Weekly Web Round-Up: Tooth Decay in Preschoolers, Future Journalists, Future Engineers

This week, Neato Bambino shared a particularly creative way to get your kids to eat their veggies: one mom went the distance for this healthy birthday party with the help of a cherry tomato Elmo and a broccoli Oscar. But not everyone’s eating healthy! The New York Times looked at various factors behind the rise in cavities in preschoolers. Our takeaway? Skipping the sugary juice, daily tooth brushing, and other healthy habits remain the best defense against decay. (For adults, too!) In Boulder, prodigious 11-year-old Eli Boardman just published the 200th issue of his community newspaper, the Boardman Camera. (He started his first paper, the Enterprise, at 3, but it “fizzled out after a bit,” reports Boulder’s Daily Camera. “Artist Gina Blickenstaff, who also lives in the neighborhood, said she enjoys learning local news tidbits from the paper as well as reading the ‘Boardwalk’ section, a nature column about what Eli has seen on his daily walks.” Congratulations, Eli! Speaking of smart youngsters, we loved this Rube Goldberg experiment from 7-year-old Audri, which we heard about from @howstuffworks.

At Motherlode, one reader asks: I’m pregnant — but what’s the best way to tell someone close to me who has been trying for years? Several readers responded to the question, bringing a number of perspectives to the table. When you haven’t had children, it’s easy to judge parents from afar, writes Kara Gebhart Url, a blogger at Huffington Post, in an open-letter to “the Parents I Judged Four Years Ago.”

Pre-children: I was going to cloth diaper. Post-children: I did with my daughter, sort of, but not with my twins.

Pre-children: No TV until age of 2 and then only 30 minutes a day. Post-children: Ha.

Pre-children: Only organic, healthy, homemade food. Post-children: My kids love Wendy’s.

Have you changed your tune about child rearing since becoming a parent yourself? What kind of struggles have you faced, trying to be the best parent you can be?