For all you parents who are starting to think about sleepaway camp for next year, but have no idea how to choose the right one for your child, here's a great tip from from Mommy Poppins reader, Lauren:

When preparing for a long trip with kids, whether by car or airplane, there's always a moment of trepidation before leaving when you consider those long hours in transit and how your child will be possibly stay occupied, tear-and whine-free while on the go. It is always my instinct to go to the book or toy store and buy a travel kit or some other small toy. I find that the Klutz kits are always a hit and help pass the time nicely.

However, occasionally I stand there in the aisle and think to myself, "What happened to the books I got the last time?" And,"What's wrong with all the other toys and books my kids have stuffed into shelves that they barely look at?" And I realize that this exercise is really for me - to easy my anxiety about the trip with some consumer therapy.

So now I have a new routine before trips. Rather than heading to the bookstore, I go straight to the toy box or bookshelf. I dump the toy box upside down and dig out some small toys that my children haven't looked at in months - new to them! Pick some of the books of Super Silly Mad Libs Junior and Klutz books from some previous trip, and toss them in a small backpack. Et, Voila! A free travel kit filled with plenty of fun and games for the long haul.

And the truth is that the kids have just as much fun with this stuff as they would with new stuff. It just shows how much the needing to buy stuff for kids originates with the adults.

The whole ban on bringing water through airport security thing has been driving me mad. First of all, I think that they are not letting anyone bring water on airplanes because two idiots were thinking about trying to make gel bombs is just one of the worst examples of how we are letting the terrorists win.

In addition, I'm beginning to think that they are just keeping this rule around now because they realize how much money they can make by forcing everybody to buy $3 bottles of water now. You would think that airlines would take this opportunity to give out bottles of water on the plane, but no, now they STARTED charging for water on the plane. It's like, "yeah, we know we've got you over the barrel. Pay up!"

This is a pretty serious issue to me, not only for my own comfort, health and miserliness, but when traveling with kids we know how important it can be to have water on hand. I've actually seen them make a mother pour out the contents of a bottle. It's crazy. But, I finally figured out a solut