For awhile there, it was looking like the Minnesota teenager who'd convinced a porn star to join him at prom would have to cancel his dream date. Mike Stone's high school principal was not about to let a woman from the, ahem, adult film industry into her school. But don't waste one more minute feeling bad for the kid!

When a date with a bootylicious babe is at stake, 18-year-old boys are nothing if not inventive. Mike Stone is throwing his OWN "porn prom" at his house. Good for him.

Listen; I'm not entirely crazy about the whole teenage boy inviting a porn star to prom thing. It's not so much the whole "teenage boy watches porn" thing because, if it's not porn, it's mom's Victoria's Secret catalog. It's what teenage boys do! But the fact that Mike sent messages to 400-some women screams "objectifying" women. I'd like to think someone will sit him down and have a good heart-to-heart about placing value on a woman for more than her looks. That's what I'd do if he were my son.

But apparently Mike's parents are doing something right. They're raising a kid who doesn't just sit around whining that someone told him "no." He does something about it. It's a nice change from the raft of crybabies whose parents enable them by running to the court system to sue anyone who looks at their kid cross-eyed. At the risk of sounding like a cliche factory, I'd much prefer to be raising a kid who is able to roll with the punches and come out on the other side, standing tall and on their own two feet.

And despite the slightly crass name, the Porn Prom doesn't sound that much different from what kids who aren't into the whole "prom thing" have been doing for years. Mike Stone and a whole bunch of his friends are going to get together and have a good time. Sounds pretty awesome to me!

What would you do if you were Mike Stone's parents? Support his Porn Prom or shut it down?

Image via Jim the Photographer/Flickr

Have your tissues ready? Good. Because there is nothing in this world that makes me cry like seeing children fighting cancer. And the hemoncology department at Seattle Children's Hospital is counting on that. They've taken Kelly Clarkson's power anthem, "Stronger," and made the viral video that will have everyone crying this week.

Crying. And then opening their checkbooks ... well, I hope anyway. If you watch children with no hair left on their heads lip-syncing to a song about being strong and don't have tears streaming down your face, I'm going to ahead and say it.

You are a cold, hard-hearted bi-you-know-what. Let's roll the videotape, shall we?

See this video on The Stir by CafeMom.

Those little bald heads just slayed me. I never "liked" the Big C, but since I actually had a kid, looking these children in the face has taken me to an emotional place I never knew existed. It's as if a new room in my brain opened up, where I now know what it's like to face a fear I never imagined.

But videos like this empower me too. They remind me that kids are strong, and kids can fight, and that we CAN do something about this horrible disease. The treatments for kids cancer are getting better every day, thanks to people who refuse to just sit there wailing and actually do something about it. These kids are strong, we can be too.

Do you know a kid fighting cancer? Why are they your hero?

Image via rumssauce/YouTube

Have you heard? Queen Latifah might possibly, maybe, sorta, kinda, be coming out of the closet this weekend. The actress whose sexuality is Hollywood's biggest mystery is headlining the Long Beach Lesbian & Gay Pride Festival this weekend. Hooray!

Now can we talk about the real news here? There is a Hollywood actress who doesn't give a flip what the morons in North Carolina think. She's down with the LGBT community. Does it really matter if she's a member?

If Queen Latifah is a lesbian, that's great. If Queen Latifah is straight, that's great too. All that matters to me, the fan of her movies and music, is that Queen Latifah believes in equality. I'll shell out $12 to see a movie made by a woman who understands humans are humans any day. What she does in her bedroom is her business.

Headlining this festival is a big frickin deal (to paraphrase our gay rights supporting VP), but what it doesn't mean much more than the fact that she's a supporter. In fact, I'm getting a little sick and tired of "supporting gay rights" being equated with being a member of the rainbow tribe. Let me make this clear: it's not because I'm insulted to be labeled a lesbian. I'm a straight woman who has been happily married to a man for 12 years, who wishes all my gay friends could share in my joy. That's it. Why is it so hard to believe that there are straight folks who don't feel threatened by our LGBT pals getting hitched?

If anything, this whole "is she or isn't she" makes me love Queen Latifah more. Because she's cool with the fact that people are poking their fingers into her private life, and willing to stake her career on supporting the premise that love is love, no matter what your anatomy.

What's your read on Queen Latifah's sexuality? Does it matter?

Image via affiliatesummit/Flickr

The Adam Mayes case just keeps getting more bizarre. Police still haven't been able to track down the man suspected of murdering Tennessee mom JoAnn Bain and her 14-year-old daughter Adrienne Bain. He's still on the loose, the two youngest Bain girls are still missing, and he's officially landed himself on the FBI's 10 Most Wanted List. 

But if there is such thing as "good" news when two children are missing and believed to be with a mad man (is there, really?), there is this: Adam Mayes' relatives say he thinks that missing girls Alexandria Bain, 12, and Kyliyah Bain, 8, are his own daughters.

Confused? Me too!

Apparently Mayes' ex-wife Teresa, who has been arrested and charged with participating in the murders of JoAnn and Adrienne at their Tennessee home, always suspected her husband had an affair with the mom of three. Whether that's true or not, we don't know. JoAnn was married to Gary Bain, who was supposed to be Adam Mayes' close friend (and one-time brother-in-law). I hate to cast aspersions on the character of a woman who is no longer able to defend herself. But in cases this horrible, you take the "good" where you can get it.

And how is this good? Well, that's complicated. The big thing here is that if Adam Mayes thinks these little girls are his daughters, if he thought they were so important that he (allegedly) murdered two people to get them, the hope is that he actually cares about them enough to keep them safe. It's a slim hope, but what is our alternative, folks?

The other "good" thing here is this could finally pin down Mayes' motive. He's no longer some sainted friend of the family who just snapped one day. He's a guy who thinks he had to watch his daughters call another man Daddy. 

It's not normal or sane or much of an excuse, but at least it makes sense. And if we can make sense of this horrific crime, perhaps we can finally figure out his next move ... and bring these girls home.

What do you make of this tangled web between the Bain and Mayes families?

Image via FBI

There are some stories that make you so angry, you want to put your big girl pants on and march straight out of your house to knock some sense into the moron making trouble. And so it is with the idiot who broke into the house of retired U.S. Army Sergeant Kinga Kiss-Johnson, a disabled veteran, and shot her service dog. Are you getting this?

It's like the trifecta of awful. First to burglarize the home of someone who served our country with honor. Second to go after someone who is disabled because of injuries sustained while serving overseas in a time of war. And last but certainly not least, to shoot a poor animal.

Say it with me now.

This sucker needs to PAY.

There is some good news here. Kiss-Johnson, who had left her Augusta, Georgia home to buy dog Balto some food, is OK. And her black Labrador retriever has been released from the vet hospital after treatment from the gunshot blast that left him lying on the couch, helpless.

But there's no real way to tell if he'll survive. And if he does, Balto won't be doing his duty for a long time, which is helping Kiss-Johnson. She suffered brain and spinal injuries in Afghanistan and is one of countless veterans with mobility issues who depends on a dog for support. Shooting her dog wasn't just a tragedy for her and for Balto, it was a strike at a major resource provided for our country's military.

The dogs are largely trained by non-profits, in a process that takes well over a year and would cost these brave men and women retired from our military in the tens of thousands of dollars if they had to put the money out themselves. Groups like Patriot PAWS estimate it can take up to $30,000 for one dog, between care for the pooch and the training process. But what they give to a disabled veteran is priceless.

And some heartless buffoon just took a gun and shot one of these fine animals. Because he (or she) could. Says a lot about that person, doesn't it?

What do you think should be done to the burglar after they're caught?

Image via The.Comedian/Flickr

I have a theory about teachers. Some people get into it because they truly love the job and are made to mold young minds. And then there are teachers like the so-called "educator" who is facing dismissal from her post for forcing misbehaving students to wear Elizabethan dog collars when they misbehave.

Physical science teacher Laurie Bailey-Cutkomp may lose her job for allegedly treating kids like dogs. Let's only hope. Because teachers like her put a pall on the whole profession.

We all want teachers who hold our kids' noses to the grindstone, because they get results. I know I learned a lot more from the teacher who had a militancy in his social studies classroom to the teacher who was flighty and floaty in her (subject shall remain nameless lest she navigate the interwebs) class.

But there are "strict" teachers. Then there are teachers who make school so horrific that our kids turn in the other direction. And what happened at Zephyrhills High School in Florida sounds like the kind of thing that would make a kid wake up in the morning and pitch a hissy over having to go to school. When they would misbehave in the classroom, Bailey-Cutkomp would allegedly force kids to wear that cone that vets use to prevent animals from licking themselves after surgery. They weren't just shamed. They were, quite literally, treated like animals. 

I'm all for disciplining teenagers who think they're all that and a bag of potato chips. But there's disciplining, and then there is making a kid feel like she's less of a human being. Do that to my kid, and as much as I'd hate to defend her poor behavior, I would be mad. Because there ARE better ways to discipline. More homework assignments. After-school detention. Forced to clean the science lab. Really, you can punish kids and still retain their humanity.

So what did kids learn here? Their peers learned it's OK to treat someone like a dog. Gee, and we wonder why kids bully one another? And the kids themselves learned that humiliation is considered "OK" in a place that's supposed to be safe. Nice way to make sure victims buy into the victim mentality.

I put my kid in a classroom to be taught, whether that means being educated on science or on morals and ethics. I'm OK with my kid being disciplined when she's screwing up. But even then, I expect her to be treated like a human being.

What would you do if your child was put in this situation?

Image via Oakley Originals/Flickr

Think you're having a tough day? Try being a kindergartner. No. Really. Kindergartners are the latest victims of stress. So much stress, in fact, that a school in Germany has now set up spa services for their kindergarten classes.

Just picture it: Kids getting massages. Kids getting pedicures. Kids getting ... now wait just a gosh darn minute here. I want to be a kindergartner!

No. Really. I don't care about the massages (although if you're offering ...) for these little kids.

I would give my engagement ring to go back to the days when the heaviest thing weighing on my mind was how to cut out the picture of Peter Rabbit without going over the lines. Yeah, I get that kindergarten is more stressful these days when it was when we were kiddos. Did you know they actually have homework? I didn't until my kid hit the first year of public school, and proceeded to spend afternoons fresh off the bus putting pencil to paper.

But still. I have a mortgage. She had to circle things that started with "Sh." Even the bullies on the playground (and ooooh, boy, don't get me started on those buttheads) aren't as mean as the guy who will call my house if I don't sign my John Hancock to the check that's due to the bank this month.

I'm not going to hide my head in the sand and pretend that there aren't mental health issues that little kids deal with. The rates of depression in little kids are skyrocketing, and I think it has more to do with parents waking up and getting their kids treatment than it does with actual increases in problems.

But I'm rather glad to note that my kid is just fine and dandy without spa treatments thankyouverymuch. Because if she can't get through the stress of a few worksheets, how is she ever going to handle cursive?

What do you think of giving kindergartners spa treatments?

Image by Jeanne Sager

By now you've seen it. A sexy mom on the cover of TIME Magazine with her 3-year-old perched on a chair, sucking on her boob. It's a photo that's supposed to make our stomachs get all roiled in knots over the moms who choose to "extended breastfeed." Only it's a load of crap.

I have not met one mom in America who perches her 3-year-old precariously on a chair and says, come on buddy, it's time for a snack. Even those granola-eating, caftan-wearing crunchy mommies that TIME wants us to believe are the only ones who breastfeed their babies would look at a 3-year-old standing on a chair and say, "Excuse me, young man, but we do not STAND on chairs in this house." This is not breastfeeding, folks. At least not in an average household.

I mean, I don't know exactly for sure.

Let me lay it right out for you. I sucked at breastfeeding. No pun intended. I tried, and I failed. But I was raised by a breastfeeding mom, and I intended to breastfeed, so my support continues for my sisters who survived the early days. My cousin, who delivered exactly 11 days after me (ironically, we were due 11 days apart, and our daughters were both "late" but still 11 days apart) was the champion breastfeeder that I wasn't. And I think she's awesome. I think all women who figure out how to make it work are incredible.

I know enough about them that I don't form weird pre-conceived notions based off faux magazine covers. And so on their behalf, I'm angry at TIME Magazine right now. It's hard enough to deal with the idiots who whine that breastfeeding is somehow "inappropriate" in public or "sick" because some people can't get past the notion of the word "breast."

But TIME set up a ridiculous photo shoot and are trying to pass it off as the "norm" for breastfeeding moms. It's not! It's not normal. It's not how breastfeeding "happens." Women don't set their kids up on chairs and say "come on bud, let's get this going." Most breastfeeding moms are more about comfort -- for herself and her kid -- than they are about making sure everyone can see what they're doing. You're more likely to see some lady feeding her kid while she tries to get dinner made than some picture-perfect lady with a kid propped (dangerously) on a chair.  But I guess a picture of a mom slumped on her couch, watching TV while the kid gets his meal wouldn't sell magazines, would it?

I should make clear that I'm not angry at the mom on the cover. She's been called out by many, but I'm not trying to start a mom-to-mom war. I know that photograhers make a lot of choices that their subjects don't get to play a role in. Just this past week my daughter and I were featured in a New York Times photograph where the talented guy behind the camera decided to make it look like my dining room is neat and clean. Some photographers are kind. Some photographers have an agenda.

And I'll tell you what the agenda was at TIME. They were trying to sell magazines by making breastfeeding moms look "weird." Can you imagine the weirdo who would make her 3-year-old stand on a chair when he should be sitting? She must be an idiot?

But that's just it. That photo doesn't represent the average breastfeeding mom who really wants her kid to be safe AND get some dinner.

It's not what happens for the average mom and her kid of any age. It's a set up. A sham. A magazine cover that is pushing an agenda.

Here's what breastfeeding is. Feeding kids. And it's done by moms who care about their kids and don't put them in 'weird" -- or relatively dangerous -- situations. If only TIME was looking to share the reality of what it means to breastfeed. They might have a cover that showed a woman that the rest of us -- yes, even formual feeders -- could relate to. At least we'd know it was real.

How have you reacted to the TIME cover?

Image via TIME

Call me a sucker, but I love Mother's Day cards. I read all these quotes about motherhood, I feel like I'm a superhero. At least for a day.

Of course, I tell my husband every year not to bother buying me a card, because it's just going to end up in the recycling bin ... not because I don't care but because we have a 6-year-old who brings home about 16 worksheets every day. There is only so much paper we can save! This is why I love the Internet: I can save all those lovely quotes about why being a mom is the bomb right where I can get at them: on my computer, on my iPhone, oh, and right here, on The Stir!

Because we have some of the loveliest, most inspiring bits of wisdom about being a mother that you will ever read. Just check them out!

And tell us, what is YOUR favorite quote about motherhood?

Image via Jeanne Sager

I have been dreaming all week of the same thing. I wake up on Mother's Day morning ... late ... and my husband and kid have prepared me my favorite breakfast in bed. There is French toast, stuffed with apples. And on the side of the tray is some gadget or glittery bit. But that's not what I'm interested in. Not really. 

It's the breakfast that might as well be re-labeled as dessert for a meal that I'm craving.  I love French toast, particular when it's made with a good bread (Challah French toast is my favorite) and dripping with sugary syrup. This recipe switches out the syrup for a decadent caramel sauce, but it gets extra points for being super easy!

Apple-Stuffed French Toast (adapted from A Taste of Home)

Ingredients

For the caramel sauce:

Directions

In a small saucepan, combine brown sugar, butter and corn syrup; cook and stir over medium heat until thickened. Pour into a greased 13-in. x 9-in. baking dish; top with half of the pecans, a single layer of bread and remaining pecans. Arrange apples and remaining bread over the top.

In a large bowl, whisk the eggs, milk, cinnamon, vanilla, salt and nutmeg. Pour over bread. Cover and refrigerate overnight.

Remove from the refrigerator 30 minutes before baking. Bake, uncovered, at 350° for 35-40 minutes or until lightly browned.

In a small saucepan, combine the sauce ingredients. Cook and stir over medium heat until thickened. Serve with French toast.

What is your favorite dessert, er, breakfast to eat in bed?

Hungry? Need dinner ideas? Just love anything and everything food and recipes? Then you'll totally want to follow us on Pinterest! Our virtual pin boards on Kid Friendly Recipes , and Sweet Treats are pure eye candy. Yum!

Image via stevendepolo/Flickr

Talk about a bad weekend for the family of Isabel Celis. The whereabouts of the 6-year-old Arizona girl missing since mid-April remains a mystery, and now her father, Sergio Celis, is in trouble. The man who reported his daughter missing from her bed on a Saturday morning has lost custody of his two sons.

The boys, Isabel's older brothers, are now in the care of their mother, Rebecca (Becky) Celis. Which means that Becky and Sergio do not live in the same house ... already. Not looking good for dad, is it?

Cops in Isabel's missing persons case say the CPS decision to bar Sergio from access to his sons does not make him a suspect in the search for the little girl. But they also say they haven't "eliminated anyone" from their list of possible suspects. Read between the lines here. Dad isn't a suspect. But he's not not a suspect either.

And now he sounds like a bit of a jerk ... if nothing else.

We first heard that Becky went to work as a nurse on the morning of April 21, and that Sergio went to wake their little Isa around 8 a.m., only to find her bed empty and a screen knocked out of her bedroom window. Now we're hearing the couple doesn't live in the same house? Less than a month after the girl disappeared? Yikes!

Everyone responds differently to tragedy. I get that. But when the Celises took several days before making a public plea for their daughter's life, we were hoping it's because they were clinging to each other for support. Now it's looking more like the other -- much less heartwarming -- reason. They didn't want people digging up skeletons that very much exist.

Even if Dad didn't play a role in Isabel's disappearance -- and honestly, I hope he didn't -- this whole tragic case has brought to light other issues inside the Celis household. If CPS considers Sergio a serious enough threat to his older kids that he's been barred from being around them, that's a pretty big skeleton, folks. Now throw whatever has split these two parents on top of it, and I'm thinking Sergio Celis has a lot to answer for.

Watch cops commenting on Sergio:

See this video on The Stir by CafeMom.

What have you thought of this whole sad case?

Image via National Center for Missing & Exploited Children

What a month it's been for Chris Hemsworth! The actor who plays Thor, the sexy superhero who comes down from planet Asgard to kick some serious butt on Earth, has seen his new movie The Avengers kick some serious butt at the box office. And now his wife, actress Elsa Pataky, has made him a new dad!

Rumor had it Pataky delivered the couple's first child late last week, but confirmation came from dad himself this weekend. Hemsworth, who'd previously stated he didn't care what gender his baby-to-be would be, admitted the baby was a little girl. And now for the real news. You know you want to know the baby's name!

Hemsworth and Pataky kept it simple: India Hemsworth. Aww! We even got the reasoning behind the name. Said dad: 

It was just a name we liked, I always kind of liked Indie or Indiana for a boy and she liked India. We sorta went, 'Oh well, whether it's a boy or girl, that will decide.' It just seemed to fit.

I can't help noticing that the monikers the couple picked for either gender follow the "place" theme for baby naming. One's a state, the other a country, but they both work perfectly for babies. If you're stumped for a place to start -- no pun intended -- when you're trying to give your kid a name, you could do worse than pulling out an almanac.

It gets easier the more specific you get. There are thousands of worthy city names (Rio, Savannah, Sydney, Brooklyn, etc.). But the couple proves you can find something sweet in the states or the country realm too.

Of course, they're far from the first celebrity couple to go that route. Bronx Mowgli anyone? But having just seen The Avengers, I can't help noting the irony that Hemsworth plays a superhero from space who just gave his daughter a particularly earthly name!

What is your favorite "place" name for a baby? Is it city, state, country, or perhaps a landmark?

Image via Disney/Marvel

It's no wonder Amber Portwood is always in trouble. The Teen Mom was dragged back to jail late last week for violating her probation. And her mom, Tonya Portwood, is busy blabbing to the media that it's all a big misunderstanding. Gee, apple doesn't fall far from the excuses tree, does it?

The way Tonya tells it, Amber missed a necessary court date, which prompted the arrest, because she had gallbladder surgery. Because the doctor ordered she have bed rest, the embattled teen mom couldn't get off her behind and show up for court. Mean judge? Not so much.

Amber has been around the legal block a few times by now. She could have prevented this one herself. She knows she's on probation. She knew she was having surgery. All she had to do was ask her surgeon to write her a note explaining the full treatment plan in detail, then walk it over to the courthouse. The judge would have known why she didn't show, the cops wouldn't have been called, and Amber would not be sitting in the slammer. 

Pretty easy, huh? Heck, she didn't have to do this by herself. That's what you pay a lawyer for. But even her lawyer says Portwood screwed up here. She told the court about surgery, they granted some leniency, but her lawyer told the local paper that they found out "things came to light that she could have been doing more." So much for having to be on bed rest.

This is from her OWN lawyer, folks, the person who is supposed to defend her. If he is willing to say that Portwood is just making excuses, she's making excuses.

Who's surprised? Really? No one should be ... sadly.

We've seen often enough on MTV that forethought is not Amber's strong suit. When cops first began investigating her for domestic violence, over assault of ex-boyfriend Gary Shirley that she did right in front of the TV cameras, she still managed to whine and moan and try to blame him for somehow "making" her lash out and hit him. And when she tried to commit suicide last year, her family once again tried to say Gary was at fault, rather than focusing on the cry for mental health help that a suicide really is.

I feel bad for Amber that she had to have her gallbladder out; I really do. I here it's painful. But I'm not going to feel bad that a judge put her back in jail when she could have prevented it.

How about you? What do you think should have happened to Amber here?

Image via MTV

A 6-year-old with cerebral palsy greeting his dad fresh off a deployment in Afghanistan is making the rounds of the interwebs this week. And it's hard not to watch daddy and son over and over and over again. I know, I know. All the military families who have allowed their homecoming videos to be shared on the Internet over the years have given us some pretty incredible moments to cling to when we're feeling a little down.

But you might want to pull your tissues out for this one. What Michael Cooney has done is nothing short of incredible. He's learned to walk. At 6. While his dad, US Marine Jeremy Cooney, was overseas serving our country.

The Cooney family kept little Michael's progress a secret from dad so he could have an extra big surprise when he got home from Afghanistan. And the look on his face as his little boy walks to him is more than worth keeping dad in the dark:

See this video on The Stir by CafeMom.

I guess we should expect nothing less from the child of a Marine, right? Jeremy puts himself through the rigors of military life and manages to survive overseas, serving our country, far from his family. Apparently he passed that same strength of will down to his little boy! 

I can't imagine what it took for little Michael to master that feat. Cerebral palsy happens to be the most common motor disability during childhood, and it has no cure. Usually apparent by age 2, kids have to learn to live with it and the strains it puts on your body. But it takes some incredible willpower to tell the brain that you don't care what it says, you ARE going to learn to walk.

Want to help the Cooney family out with support for their son's medical expenses? There's a fund set up for that.

What incredible feat has your child mastered?

Image via TheBobJohnson1984/YouTube

Hat tip to 8 bit Dad

Every Monday morning, my Facebook feed fills up with people moaning that it's just not fair that weekends are so short. I'll tell you what's not fair. A veteran of the US Marines reportedly pulled a friend from the fiery wreckage of a plane crash in Kansas this weekend. And then he died.

Austin Anderson survived two tours of duty in Iraq. He was already a hero in my book. And now, at 27, he's gone.

Don't get me wrong. Austin Anderson died with honor. He died doing exactly what it is the Marines are all about.

He was on the plane that was carrying five people from Oral Roberts University to a Christian youth rally in Iowa when it crashed in southwest Kansas. Thanks to Anderson, only four of the five died that day. He sprang into action and grabbed 22-year-old Hannah Luce, pulling her to safety. Both Luce and Anderson were transported from the scene to a hospital, but there the Marine succumbed to the burns that covered 90 percent of his body. The 22-year-old, on the other hand, is in critical condition ... but alive.

That right there? That is not fair. Austin Anderson was doing everything right, and he paid the ultimate price for it. It's what our real-life superheroes do every day: military, police, firemen, ambulance corps workers. But we don't think about that much. We think about how much it stinks that we aren't able to sleep in on a Monday morning.

Well, let me tell you, I am thankful for my Monday morning here in America. I'm thankful we still have real heroes who make sure it happens. Heroes like Austin Anderson.

Who is YOUR hero?

Image via US Army Africa/Flickr

It's every parent's dream to have their child grow up and graduate from high school. But when do you give up on that dream? When do you say, "OK, that's what some kids do. Some kids, but maybe not my kid?" Sinclaire Coffer's parents aren't there yet. 

Their 17-year-old son has taken a math test -- required by the State of Georgia for a high school senior to graduate -- five times. And every single time, Coffer has failed. But because their son has autism, Coffer's parents think their son should get to graduate anyway.

I feel for the Coffers. I really, honestly, 100 percent do. Parenting a kid on the spectrum has its own special challenges to begin with. And they've gotten their kid this far.

They say they've hired a private tutor. They've encouraged their son to take extra courses. They've done everything that a parent SHOULD do and more. They even supported his venture to the point of petitioning the state's board of education for a waiver on the math test -- based on his autism diagnosis -- so that Sinclaire could say he too was a high school graduate.

But now that the state board of education has said no, sorry, but rules are rules, I feel for them even more. Because now they may have to face one of the hardest thing for parents: that point at which we realize there are some things our kids just can't do. We spend their early childhood talking about "no limits," but at some point, that's exactly what they are. Limits on who this person will be and what they can do.

It's not a part of parenting that comes with pithy quotes about hopes and dreams. It's not a part of parenting they talk about much in the books. It's a part that downright sucks.

But it's reality. Some kids are made to kick butt on the basketball court. Some kids are made to multiply huge sums in their head. Some kids are made to graduate.

And some kids aren't. I know I will never be an artist (and have the dismal scores from high school art class on my transcript to prove it). I will never be a nuclear engineer.

This kid gave it the old college try. He took a test FIVE times, and he failed it every single time. The state has said he can't graduate unless he passes it, so what are the Coffers going to do? Are they going to make him take it again and again and again? Or will they accept that this is one dream that is not to be and move on, find something their child can do and do well? I can't make that decision for them, but I hope they make the right one.

What would you do if you found out your child could not graduate from high school?

Image via LearningLark/Flickr

I wandered across a question on the web today that made me stop: "Would you pawn your handbag?" The fact that there are broke women who actually are brings up a better question, y'all. Is there really anything in your closet worth selling?

If you lost your job, and putting your favorite fashions up on eBay was the best way to pay the bills, would you be able to eat or getting evicted? I'll go first. Quick stock, and I'd be out on my American Eagle-clad you-know-what. It makes me kind of sad ... and not just because I couldn't feed the family off of what's in my closet.

Just taking a memory walk through my closet -- what, don't you know what's in yours? -- I realized I have never really splurged on myself. The "fanciest" it gets are a Coach bag, some Seven For All Mankind jeans, a pair of Cole Haan sunglasses, and a J.Crew dress. Not exactly haute couture. And just about all (save for the dress, which is brand new, and bought under duress) were bought on sale.

My sartorial spending has always been on the thrifty side. Where my husband is like a kid in a candy store when let loose on Fashion Avenue, I'm too busy calculating the costs and weighing them -- in my head -- against the mortgage to have any fun. I'm sure a bit of it also has to do with my lack of fashion sense. The fact that I had to actually Google the spelling of Cole Haan to reference my favorite pair of sunglasses above sums me up pretty well.

But I've got a craving for the perfect pair of blue jeans that fit me "just so" that could bankrupt me if I let it. And I haven't. The jeans I'm wearing right at this very moment cost me $6.99 at a thrift store. They have a "name" brand, but even new they probably wouldn't have broken $60.

You can call me financially savvy. I guess I am. But there's something to be said for treating yourself, even if it's just for ONE thing. We're not little kids. We don't cover our fronts in chocolate ice cream stains or wipe our snot on the sleeves. We can take care of clothes. And we wear them for a long time. We don't grow out of our shoes faster than we can actually tie them.

It might even be to our financial benefit to spend a little on certain things based on the length of time we'll wear it alone, and the quality it takes for a piece of clothing to stick around. And just imagine what a pair of jeans that fits you and only you can do for your self esteem ... Maybe having something potentially pawnable in the closet isn't such a bad idea, huh?

Do a quick mental run through your closet. What, if anything, could you sell to help pay the bills?

Image via deardavidyan/Flickr

A 19-year-old named Bryce Harper just became the youngest Major League Baseball player in well over a decade to hit a homer. Too bad his baseball accomplishment is completely eclipsed by what a 6-year-old did on the diamond this month. Ross Bernath is only a kindergartner, and he's already made an unassisted triple play.

If you're not a sports fan, let me spell out what that means: one player makes three outs, all in one continuous play. Still not convinced that this Georgia 6-year-old is the coolest kid ever? This has happened 14 times in Major League Baseball history. That's over more than a century of professionals playing the game!

Even "regular" triple plays, which involve more than one player are pretty rare. There have been less than 700 over the years in the big leagues. So put up against Harper's accomplishment, and there's no contest. Players homer all the time. Kindergartners make unassisted triple plays, well ... never. Check this kid out (he's the shortstop):

See this video on The Stir by CafeMom.

Oh. my. God.

The sports fan in me says get this kid a New York Yankees uniform, stat! Or at least send Derek Jeter down to mentor Ross!

The parent in me, on the other hand, admits that he's just 6. What he did is downright incredible, and a sign that he may have the talent to take it to the big leagues. But I've seen what happens with some of these kids. The parents spot a spark of talent, and they push so hard that their phenom-to-be is burnt out by 14.

Here's hoping the Bernath family appreciates what they have right here: a little boy who is good at baseball, but even more importantly, has fun doing it. The longer a sport stays fun, the more kids get out of it. And if that's a major league contract one day, great. If it's just a lifelong commitment to exercise and stress relief, that's good too.

What do you make of this amazing little baseball player?

Image via berndogg12/YouTube

Move over Batman! There's a new crimefighter in New York City. By day he's a school janitor. By night (OK, early morning) he saves little kids from creepy abductors.

New York news teams are reporting John Velasquez was just pushing his broom outside the PS 160 in the Bronx early in the morning when he saw some guy walk up to a little boy outside the school and grab him by the hand. Now, I don't know about you, but I figure when a kid is at school in the morning, they are there to stay. Good thing Janitor Velasquez had the same thought.

He intervened, and when the older dude tried to claim he was the 6-year-old's uncle, he asked the kid. When the boy said no, Valsequez refused to let him leave with the man. Instead he marched him inside to security.

I have to give Velasquez a lot of credit. People are so lawsuit-happy these days. Just touching a 6-year-old boy, even if it was to grab him by the hand, has become a scary thing for school staffers these days. Not to mention, if the guy HAD been his uncle, there are nutjobs who would sue for the mere fact that they had their so-called "rights" denied.

But the fact is, police say Velasquez saved a kid's life. He didn't think about lawsuits. He thought about what was right. A kid standing outside a school at 7 a.m. is probably there to enter the school, not exit. So it's "off" that someone would be trying to take a kid away, rather than to, the entrance.

There's a lesson in there, isn't there? When something feels "off," it probably is. It's probably right to intervene. Sure, you might have some hassles along the way, like parents who are sue-happy. But at the end of the day, if you know you did what was right, if you saved a kid's life, you can sleep at night. Like Mr. Velasquez.

Police are now searching for the would-be abductor, but fortunately the child is safe and sound... the way he should be.

Have you ever seen a creepy situation going down? What did you do?

Image via wayne's eye view/Flickr

Moms and Dads, I'm going to lay it out straight for you. Your newborn baby is ugly. Oh. I know. You think that this little ball of awesomeness in your arms is the cutest thing ever.

So did I. I even leaned over to my husband a few hours after she was born and asked "I don't just think she's cute because she's mine, do I?" But the fact is, babies look like aliens when they are born. All babies. And people are really searching for something nice to say.

So here's a guide. It's a guide for people who need something nice to say when they see a newborn. And it's a guide for parents who are listening, thinking that the person is saying something nice about their baby. This is code for "that's an ugly baby, but I don't want to hurt your feelings." Sorry. You were warned:

Got that Moms and Dads? Basically, if they avoid saying anything about your baby's looks, you can guess what they really mean! Your newborn looks just like everyone else's ... like it belongs on another planet. Don't worry. They get cuter as they age (maybe!).

What do you say when a baby is really kind of an uggo?

Image via mcdlttx/flickr