Having a baby increases the number of friends a woman has by eight, it has been found.

Researchers claim that before falling pregnant the average woman has just three friends they feel comfortable sharing secrets with and relying on.

But those with children say they have an average of 11 good mates - most of who they meet because of their kids.

Waiting at the school playground is said to be the place most moms make new friends, followed by mother and baby groups and the local nursery.

One in 10 have say they have met new pals whilst sweating it out at the gym… while trying to get away from the kids.

The Dunn's are not your average family -- they spend their days driving speeding vehicles, jumping through windows and setting themselves on fire.

The family-of-five from Vancouver have appeared in countless Hollywood movies including Catwoman, Poltergeist and X-Men 2.

Parents Jim and Celia think nothing of watching their children Connor, 15, Ali 11 and Austin, 9, fighting, exploding and climbing up the sides of buildings.

Amazingly the kids have never (yet) been injured while doing the crazy stunts… though Dad Jim has broke his leg seven times.

The average parent spends more than a month of their life playing with their children's toys by themselves, it has been found.
 
Researchers claim mums and dads mess around with toys such as dolls, cars and action figures for at least 22 minutes per day - when not playing with their child.
 
This means they fiddle with games, bricks and dolls for two hours and 34 minutes every week, which equates to nearly five days a year.
 
That means that while the child is between the ages of four and 11, the average parent will play alone for one month and 10 days.
 
Many parents also get upset when a child wants to play with a toy they are fiddling with… especially if the child makes a taller Lego tower.

Eight out of ten mums admit they have started rolling out the tried and tested adages their parents used to deal with them when they were kids.
 
Researchers found 'Because I said so' and 'Wait and see' are the most common retorts fired at the children along with 'If someone asked you to jump off a cliff, would you do it?'

'It'll end in tears' and 'who's she, the cat's mother?', also emerged as common answers to annoying questions - much like they did for previous generations.

The study of 3,000 mums found more than half intentionally use some of their parent's best loved phrases because they think it worked to discipline them.

But 40 per cent of mums admitted sometimes repeating things their parents said even though they didn't really know what it meant.

Four in 10 kids would rather receive expensive Christmas presents than spend time with Mum and Dad, it has been revealed.



A study has revealed that 13 million British children would prefer to receive a new games console, puppy or bike than undivided attention from their parents.



More than half of those polled said the very best thing about Christmas is seeing what presents are under the tree when they wake up.


However, 45 percent of kids admitted that having both mum and dad with them all day also makes Christmas special.

The most popular toys rivalling mum and dad's attention include computer games and mp3 players - which makes sense when you think about it, how could parents compete with a Nintendo Wii?

The idea of fang mouthed hoodies may sound pretty scary - luckily they are just the latest must-have item of clothing.

These hoodies are the brainchild of Ross Valory who came up with the idea after seeing his friends children crossing their arms elbows pointed out in front.

They opened and closed their arms in a chopping fashion, punctuated of course, by monster noises.

Ross thought it be cool if there was a shirt with a graphic on the sleeves that would form a face with a mouth that would open and close when you put your arms together.

He contacted a graphic artist and started creating the hoodies which allow kids to transform into geckos, sharks, raptors, frogs, dogs, cobras, gators, tigers and orcas.

Celebrities are being warned to check for funny or odd translations of any unusual names they pick for their children.

The problem was highlighted after it was revealed that Kai Rooney - the name picked by  Wayne and Colleen Rooney for their new son - has different meanings around the world.

Kai means "pier" in Estonian, "probably" in Finnish and "stop it" in Yoruba -- making him Stop it Rooney.

Now a translation firm has launched a £1,000 service for other celebrities who worry they might make the same sort of mistake.

And they say stars including Tom Cruise and Katie Holmes, David and Victoria Beckham and Gwen Stefani and Gavin Rossdale should have all used it, find out why after the link.

Forty percent of parents say they feel inadequate and embarrassed when they can't answer questions their children ask.

Brain-teasers like "How is rain made?" and "Why is the sea salty?" are said to be the most embarrassing - because parents think they should know the answer.

A survey of over 3,000 parents found that 52 percent regularly have problems answering questions from their youngsters.

But a quarter say they have an easy solution, they make up an answer knowing their child will believe whatever they say. Another 24 percent try to distract the child by offering them something like sweets.

Hmmm, this could explain why my dad used to say so many things where "Just decided by God rolling a dice".

Boffins have created a piece of software which can tell why a baby is crying - after listening to it for just five seconds.

But that's not all, that have now released it as an iPhone app meaning you can just hold your phone near the baby and find out whether it is hungry, tired, bored, stressed or angry.

Biloop Technologies in Barcelona say that in clinical tests their £5.99 'Cry Translator' app had a 96 percent accuracy level in correctly deciphering the meaning of a baby’s cry.

Maybe that other four percent were crying because their parents kept waving an iPhone over their head rather than giving them a teddy.

One in 20 children think Adolf Hitler coached Germany's national football team, a survey has revealed.

The poll of over 2,000 British kids - testing what the know about the world wars - also found one in six kids believed Auschwitz is a World War Two theme park.

Worryingly twelve per cent assumed McDonald's Golden Arches was the symbol of Remembrance Day and 40 percent didn't even know what day it fell on.

One in 20 of the nine to 15-year-olds also said they thought the Holocaust was the celebration at the end of the war.

On a slightly more encouraging not 70 percent of those polled said they would like to find out more about the world wars -- like who won.