Chicken Little Soup

This is a link-rific post. Mostly horrible news. I believe I may be channeling my grandmother, who used to send my mother newspaper clippings of random tragedies. No note, just a neatly clipped story about toddlers wandering across train tracks. I believe these were cautionary type missives. In keeping with my grandmother's unparalleled care packages (the newspaper heartstoppers got tucked into boxes filled with hand-embroidered floursack towels, Sees Candy lollipops, and groovy California duds for the youngsters -- think 7os velour pantsuits and beaded tie-dye v-necks), I promise to give you a happy face sandwich for the bad news.

In that vein, then:

Hey, dental sealants aren't bad for kids! You know how we were all freaked out about a little bisphenol-A in baby formula cans? Well, some of us had a horrible sinking feeling about the relatively huge quantities of BPA in our kids' teeth. No worries! via Science Daily

Dental sealants are a huge pollutant, though, if you plan on being cremated. Maybe keep a pair of pliers with the will? via Wonkette

Um, scientists think there may be some link between pesticide consumption and Type II Diabetes. Now there's a motivator to buy organic grapes: never eating a lollipop again. via Eating Liberally

Bummer, there's rocket fuel in all of us. via Everything EWG

Sorry, ocean. Melanoma trumps. Sunscreen is killing the coral reefs. via Treehugger

All you have to do to make sure your kid is learning? Listen to her. Now that I have some control over. via Science Daily

And finally, to dissipate that little vortex of gloom, via Overheard in DC (DCist):

At a paint-your-own-pottery place in Silver Spring.

The paint colors are numbered, and a mother and her toddler daughter sit and paint at a table.

Mother: "I need more of color 69."
Toddler (screaming at the top of her lungs): "My mom needs 69! My mom needs 69! MY MOM NEEDS 69!!!"
Mother (laughing so hard she can barely get the words out): "Sweetheart, please stop saying that."