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I love to read. But perhaps even more than this, I love being read to. Some of my most cherished childhood memories are of my dad reading bedtime stories every weekend. Whole summers I would spend listening to recordings of Shel Silverstein or Marlo Thomas and Friends. These days, I attend poetry readings or author events or festivals. But I also find myself turning down the radio or folding laundry in the hallway to better hear my husband reading to our children. Whether it's Redwall to his teenage son, or Misty of Chincoteague to our 6-year-old daughter, I am entranced.

Our Cover Kids 2010 Contest is in full swing, and it's not surprising that we're receiving lots of entries from across the metro area. It's also not surprising that kids in St. Louis are adorable, photogenic and have loads of personality! Cover Kids 2010 is a search for real kids of all ages, sizes, ethnic backgrounds and abilities that will culminate in the winners being featured in our magazine and our Back-to-School Fashion Show in July.

Winners in four ages categories will win a modeling contract with Menagerie Models, the Webster-Groves based modeling agency that has styled, photographed and provided the models for the covers of our magazine for more than a year. The agency, headed by former model Camille Adams, works with regional and national companies to place kids and adults in advertisements and editorial features in print and on television. Menagerie Models does not offer modeling classes, they just look for kids they can place in advertisements. And kids are paid for their work.

With all the talk about health care reform and insurance on a national scale, I thought it would be interesting to look at the other end of the spectrum: a family doctor who makes house calls.

HIV/AIDS can affect anyone. Gay or straight. Male or female. Old or young.

A tipster sent me a link over the weekend that gave me goosebumps because it’s something that pretty much all well-meaning parents have done at the playground: give our toddlers a ride on our laps down a big slide. I would never have imagined it could cause a broken leg.

Could you imagine going without toilet paper? Deodorant? Or diapers for your infant? 

Happy first day of baseball in St. Louis! Seeing half the town decked out in red t-shirts and caps has been fun – and even those of us who aren’t going to the game today are looking forward to seeing one sometime this season. Unless you have a peanut allergy sufferer in your household. Then probably you weren’t.

The Missouri Coalition for the Environment is hosting a coloring contest for kids ages 1-12 to help celebrate Earth Day this year.

I thought Facebook and Twitter were bad enough. Now new social networking service Foursquare is telling me I’m pretty much a loser.

Give your kids a truly international experience at Chinese Culture Days at the Missouri Botanical Garden. Become immersed in traditional Chinese arts, music, culture and cuisine at the Garden on Saturday and Sunday, May 15 and 16.