This weekend offers loads of family fun in the Triangle, from an American Indian Heritage festival and a Christmas Parade on Saturday in Raleigh to a family film festival in Apex on Friday, Saturday and Sunday.

The Peak City Film Festival in Apex is an international film festival that’s suitable for all ages, according to event organizer Bob Crowley. He tells Carolina Parent’s Janice Lewine that all of the films are pre-screened to make sure they don’t contain any offensive material, are in English or have English subtitles, and they are incredible. Entries include 90-minute feature films, 24-minute short films, animated and silent productions, TV commercials produced in North Carolina, music videos and mobisodes, which are seven-minute movie episodes specially formatted for hand-held devices.

If you’re in downtown Raleigh enjoying the Christmas...

If you’re going holiday shopping, you still need to look out for lead in toys. A children’s health advocacy group has found children’s toys with the Barbie and Disney logos contain high lead levels, The Associated Press reports.

The Center for Environmental Health tested about 250 children's products bought at major retailers including TJ Maxx, Sears, Walmart, Walgreens and Target and found lead levels greater than federal limits in seven of them.

As parents know from the onslaught of recalls in recent years, lead can cause irreversible brain damage, which is why The Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC), which regulates toys, is following up.

In the meantime, parents should keep their eyes out for news of recalls. CarolinaParent.com’s Safety Recalls page, (look under the Resources tab on our home page), offers links...

I made five visits to the doctor last week. It’s a new record for me but not one that I’d care to repeat. My two kids caught the flu (most likely the H1N1, according to their doctors), my mother had bronchitis and I had to have my eye checked.

After the fifth medical visit Friday, and then a hunt for Tamiflu at two pharmacies, I was wiped out. Luckily, my boss told me to rest. But it’s still not easy being a mom, sometimes. This all happened despite my best efforts to protect my family. When it comes to enforcing hand washing in my house, I’m a drill sergeant: You do not want to mess with me. My kids have reluctantly had the regular flu shot—and so have I— but we are all ineligible for the H1N1 shot at the pediatrician because we’re not in in high risk groups who need to get the shot first.

Still, there were some bright spots amid the sickness. While my mother was seeing the doctor, my 10-year-old son (who hadn't yet gotten sick)...

Slipping into a pair of cozy pajamas and settling into bed with a book is among the best ways to reassure and comfort yourself after a long day. Now, a Garner school teacher is working to spread that loving bedtime atmosphere to children in the Raleigh-Durham area who have been neglected, abused or simply may not have a stable home environment.

Sue Myers, an elementary teacher who moved to Raleigh in 1994, says she was thumbing through a magazine in a waiting room when she came across a magazine article about The Pajama Program. The non-for-profit organization, which has 73 chapters nationwide, provides new pajamas and new books to children in need. Something “clicked,” she said in a recent interview, and she knew she had to be involved. When she discovered that eastern N.C. wasn’t part of the program, Myers jumped at the chance to help children, a group she said is close to her heart because they are so vulnerable.

Most of the children the national program...

This morning, I spoke with a mom who rose before daylight to have her son at a 5:30 a.m. swim practice. Her son is on the swim team, which meets every day, but she says he’s falling asleep after school.

I didn’t ask her how she’s feeling, but I didn’t need to. I could hear the exhaustion in her voice. It’s no surprise to me that she didn’t consider herself first. As mothers, we’ve gotten used to putting ourselves behind our kids when it comes to taking care of ourselves.

That’s why I’ve assumed a new persona: Just call me “Bad Soccer Mom.”

This new inner me only surfaced after years of sitting on the sidelines watching ridiculous happenings unfold while my sons played basketball, soccer and baseball. Bad Soccer Mom first reared her fearsome head when my younger son was 5 and lightning could be seen in the sky as he and his teammates were playing in an open field. Anyone could have seen the storm coming...