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I’m not crafty. I wish I was, but I’m not.

Our pediatrician is a master at prepping parents for the year ahead. So after hearing what he had to say about 4-year-olds, I am bracing myself.

Kids this age are independent, willful, determined and dogged. All of these would be qualities I’d prize highly … if they weren’t already being employed in getting a cupcake for breakfast or two more games on the Wii or an extension on bedtime.

We love to interact with our readers on Facebook. If you're not a follower on our Facebook page yet, now is a great time to join us. We periodically conduct giveaways to great St. Louis family attractions directly from our Facebook page, and this week, we're giving away four tickets to see Nick's Storytime LIVE at the Fox Theatre on July 16. You can view and like our Facebook page here.

This week's contest is called BRING IT. The Facebook friend that brings the highest number of followers to our page by Friday at 3 p.m. wins the tickets. It's that simple. And they're great seats!

In previous Facebook contests, we've given away tickets to Cardinals games, kids CDs, and more.

I’ve been hearing a lot of buzz about sunscreens among my friends. Turns out some contain ingredients that may disrupt the way hormones work in our bodies or actually do more harm than good when it comes to skin cancer.

With all the unknowns around increasing rates of everything from autism to type 2 diabetes in kids, a lot of parents are nervous about everything that goes onto and into their children. A few years ago, I was hearing similar “what-if” stories from the eco-parent types who were avoiding plastic drinking cups and bottles due to concerns about bisphenol A (which the government’s National Toxicology Program puts in the “some concern” category for developmental toxicity). Back when they first started talking about BPA, few of us knew what it was – and now, of course, BPA is pretty much a household term among families with infants and toddlers.  I suspect things could go the same way for oxybenzone in sunscreens.

Last week there was a major conference of sleep researchers in San Antonio, Texas. Usually reading through scientific abstracts like the ones presented there is a sure-fire way of inducing drowsiness, but I found several that actually made me sit up and pay attention.

The most interesting one looked at around 8,000 preschoolers to find out whether their bedtimes and how much total sleep they got had any effect on their overall development. My youngest son just turned 4 today, so I was curious—and I was surprised by what I learned.

The results may surprise you, too. But first, a pop quiz on how well you know your bedtime facts.

Each day, our kids are blasted with ads for greasy, cheesy, sugary, processed foods. It’s no wonder they turn up their noses when you present them with a bowl of veggies. Unless, of course, the vegetables are deep-fried and doused in Ranch dressing.

One way to get kids involved in making healthy choices is to bring them back to square one – and that’s in the garden. When children play a role in growing their own food, they’re more likely to eat their fruits and vegetables and learn a new sense of responsibility.

“Gardening teaches kids about being care givers,” said Gwenne Hayes-Stewart, executive director of Gateway Greening, via e-mail. Her organization promotes gardening partnerships for community development. “Consequences of poor care are evident nearly at once. Just as apparent are the consequences of paying attention to what plants need. Kids pick up on this quickly. No water, the plant dies. Too much water, the plant struggles. Making sure to check the soil first, and bingo, success!”

You still have time to introduce your kids to the benefits of gardening this summer. Although it’s getting too late to plant many fruits and vegetables, you’re only a few steps away from a delicious harvest this autumn.

Said Debbie Tolstoi of Garden Heights Nursery by e-mail, “In August, sow seeds for the fall season such as spinach, carrots, collards, kale, lettuce, beets, turnips, radish, cilantro and dill. Broccoli, cabbage and cauliflower plants should be available in nurseries in late August or early September.”

I know what you’re thinking, because I’ve thought it myself – planting and maintaining vegetables sounds like too much work. Believe me, I definitely don’t have a green thumb – it’s more like the black thumb of veggie death. However, Tolstoi had some excellent tips that make planting a garden a snap:

A few years ago my parents, husband, brother and I were playing a game called Worst-Case Scenarios. In it, players pit their wits against situations like bear attacks, deadly flora, armed assailants and the like – things we wouldn’t usually experience in our day-to-day vanilla lives.

If you’d asked me to predict the winner, I’d have gone with my brother, a trained mountaineer. Or my husband, an Air Force veteran. Or my father, a lifelong hunter. Who won?

Kids say the cutest things. Nothing can melt a parent’s heart more than hearing “I love you, Daddy” or “You’re the best mommy” from a 5-year-old.

Once they get in public, however, some of the things that come out of their mouths aren’t so cute. In fact, they’re downright embarrassing, or worse, hurtful to an intended target. I mean, how can you prevent your kid from announcing to the world you wore your holey underwear today because you haven’t done the wash in a week?

I’ve always loved going to concerts. In college, I became a music reviewer so I could get free tickets to all the shows and hang out with the bands. When Mr. P and I were dating, we regularly hit The Duck Room and Scottrade Center to see our favorite performers.

But when the Little Ps made their debuts, our pseudo rock star lifestyle gave its final curtain call. For instance, I’m dying to see The Black Keys at The Pageant on Thursday, but I feel 3-year-olds probably don’t belong in a sweaty, booze-infused dance pit in front of the stage.

Whenever I read the latest health news, I feel a little surge of pride when a new study comes out of Washington University in St. Louis. This latest one also stirs emotion in my heart for more personal reasons.

First, the study: Researchers found that only a third of teen girls ages 13 to 17 in the six states surveyed received the vaccine against the human papillomavirus, or HPV. While in adolescence HPV is thought of primarily as a sexually transmitted disease, in older women it becomes a factor in most cases of cervical cancer, which was diagnosed in 11,000 American women last year and will eventually be fatal to 4,000 of them.

At my son’s school, today was orientation day for returning families. When it came time to talk to the lunch coordinator, I asked the same question I’ve been bombarding her with since the year began: Why aren’t there more vegetarian options? My 7-year-old chooses to avoid meat, and I dutifully support him, but with only two or three meatless meals offered over the course of a month, and peanuts off the table as an option due to allergy concerns, I wind up packing a LOT of cheese sticks and crackers.

She replied that it depends on your definition of vegetarian – some pizza companies still use mozzarella and parmesan made with animal rennet, so technically that wouldn’t really be vegetarian either. As I sat pondering how to respond to this non-answer, the mom next to me paused in her paperwork and asked, “What’s rennet?”