Those were the most popular names for babies born in 2008, according to the “Social Security Administration”:http://www.ssa.gov/pressoffice/pr/baby-names2008-pr.htm.

Here’s the list:

Boys:
1)   Jacob        Girls:      1)   Emma
2)   Michael                  2)   Isabella
3)   Ethan                     3)   Emily
4)   Joshua                   4)   Madison
5)   Daniel                    5)   Ava
6)   Alexander              6)   Olivia
7)   Anthony                7)   Sophia
8)   William                   8)   Abigail
9)   Christopher            9)   Elizabeth
10) Matthew                10) Chloe

If you’ve been living under a rock and haven’t read the “story”:http://www.lohud.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20090421/NEWS02/904210347, here’s the short version: one of the kids, 12, ran back to the car and got in. The other, 10, stood on the side of the road, crying until a passerby bought her ice cream and called the cops.

When the mom, Madlyn Primoff, got home to Scarsdale, she called the police, who told her to go to White Plains PD to get her daughter. The mom did and was promptly arrested.

Then the outcry started. About half the people who have commented on the story on the LoHud forums think the mom, a high-powered New York City attorney, is terrible, deserves to be arrested and should count her lucky stars that nothing bad happened to her daughter while she was standing on the White Plains street corner.

The other half think the police over reacted. The mother was probably more than justified in her actions and the girls were probably brats who needed to be taught a lesson, they say.

I’m fascinated by this story. I find myself in the middle of the two groups. I think the mom lost her cool and probably regretted her actions as soon as she left the kid on the side of the road.

Would I have done the same if pushed hard enough? I’d like to think not. But unless you’re the parent of a 13-year-old, you really don’t understand how crazy they can make you.

I’ve never thrown my kids out of the car. But…..I remember once when my youngest daughter, now almost 8, was about 2 or 3. It was a freezing cold late afternoon, already dark, and I stopped at ShopRite to pick up some groceries before I had to get my older daughter at some activity.

As we were getting ready to leave the store, my charming little girl pitched a full-throttle temper tantrum because she didn’t want to put her jacket on. There she was, on the floor, kicking, screaming, refusing to put her jacket on even though it was probably 10 degrees outside.

What I’ll never forget about this particular temper tantrum was that for a couple of memorable seconds I contemplated—no dreamed of—leaving her there. On the floor. In ShopRite. Just walking out the door without her…..

Of course I didn’t. I struggled to stuff her squirming body into her jacket, then stuffed her into her car seat and drove off, with her.

But as I read about the Scarsdale mom, I remembered this incident. And I realized that most of us have, at least for a couple of seconds, dreamed of doing what the Scarsdale mom did. I guess the difference is that most of us don’t act on those impulses.

In Rockland, events will be held at two sites. Activities will start at the Y’s Beginnings Nursery School, 18 Parkside Drive, Suffern at 10 a.m.

At noon, the main YMCA center at 35 South Broadway in downtown Nyack will host Jeffrey Friedberg of the Bossy Frog Band. A  one-mile fun walk starts at 1 p.m., all youth walkers will receive a free t-shirt.

Other activities planned include: sports and games, a family boot camp, arts & crafts,  healthy snacks, face painting and a  2-hour family swim that begins at 2:45 p.m.

Admission is free, but YMCA staff will be collecting non-perishable food items for donation to People to People.

Call your local Y to see if it is participating.

Not any more. As most parents known, today it’s full-day kindergarten, with lots of time spent on reading, spelling, even math. Not so much time on the playground.

Educators and advocates for children have also noticed the trend. A group called the “Alliance for Childhood”:http://www.allianceforchildhood.org/home, which describes itself as an advocacy group that” promotes policies and practices that support children’s healthy development, love of learning, and joy in living,” has just released a new report, “Crisis in the Kindergarten: Why Children Need to Play in School”:http://www.allianceforchildhood.org/sites/allianceforchildhood.org/files/file/kindergarten_report.pdf.

The report confirms what many parents have already noticed. Time for play in most public kindergartens has dwindled to the vanishing point, replaced by lengthy lessons and standardized testing.

Classic play materials like blocks, sand and water tables, and props for dramatic play have largely disappeared from the 268 full-day kindergarten classrooms studied.

The report is based on studies conducted at three universities, including Long Island University  and Sarah Lawrence College in Yonkers.

We can joke all we want that she is really still only three-and-a-quarter years old. But anyway you slice it, she has now entered her teen years: a milestone for the entire family.

Of course there’s no obligation to buy anything. But try telling that to a 7-year-old, I’ve noticed lately that there’s a lot more than books in the listing that my school gives my child. Among the items Scholastic hawks to kids are posters, junky toys both separately and packed together with books, and electronic games.

Later in the day I read that a group called the “Campaign for a Commercial-Free Childhood”:http://salsa.democracyinaction.org/o/621/campaign.jsp?campaign_KEY=26599 has started a campaign to try to stop in-school book club sales from including things other than books.

A review by the group of Scholastic’s elementary and middle school book clubs found that one-third of the items for sale are either not books or are books packaged with other items such as jewelry and toys.

They are starting an online e-mail campaign to try to stop Scholastic from selling so much junk to kids. Sounds like a great idea.

Now, most school districts have invested big bucks in automated calling systems. In our home, that means that the phone rings at 5:25 a.m., with a chipper recorded message telling us that school is closed.

Nice to know. But I wish that the phone didn’t have to wake me out of a deep sleep at 5:25 a.m.

We had a feeling that today would be a snow day. So late last night, I put the ringers on all the phones in my house on silent. When the alarm went off at its usual time of 6:30 a.m. this morning, I checked my voice mail. Sure enough, there was a recorded message from the schools at 5:25 a.m.

I didn’t wake the kids up to tell them. But they found out soon enough. My older daughter got out of bed and checked the school Web site.

“No school!” she said happily as she woke up her sleeping sister to share the great news.

Luckily their dad was able to stay home with them today. I had to go to work. I wish I had a snow day.

Aleyris Martinez died when the snow tube she and a friend were riding in crashed into a tree on the Haverstraw town-owned golf course. She shouldn’t probably shouldn’t have been there. Town officials were quick to point out after the tragedy that there were ‘No trespassing’ signs posted at the golf course.

But is a sign really going to keep a kid away? Should it? I’ve let my kids go sledding at public parks. Do we really want to stop kids from a fun, outdoor activity like sledding?

I’m not the kind of parent who panics at every scare. I’d hate to tell my kids they can never sled again. But looking at the grief of the hundreds of people who attended the vigil for Aleyris, I can easily understand why some parents would put sledding on the forbidden list.

Maybe the answer is to create safe zones—public areas with no trees or other obstructions where kids can sled under some type of supervision.

My seventh grade daughter thought the televised spectacle was great. But not because it was a day of huge historic importance.  She loved watching it because it got her out of social studies.

My second grade daughter was happy that Obama, her choice in her school’s mock election, was sworn in as president. But she wants to know why it’s taking him so long to get a dog.

I tried to explain to her the historic importance of Obama becoming president.

“When you’re a grandmother, you can tell your grandchildren that you watched Barack Obama become president,” I told her.

“Me? A grandmother,” she said. “Ewww. I don’t want to be a grandmother.”

So much for history.

The Girl Scouts, long one of the less expensive options, has increased its prices by 17 percent. A week at Camp Addisone Boyce, in the wooded, rural, Rockland community of Tomkins Cove, cost $300 per week last year. This summer, the cost has soared to $350 per week.

While the price is still lower than fancy, private camps, that’s a big increase (in the midst of a recession) especially for kids who would normally attend for all six weeks.

I sent an e-mail last week to the head of Girl Scouts Heart of the Hudson, which includes Westchester, Rockland and Putnam, asking why the price has gone up so much.

So far, no answer.

I bet the 17 percent price jump will keep many girls from attending this summer as their parents struggle in this bad economy.

I’m sure that camp will be on the casualty list for many families dealing with unemployment and financial uncertainty this summer.

We’ve all heard a lot this winter about the dangers of over-the-counter cough and cold medicines. So what are we supposed to do when our kids get sick?

The “American College of Emergency Physicians”:http://www.acep.org. has some advice.

Acetaminophen or ibuprofen for children over 6 months can help make kids more comfortable. It’s also important to keep the child warm, comfortable and hydrated, according to the group.

Some other ideas:

• Use steam from a bath, shower or a humidifier to loosen mucus and clear up clogged nasal passages.
• Keep the head elevated above the heart to decrease congestion and aid with sinus drainage. For best results, place an extra pillow under the head or under the mattress.
• Squirt saline (either a homemade or OTC preparation) into the nose to keep nasal passages irrigated.
• Apply cold or hot compresses to congested sinus areas.
• Dispense sore-throat lozenges, which help stimulate antibody-rich saliva and relieve sore, scratchy throats. (Children under age 3 should not be given cough drops because of the possibility of choking.)
• Gargle using a teaspoon of salt dissolved in warm water, or a mixture of one teaspoon of honey (for children over age 2), one tablespoon of lemon and two cups of hot water, cooled to room temperature.
• Getting lots of sleep and relaxation is the best way to help the immune system fight off nasty invaders. And staying home when sick prevents viruses from spreading.
• Prevent the spread of germs to others through frequent hand washing and disinfection of surfaces, and by sneezing or coughing into tissues or the crook of one’s arm at the elbow.
• Dab mentholated ointment (containing menthol, eucalyptus and camphor) around the base of the nose to help open up clogged nasal passages and soothe raw, red nostrils.
• Avoid air travel. The changes in air pressure during takeoff and landing can cause a broken eardrum, especially in babies. If flying is a must, administering saline to the nose, chewing gum (if the child is old enough) and drinking a beverage prior to reaching cabin pressurization (at 10,000 ft.) can help.
• Get vaccinated against influenza.

Then one week of school before the week-long February break. What’s a working parent to do? I’ve registered one child for a one-day program at the West Nyack Library, but I’m still looking for options to keep them occupied. Any ideas?

The time of the sale was changed in part because of the merger in October of all the Girls Scout councils in Westchester, Rockland, Putnam and other counties in the Lower Hudson Valley. All the counties are now part of “Girls Scouts Heart of the Hudson”:http://www.girlscoutshh.org/cookies.php.

The cookies cost $3.50 per box. There are two new types this year: a lemon cookie and a sugar-free chocolate chip.

The cookies are good and the money, of course, helps a good cause.

Maybe not.

With all the talk about mercury and other nasty stuff lurking in our fish, I’m starting to wonder if I should continue to allow my daughter to eat sushi.

I guess other parents are wondering the same thing.

A group called KidSafe Seafood, which describes itself as “not-for-profit organization focused on ensuring a healthy ocean, and a healthy seafood supply, for the future” has come up with a list of “safe” sushi ideas for kids.

One is a standard California roll made with imitation crab meat — not a favorite in my family. The others are sushi -wanna bees: fruit, peanut butter, etc., dressed up to look like the real thing.

Take a look at the KidsSafe sushi party ideas here.

Then I wrote a story for The Journal News about nursing homes in our area that are using the Wii as therapy for older residents. Many nursing homes also complained that they were not able to buy a Wii because store were sold out.

Then a reader posted a comment to my story that contained a tip in how to find the elusive video game. A site called www.wiialerts.com will send you an e-mail and text message to your cell phone when a store is in stock.

I signed up.

Later that day, I got an e-mail alert about a possible Wii sighting.

Turns out I didn’t need it.

A colleague here in the newsroom heard me talking about the site. She told me that the night before a friend called her with the news that a store in Spring Valley had the game.

I quickly called the store, but I was too late.
But the clerk told me another store in Suffern, “GameStop”:http://www.gamestop.com/Default.asp?cookie%5Ftest=1& had just gotten a shipment.
I called and a very nice clerk promised to hold one for me for an hour.

An hour and $270 later, I was a proud Wii owner.