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    Valerie Isakova, Shine Parenting Editor

    Valerie Isakova, Shine Parenting Editor

  • Most 10 Most Famous and Infamous Moms of 2012

    As we <a rel="nofollow" title="" target="" href="http://yhoo.it/VUTwx5">review</a> 2012, we realize that a puzzling amount of parenting controversies involve breastfeeding. Why baby + breast should be such a big deal eludes us, but apparently it is. Read on to find out about the best (breast?) and worst <a rel="nofollow" title="" target="" href="http://yhoo.it/VTqFsH">moms</a> and <a rel="nofollow" title="" target="" href="http://news.yahoo.com/mother-makes-girl-12-wear-diaper-bad-grades-153823506.html">mothering moments</a> of the year.<i>&mdashValerie Isakova</i> <br>

  • The 10 Most Famous and Infamous Moms of 2012

    As we review 2012, we realize that a puzzling amount of parenting controversies involve breastfeeding. Why baby + breast should be such a big deal eludes us, but apparently it is. Read on to find out about the best (breast?) and worst parents and parenting moments of the year. ...

  • Should School Shootings Replace Abduction as Parents' Worst Nightmare?

    Every era has its unlikely but terrifying nightmare scenario that haunts parents, and often their children too. In the wake of the Newtown shooting, of course, it's school safety that's at the forefront of every parent's mind. "I want to weep, cry, and hug my kids," one Babble mommy blogger wrote. Another mother posted a controversial article on her personal blog saying "I am Adam Lanza's mother," and going on to confess her fears that her own mentally ill son might go on a killing spree. ...

  • 59 is the Age Women Should Stop Wearing Red Lipstick, Heavy Makeup, Study Finds

    There is a time to start aging gracefully, and UK beauty product company Nurture Replenish Skincare surveyed 2,000 women age 45-plus and found out that most of you think that's at age 59. This is the age that women thought it was time to ditch high heels, red lipstick, tight clothes and false nails and try to look "more natural."More on Shine: 5 things young guys love and find sexy about older women."The results of our studies are often quite surprising," Nurture Replenish Skincare spokeswoman told Yahoo! Shine. ...

  • Duped Recpetionist Kills Herself, More to Bear for Pregnant Kate

    The horrible news broke Friday morning that the receptionist who fell for the prank call from two Australian radio DJs impersonating the Queen of England and Prince Charles, which resulted in private details being released about Duchess Kate's pregnancy, was found dead in a suspected suicide. The UK newspaper The Daily Mail reports that the receptionist, Jacintha Saldanha, was a married mother of two and that her unconscious body was found near the private hospital where she worked. EMTs were unable to revive her. Her family has been notified. ...

  • Another Trader Joe's Recall—Is This a Trend?

    Trader Joe's announced yet another recall on Tuesday, at least the sixth this year. This time it's a frozen Trader Joe's211;brand Butter Chicken with Basmati Rice entree, 4,865 pounds of which are being recalled from because they may be contaminated with Listeria, a bacteria food safety experts describe as "scary."More on Shine: Talking to your kids about food: the politics of our dietsThe meals had already been distributed to Trader Joe's stores on the East Coast. ...

  • Most Popular Diet Searches of 2012

    We at Shine have spent as many dark nights of the Internet soul as the rest of you have, searching desperately for new weight loss methods.

  • Unsolicited Advice: Just Have the Baby

    To the lady I met at the grocery store café yesterday:You are the well-dressed late-30s professional who squealed when you saw my little boy, in his stroller, making a revving sound and running his toy car over his own legs and arms. He has big blue eyes, strawberry-blond hair, and comically fat cheeks, and he was loudly saying "bbbbrrrrrbbbbbrrrr beep! beep! bbbbrrrrbbbbbrrr". It was heartbreakingly cute, I will admit, though I am his mother. ...

  • Angel Grad Student Delivers Woman's Baby at Bus Stop

    They say that every woman's birth story is unique, but having a baby at a bus stop, assisted only by a grad student in English Literature with a cellphone and a shoelace is more unusual than most.Student Emily Brewer, 36, was heading for her bus stop at the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill on Wednesday, with her almost three-year-old son, Dylan, when a woman she didn't know approached her and asked for her help. Brewer followed her into the bus shelter to find the woman's friend, in a squat position, heavily pregnant and in distress. ...

  • The Knot Tries to Help Weddings Flooded Out by Sandy

    Most brides have the fear of a disaster on their wedding day, and for many happy couples planning on getting married in storm-affected areas of the East Coast this weekend, those fears have been realized. Venues and caterers are flooded or without power, flights are cancelled, hotels are closed, transportation has ground to a halt in New York City and much of New Jersey.The bride's best friend, wedding site The Knot, is trying to help with a web page, "Helping Brides in the Wake of Hurricane Sandy," where vendors can offer services or brides can post for help. ...

  • Winners: Shine's "Halloween is for Babies" Extravaganza

    The winners are in! Thanks to all the wonderful Shine moms who sent in photos. See the full album of contestants <a rel="nofollow" title="" target="" href="http://on.fb.me/TsKMAT">here</a>. And the most hilarious costumes you inflicted on your babies were... <br>

  • Stress-Testing Your Relationship During a Natural Disaster

    For some people, storms and other natural disasters bring out the best in the family unit. They're a time to pull together or be glad of a partner's skills and support. For others, they bring out the worst. Those of us on the ground in NYC have heard over the past few days all kinds of testimonials both for and against relationships.Usually in the "for" camp, it's a person talking with trust about their partner's opinion. "Bob knows from hurricanes, and he says it's time to get out!" Or "Jane would never let us keep this kids in a danger zone. ...

  • Natalie Portman Dior Mascara Ad Banned for Having Lashes Just Way Too Long

    Wait a minute, this mascara won't turn me into Natalie Portman? I'm shocked! Horrified. I want my money back...Seems silly, but a Christian Dior mascara ad has been banned in the U.K. because Natalie Portman's exquisite, thick, Bambi eyelashes were just too long.More on Shine: How to wear bright mascaraThe ad, which is for Diorshow "New Look" mascara, "must not appear again in its current form" according to a ruling posted on October 24th by the Advertising Standards Authority, the U.K.'s independent regulatory body for truth in advertising. ...

  • Dying Woman Humiliated at Sea-Tac Airport by Security Search

    A young, female leukemia patient says she was humiliated by a security search at Seattle's Sea-Tac airport last week. Security officials lifted bandages from recent surgeries, lifted her shirt to check feeding tubes and broke open an IV bag of saline solution, all in full view of other passengers, according to a report by Seattle's KOMO News.More on Shine: My Breast Cancer Journey Part One: The DiagnosisThe Detroit-area woman, Michelle Dunaj, who is dying of leukemia, was taking an "end of life" trip to Hawaii, flying through Seattle. ...

  • Shine's "Halloween is for Babies" Slideshow. Enter Your Kid's Costume for Awwwws

    Babies are high maintenance in some ways, but they make up for it at Halloween, when you can dress them like pumpkins, flowers, rabbits, superheros, or anything you can dream up. Not only won't they complain-or even know what you've done-everyone who sees them will be amazed at their cuteness. We love baby costumes, and we want you to share yours with us. Take a pic of your baby in costume now (you are doing a trial run, aren't you?) or on the day of Halloween ('cause who has time for trial runs!?) and submit it to us. ...

  • National Bullying Month PACER Video's Cute Teen Stars Say: Be Nice!

    October is National Bullying Month, and the PACER Center: Champions for Children with Disabilities has rounded up teen stars like Annie Thurman from The Hunger Games (a home-schooled, 90-pound redhead who played the tribute from District 9) and mop-top Mikey Reid (Sinjin on Victorious) to tell kids that "the end of bullying begins with you."We love the message. But will the bullies listen? Those kids who bullied their bus monitor would probably chew the nice actors up and spit them out like so much playground gravel. ...

  • Mom’s Story: Writing to Survive a Son’s Prison Term

    As we get older and become parents, life gets hard in ways we could never have imagined. It happened to Raleigh, NC mom Max W. Miller, who describes herself as an ordinary middle-class mother who tried everything to control her rebellious oldest son, but did not succeed. Miller's son started selling drugs when he was a teenager. In 2005, when he was 19, he was sentenced to 92 months (seven and a half years) in federal prison. ...

  • Sultan of Brunei's Daughter's Wedding Might Cost $20 Million, is Going on for a Week

    Possibly the most lavish <a rel="nofollow" title="" target="" href="http://yhoo.it/PHJNtu">wedding</a> the world has ever seen is happening today, Friday September 21st, in <a rel="nofollow" title="" target="" href="http://bit.ly/P6w7XY">Brunei</a>, where the Sultan's daughter Hajah Hafizah Sururul Bolkiah, 32, is marrying a 29-year-old civil servant as part of a week-long celebration estimated to involve 2,000 guests and set to end on Sunday night. The ceremony itself, according to the UK paper <a rel="nofollow" title="" target="" href="http://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/article-2206241/Now-THATS-Royal-Wedding-Sultan-Brunei-celebrates-marriage-daughter-32-spectacular-ceremony-straight-Arabian-Nights.html?ITO=1490">The Daily Mail</a>, will take place in the Istana Nurul Iman Palace, a 1,700 room palace that's home to the Sultan and his family. The princess's older brother, heir to the throne of Brunei, married in 2004 at a speculated cost of $5 million, <a rel="nofollow" title="" target="" href="http://www.radaronline.com/exclusives/2011/02/photos-worlds-most-expensive-royal-weddings">reports say</a>, but wedding planner Maya Kalman, founder of <a rel="nofollow" title="" target="" href="http://www.swankproductions.com/">Swank Productions</a> in New York City confirmed Yahoo! Shine's suspicion that this wedding might cost much more than that. "The rule of thumb for our average luxury wedding is $1,000 per guest," Kalman says. "I would guesstimate that a no-holds-barred event like this could easily be $15 to $20 million." Those figures include only wedding itself. Additional celebrations throughout the week could be an additional $15 to $20 million, Kalman speculates. --Valerie Isakova <br>

  • Who Wants to Be a Sh*tty Mom?

    I'm just going to be humorless for a second and say, No. I'm not a Sh*tty Mom, and I'm tired of the juvenile, wine-in-my-sippy-cup culture that celebrates parents behaving like teenagers into their 40s. I will drink wine, but probably not while I'm the adult responsible for watching my kids, and I will do it in a wine glass. ...

  • Naomi Wolf's "Vagina: A New Biography"

    Your vagina: Do you want to read a book about it?