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I've always wished that my son would be more daring.  When he was a little boy, his best friend climbed trees (to the top), snowboarded only on slopes marked with black diamonds, and wasn't afraid to trade barbs with kids who were 20 pounds heavier and meaner. Instead, Phillip would stand anxiously by, ready to call 911. I've always loved that about him, that he's a caretaker, but I also, at times when he was smaller, found myself hoping that he'd be just a tad more open to risk.  I'm not talking skydiving or swimming in a thunderstorm, but  riding a bike with the training wheels off? But that's just who he is.  A teacher recently described him as "very cerebral," and maybe people who think a lot about what can go wrong don't do things that may be dangerous This winter he's been scared when I go running.  Last year I fell on the ice and broke my wrist.  "You're actually going running?" he says nervously to me as the sn...

I was shocked to see the kid sitting next to me at a recent event sipping from a cup of coffee . "You drink coffee?" I asked, stupidly. "Yeah, it keeps me awake," this boy said.  "Sometimes I fall asleep in school."  He added that, with all the stress from seventh grade, he needs the caffeine to keep on-track, and alert.    I was shocked.   Even though I'm the last living human never to have drunk a cup of coffee (my first taste was after crossing the English Channel after a night of seasickness so I suppose that's a reason why), I still find it incredible that kids have now discovered the stuff. According to The Mommy Files, kids are drinking less soda, which is good, but more coffee, which, not so much.   They're also guzzling energy drinks.  Starbucks' Frappucinos and Red Bull are very popular among the preteen and teen set. Of all the beverages kids drink today, coffee is the favored liquid, at 24% of total youth uptake, an ...