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The French president Nicolas Sarkozy has a rescue plan for the national newspapers, who have serious financial problems since years already. He is going to fund a free subscription for every 18-year old in France. Sarkozy is convinced that young people get used to reading the paper and will automatically renew the subscription later in life. Very ambitious and also generous, but I doubt that this rescue plan for the written press is going to work. Young people are already more and more learning about the news via Internet and mobile phones. Paper news is old fashioned. Sarkozy can better invest in more modern ways of spreading news among young people. Waste of tax payers money.

January has been up to now our month of the flu, and it is really hard this time to get it out of our system. Since 3 weeks I have been taking care of one after the other flu patient in my family. And although I have not been feeling well myself, work and care always continues for mothers. Only the Flowerchild blog suffered a bit from the sneezing and coughing. I am very much against taking medicine. It is much better for the body to cure itself. But this time the fever had a hard time beating the microbes. In general cases of the flu rarely require specific medical treatment.

These at-home tips can help most otherwise healthy kids cope with the flu. Have them:

- drink lots of fluids to prevent dehydration

- get plenty of sleep and take it easy

- take ibuprofen to relieve fever and aches

- wear layers, since the flu often makes them cold one minute and hot the next (wearing layers — like a T-shirt, sweatshirt, and robe — makes it easy to add or subtract clothes as needed)

For the most part the flu is usually gone in a week or two with a little rest and tender loving care.