Photo by lukeNgavinsmom

Now that Halloween is over, talk with turn to the holidays. Not so much Thanksgiving,  but the good ones that involve toys. In case your Big Kid might be tempted to spill the beans about Santa to your little ones who still believe, here's a funny story.

anetrnlov found this on Facebook. I don't know if it's true or not, but what a great comeback line ...

"Today, my 6 year-old daughter was asking me questions about Santa Claus at dinner. My 13 year-old daughter was getting annoyed with all the dumb questions and simply told her younger sister that Santa didn't exist. Instead of being aghast and upset, my younger daughter just said, 'Yeah, but neither does Edward Cullen!' "

"My older daughter left the dinner table and I think its easy to say who won tonight."

Photo by The-Autism-Mom

One of the biggest challenges for CafeMoms of tweens and teens is how to get their child to talk. Moms know that a good way to connect and bond is finding something they both have in common, but ... um, not easy. We're talking tweens here. 

But one mom has found a way -- through video games.

It's not every mom's way, but it has worked for delibcreate, mom of 10 year old David and a gamer herself before her son came along. "If you can't beat em, join em," is her philosophy.

I talked to delibcreate about why she feels the benefits of video games far outweigh the negatives, and how playing games with her son has strengthened their relationship:

I love hearing stories like these. Not stories about people choking -- I'd never wish that on anyone. But stories about the heroes who save them from dying, especially when they are children with special needs.

It reminds us that they can do anything and everything that typically functioning kids do.

Here's a clip of Kyle Forbes, an autistic child who saved his teacher from choking on an apple by delivering the Heimlich maneuver he learned in Cub Scouts.

Thanks to the ladies in the Newcomer's Club for pointing this one out.

The new Rainbow Brite dolls, coming spring 2010.

In the 1980s when she was first introduced by Hallmark, the animated character Rainbow Brite had chunky little legs, wore her hair in a messy ponytail and seemed as unconcerned about her looks as most other little orphan girls who are trying to save Rainbow Land from the evil King of Shadows ... wait ...

What I should really do is save myself some trouble and just repost the Dora article I wrote a couple of months ago, inserting Rainbow Brite's name in instead.

Because I'm basically telling the same story.

Hallmark is relaunching its popular franchise with more mature, fashion-conscious Rainbow Bright fashion dolls, including Moonglow and Tickled Pink. Plus, they are wearing lipstick and blush. As you can see, these are not your typical orphans.

People magazine has the first photograph of kidnap victim Jaycee Dugard, who was abducted from her South Lake Tahoe home over 18 years ago when she was 11. Click the above link to see how beautiful and happy she looks, though I'm sure the pain and sadness is many layers deep.

Her kidnappers, Phillip and Nancy Garrido of Antioch, California, forced the girl to live in a shed in their fenced in back yard.

Phillip Garrido allegedly raped her repeatedly, fathering two daughters, now 15 and 11, who grew up believing that Jaycee was their big sister.

Photo by 4timesblessed

Does this describe your tween?

They never want to go on family outings OR They always want to bring a friend along.

If they go alone, they are miserable and mope around the whole time. If you let them bring the friend, they spend all their time hanging out with her and ignoring you and other family members.

One mom over in Tween Titans is at the point of frustration with her 12 year old. She has a younger child to think about, too.

"Our outings are ruined or I just don't end up doing as much with her because of the unpleasantness from my other daughter," she says. "When we do bring a friend along, the outing is not as enjoyable for the rest of us either. Why can't my daughter just enjoy outings with me and her sister?! Or understand that she makes things so unpleasant for the rest of us, even though I have sat down and explained things over and over and over again?"

We know that dissatisfaction with body image and eating disorders are serious issues when it comes to our kids. But how early should we be looking for the warning signs?

According to Time, new research suggests that children as young as 10- and 11-years-old already have notions of the "ideal body"...and that's not all...

As the social climate around homosexuality changes, many gay youth are coming out as early as middle school.

This change has caught parents and educators completely off-guard and most have had to adapt quickly to deal with these teens' decisions to be out early on in the school years.

Major Trouble costume; $40

That model doesn't look like any "tween" I know, but there's no mistaking the target demo of these new Halloween costumes from an e-commerce site named Costumes for Tweens.

MommyMerry7 in the Newcomer's Club said:

What the heck is up with the tween costumes? I thought a tween was 10-12 years old ... these costumes look like hoochie mamas. Who lets their kids wear this? Check out Goldie Locks and Dorothy ..."

Another mom's take: "A pedophile's dream come true."

A Colorado middle school has banned all jelly bracelets—and it isn't the first school to do so. School officials believe the bracelets indicate participation in "snap games," with each bracelet representing a particular level of sexual activity the wearer is willing to engage in. When a boy "snaps" a bracelet off a girl...well, you get the idea.