Sea Life no Porto ;)

SEA LIFE Porto will introduce you to many strange, beatuiful and fascinating creatures of the deep. Prepare for astonishing close views of everything from humble starfish to mighty sharks, all in displays which carefully recreate their natural habitats.

Discover the truth about the much-misunderstood shark; the plight of the endangered sea turtle; the remarkable lives of seahorses and countless more surprising facts about these and other incredible creatures.

Sea Life Europe website

E alarmes para lembrar da existência de bebés nos mil aparelhómetros que se adora ter hoje em dia, não?

À falta de alarme na cabeça, no coração, no instinto, nem sei o que digo, é escabroso...

Um menino de nove meses morreu fechado no carro do pai, onde ficou durante três horas sob o sol forte da manhã. O pai terá optado por deixar o filho a dormitar em vez de o levar logo à creche, que fica mesmo ao lado, mas acabou por esquecer-se dele no automóvel. Pode vir a ser acusado de homicídio por negligência.

Mais no DN online

Disability

New presenters Alex Winters and Cerrie Burnell. Photograph: BBC

Nine official complaints have so far been lodged with the BBC – plus many more blog postings – about 29-year-old children's television presenter Cerrie Burnell, who was born with only one hand. Parents have complained that they cannot let their children watch her because the sight will "possibly cause sleep problems", that she is scaring toddlers, and that they are being forced to discuss the issue of disability with their offspring before they are ready.

Altogether, it makes you glad that the medieval witch-hunters weren't internet-enabled. The comments of course reveal nothing about the children's true feelings and everything about those of the adults involved. Young, CBeebies-age children do not have profound concerns about disability. I worked for several years, on and off, at a school for physically disabled children and it was never their able-bodied peers who were the problem when our paths crossed on school outings, but their parents, who kept them pinioned to their sides and made sure they turned their faces away. If a curious child ever did slip out of his mother's vice-like grip and come over, he or she would ask a few unabashed questions about what the problem was, want to press buttons on a few wheelchairs, and accept quite happily the explanations offered. To a young child, it is just another element of a large and confusing world that they want to inquire about, no more fearsome or embarrassing than any other.

No, Burnell's arm is likely only to give parents nightmares. It is they who do not want to confront disabilities, not now, not at teatime, not ever. To let your toddler be scared every day that Burnell has hurt herself rather than explain the truth is a failure of parenting, not an imposition by the BBC. And toddlers are frightened of lots of things. My two-year-old godson is currently terrified by trees ("Too scary! Too scary!"). His mother isn't out felling all nearby arboreal horrors – she's taking him on extra visits to the park.

So it should be here, though increasing exposure to presenters with disabilities is going to be tricky. I can only think of performer Mat Fraser, who appears occasionally on television, often presenting programmes about living with the shortened limbs caused by Thalidomide, and even more occasional screen appearances by the actor and standup comedian Francesca Martinez, who has cerebral palsy. Perhaps the most frequently seen is BBC security correspondent Frank Gardner , who has used a wheelchair since being shot while reporting from Riyadh five years ago.

The Guardian

Estes Americanos...

Kids treated like Smokers on Planes

Last month a mom traveling with four kids, including an autistic son and a daughter with cerebral palsy, were detained in Phoenix and not permitted to board their connecting flight to Seattle because her kids were unruly on the previous flight.

However you feel about that incident, a recent study says that 85% of those polled believe that airlines should have a section reserved for adults traveling with children. When I first heard this statistic, I was initially indignant. Our society calls for tolerance of all types of people. What about kids? Should they be segregated like smokers, their cries the equivalent of carcinogenic second-hand smoke? The quality of air travel has declined enough without being forced to sit every flight in the back of the plane next to the smelly bathrooms.

Besides, one of the things I love about air travel is being mixed in with business travelers, teens, and senior citizens. Not being segregated is good for kids. How else will they learn to behave in "mixed" company? It's the same problem I have with dining out. If kids don't do it they'll never know. Ditto for restaurants that limit kid's menu options to fried finger foods that never require them to expand their palate or use a knife. At some point we have to civilize them.

Rachel Campos-Duffy for ParentDish

Is Parmalat really Milk?

So this is a weird one. When we travel we always bring along Parmalat for our toddler. It's much easier, obviously to transport and deal with on the road as it's vacuum-sealed and doesn't need to be refrigerated (until it's opened of course). Upon a recent trip to Central Park Zoo, a friend said someone had once told her that Parmalat isn't really milk.

The friend's acquaintance who made this claim was vegetarian (as is our family) and my friend was actually commenting on how people make such strange distinctions. The acquaintance refused to drink Parmalat because it wasn't "real milk." My understanding is that Parmalat is, indeed, real milk, it's just packaged differently, and perhaps treated a little differently to ensure it's safe to be packaged in a way that allows it to not need to be refrigerated (until opened).

So what is the deal? A recent trip to the Parmalat website upped my curiosity factor. They refer to the milk they distribute as "milk products." They also call it "ESL milk" which means Extended Shelf Life--not English as a Second Language. With regard to the whole vegetarian thing, while we don't necessarily eat meat, a good deal of us do drink milk--Parmalat included. Vegans don't do any animal products whatsoever, but quite a few vegetarians do.

Jennifer Jordan for ParentDish

Abandoning your Children now Legal in Nebraska

Every state in the U.S. now has what is called a "safe haven" law. Intended to prevent unwanted babies from being abandoned just any old place, the law allows desperate parents to leave their babies at hospitals with no questions asked.

Until recently, Nebraska was the only state without a safe haven law. But about a month ago, they passed their own version and added a unique twist. Unlike other states who are trying to protect newborn babies with the law, Nebraska wants to protect all unwanted children and therefore allows a minor of any age to be abandoned at a safe haven hospital. What's more, the law doesn't even specify that it must be a parent who abandons the child. Which means the babysitter, the neighbor or anyone else can surrender custody of a child.

Adam Pertman, a frequent critic of safe-haven laws is especially critical of this one. "Whether the kid is disabled or unruly or just being a hormonal teenager, the state is saying: 'Hey, we have a really easy option for you,'" he says.

Sandy Maple for ParentDish

Jeez, digo eu...