Another sad day in Hollywood. 75 year old comedian and chef Dom Deluise passed away yesterday in his sleep. This coming shortly after fellow comedian Bea Arthur who played Dorothy Zbornak on The Golden Girls for 7 years.

Both left behind children and Arthur is survived by grandchildren also. Death is a touchy and difficult subject to have to talk to younger kids about. Many may not understand just what it means, so if they don’t react initially, they may just need time to process it. Just make sure they know they have you to talk to once the reality hits them.

You may also need to prepare them for any situation they might encounter, for example a wake or burial ceremony. It is probably best for most children not to be surprised or confused when the time comes considering the already emotional time.

Some parents even opt to do something fun and break the news to the child while in the midst of the activity. While this might seem like a great idea, only you know you’re child and know if this is a tactic to use. Understandably, you might be left with a hysterically crying child in the middle of Carvel.

How did you tell your kids something sad? Share your story and help some other parents who might need an idea.

This post is inspired by the support I saw flying across the Internet for a fellow twitter-er and blogger who lost her 17 month old daughter this week. Trying to help another in her honor!

Last month I wrote about a 6-year-old girl, Jasmina, who is in desperate need of a bone-marrow transplant as she has an aggressive form of Leukemia. Awareness of her disease and her need for a transplant has been aided by big stars like singers,  Rihanna, Lil Mama and Kelly Rowland.  Jasmina’s parents adopted her when she was only 3 days old and are not a match for her.

I explained a little in my previous post about helping Jasmina, just how easy it is to get tested and donate. It’s a simple outpatient proceedure and you can DEFINITELY save a life. Hey, if Rihanna, Lil Mama and Kelly Rowland can do it, you can do it too!

Also, stay tuned to TheCuteKid, we’re going to be announcing another gallery contest to benefit the March of Dimes
since our last one was such a success!

As promised, here are a few fun answers to my CuteKid Questions of the day I started this week.

What’s your child’s talent?

Twitter Friend: My almost 11 year old is a competitive barrel racer & has 5 championship buckles to her credit. That caught my attention for sure!

What celebs are your kid’s role models?

Twitter Friend: My sons love cooking and cooking shows. They equate chefs to rockstars…no…bigger than rockstars. I was not expecting Bobby Flay to come up for that question!

Be sure to check out my Twitter for the CuteKid Question of the day, I’m using #ckq to track the answers, or just post a comment right here to the blog!

The newest “celebrity baby” just received his name after a contest that yielded over 5,000 entries was narrowed down to 5 choices and his proud papa made the final decision by choosing a name on a bamboo stick… What?!

Well the “celebrity baby” I am talking about, isn’t quite a celebrity, and is not a human baby! I’m talking about the new baby gorilla at the San Francisco Zoo! He is cute nonetheless, and the name that papa gorilla picked is Hasani, entered by an Iowa woman, which in Swahili means “handsome.”

I have to say, this baby gorilla’s name is more normal than some of the real and wierd celebrity baby names we have been seeing as of late! Bronx Mowgli, Zuma Nesta Rock, Pilot Inspektor, to name a few!

MySpace Winner Alert! Speaking of cuties (now humans, not gorillas!) How adorable is our MySpace winner for this week? The past theme was “Wild Card” and this was the favorite amongst voters for the week! Congrats to her and mom!

What is your cutie’s name(s)? How did you pick them/what do they mean?