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I’m a fan of reality TV, I’ll admit it.  I’ve been avidly watching this season of America’s Got Talent and I must say, the talent does not disappoint.

There is one talent act that has bothered me though, especially lately.  It is that of 4-year-old singer Kaitlyn Maher. 

The premise of this show is to find a talent that can sustain an audience in Las Vegas as a headline act, along with a considerable cash prize.  I understand the novelty of having a 4-year-old sing for a national audience, but I really do think America (who keeps voting her back) doesn’t quite get this premise and I think if she wins, it will be a hard lesson to learn. 

Realistically, having a 4-year-old sing for a 90-minute show for a Las Vegas audience is asking for failure.  It may sound harsh, but I don’t see droves of people lining up, paying to see her sing.  Not only do I think she can’t keep up a show that long, but Piers Morgan, the only judge who has given a reality check about this act, is pleading to America not to put her through, and not to put her through that. 

As novel as it is, we must remember this girl is only 4 years old.  She doesn’t belong on a Vegas stage, she belongs in pre-school, singing children songs with her friends and family, watching PBS Kids, eating graham crackers and goldfish, and learning to read.

And I don’t believe the judges are blameless, either.  After all, they did know the winning act gets a show in Vegas and they could have cut her before the live shows. 

So now it’s in America hands.  We’ll see tonight if they did the right thing and sent this little girl home.

~Erica Smith

esmith@opubco.com

If you’ve read my blogs, you already know I’m a big fan of the Oklahoma City Zoo. 

Last night, my son and I attended the ConZOOvation event at the zoo, and it was a blast.  For $6 (the price for each adult, kids went free), we had an evening of dinner , crafts and a puppet show. They had the characters from OETA’s show Between the Lions and Chick-fil-A supplied dinner to the kids and adults.  Kids also got to make their own lion puppets and had a goody bag complete with animal book to take home with them.   

Also, once a month, we attend a class with other 2-year-olds and they do all kinds of fun things.  There’s story time, craft-making, and the zoo staff bring in a “friend” … usually something alive that the kids can touch and come face to face with.  It runs about an hour on a Saturday morning, once a month and they have a different theme each class.  For Zoo Friends, each class is $10.00 and for others it is $12.00 per child.  Well worth it!

Visit the zoo’s Web site, okczoo.com, click on education, then events, then toddler programs to see the programs offered for kids 5 and younger and special events.  There’s some fun things coming up like Family Fun Night for Zoo Friends members and Cupcakes with Santa in a few months.  For a monthly schedule of events, look under “Zoo News” on the homepage or go to http://www.okczoo.com/wimgo/.

Have fun planning your next trip to one of Oklahoma City’s best attractions!

~Erica Smith

esmith@oklahoman.com

Sharon Rodine, director of youth initiatives at the Oklahoma Institute for Child Advocacy, said the more conversations about the issue of teen pregnancy, the better.

If it’s a TV show that has parents and teens talking on the subject, so be it. 

“Hopefully the talk will lead to some positive discussions for some young people because we have been ignoring them for too long,” Rodine said.

Some critics have jabbed at the new ABC Family show “The Secret Life of the American Teenager,” saying that it focuses on sex too much and that it plays a lot like a soap opera parody, but others, like Rodine and leaders with the National Campaign to Prevent Teen and Unplanned Pregnancy, say it has folks talking and that’s worth a lot.

Rodine said it’s often hard to get people in Oklahoma to see how much teen pregnancy has become a concern. 

“Between 2005 and 2006, and that’s the latest data we have, the births to teens in

“It’s an alarm bell going off because, in so many ways, we’ve become complacent.”

Rodine said it’s sometimes hard for people to relate to numbers so she found another way to describe the problem.

“How do we help the public understand what this means? To help put this in perspective I tell people that the number of teens giving birth in

“We need to say ‘diplomas before diapers’.”

With that said, here are some national statistics from the National Campaign to ponder:

– The teen pregnancy and birth rate has declined dramatically since the early 1990s (down 38 percent and 32 percent respectively), driven by decreased sexual activity and increases in contraceptive use. Even so, recent data shows that the declines in teen sex and improvements in contraceptive use have leveled off. And the teen birth rate is on the rise for the first time in 15 years.

– At present, 3 in 10 girls in the

– There are more than 729,000 teen pregnancies annually and in 2006, there were 435,000 births to teens.

– At present, half of all pregnancies in the

– Carla

Well, we made it.  My 2-year-old boy, Hunter and I came from an OU game relatively unscathed.   Rain delay and all.

I learned alot Saturday, so I would like to share my newfound knowledge with other parents.

Here are my tips when bringing a toddler to a major sporting event:

1.  Bring your own snacks.  OU will let you bring in food for babies and small children, so load up and skip the $4 hot dogs.  We brought pretzels, Cheerios mix and Rice Krispies treats.

2.  Freeze a big bottle of water and pack it in your bag.  My son got to stay cool all through a hot game and I didn’t have to spend money on the super-expensive water at the stadium.

3. Keep your child engaged in the game.  By the end of the first quarter, Hunter knew to say “Touchdown!” and “Ooooooooo U!” It made the game a blast for me and him.

4.  At the first sight of lightning, LEAVE.  We made the mistake of waiting until it was too late, and I was stuck underneath a stadium with about 50,000 other people braving the rotating thunderstorm directly above us.  Not to mention the very long trek through mud afterward to catch a shuttle.  My arms are still sore from carrying my little 30-pound Sooner fan all that way.

5. Bring your camera.  Yes, they’re allowed and you won’t want to miss a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity like this one …

~ERICA SMITH

esmith@oklahoman.com

 I was reading a story today about how some states (not Oklahoma) are passing legislation to cut down on the number of unsolicited phone books that pile on residents’ door steps, clog landfills and generally just waste a lot of trees.

I get two or three such books each year. They go straight into the trash bin because like most folks, I generally look up information online. Plus I don’t have space near my phone to store the bulky books.

That got me thinking that maybe I should “repurpose” the paper in the books into craft supplies. Papier-mache, decoupage, even gift-wrapping came to mind.

It’d be cute to give an active golfer, for example, a box of golf balls wrapped in the phone book pages advertising sporting supply stores or golf vacations. Or to decoupage a frame for Grandma with the pages listing relatives’ phone numbers. (Could be handy too!) The paper also could be torn in strips, dunked in glue and wrapped around an inflated balloon. Once dry, it could be painted and filled with candy to make a pinata.

What ideas do you have? I’m always looking for ways to keep the kids occupied while saving money.

Comment here or e-mail me at ssimpson@oklahoman.com.

Susan Simpson, Education Writer

My family has been camping for the past week.

Not outside of course. It’s hot there! But in a tent in the middle of the living room.

My 5-year-old has been learning about camping at preschool, and so we thought it’d be fun to actually break out the tent stored in an unopened box in our attic.

Putting the thing together was fun for my husband because there were no directions. Bravely, he managed and we soon had a bigger-than-I-expected igloo-shaped domicile. My daughter collected an array of snacks for our “camping” trip and I turned on the Discovery Channel (the TV was right there) to find some scenery.

Despite the whirl of the ceiling fan, it was fun to imagine we were actually on a great adventure. Our dogs became “bears” prowling for snacks. We made fire-free S’mores with chocolate marshmallows and Ritz crackers.

But did we sleep there? Of course not, the floor is hard after all.

Next my daughter wants to go fishing. Maybe we’ll turn the bathtub into a “pond.” Do goldfish crackers float?

Susan”Scared of Mosquitoes” Simpson

We experienced a big first in my household.  My 2-year-old son’s first movie in a movie theater.  

At first, I was a bit hesitant … I mean it’s a lot of money to spend and if he starts getting fussy, we’re out $18 plus popcorn.  But I have to admit, I really wanted to see WALL-E and I got my son excited enough to want to see it, too.

We wheeled his stroller in, so he could still feast on his food court fare while watching.  Not the best idea, however, as the only place to sit him was in wheelchair-access seats, which are five rows from the screen. 

As we started watching the “big TV” my son stuck out his bottom lip as far as it would go and said (while in a moment of movie silence) “Scared! Big TV scared!” Luckily we picked a showtime where only six other people were in the theater, so it worked out well.  The initial loud noises (there’s a spacecraft that lands on Earth) did get him a bit nervous, but all in all, he loved it.  And I loved seeing him watch his first movie.

WALL-E was indeed a great film, another genius work by PIXAR.  I highly recommend it and it was worth every penny.  It’s filled with love, humor, friendship and even a bit of reality. You can’t help but tear up and laugh out loud at the same time. This is truly a film that all ages can enjoy and want to see again and again.

And as soon as we got home, my little boy wanted to watch it again on our not-as-big-TV and of course he didn’t understand why that wasn’t possible. So he had to settle for some OETA and fell asleep with his new best friend in hand.

~Erica Smith

esmith@oklahoman.com

Yippee for the Yippee Yi Yo Show!

My family went to this variety stage show for kids on Saturday at the City Arts Center Theatre. The theatre is in the State Fair Park, which made it easy to get to and park. Tickets were $10 at the door (they were $8 in advance) and worth every penny.

Most of the children at the show sat on mats in front of the stage, where they were encouraged to sing along with the performers, which included show regulars Cowboy Frank, Wild Bald Billy and Harmony Jane, along with special guest Sara Hickman, an Austin singer/songwriter who wowed kids and parents alike.

We had a blast, and for only $10 a ticket. Compare that to the price of a Hannah Montana show or Sesame Street Live.

 Susan Simpson, Education Writer

Anyone who knows me know that I am a picture-taking fanatic.  I always have my camcorder and digital camera with me wherever my son and I go.  I take a bunch of pictures, upload them to my computer, then transfer a copy to my online photo albums to share them.

So I end up with a copy on my camera (which I am always afraid to erase for some reason), a copy on my computer, a copy online, a backup copy on CD and then eventually I order prints of all of them and if they’re lucky, someday they might make it into an actual photo album.

Does this sound a bit obsessive-compulsive to you?  It does to me.  But how do I break this habit? I always feel a tinge of guilt if a weekend goes by and I never get to organizing all those hundreds of photos, putting dates on them, putting them in albums.  Then buying more albums.  Then buying things to scrapbook with, but never getting around to doing it. 

If I take less pictures, I may miss out on something remarkable and kick myself later.   But if I’m constantly behind the lens of a camera, I feel I’m missing out on the actual experience.  Which of the evils is worse?

After a good bout of guilt over a under-productive picture-sorting weekend,  I always think to myself  ”if I had spent all those hours organizing pictures all weekend, I would have missed out on capturing new memories.”  So the guilt subsides, but the pictures multiply. 

It’s a neverending dilemma.

Any suggestions?  I would love to hear some.

-Erica Smith

esmith@oklahoman.com 

I’m taking my daughter to the upcoming Jonas Brothers concert. I know, I know. It’s a splurge.

My husband’s already mentioned the cost to me several times. (He calls them the “Donut Brothers.” He just doesn’t understand.) But I want to indulge Katie, 13, a little in what has teetered between a youthful crush and a small-time obsession. (Afterall, we missed the Hannah Montana concert. Yes, I’m still a little miffed at the whole experience of trying to buy those elusive seats.)

So, pricey, yes. But this is something she will remember when she gets older.

She’s excited. Her friends are excited.

But not everyone has tickets to this exciting summer concert. So, Katie’s friends enlisted her help recently when a local radio station was having a call-in to win Jonas Brothers tickets. You just had to be the 100-and-something caller to win.

Easy enough.

She checked with me first. That was sweet. ….  I said it was OK.

 So she and her little sister, Kaci, pitched in to start calling, and I went on about my business.

A little later Katie came back and asked, “Is it costing money if I stay on the phone?” No, it’s a local call.

She was relieved, explaining that Kaci had been waiting on the phone for 15 minutes, but the line was busy. …

… It took a few seconds, and then I began to chuckle and explained to her that if the line is busy, you have to hang up and call again.

“oh, man,” she said.

Needless to say, she didn’t win more tickets. …

– Linda Lynn