It’s a great way to keep your child interacting with kids their own age and a way for you to meet other moms. Get creative in your playgroup locations. Sometimes it’s too much pressure to host in your own home, so compile a list of possible activities with help from the other moms and make a schedule for the entire summer. You will be amazed at what new places you will be able to discover with your little ones.

Happy Mother’s Day to the richest moms in showbiz! Madonna, Reese Witherspoon and Gwyneth Paltrow topped Forbes annual list of the richest moms in showbiz list, published last month. Madonna (three kids) earned around $110 million in 2008, while Reese (two kids) brought in $24 million and Gwyneth (two kids) grossed $24 million.

Rounding out the list were:

• Julia Roberts (three kids) – $17 million
• Sarah Jessica Parker (one kid, twins on the way) – $15 million
• Angelina Jolie (six kids) – $14 million
• Heidi Klum (three kids, one on the way) – $14 million
• Kate Winslet (two kids) – $12 million
• Kimora Lee Simmons (two kids) – $12 million
• Gwen Stefani (two kids) – $9 million
• Victoria Beckham (three kids) – $7 million
• Jessica Alba (one kid) – $6 million
• Cate Blanchett (three kids) – $4 million
• Faith Hill (three kids) $1.5 million

That doesn’t include what their baby daddies earned, but we won’t get into that here.

More from Newsday…

You can customize a video for your favorite mom(s) as Mother of the Year too. Check it out here. It’s really easy to do. Just enter their name and email address and the video is automatically customized throughout with their name as the 2009 Mother of the Year.

My favorite was the quote at the end that said, “We’ve also confirmed that pulling your hair back in a ponytail is not the same as actually taking a shower.” Really???

Parents should always remember that tantrums are a behavior children learn. Attention is usually given to them when they don’t get their own way. Children usually very quickly learn that crying, yelling, screaming, kicking, laying on the floor and generally acting-out can help them get what they want. As long as the child gets what he wants tantrums will continue and worsen over time.

Courtesy: ebeanstalk.com

Things are very different today.

Liz Lange, who designs both high-end maternity wear and a line for Target, relies on stretch fabrics to create flattering silhouettes.

“It may seem like the opposite is true, but when you wear something fitted, close to the body, it is so much more flattering,” she says. “It shows you have some new curves, but also where you don’t.”

Lange credits stars with bringing show-your-pregnancy style to the fore.

“It really has gone from hiding your pregnancy to wearing clothes that celebrate it,” she says. “When you see all the coverage of these fabulous looking celebrities and they look so good in their fitted clothing, completely keeping their sense of style, it’s very, very influential. Other women want to look like that too. They realize it looks great and it looks sexy.”

Jennifer Irving / KidDictionary Winner

Jennifer Irving is the winner of the KidDictionary Giveaway.

In her comment she said, “One of my boys has trouble putting words together… so pr comes out pl… so now everyone in the family says pless play LOL.”

Check out her blog about her twins here.

Congratulations, Jennifer!

Baby News

Celebs
:: Heidi Klum talks about baby weight and stopping at four…
:: Carmen Electra is pregnant…
:: Jennifer Garner says baby #2 brings ‘happy chaos’…

Late yesterday, Apple apologized for offering the “deeply offensive” Baby Shaker iPhone application that sparked protests from groups fighting infant abuse. The company acknowledged that it made a “mistake” approving the application, which depicts a crying baby and has users quiet the infant by vigorously shaking the smartphone. The quieted baby is shown with crosses on its eyes to indicate it’s dead.

But not everyone is happy with the apology. The Sarah Jane Brain Foundation called it “stale.”

“Who is this apology directed to?” said Patrick Donohue, founder of the foundation. “It’s directed at the media to kill the story. This is the most cynical apology I have ever seen.” 

The group is calling on Apple to provide a full accounting on how the application was vetted and then launched on the App Store and who is being held accountable. In addition, the foundation wants Apple to devise a plan to “mitigate the harm they’ve now caused,” Donohue said.