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Crib notes: Cute microbes, Hooters and surviving Christmas without kids

The best in parenting news and blogs from around the Web. Got a link-worthy item, or opinions on a story linked here? Let us know about it in the comments!By Dana Macario, TODAY Moms ContributorThe parade of bizarre and slightly disturbing toys continues this holiday season.  For the hypochondriac  on your gift list, we recommend the stuffed Rabies or perhaps the popular diarrhea.  A bottle of

The best in parenting news and blogs from around the Web. Got a link-worthy item, or opinions on a story linked here? Let us know about it in the comments!

By Dana Macario, TODAY Moms Contributor

The parade of bizarre and slightly disturbing toys continues this holiday season.  For the hypochondriac  on your gift list, we recommend the stuffed Rabies or perhaps the popular diarrhea.  A bottle of hand sanitizer would make the perfect present topper for this one.

Another of our favorite parenting debates is the helicopter v. free-range parenting styles. Please tell us there's a choice somewhere between wrapping our kids in bubble wrap and a casual reminder to look both ways before crossing the freeway.

Yeah, we've heard the justification of eating at Hooters for the great wings (it reminds us a bit of the old "I get Playboy for the articles" line).  But is it somewhere you should take your kids? One chapter of the National Organization for Women doesn't think so.  Back to the wings though; do kids actually eat them?  We can't get our kids to eat anything but macaroni & cheese.

Macaulay Culkin's not the only one who has found himself home alone over the holidays.  Divorced parents who find themselves without the kids on holidays often have a rough go of it.  Here are some tips for surviving a childless holiday.