Parent talk: Hot posts from our blog

ALLERGIC TO BULLIES

Children with food allergies who are exposed to potentially life-threatening situations because of their medical condition also face another threat -- the schoolyard bully.

More than 30 percent of children have been bullied, teased or harassed because of their food allergy, according to a 2010 study -- the most recent data available on food allergies and bullying -- published by the Annals of Allergy, Asthma and Immunology. Eighty-two percent of food bullying occurred at school and 80 percent of the incidents were perpetrated by classmates.

"In children with food allergies, bullying could be in the form of teasing someone because of their food allergy, or even threatening the victim with an allergen," such as "intentionally spilling milk on a child who is allergic to it," says Veronica Brown, spokeswoman for the Food Allergy & Anaphylaxis Network.

-- LEEMA THOMAS

GENDER ANNOUCEMENT TAKES THE CAKE

Boy or girl? That's the big question when you're expecting. For me and my husband, Jim, the answer came in a creative way: a gender reveal party.

Here's how it went: When the sonogram tech asked if we wanted to know the sex of the baby, due in December, we had her write the gender down and seal it in an envelope. I took it (no peeking) to a baker who said she would craft a cake with either pink or blue icing as the filling inside -- we wouldn't know until we cut into it. Our idea was to share this moment with our family and close friends, instead of having a traditional baby shower.

The party came over Labor Day weekend. As people arrived, we asked them to log their predictions -- there were silly black felt mustache pins for those (like me) who thought the baby was a boy, and pink ribbon pins for everyone (namely Jim) predicting girl. For the record: The mustaches were the clear crowd favorite.

When it was cake-cutting time, everyone huddled around the dessert table and roared as we pulled out a slice and discovered a shock of hot pink icing. It was outrageously fun.

Even sweeter: Having all our parents (mine live 500 miles away), siblings, nieces and nephew in the same place at the same time.

-- SHAWNA VANNESS

UPS AND DOWNS OF TRAMPOLINES

Even if you think your kids' backyard trampoline has sufficient safety accessories -- netting and padding, for instance -- such precautions have not appeared to substantially reduce the risk of injury to kids, and may in fact offer a false sense of security, according to a new policy statement issued today by the American Academy of Pediatrics.

The academy is continuing its recommendations discouraging all home use of recreational trampolines, which it initially issued in 1999 and reaffirmed in 2006. The newest statement also reminds parents that most injuries -- 75 percent -- occur with multiple simultaneous users on the mat.

-- BETH WHITEHOUSE