As parents used to living in the northern clime, we are used to bundling up our kids for activities like tobogganing, ice skating, ice hockey and skiing. But most of us don't pay much thought to winter headgear, though we should.
Researchers at University of Ottawa and Children's Hospital of Eastern Ontario studied the suitability of various types of helmets to see which was most effective at protecting children's heads from impact.
As there is no type of helmet on the market specifically designed for winter activities, parents use either helmets for hockey, skiing or cycling.
When testing various helmets to see which performed best, the results, published in an article called "Performance analysis of winter activity protection headgear for young children," were staggering.
On children under seven years old, different helmets were found to be more effective depending on the type of impact: low-velocity (i.e. those occurring in a short fall) and high-velocity (say, when a child slides downhill into an object).
At lower-velocity impacts, the ice-hockey helmet gave the most protection, while the bicycle helmet performed better in high-velocity impacts. The ski helmet provided the least amount of protection.
Overall, the authors concluded that none of the helmets tested "performed adequately" enough under impact, highlighting the need for a new type of winter play helmet that can save a child's brain from potentially grave injury.
Do you always send your child out to play wearing a helmet? Will you think twice about which helmet you use?
Like father, like daughter. Colossal Canadian comic Jim Carrey's daughter Jane has her sights set on becoming the next American Idol.
The 24-year-old new mom, who described herself as a 'ham,' clearly inherited a little love of performing from dear old dad. Kudos to her for not riding on her father's coat tails. She recently auditioned with all the other street hopefuls in San Diego, California.
Judges Steven Tyler, Jennifer Lopez and Randy Jackson all voted her through to the next round of the competition after Jane sang Something to Talk About. She has a great voice but admittedly found it difficult to grow up in the "shadow of something."
Let's hope Jane can get somewhere on her own merit, though even if she shines in the competition no doubt some will bitchily accuse her of using her name to stake her celebrity. I think if she really wanted to, she wouldn't need to go the American Idol route.
Do you think she's got talent?
She brought celebrity to the realms of mom blogging. So when Dooce (aka Heather Armstrong) announced her pending divorce, it stands to reason the D-bomb was dropped online.
In a post called Lying Here with My Head on the Phone, Armstrong faces the tough question from her daughter, "Why does Dad not sleep here any more?” In typical bloggy style, Dooce does a big reveal, confessing not just the trial separation from her husband and business partner Jon; she also recalls her own parents' divorce and her own considered suicide.
Even her hubby wrote his own confessional blog, a little less eloquently called Yes, I’m Currently in a Trial Separation.
“Obviously, in blogging, you are not writing every thought you have, or every action you do, but it can seem like you do,” wrote fellow blogger Magda Pecsenye. “So when it turns out that there have been all sorts of things going on in the background that didn't make it onto the blog, readers can... feel betrayed.”
The lines between the personal and public are often blurred. While some bloggers are content to keep it light; others, like Dooce, go for the jugular every time, their claim to fame being precisely their refusal to hold back. The dirtier the laundry, the better. I'm sure her stats are pretty high right now, what with the divorce post.
It begs the question: where does the right to privacy start and duty to readers end?
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