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Annual list of toys to avoid released

Advertiser Staff and News Services

The Lion & Lamb Project, a national advocacy organization working to stop the marketing of violent toys, video games and movies to children, has released its annual list of toys to avoid this holiday season.

Products on this year's "Dirty Dozen" list include Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, The Hulk, Power Rangers, Transformers, and World Wrestling Entertainment action figures.

For the complete list — as well as the group's Top 20 list of nonviolent toys and games — go to www.lionlamb.org.

'Child Custody' author offers tips

For separated or divorced couples with children, the holidays can bring hard feelings, notes Webster Watnik, author of "Child Custody Made Simple" (Single Parent Press, $21.95).

"The fact is, someone is not going to see their children wake up on Christmas morning and rush to the tree and open presents," Watnik says. "But there are things you can do about it." His tips:

• Divide the day. If parents communicate well and live close, children can wake up in one home and go to the other home later in the day. A common custody arrangement requires that children are handed off at noon on Christmas Day.
• Celebrate on a different day. The parent who doesn't get the children during the official holiday can still celebrate. "December 25 is just a date on a calendar," Watnik says.
• Swap years. With this arrangement, one parent has the children for the entire holiday one year, and the other parent gets the next year. This arrangement is useful when parents live far apart or when communication has completely broken down.

Echinacea may not give children boost

Echinacea is thought to rev up the immune system, helping the body beat back viral invasions. But a new study of the herb's effects on kids has found that it neither cut the duration of their colds nor lessened their symptoms.

Researchers studied 707 upper respiratory infections in more than 400 otherwise healthy kids ages 2 to 11 who were seen either in traditional or alternative medical practices. The youngsters received either the herb in liquid form or a placebo to be taken at the first sign of a cold and continued as long as they felt ill, up to 10 days, over a four-month period.

Not only did echinacea fail to make a dent in their illnesses, but it also produced more skin rashes than the placebo.

The researchers were intrigued by one positive finding: Echinacea seemed to reduce the number of subsequent colds. It's possible, they wrote, that the echinacea boosted kids' immune systems too late to mitigate the colds for which it was given, "but provided a window of protection" against additional colds.

Romano, brothers recount childhood

Perhaps everybody loves Raymond, but it appears that Raymond doesn't love everybody back. At least not all the time. Ray Romano, star of CBS' "Everybody Loves Raymond," is writing a children's book about his childhood, called "Raymie, Dickie, and the Bean: Why I Love and Hate My Brothers."

Romano's brothers — Richard, a retired New York police sergeant, and Robert, a New York City school teacher — are writing the book with him. Artist Glin Dibly will create the illustrations for the book, which is scheduled for a fall 2004 release.

"When my brothers and I weren't fighting with each other, we had a lot of fun growing up," Romano said in a statement. "Now it's great as adults to collaborate with them on this book and fight with each other once again."

Universal helmet use in snow sought

Kids appear to be getting the message about wearing helmets while skiing and snowboarding, but adults don't seem to be getting the message.

Two-thirds of study subjects younger than 18 wore helmets when skiing or snowboarding, according to a study conducted by a team of researchers from the University of Vermont and Burlington's Fletcher Allen Health Care Hospital. Less than a third of the subjects older than 18 wore helmets.

The team amassed more than 10,000 observations last winter in Vermont at Smugglers' Notch, Jay Peak, Mad River Glen and Stowe Mountain Resort.

"Our goal is to get this message out and find ways to voluntarily achieve universal helmet use among both children and older skiers and snowboarders," says Dr. Robert Williams, a pediatric anesthesiologist and critical care specialist at Vermont Children's Hospital.

He compares helmets to seat belts: Both are important safety measures that should be used habitually, he said. According to a 1999 report by the Consumer Product Safety Commission, helmets could prevent about 7,700 head injuries and more than 10 deaths annually if they were used more.