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Crib notes: Does daylight savings make kids fatter?

Parents despise daylight savings -- it can be such a bear getting everyone's sleeping patterns adjusted to the new schedule. Well, here's one more reason to hate it -- daylight savings could be yet another factor contributing to childhood obesity. Researchers in the U.K. found that kids are more physically active on days with longer amounts of sunlight. So, when it gets dark earlier, kids leave th

Parents despise daylight savings -- it can be such a bear getting everyone's sleeping patterns adjusted to the new schedule. Well, here's one more reason to hate it -- daylight savings could be yet another factor contributing to childhood obesity. Researchers in the U.K. found that kids are more physically active on days with longer amounts of sunlight. So, when it gets dark earlier, kids leave the park, get off their bikes and head inside towards more sedentary pursuits, thus decreasing the amount of exercise they get. Have you noticed a decline in your children's outdoor playtime this past week?

Are buzzed parents better parents? One Australian psychology professor and the author of many parenting books recommends that parents pour themselves a stiff drink at the end of a long day. He says that upon arriving home from work, both parents should sit down together and imbibe a bit before turning to parenting. Because a more relaxed parent is a better parent. No, his name isn't Dr. Don Draper, but is this 1960's style of parenting just what the doctor ordered or is it a recipe for disaster?

While some are advocating that parents have a drink at the end of the day, no one's advocating that school bus drivers have one (or more) while still on the job... Middle school students in New Jersey noticed that their driver was swerving  and falling asleep at the wheel. For once, we're incredibly grateful for this generation's cell phone addiction, because many of the kids were able to call their parents to report what was happening. Parents, in turn, called the police, who tracked the driver down, while she was in the process of picking up an additional 25 kids at another school. It is said that the driver's blood alcohol level was more than three times the legal limit.

Are kids now having to compete with their teachers for the good lawn-mowing jobs around town? With pay cuts and salary freezes, teachers are turning to second jobs in higher numbers than in the past. In 1981, about 11 percent of teachers had second jobs. Today, it's more like one in five. Once they're done teaching students, many are turning to waitressing, bartending and even taking jobs mowing lawns in order to make ends meet. The pinch is being felt even harder these days because while teachers were often the "secondary" income for a family, they're now likely to be the primary breadwinner, either because they're a single-parent household or because a spouse has been laid off. Many are worried about the strain this is putting on teachers and the affect it has on morale in the classroom.

We're not sure what's worse -- that Gap Kids sells black sequined hot pants for young girls, or that they're marketing them as winter-wear... The popular clothier recommends pairing the vampy booty shorts with an innocent-enough owl shirt and furry black boots (which could be cute enough on their own, but come across as all sorts of wrong when worn with hot pants). Add in a sweater shrug and Nordic-style hat and you've dressed your child in one of the least practical outfits of the season. While the hat, sweater and furry boots suggest frolicking fun in the great outdoors, the booty shorts -- okay, we don't even want to think about what sequined "party shorts" imply when the wearer is in elementary school... Putting the issue of the overly-sexy nature of this ensemble aside for a moment, can you think of any activities in which this outfit might be even remotely practical or wearable?

Dana Macario is a TODAY Moms contributor and Seattle mom to two sleep-depriving toddlers. She is currently developing an alarm clock that will start an IV coffee drip 10 minutes prior to wake-up time. Once properly caffeinated, she also blogs at www.18years2life.com.