pages and their children

currently, if you want to use ‘top level’ pages as categories, you can build your sidebar on demand with extensive use of the exclude page parameter.

for example:
wp_list_pages(‘exclude=48,49,44,17,26,30,31&sort_column=menu_order&title_li=stuff i like:’); wp_list_pages(‘exclude=48,49,44,9,8,26,30&sort_column=menu_order&title_li=stuff i hate:’); wp_list_pages(‘exclude=48,49,44,9,8,17,31&sort_column=menu_order&title_li=other stuff:’);

basically, this creates a category title (ie, ‘stuff i like:’ and displays all non-excluded pages and their children.
for example, the first part of my side bar is:

stuff i like:
  page 9
     page 14
     page 11
   page 8
     page 19
     page 18
     page 45

stuff i hate:
   etc.
etc.

unfortunately, everytime i add a page, it propagates to every subheading i just created. so, for example, if i create a page called ‘about me’ (id=99) that doesn’t belong on the sidebar at all, it will first exist under every heading created above.

stuff i like:
   !!!about me
   page 9
     page 14
     page 11
   page 8
     page 19
     page 18
     page 45

stuff i hate:
!!!about me
etc.

i then need to go into each function call and exclude page 99 where necessary.

is there any hack/plugin to add a ‘include’ parameter that includes a page AND its children? (i did read another post here asking a related question that was unresolved – but i thought maybe giving this illustration might help)

the code i would like to write would be:
wp_list_pages(‘include=9,8&sort_column=menu_order&title_li=stuff i like:’);

this way, when i add a new page it doesn’t end up everywhere. i would simply add it as a child to 9 or 8 if i want it there. the only time i would need to change code would be if i wanted a new top page under ‘stuff i like:’