I'd like someone to launch a well-funded public service campaign to take on one of the less-recognized threats to a healthy pregnancy and healthy infancy. "Pregnancy: More Joy, Less Guilt." "Guilt: Bad for Moms, Bad for Babies." Any deep-pocket volunteers?

I was racing through the Washington Post this morning, trying to finish the A section before it was time to go into border collie mode and start nipping heels (who wants to go to school in June, anyway?), and came across a brief item about a new government survey.

There's nothing quite like the first days of daylight savings time to remind us that no matter how plugged in we get, how wired our homes and our lives, we've evolved in tune with the sun, moon and stars. It's hard to get up in the dark; hard to sit down to dinner while the sun is shining brightly. Near impossible, as a young child, to go to bed on a midsummer night before the sun has truly set.

This year, Sen. Mary Landrieu -- Democrat of Louisiana -- plans to introduce the Proud Father Act. The law would address one aspect of the inequitable legal treatment of unmarried fathers seeking to fulfill their parental role, by creating a national registry of men who are (or believe they may be) the fathers of children born to single mothers. That would make it easier for these fathers to have their voices heard on critical issues, most particularly that of whether a child should be legally adopted by someone else.

"Look at me when I'm talking to you!"
"Look me in the eye and tell me where you've been."
"Don't look away when I'm talking to you!"

Seems like we spend an awful lot of time telling kids what to do with their eyes...and most of the time, we're just getting in the way of good communication.

Talk about uncharted territory for today’s parents – the Internet, chat rooms, Instant Messaging and blogs – these comprise a “virtual” arena in which our kids are networking socially. How much do we know about them? Once we buy our kids the computer and set up the Internet connection, how involved should we be in what happens next?

Last week, I wrote about the American Academy of Pediatrics latest pronunciamento on preventing crib death, or Sudden Infant Death Syndrome, which re-emphasized that babies should be put to sleep on their backs.