Snooki tips for Kimye and more: our parenting news roundup

Snooki, reality star and new mom, has some words of advice for pregnant Kim Kardashian. Screen time doesn't necessarily impede physical activity. And Octomom.... oh, Octomom. Our first parenting news roundup of 2013.

Snooki is giving Kim Kardashian pregnancy advice. Octomom is back on welfare. And a new study suggests that screen time doesn’t necessarily impact kids’ physical activity. 

Welcome to 2013.

If you missed any of these all important items this past week, never fear. That’s why we have our weekly parenting news roundup; our collection of tidbits that don’t quite make it onto our daily news page.   

First up: 

From slug to sprinter? Not so fast.

American kids spend way more time in front of screens – that’s televisions, computers, the whole collection – than is good for them, experts have found again and again. A lot of children also don’t get doctors' recommended amount of physical activity. But in a new survey published this week in “JAMA Pediatrics,” researchers say that the two are not necessarily connected. 

In other words, just turning off the television will not transform Junior from a couch potato into an athlete. 

According to parents’ answers to the survey, 70 percent of children aged 6 to 11 met the recommendations for physical activity (at least one hour a day), while 54 percent met the screen-time recommendations (less than two hours).  Thirty-eight percent met both sets of guidelines.  (And researchers say that parents likely overestimate their children’s exercise.)  

While obesity was tied to both not getting enough exercise and spending too much time in front of screens, there were few other links, researchers said. 

Octomom. Sigh.

On the topic of celebrity train wrecks, we learned this week that Nadya Suleman – dubbed “Octomom” after the birth of her octuplets in 2009 – was back on welfare. A representative explained to the press that she had used up all of her savings after she entered a rehabilitation center last year for “anxiety, exhaustion and stress.”  Apparently there was not enough cash left over from her solo porn video, which won a number of Adult Video News award nominations last year.  Meanwhile, other news reports say that she has lost a lawsuit over a diamond ring allegedly stolen after a celebrity boxing fight.

Sigh. 

Does anyone else out there just find this depressing? It’s as if this one woman is manifesting all of society’s neuroses about moms, sex, money and kids, all by herself.  

Snooki words of wisdom for Kim.  (Really?)

Luckily for her, Kim Kardashian will not have to face pregnancy alone. Along with thousands of fans, photographers, producers, family members and entourage members – not to mention baby daddy Kanye West –  the reality star will have the guidance of new mom Snooki. 

Remember, those of you who would rather forget all of this, that the former “Jersey Shore” star gave birth to a son, Lorenzo, this past summer. 

Now, she says, she misses being pregnant, so is advising fellow reality personality Kardashian to “just relax and enjoy” it. Snooki admitted on MTV News earlier this week that she herself was not a huge fan of the whole pregnancy thing while it was going on, but says that she now finds herself longing for those good old days. 

Snooki also gave the thumbs up to the Kimye relationship. 

“I think Kim and Kanye are going to really good parents,” she said. “Obviously, they are in love with each other, and I think Kim has finally found her man. They both love fame and the spotlight so I think they are a perfect match and I think they are going to be great parents.”

Phew.  I feel much more comfortable now.  You?