Friday on Today 7/13

The final hour of The Today Show started with The Three Year Itch--The new Seven Year Itch. The sad fact of this story is that people are too selfish to care more about someone else than they do themselves. And, surprise surprise, men get the itch (and act on it) more than women. Maybe if they'd start thinking with their brains instead of some other parts of their bodies they'd learn to stay out of trouble. Ironically, one of the most important things a marriage needs for success is faithfulness, followed by a healthy sex life (which would be easier to have with your spouse if you didn't cheat) and sharing household chores. This was according to the experts they had on the show. They suggested to be more spontaneous and stop being so preoccupied with work, kids and other things. Spend more time with each other. They also suggested something called the 5-1 zone, which is keeping in mind five positive things about your spouse to every one negative. This sounds like an idea taken from "The Secret."

Moving on to Al's book club, Reading With Roker, which is a book club for kids. This discussion was about "The Sword Bird," by 13 year-old Nancy Yi Fan, who wrote the book when she was only 11. Pretty impressive. And most of the kids in the reading group loved the book full of bird characters. The main theme of the book is to stand up to bullies. The next book club pick is Bud, Not Buddy by Christopher Paul Curtis.

Today's Family had a feature on dealing with sibling rivalry. There are benefits such as kids usually learn how to compromise. And they also go on to be more productive and successful. I guess they mean more than only children? Anyway, the main messages for parents to deal with it are: 1) Don't compare your kids. 2) Know it's normal. 3) Draw straws. And another helpful hint is to use a timer and let kids take turns for a certain amount of time. Unfortunately, I know it won't work with toddlers. Not much does. And the last thing is to step aside and let them work it out--if they're not gouging each other's eyes out.

Today's Consumer Smarts with Janice Lieberman was all about standing in line. End The Line. For instance, who doesn't hate waiting in line at the DMV? So they suggest going on a Wednesday or Thursday--the least crowded days. At least until word gets out, and then they'll be more crowded on Wednesdays and Thursdays than the other days. From today's page from the book of the obvious: go shopping in the early morning and avoid weekends.

The show ended with KT Tunstall rocking the plaza with her first hit, Black Horse and The Cherry Tree. It was a great performance that had my almost two year-old daughter singing "woo hoo," and dancing around. She loves that song.

Have a great weekend. Till Monday.