My 10-year-old son has suffered from chapped lips since he was 6. Not just the chapped lips we all get once in a while: he looks like a clown from October to March. Once the dentist actually stopped working on his filling, stood up, and asked me: "What are you going to do about his lips? They're getting infected." Talk about embarrassing... after trying every lip balm around (and having to chase after him with the dreaded stick as soon as he saw it), I brought him to the doctor. His diagnosis: "lip licking." All I had to do was get him to stop. Okaaaay...I needed another solution.

I found it: Neosporin Overnight Renewal Therapy. It really did work overnight. And he doesn't mind putting it on -- it's light, creamy without being greasy, doesn't burn, and has no smell. It'll be the first Thanksgiving in years my mother-in-law doesn't walk in and announce: "What's wrong with his face? Don't you take care of him?"

They also have a daytime product that I think you're supposed to use with the nighttime one, but to be honest, the nighttime worked so well, I didn't even use the daytime one. Just wanted to share this find in case any of you are dealing with the same thing! It costs around five bucks and you can find it in most drugstores and supermarkets.

Readers of Parenting School Years know that Mom Congress has been beating the drum to fix No Child Left Behind and it's over-reliance on standardized tests. So when I saw the op-ed in the New York Times today written by Todd Farley, a testing-industry insider, I just had to share it. You should have the pleasure of reading his piece in its entirety, but just so you know what you're in for, here's a little excerpt:

"A couple of years ago I supervised a statewide reading assessment test. My colleague and I were relaxing at a pool because we believed we’d already finished scoring all of the tens of thousands of student responses. Then a call from the home office informed us that a couple of dozen unscored tests had been discovered. Because our company’s deadline for returning the tests was that day, my colleague and I had to score them even though we were already well into happy hour."

Farley had the courage to reveal a part of the system most of us would never see. Now it's our turn to do something about it. How has the stress and pressure of testing affected your child and school? Share your story here, and if you haven't already, sign Parenting's petition to fix NCLB once and for all.

Parenting's Christina Vercelletto appeared on the Today Show this morning to dish about our favorite mom-tested gear that adjusts to fit different stages of your kid's life, therefore giving you a ton of bang for your buck. Check out the clip below, then click through to our slideshow to see them all!

photo courtesy of yeondoojung.com

For months, South Korean photographer Yeondoo Jung oversaw kindergarten art classes, chose some of the masterpieces, and with the help of fashion designers and high school students to act as models, recreated the children's work with real people and props to be captured on film. Not only are the photographs unique and brilliant, to see the children's imaginations brought to life makes the original artwork seem even more incredible. Jung stayed as true to the originals as he could, replicating uneven sleeves or the subject's physical features. I admire him for giving so much credence to kid's art -- bringing it to the professional art world and making us realize that it's actually not just kid stuff.

See more of Yeondoo Jung's work

 

 

I grew up obsessed with the Disney Princesses, from the one who started it all in 1937, Snow White, to more modern princesses like Ariel and Jasmine. But where have the princesses been? It has been more than ten years since Disney released a 2-D, hand-drawn animated film with one of their classic fairytale storylines. So I was pumped to get a sneak peek of Disney's newest animated star, Princess Tiana, today at the 2009 Toy Fair. Her movie, The Princess and the Frog, is set to hit theaters holiday '09. Thank goodness! I was starting to feel bad for these little girls who don't get to follow newly released princesses year after year, like I did.

The movie looks magical, fun, beautifully illustrated, and true to Disney fairytale form. I sat there wondering if I would be too embarrassed to admit that I actually had tears in my eyes as I watched a princess montage chronicling the history from Snow White to Mulan. (But there, I said it. Did I mention I'm a Disney nerd?)

I wasn't the only one who was emotional. Tony Award-winning actress and singer Anika Noni Rose, the voice of Princess Tiana, was choking on tears as Mattel revealed a Princess Tiana doll, modeled after her. "I wasn't even a doll kid," she said. "But this one is mine!"

Will someone please admit that they, too, might have had to fight back a tear or two in the excitement that The Princesses are back in town?