or — in some states — philosophical reasons.

Parents' reasons for skipping the shots vary. Some doubt that vaccines are essential. Others fear that vaccines carry their own risks. And some find it easier to check a box opting out than to get the shots and required paperwork. Still others are ambivalent, believing in older vaccines but questioning newer shots against, say, chickenpox.

The number of shots is also giving some parents pause. By the time most children are 6, they will have been stuck with a needle about two dozen times — with many of those shots given in infancy. The cumulative effect of all those shots has not been studied enough, some parents say. "Many of the vaccines are unnecessary, and public health officials don't honestly know" the effects of giving so many vaccines to such small children, said Jennifer Margulis, a mother of four and parenting book author in Ashland, Ore., a small liberal community that has unusually high vaccination exemption rates.

But few serious problems have turned up over years of vaccinations, and several studies have shown no link between vaccines and autism, a theory from the 1990s that has been widely discredited.
To be sure, childhood vaccination rates remain high overall, at 90 percent or better for several vaccines, including those for polio, measles, hepatitis B and chickenpox. In many states, exemptions are filed for fewer than 1 percent of children entering school for the first time.

Health officials have not identified an exemption threshold that would likely lead to outbreaks. But they worry when some states have exemption rates climbing beyond 5 percent. The average state exemption rate has been estimated at less than half that.

Even more troubling are pockets in some states where exemption rates are much higher. In some rural counties in northeast Washington, for example, vaccination exemption rates in recent years have been above 20 percent and even as high as 50 percent.

"Vaccine refusers tend to cluster," said Saad Omer, an Emory University epidemiologist who has done extensive research on the issue. Parents who let their kids skip some vaccines put others at risk, health officials say. Because no vaccine is completely effective, if an outbreak begins in an unvaccinated group of children, a vaccinated child may still be at some risk of getting sick.

Studies have found that measles has suddenly re-emerged in some communities with higher exemption rates. Vaccinated kids are sometimes among the cases, or children too young to be vaccinated.
And measles isn't the only risk. Last year, California had more than 2,100 whooping cough cases, and 10 infants died. Only one had received a first dose of vaccine. "Your child's risk of getting disease depends on what your neighbors do," Omer said. While it seems unlikely that diseases like polio and diphtheria could make a comeback in the U.S., immunization expert Dr. Lance Rodewald says it's not impossible.

"Polio can come back. China was polio-free for two decades, and just this year, they were infected from Pakistan. And there is a big outbreak of polio in China now. The same could happen here," Rodewald, of the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, said in an email. He cited outbreaks of Hib, a disease that can lead to meningitis, among the Amish who don't consistently vaccinate their children. Russia had a huge diphtheria outbreak in the early to mid-1990s, he said, because vaccine coverage declined.

For its review, the AP asked state health departments for kindergarten exemption rates for 2006-07 and 2010-11. The AP also looked at data states had previously reported to the federal government. (Most states do not have data for the current 2011-12 school year.)

Alaska had the highest exemption rate in 2010-11, at nearly 9 percent. Colorado's rate was 7 percent, Minnesota 6.5 percent, Vermont and Washington 6 percent, and Oregon, Michigan and Illinois were close behind. Mississippi was lowest, at essentially 0 percent. The AP found 10 states had exemption rate increases over the five years of about 1.5 percentage points or more, a range health officials say is troubling. Those states, too, were in the West and Midwest — Alaska, Kansas, Hawaii, Illinois, Michigan, Montana, Oregon, Vermont, Washington and Wisconsin. Arizona saw an increase that put that state in the same ballpark.

Exemption seekers are often middle-class, college-educated white people, but there are often a mix of views and philosophies. Exemption hot spots like Sedona, Ariz., and rural northeast Washington have concentrations of parents who prefer alternative medicine, as well as libertarians who fear giving government too much authority.

Opposition to vaccines "is putting people together that normally would not be together," observed Elizabeth Jacobs, a University of Arizona epidemiologist looking at that state's rising exemption rates.
A national survey of roughly 750 parents, published last month in the journal Pediatrics, found that more than 1 in 10 parents said they refused or delayed shots mainly because of safety concerns.
Many exemption-seeking parents conclude that the dangers posed by vaccine-preventable diseases are less important than the possible harm from vaccines.

"We are being told this by every government official, teacher, doctor that we need vaccines to keep us safe from these diseases. I simply don't believe that to be true. I believe all the diseases in question were up to 90 percent in decline before mass vaccines ever were given," said Sabrina Paulick of Ashland. She's a part-time caregiver for elderly people and mother of a 4-year-old daughter.

"I don't think vaccines are what saved the world from disease," she added. "I think effective sewer systems, nutrition and hand-washing" are the reasons. Parents say they would like to reserve the right to decide what vaccinations their children should get and when. Health officials reply that vaccinations are recommended at an early age to protect children before they encounter a dangerous infection. "If you delay, you're putting a child at risk," said Gerri Yett, a nurse who manages Alaska's immunization program.

Analyzing vaccination exemptions is difficult. States collect data differently. Some base their exemption rates on just a small sample of schools — Alaska, for example — while others rely on more comprehensive numbers. So the AP worked with researchers at the CDC, which statistically adjusted some states' 2010-11 data for a better comparison. It's also not clear when an exemption was invoked against all vaccines and when it was used to excuse just one or two shots. CDC officials think the second scenario is more common. Also, states differ on some of the vaccines required and what's needed to get an exemption: Sometimes only a box on a form needs to be checked, while some states want letters or even signed statements from doctors.

Meanwhile, some parent groups and others have pushed legislators to make exemptions easier or do away with vaccination requirements altogether. The number of states allowing philosophical exemptions grew from 15 to 20 in the last decade. Some in public health are exasperated by the trend.

"Every time we give them evidence (that vaccines are safe), they come back with a new hypothesis" for why vaccines could be dangerous, said Kacey Ernst, another University of Arizona researcher. The exemption increases have come during a time when the government has been raising its estimates of how many children have autism and related disorders. Some parents believe the growing roster of recommended shots must somehow be connected.

"I don't understand how other people don't see that these two things are related," said Stacy Allan, a Summit, N.J., mother who filed religious exemptions and stopped vaccinating her three children.
Several parents said that while they believe many health officials mean well, their distrust of the vaccine-making pharmaceutical industry only continues to grow.

"I wouldn't be one to say I am absolutely certain these things are hurting our children," said Michele Pereira, an Ashland mother of two young girls. She is a registered nurse and married to an anesthesiologist. While her daughters have had some vaccinations, they have not had the full recommended schedule. "I feel like there are enough questions out there that I don't want to take the chance," she said.

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They are destiny's children. After surviving almost fatal falls from steep heights, these 'miracle kids' continue to thrive. Having dodged death by just a whisker, for most their frightening experience lingers only as a distant if somewhat unpleasant memory. Shruti Bhargav, 24, a mediaperson, recently returned from a ten-day trip to the Himalayas. Like most youngsters these days, she puts in long hours at a highpressure job and needed the break to unwind from all the stress. "The trip was great, but I couldn't trek much because of my leg," she says.

Shruti was 11 when she fell from the fourth floor terrace of her apartment building in Borivli and sustained serious back and leg injuries. "I remember it was Sankranti and my friends and I had planned to fly kites on the terrace.

I started off all by myself and was trying to pull a kite that had gotten stuck. The next thing I knew I was in hospital surrounded by abunch of doctors and my very worried looking parents," she says, slightly amused as she narrates the tale. Shruti, who was lying unconscious, was spotted half an hour later by the building watchman and rushed to hospital.

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The LeapPad has become the breakout toy of this Christmas season, selling out online and in toy stores and listing on eBay for as much as $300 U.S. – three times the suggested retail price. It has 463,088 likes on Facebook, where parents trade jokes about buying a LeapPad so they can get their iPads back from their children.

A company announcement at 5:26 a.m. Thursday that LeapPad bundles starting at $159 had become available in limited numbers was met with jubilation followed by disappointment when they sold out quickly.

“Our advice is to keep checking back at your favorite stores and websites, and to shop early in the day if you can,” the company advised, adding more shipments will be arriving in stores before Christmas. LeapFrog Shoppers will have to be quick on their feet to get one. They’re flying off the shelves as fast as they land.

A shift in how personal electronic devices for children are perceived is contributing to an avalanche of sales in tablets for children of all ages. The huge increase in educational games and applications – from apps that help children learn the alphabet to apps that help children with speech delays learn to talk – has helped win parents over.

In Toronto, LeapPad deliveries are still expected at Walmart stores, where it sells for $89.77, and at Toys R Us, where it sells for $110, but as of Friday afternoon, the product was sold out. “It’s such a hot toy – the first tablet for kids,” says Toys R Us spokeswoman Victoria Spada. “We’re trying to fill orders that were placed online before the holiday season, but we do have shipments coming in.”

Rainchecks are not being offered, said Walmart spokeswoman Rosalyn Carneiro. “I think what we’re seeing is growth in a new toy category – electronic learning devices. Kids are seeing their parents with a pad and they want something similar,” says Carneiro. Carneiro says the VTech InnoTab at $89.96 is a comparable buy for children ages 4-9. VTech

In a way, nothing has changed. Kids asking for electronics are doing what they’ve always done – mimicking mom and dad, says Spada, of Toys R Us. It’s why toy kitchens are so popular. “It’s role play. Little girls love strollers and pushing the baby in a stroller, because they want to be a mom just like mommy. It’s all about being grown up.”

Chunky casings to protect adult phones and tablets when they’re being used by children are also popular this year, says Spada. Fisher-Price’s Apptivity Case for children ages three months to three years fits over the iPhone and iPod to protect them from drool and drops and includes a feature that can disable the home button on the device to keep infants from making outgoing calls. Fisher-Price

Amanda Collins, 33, of Guelph, managed to get a LeapPad for her four-year-old son last week. “I got lucky and snagged one as they were stocking on Amazon.com. I paid $99 US,” says Collins, a stay-at-home mom and photographer. She thinks working with the stylus that comes with the tablet will help her son learn to write.

He already uses her iPhone and has a Wii. While she keeps his television and movie watching to a minimum, she doesn’t have the same concerns with the Wii or his other made-for-kids devices.

“All of his games and apps are educational. When he is older, and his games are solely for entertainment, I imagine we will set a time limit for how long he is allowed to play daily,” says Collins.

She agrees there’s been a change in the way parents view electronics for children, including young children. “When I was a kid, video games were viewed as being only for entertainment and were an expensive novelty, but that has changed. They are affordable now and teach basic skills like the alphabet and counting.”

Elliott Chun, spokesman for Future Shop, says the electronics market is becoming increasingly user-friendly for children. “The tablet is no longer directed towards an adult or executive level. It’s now made to reach every demographic. That’s very exciting.”

Indigo’s category director of toys Deena Gat says the LeapPad has been a hit in stores and online because the strong educational content appeals to parents who would otherwise be leery of giving their children tech devices. “Traditionally our customers have shied away from digital toys. The response to this has been phenomenal.”

Indigo’s Kobo tablets, which sell for $100-$200, are a great alternative, she says. Kobo David Perkinson, senior product developer at LeapFrog Enterprises in Emeryville, CA, has played a major role in the development of LeapFrog products. Prompted by the strong market for electronic tablets, the LeapFrog team decided to craft a tablet designed specifically to meet the needs of kids of all ages, one that could withstand what kids dish out and be age appropriate.

The result is a tough case built around a screen, supported by educational games and apps that can be purchased separately and that build on the learning platform LeapFrog has been developing for more than a decade since launching its line of interactive learning toys. The suggested retail price at launch was $110 in Canada, with apps starting at $5 and games at $30.

While the iPad is an amazing device, it’s not exactly kid-safe, Perkinson points out. Work on the LeapPad began about 16 months ago, says Perkinson. The original LeapPad learning system to help children learn to read was launched in 1998, and 35 million platforms have been sold worldwide.

Helen Loschiavo, 39, was one of the parents in hot pursuit of a LeapPad for her two daughters – she stalked Costco, e-mailed Costco and missed them at Costco. Then she thought she’d purchased two online at Indigo, only to learn the next day that her order couldn’t be filled. “Now? I’m not going to buy one because I can’t find one anywhere and I don’t want to pay a premium,” she says.

She wanted the LeapPad in part to get her iPad back from her children. After learning the price of LeapPad apps and games, she did a cost-benefit analysis that led her to decide that she’ll buy a used iPad for her daughters after Christmas.

There are loads of free Apple learning apps, and even those that aren’t free are cheap, she said. “The iPad is absolutely a better learning tool – except it’s breakable,” says Loschiavo. For the moment, her girls will have to settle for a hand-me-down iPod. “The reality is technology is all around them. It’s not going to go away. It’s up to us to teach our children how to handle it responsibly,” says Loschiavo.

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Teaching your Kids to be Thankful Thanksgiving is a great time to teach your children about being thankful for the blessings in their life.

Thanksgiving Tree

Have each child to trace their hand on brown, orange, red and yellow construction paper to make "leaves". Cut out the hand shapes and write what they are thankful for on the hand shape. Then cut a tree trunk shape out of brown construction paper. After you have cut out the leaves and trunk, glue the trunk onto a large piece of poster board. Once dried, have the kids add their hands as leaves above the tree trunk, turning it into a festive fall colored tree.

Thankful Book

This is a great keepsake idea which can be added to each year. In a scrapbook kit or photo album add photos of loved ones and include stories about why they are special to you. You can also, include pages of your hobbies, pets, family vacations and other special memories in the year. Any time your kids feel down, you can open your blessing book and remind them of all the reasons you have to be happy, and thankful for the blessings in your life.

Thanksgiving Paper Chain

Another way to remind your children of their blessings is to create a paper chain. This is similar to a regular paper chain. Cut strips of paper and connect them together as loops, write the things you are thankful for on the strips of paper before you connect them. The fun part of this activity is to make the chain as long as possible – showing all your blessings. Chain can be done in fall colors for Thanksgiving or Christmas colors and kept on display during the Christmas season.

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