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What to do about toys? Your kids want them. You love seeing their little faces light up when they open that perfect gift. Yet finding that perfect gift nowadays seems to mean so much more than a hunk of plastic eye candy. It has to be a balance of fun, safe, eco-friendly, not plastic and not made in China yet still doesn't break the bank. What's a time-challenged parent to do? Luckily, Healthy Child, Healthy World has put together a comprehensive crash-course guide to purchasing toys.

I'm not too keen on all these holiday themed books ripping from the classic story "Twas the Night Before Christmas" by Clement Moore. This especially seems to be a popular thing to do when writing a children's Thanksgiving book. To me it's just one more way to force me to think about Christmas before Thanksgiving and that just bugs me something horrible. However, there is one exception I'm willing to make and I think you'll agree.

"Leaf Jumpers"by Carole Gerber and illustrated by Leslie Evans, is a sweet rhyming book about fall leaves.

WREXlabs is everything that is right with parents today. This awesome site crafted by a father son team, Tim and Declan, is a forum for curiosity encouraging kids and parents alike to take stuff apart and see how they work.

It's voting time. We're getting a new chief. You need a book so you don't look dumb trying to explain the presidency to the kids.

Our household is abuzz with election talk today. For the first time our 9 year old son has taken a fairly large interest in the voting process and we're actually having some pretty intense discussions about the candidates, propositions, historical significance, voting and even the electoral college. It's been very entertaining the last couple weeks listening to him conduct backseat debates with his close buddies over this election spouting regurgitated information they've no doubt picked up listening to us adult folk.

One of my greatest weaknesses happens to be children's books. Even greater is my love for Halloween picture books and even greater still is my addiction to J. Otto Seibold. We can't get enough of his sweet and sassy, thoroughly detailed art. And so it was with great pleasure, while poring over Halloween kiddie books at my local bookstore searching for a new title to add to my collection, that I came across a Halloween book written and illustrated by Mr. Seibold. A brand spankin' new Seibold Halloween book..as if all my prayers had been answered.

Parent advice blog Urban Moms posted an article by Rob Stringer, "an award-winning educator and Parenting & Youth Coach," titled "Teaching Kids About Money Makes Good Cents". This how-to article lists some very practical, very easy ways to teach children about money management. The tips are basic helping to bridge the gap between what they are taught in the classroom and their handling of money in real life situations. Some of my favorite tips include:

Your kids like tats but are years away from real ink. You want them to be safe. They can name ever Star Wars Clone Wars droid yet can't remember the important stuff like, oh say, their phone number, food allergies and...um...name. Check out these sweet temporary Child Safety Tattoos from SafetyTat. They're customized to order with one to two lines of information perfect for multiple phone numbers.