Courtesy of Parenting.comBy Shawn Bean for Parenting.com

It's Mother's Day, 2006, and I'm shopping for Mother's Day. That afternoon, I arrive at our family's holiday gathering with a card and a potted petunia from the Home Depot. As the other moms and grandmoms dive into their gifts, I hand my wife, Brandy, the recyclable, unfertilized tokens of my affection. "I'm so lucky to have you in my life," reads the card's handwritten sentiment. "You've made me a better person and a better father." She smiles sweetly.

Extend hand. Pat back. Repeat.

Plus: Easy Mother's Day Crafts for Kids

That evening, Brandy walks past the Mother's Day card I gave my mom, which sits open on the kitchen counter. She takes a peek. "I'm so lucky to have you in my life. You've made me a better person and a better father." More than half of the message was identical.

Caught in a deadline pinch, the writer plagiarizes his own work to make life easier on himself. It was a monumentally blockheaded move, one that kinda sorta

Read More »from The Greatest Mother's Day Fail of All Time

"I always thought that mother's day was great, but it always felt like something was missing," Julianna W. Miner, who blogs at Rants from Mommyland, told Yahoo! Shine. Presents are great, but what she really wanted wasn't something that her husband and three kids could give her -- it was something that could only come from other moms. "Other moms understand that motherhood is a tough and wonderful job," Miner explained. "I wanted someone to see me and tell me that it was enough. That even though I was not doing everything right, that my efforts counted." Figuring that plenty of women might feel the same way, Miner teamed up with e-card and gift company Naughty Betty to create Mother's Day cards to honor all moms and say what they really want for Mother's Day. The cards are more than just clever -- they also support a good cause: If people share the free e-cards in time for Mother's Day, SweetRelish.com will donate up to $10,000 to Shelter House, a safe haven for homeless families and

Read More »from These Mother's Day Cards Speak the Truth (and Support a Great Cause)

guns for kidsThis week, I'm reeling over the terrible story out of Kentucky about a 5 year old boy who accidentaly shot and killed his 2 year old sister. The boy was playing with a child-sized hunting rifle he'd recently been given as a gift. His parents said they thought the gun was unloaded but, tragically, it was not.

I am utterly heartbroken for this family, especially the boy who will never get to live a normal life because he has to forever cope with the memory of killing his sister. That burden is simply unimaginable.

But looking beyond the horror of a child killed in such a way, I'm drawn to the fact that the boy had his own hunting rifle. Not a rifle meant for adults, either. This is a rifle scaled and marketed for children. I had no idea such a thing existed and, frankly, I find it very, very upsetting. I have a 5 year old and he is in no way ready to handle lethal weapons, even if he took one of the much touted safety classes the NRA and local gun ranges offer. Hell, he lacks the

Read More »from Up in Arms: Why We Need to Stop Marketing Guns to Kids

Crickett rifles come in a range of colors and are made especially for kids. (Photo: Crickett.com)The company that makes real guns for children has taken down its website after a 5-year-old boy in southern Kentucky allegedly shot his 2-year-old sister by accident with a Crickett gun he received for his birthday.

Also on Shine: New Ads Contrast School Bans and Gun Regulations, 'Little Red Riding Hood' and AR-15s

While giving a kid a gun at all seems outrageous to people along the coasts of the United States, in many, often rural, parts of the country, learning how to shoot at a very early age is a normal part of life.

“People learn how to shoot before they learn how to read,” Jeff Booher, 53, told The New York Daily News. The Cumberland County, Kentucky, resident said that he taught his own kids (now ages 22, 12, and 9) how to use a gun when they were just 4 or 5 years old.

Also on Shine: I'm Scared of Guns. So I Decided to Learn How to Shoot One

Crickett's "My First Rifle" and other firearms are made by Keystone Sporting Arms, a father-and-son-owned gunmaker that has been selling

Read More »from My First Rifle: Real Guns For Kids Stir Controversy

Would you put this on your baby?Everyone knows that newborn baby girls are extremely insecure about their baldness. Why do you think they're always crying? Baby wants to get her weave on! Well, not to worry little diva, your dream of luxurious locks is now a reality! Introducing the fantastic Website Baby Bangs with the tagline, "For the girl that has everything--except hair!"

By Rose Surnow

Baby Bangs sells headbands that come with fake hair sewn in, so your mini-me can stop feeling hair shame and start working hair game! According to the Website, "Our patent pending HAIR+band accessory combination allows baby girl's (with little or no hair at all) the opportunity to have a beautifully realistic HAIR style in a SNAP!!" This is a huge relief to infants everywhere that have been dying to sex up their look.

The brains behind Baby Bangs, Lisa Grigg-Campbell, says that after her first granddaughter was born she, "began experimenting with the possibility of creating a miniature hairpiece suitable for newborns to wear."

Read More »from Insane Beauty Products...For Your Baby

Funfetti cake with rainbow chip icing. DYN-O-MITE.

By Erin Zammett Ruddy

One of the many benefits to having kids is that I'm exposed to this crap more than I was pre-kids and, well, I eat it up...literally.

I must start this post with the disclaimer that I do not feed my kids the things on the list below very often. In fact, I'm rarely the one offering it to them (apart from the first one-guilty there a few times a month). My kids have a varied and very healthy diet, we all eat lots of whole foods, real food, organic fruits and veggies, meats raised without antibiotics, etc. I have read Michael Pollen, I belong to a food coop, I have a big organic veggie garden in my backyard and yet…I dig me some processed kid food. As I established in my last post, I am far from perfect and I break my own rules and I'm OK with that. Especially when the five foods below are involved. Because, well, yum:

Plus: Tips for Cooking with Kids

Macaroni and cheese-only from the box, obviously. To me, Kraft is the pinnacle (I once interviewed Top

Read More »from 5 Kid Foods I Can’t Resist

Playdates: Laissez-Faire Or Organized Fun?Playdates or "mom dates" as I call them become part of our weekly or even daily routine once we have kids. We want them to interact with others after spending every breathing moment on or next to you. Besides, we need some time too - to get out, share a cuppa with a fellow mama and swap spit up stories and indulge in actual adult conversations.

You might meet at the park to let the kids go wild, brave a group of kids at your own place or you meet at a local kid friendly café (I haven't come across too many in the US, but in London my local Starbucks had a play area and they even made babyccinos). You catch my drift. But then you realize that just letting the kids sit next to each other isn't enough and you take your playdates to a whole new level. You send out Evites, you require RSVPs, you buy snacks and drinks and have an agenda, you may even ask for a donation. I've experienced it all as the playdate guest - I call it it the ULTIMATE PLAYDATE.

I prefer the "laissez-faire"

Read More »from Over the Top? 7 Moms Take Playdates to a New Level

It may seem like a stretch to tie the Star Wars franchise to the struggles and importance of parenting, but a new exhibition called Star Wars Identities does just that. Using the characters in Star Wars, the exhibit shows how the choices we make in life shape who we are. Think about it: Anakin and Luke came from the same planet, and similar stocks in life, but when you look at the end game, things turned out differently. Choices they made, how their parents and caregivers raised them, and their chosen mentors played a role in who ended up on the dark side. I took my kids to the Star Wars Identities exhibit, and as you walked through the exhibit, you made similar choices to the characters in the movie. In the end, you ended up with who you are and there was no hiding it - was I raising Darth Vader?

-By Buzz Bishop

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