I’ve been seeing a lot of hot parenting topics on the news lately on which I would love to write full blog posts, but life intersects and they don’t get written. Tonight I thought I would highlight some of them here so that I don’t completely miss the boat and can share what I think are some important messages coming from a variety of places.

• Mom Plans Meals For Entire Year — there’s a woman in Texas who has mapped out her family meal schedule for the entire YEAR. She says it saves her time and money. Check out her 2009 meal plan.
• Defining the line of communication between teachers and students. Is it OK for teachers to use social media to connect with students? It’s unrealistic to think that a high school coach won’t send a text message to the baseball team notifying everyone the game has been delayed. Schools across America are dealing with boundary issues for social media. Does a district have to say “no Facebook, no texting, no Twitter following,” with any students. Period. What makes the most sense? Read about teachers texting students here.
• It was nearly impossible to have the TV on without hearing how a trainer was killed by the Killer Whale at SeaWorld. This is a place where families go to learn about and see animals up close. I have to admit that we avoided watching the TV, but I’m not sure that was the right thing to do. Admittedly, it was easier. We plan to go to SeaWorld later this year and I don’t want my son to be afraid the workers (or worse, he or a member of the family) will be hurt or killed. How did you handle the news with your kids?
• A  house with two working parents is a tired house. It’s a house where jugging children’s schedules along with the parents work schedule is exhausting, frustrating and sometimes impossible depending on your job. Morra Aarons Mele writes a great account of how hard this is. She mentions other’s who have written on the topic and how hourly employees are sometimes “one sick child away from being fired.” It’s a tough situation to be in, but one that many parents have to deal with on a daily basis.

Wear Red Day

Today is “National Wear Red Day,” a day inspired by The American Heart Association to bring awareness that the number one killer of women is heart disease. From their Web site:

We’re working hard to change the perception that heart disease is a “man’s disease.” And it’s working! By teaching more and more women how to talk to their doctors about heart disease, we can save thousands of lives every year. Because the good news is that heart disease is often preventable!

And in case anyone still believes that heart disease is only a concern for older women, we encourage you to read the Inspiring Stories we’ve collected. Together, they make the case plain and simple: the time for action is now!”

Why not make a heart healthy meal tonight? Here are some healthy recipes to get you started.

Is Ana Duggar Pregnant Again?

It seems that the Internet is wondering if Anna Duggar is pregnant again. I can’t find any information announcing this news so I guess you’ll have to wait it out for an official announcement. I can say that the elder Duggars (Michelle and Jim Bob) mentioned in their book, “The Duggars: 20 and Counting,” that they abstain from intercourse for a set amount of time after each baby is born. I can’t remember how long, but it’s longer than 6 weeks. I remember thinking that she seems to get pregnant about 9 months after each baby is born. I’m sure you could find this out if you do enough Google searching and look into the birth dates of each child, but you’ll have to do that on your own. So, if Josh and Ana are following a similar path, it would be too early to tell about a second pregnancy for Ana. There, my two cents about the topic it seems everyone is wondering about right now.

Epic Novel a Quick Read

I just finished “Roses,” by Leila Meacham. Long at just over 600 pages, but it’s a quick, delicious read. It’s the first book in a while that I easily found time to read. I didn’t want to go to bed at night (and, you know how tired I am!) and just wanted to keep on reading all the time.

It’s a story about a woman who inherits a cotton plantation in Texas and how this birthright interferes with her life. There’s romance, love, family, tradition and heartache. It’s simply stated and a page turner, telling the tales of multiple generations. Even toward the end, you don’t really know what’s going to happen so you keep turning the page to find out.

Fantasia’s Lesson For Us All

I should do an entire blog post about this next topic, but don’t want to miss the opportunity to say something while it’s hot so I’ll add it here. Fantasia Barrino, the “American Idol” appeared on “Oprah” this week to talk about nearly loosing it all. After struggling her entire life, raising a child on her own and winning the title “American Idol,” her house was in foreclosure.

At one point, she couldn’t even afford to pay for a pizza she had delivered: her debit card was rejected. That’s when she knew she had to do something. She came into money quickly and had (has) a large family to support. Her problem was that she “just wanted to sing.” She let everyone else figure out the rest. She didn’t have a part of her money, of her bookings, her schedule.

Now she does. She’s realized that you have to know what’s coming in and what’s going out. This is a strong message for all women. We need to not let our spouses do all the finances. We must know what’s going on. We must be part of the decisions. It’s a team effort. We all don’t have as much money as Fantasia, so even more reason to know where it’s going.

Fantasia has a new reality show about her family, “Fantasia For Real,” airing on VH1. You can see just through a few clips how disorganized and out of control everything is in her life during the filming. Here’s hoping that she’s learned from this and that we can too.

Heidi Montag before her recent, multiple surgeries.

The other day I was trolling the Internet and came to People.com and its recent cover story on the young Heidi Montag’s multiple surgeries (1o procedures in one day)– at age 23. She’s on the cover looking fabulous as any cover model would. The problem I have is that it glamorizes what she’s done. I’m afraid that when young girls and women see this they’ll think it’s what you have to do to be beautiful.

At least Montag’s “The Hill’s” co-star is standing up for girls everywhere. In an short article on People.com titled, “Costar: Heidi’s Surgeries Send Wrong Message,” Lo Bosworth says that Montag went too far:

“I hope that girls don’t read the article, look at the decisions that Heidi made, and think that’s normal,” Bosworth tells PEOPLE.”

I’m glad to that the magazine ran this front and center on its Web site to counter the, still front and center, current cover featuring Montag.

ABC’s JuJu Chang interviewed Montag about the article and all the controversy is has brought. In the piece Montag says her message is that beauty comes from within, but that’s far from the message she is sending. Later in the interview she says that she had plastic surgery because of the industry she is in, thus proving my point that when young girls see famous people do things like this they come to believe that it is necessary to succeed. It’s sad to think that she didn’t see her own beauty before she got these unnecessary procedures so early in life.

If Heidi Montag wants to get multiple plastic surgeries at age 23 I can’t stop that. I just hope that her teen worshipers don’t think this is what you have to do to be beautiful.

Robin Roberts points out that Montag’s new album is titled, “Superficial.” Nuf said.

Related:

• ABC’s interview with Heidi Montag.
• The Hill’s CoStar, “Heidi’s Surgeries Send Wrong Message.”

Several Web sites are posting links with how to help. It’s boiling down to donating money. The people of Haiti need money, and they need it now. I’m hoping companies will start to match employee contributions so that we can make donations stretch further.

I’ve compiled a list of the main organizations and am listing a few that specialize in helping woman and children. As a mother, I can’t bear the thought that children are in need.

Samaritan’s Purse
A Christian-based organization, they’ve been in Haiti before and can quickly mobilize to offer help. They were there when hurricanes hit this small country. I also like Samaritan’s Purse for the work they do with Operation Christmas Child.
http://www.samaritanspurse.org

The Red Cross
This goes without saying. The Red Cross is THE organization for disaster relief. You can text the word “HAITI” to 90999 to make an instant $10 donation.
http://redcross.org

Doctors Without Borders
“MSF [Doctors Without Borders] has already treated more than 1,000 people on the ground in Haiti following Tuesday’s earthquake, but the needs are huge. An inflatable hospital with operating theatres is expected to arrive in the next 24 hours.”
http://doctorswithoutborders.org/

Save The Children
The agency, with offices in Port-au-Prince. “As it has done in recent disasters in Haiti, Save the Children is preparing to provide immediate lifesaving assistance, such as food, water, shelter and child-friendly spaces. It has verified the safety of all but 16 staff members in its main office. Save the Children, which has been working in Haiti since 1985, has provided emergency relief and assistance to Haitian children and families following various recent disasters, including hurricanes and floods.”
http://www.savethechildren.org/

CARE
“CARE is a leading humanitarian organization fighting global poverty. We place special focus on working alongside poor women because, equipped with the proper resources, women have the power to help whole families and entire communities escape poverty. Women are at the heart of CARE’s community-based efforts to improve basic education, prevent the spread of HIV, increase access to clean water and sanitation, expand economic opportunity and protect natural resources. CARE also delivers emergency aid to survivors of war and natural disasters, and helps people rebuild their lives.”
http://www.care.org

• Be sure to ask your employer, church or other organization if they will match funds. This is the quickest way to make your money go further.
• Watch ABC News’ How To Avoid Aid Scams, including do’s and dont’s of giving.
• Read Mia Farrow’s Opinion piece on CNN.com, “How You Can Help Haiti’s Children”
  “In any disaster, children are the most vulnerable. They are in danger of being separated from their families, and they are at increased risk of injury, disease, malnutrition and every form of exploitation and abuse. Undoubtedly, with a disaster of this magnitude, these threats will be particularly grave for Haiti’s children.”

No money to give? Give blood. We all have it coursing through our veins. Haitians need it in great supply.

Photo credit: Matthew Marek/American Red Cross 

Big changes are coming to my morning wake up call: “Good Morning America” is completely changing it’s line up of television anchors. TV news veteran Diane Sawyer is moving to the evening news to be only the second-ever solo female anchor of the evening news. This is exciting for Diane and for women. It means women will outnumber men on the big three networks for evening news coverage. Among the other changes are that political reporter, George Stephanopoulus, has been named Sawyer’s replacement to co-anchor GMA news with the amazing Robin Roberts.

I’ve loved watching two women co-anchor a major news program. Diane and Robin broke the mold on morning news shows when Charlie Gibson left GMA. It was some serious girl power. That’s changing now.  (Don’t get me started on the exit of Chris Cuomo.) But there is some good news among all this change.

Enter Juju Chang: working mom.

It’s about time. Time for a mother to be a part of the “Good Morning America” main line up. Juju Chang, mother to three, becomes the news anchor starting Monday — she’ll be balancing motherhood in a whole new way and we’ll be watching as she proves that moms can do anything we set our minds to.

A mother hasn’t been a part of the main four anchors in over a decade (since the Joan Lunden days). It’s not that ABC has neglected any stories about mothers and families, but let’s not forget how important it is to have mothers represented in this way. Thanks ABC for making this important decision. I’m excited to have JuJu on the team and welcome her insight into the news and any special reporting she will cover.

Related:

• TV Newser’s Post about Juju’s New Job
• Follow JuJu on Twitter.
• ABC’s story about the new anchor team.