National News

Every Christmas, the men and women of NORAD take a break from tracking the skies and waterways of North America and instead follow Santa Claus on his annual Christmas trek around the globe. You can check out Saint Nick's progress live online at NORAD's special Santa Tracking website, www.noradsanta.org. You can also track Santa on a mobile app available for iOS, Android, or Windows devices.

NORAD's tradition of tracking Santa's route started in 1955, when a local Sears store in Colorado Springs printed the wrong phone number in a Christmastime advertisement for children to call Santa. The phone number was in fact that of the CONAD (the predececessor of NORAD, which took over the tradition in 1958) operations hotline, and the staff under Colonel Harry Shoup responded with good humor and gave the children who called in updates on Santa's position.

Parents Magazine just came out with its list of the best family cars for 2011. Right now I’m not in the market for a car, but I always like to see what offerings are on the list. In making their choices, Parents looked for kid-friendly, safe, comfortable, affordable, and of course cool-to-drive cars.

They’ve listed fifteen vehicles that offer a range of sizes, styles, and price points.

Best Crossovers:

• Mazda 5
  
• Kia Sorento
• Toyota RAV4

To celebrate the first day of summer, all of the over 100 National Parks that normally charge an entry fee will be free to everyone on Tuesday, June 21! This is the third in this year's series of fee-free days at the National Parks. Other upcoming fee-free days include September 24, 2011 (Public Lands Day) and November 11–13, 2011 (Veterans Day weekend).

In the San Francisco Bay Area, National Parks that charge an entry fee include Marin's own Muir Woods National Monument, San Francisco Maritime National Park, and the John Muir National Historic Site in Martinez. Other popular parks within a few hours of the Bay Area include Yosemite and Pinnacles National Monument (south of the Bay Area in Monterey and San Benito counties). A full list of fee-free weekend parks across the USA can be found here.

The US Consumer Product Safety Commission and toy manufacturer Fisher Price are recalling more than 10,000,000 toys, including Fisher Price Trikes and Tough Trikes toddler tricycles and Healthy Care, Easy Clean, and Close to Me high chairs.

Apparently, children using these toys can injure themselves by falling onto prodruding parts, and small parts used on them are choking hazards as well. Learn more about the recall from ABC News.

If your family is at all like ours, you spend a lot of time shopping at one of the three Trader Joes stores in Marin. Their combination of good value, great service, offbeat atmosphere, and an eclectic selection of gourmet products keeps us going back. And, let's not forget the family-friendly aspects of the store—mini-shopper carts, free stickers, and rewards for finding Jojo the pony (in the Novato store) help keep children occupied and busy during those grocery shopping trips.

But what's the story behind Trader Joes? Did you know it's owned by a secretive German company? Where do all those private-label products they stock come from? How come many of their products—cheese, for example—are much less expensive than at other grocery stores?

Fortune Magazine recently took a look "Inside the Secret World of Trader Joes", and examines the history of the store, how it's run, and how it finagles those great deals.

Are you a chronically late mom? CBS News has contacted Marin Mommies to help find Bay Area moms to interview for their new segment in January on chronic lateness. The segment will feature the book, Never Be Late Again, 7 Cures for the Punctually Challenged (www.neverbelateagain.com). The ideal interview subject is a woman in her 30s or 40s who must balance a job with kids, doctor appointments, chauffeur duties, etc., but anyone who is chronically late is encouraged to apply. You can live anywhere in the Bay Area.

If you're interested or have any questions, please call Diane DeLonzor at (415) 407-7237 or email her at delonzor1@yahoo.com. CBS will want the following information: sex, age, occupation, marital status, and city of residence.

Parents magazine’s children’s toy and product recalls finder for 2009 is now available online. If you want to find out if your children’s toys and other items are safe, check out their toy and product recall finder for the most current and up to date information. Recall categories include books, toys, jewelry, clothing, sporting goods, furniture, car seats, bottles, and feeding utensils. It’s very informative and a good way to make sure that your kid’s or baby’s items are safe. Parents magazine recalls 2009.

Every parent eventually faces the dilemma where they have to ask themselves, "Is my child too sick to go to school today?" How sick is too sick to go to school? That's the question addressed in a recent New York Times article by parent and physician Perri Klass, MD. The upshot of the article seems to be that kids with mild colds (no fevers, of course) are more or less OK to go to school, especially in light of all the germs already present in such settings. You'll have to read the article to get the whole story, of course.

New York Times: "The Cough-and-Sniffle Question: When to Keep a Child Home?"

As parents, do we expect too much from our children? Chances are we do, according to Yale psychologist and child psychiatrist Alan E. Kazdin. Just because we think our kids should develop or accomplish things based on expected schedule, doesn't mean they are ready or able to do so. In fact, we tend to overestimate their capabilities for physical and psychological development on a regular basis.

Read about it in Dr. Kazdin's article in Slate, one of our favorite online magazines: "Why Can't Johnny Jump Tall Buildings?"