Good grief. There are now more than 200 different “energy drinks” on the market in the U.S. Is that a good thing? Probably not, in out under-rested, over-caffeinated society.

And when it comes to kids and teens gulping down these concoctions, parents need to take note: A typical 12-ounce energy drink has about three times the amount of caffeine in a 12-ounce Coca-Cola and nearly the same amount of caffeine as in a cup of coffee.

To learn more about these drinks, check out my new article over at metrokids.com. Then let me know what you think. Do you allow your kids to drink energy drinks?

My son, Matt, starts high school today. What a grand adventure! There will be glorious days, days that feel like torture, lifelong friendships forged, challenges to meet…

As I was thinking about what advice I’d like to share with him as he begins this phase of life, I came across an inspiring post, over on a favorite blog, Marc and Angel Hack Life – Practical Tips for Productive Living: “18 Things I Wish Someone Had Told Me When I Was 18.”

In the post, Marc looks back, as an adult, and thinks about all “the things I would love to tell myself if I could travel back in time to give my 18-year-old self some advice about life.”

It works. Wish he had been around to write this for me when I was 18. Or, heck — 14. Happily, Matt can benefit from his wise words.

Thanks, Marc. Happy to share this with my readers here.

Readers, what advice of your own would you add?

When should kids start doing chores around the house? Should allowance be tied to chores? Do sticker charts help?

Check out my interview (no byline, unfortunately, but it’s mine!), on makinglifebetter.com, with parenting expert Amy McCready. A mother of two and the founder of Positive Parenting Solutions, an online parenting education resource, McCready explains why chores are an essential part of growing up. (She even has suggestions for ways toddlers and preschoolers can help around the house.)

I’ve also been checking out her online course, which teaches parents how to calmly and confidently put an end to back talk, lack of listening, tantrums, whining, sibling rivalry, bedtime battles and any other misbehavior that comes along. Gotta love that! Want to see McCready in action? Here she is on the Today Show.

Check out Positive Parenting Solutions. There’s a lot of great material there for parents of kids of all ages.

The wonderfully talented Lucy Felton Banta and her creative partner, Alison Pergola Savoie, have created a welcome landing page for our Parent Talk Today fan page, complete with video.

If you’re not already a fan, this link will take you right to the welcome page. If you’re a fan, just click on “Welcome!” in the page menu to see it.

Thanks, Lucy and Alison! And thanks to all of our “fans” out there!

Randy (AKA “The Hubs”) is flying home from a week-long business trip and is due in any minute. The laundry is done for the first time all summer. The dog endured his trip to the vet + bordetella shot today and is happily snoozing at my feet. There’s homemade chocolate cake in the house. I have lots of paying writing and editing work to do tomorrow. And Matt, my son, is downstairs playing Emerson, Lake and Palmer’s “Lucky Man” on the piano.

Life’s little pleasures. They mean a lot in the day-to-day scheme of things. (Although Randy returning after being gone for a week is a BIG pleasure.) A phone call from a friend. A great cup of coffee. An unexpected card in the mail. A walk on a gorgeous July morning.

What are the little pleasures in your life right now? Isn’t it amazing how something so small as (temporarily) having the laundry done can make your day?

I’m feeling like a bit of an odd duck lately. I’m hearing a lot of moms say “Oh, I’m so glad it’s summer! Things are more relaxed and I have so much more time.”

Seriously? I’m feeling like I need a giant DO-OVER button for my summer. I’ve been:

° Working

° Driving Matt to activities

° Going to the grocery store

° Driving Matt to activities

° Going to Target

° Working

Now, I love Target as much as the next mom, but come on! I need to take a break and read a book on the deck, with my shoes off, while drinking lemonade. (OK, in the evening? Maybe a glass of wine.) I need to get off this work-schlep-chores train and relax a bit more.

Can you relate? Are you with me? OK, let’s go squeeze some lemons, grab that book and take our shoes off.

See you on the deck.

I’m doing something today that I have never done before: Letting Matt, age 14, go to the doctor by himself. Without his mommy by his side.

No, he’s not sick. If he was, I’d be right there, dropping everything and taking him to the doc.

But it’s a beautiful day, the office is about a mile away, and he can ride his bike. He just needs to get blood work done for a routine physical for high school sports. (Gulp — He’ll be a freshman in September.)

I’m on a work deadline today and I have painters here doing some work. Not a good time to leave. So I called the doc’s office and they said I could send a note and Matt could come by himself.

Would you do this? Am I a bad mom? Or is this the right amount of freedom to let an incoming high school freshman have? Matt’s a responsible kid, for 14. But still… He’s 14.

What do you think?

Thanks to Dan Pink, for sharing on his Daniel H. Pink blog, the latest FUN way for people to engage with a subway station.

Last year Volkswagen and Fun Theory created an entertaining, musical way for people to exit a subway station.

Now they’re at it again. I love the way people do a double take when they first see this fire-engine-red slide. Thought it would be fun for you to share these videos  with the kids in your life. They’re a hoot, and I love the idea that creativity can be applied in the seemingly mundane areas of our lives.

Slide on!

I was so jazzed to learn that my buddy and writing colleague, Tina Tessina, Ph.D., was intrigued by my post about my new quilt (made from my son’s baby clothes) from Campus Quilt Company.

Seems that Tina and her husband, Richard, had saved many t-shirts from their travels together, and she had been thinking, for years, of having them made into a quilt. When she saw the beautiful quilt created for me by Campus Quilt Company, she decided to order one of her own.

It’s goegeous! I’m so glad I was able to share something here that sparked an idea in a friend, leading to a wonderful gift for her husband.

Check out Tina’s quilt over on her Dr. Romance Blog. And check out the rest of the blog, too. Hey, every parent deserves a little romance in his or her life. It ain’t all about diapers and curfews, people!