It's OK if she screws up a little now. In fact, it's good. I actually deliberately let my now 15 yo son kind of flounder in middle school because I wanted him to know that he COULD fail, before it actually mattered (high school). He is also gifted, but tends to the lazy. I think he got a B, freaked out, and it never …

Look up "Toddlers and Tiaras Pretty Woman."

"And while Bond probably doesn't use cable ties for sex (or does he?) he's also not monogamous, something that Christian Grey absolutely is."

Memoirs of a Geisha is also a great work of literature. I'm also sure you didn't have her bring Ekubo cakes to hand out in order to represent the mizuage part of the book.

"Scholes' mom says it was meant as a joke"

School: "No."

this 11-year old committed to the role more than jaime dornan did, that's for sure.

My boyfriend told me a story about how he first learned about the fragility of life. He was visiting Cabrillo National Monument on a class trip, and he learned that Cabrillo (the man) fell down, broke his leg, and died from complications a few days later. He realized then that it was possible for anyone to die at…

The Llama Llama book where he is bored at the store reawakened my memories of how awful being dragged shopping could be. Sometimes you need to realize your kids' attention span/hunger/boredom/tiredness and cut them some slack sometimes. It doesn't excuse bad behavior, but sometimes we expect perfect behavior out of…

Ours is going on 12. We had a pretty easy time because she's a good kid. But we were absolutely uncompromising when it came to the rules. And there aren't that many rules early on. Feed them, hug them, make them get plenty of sleep, say please and thank you and don't be mean to animals or other people.

You jest, but I was born the most neurotic kid ever and TOTALLY had that dread without anyone even putting it there. I remember going on an Easter egg hunt that was organized by some church or something. I was pre-school age and very literal (still am actually, it causes problems), and thought that the egg hunt had to…

that even works with adults!

Absolutely. Their little heads get all confused, they can't help it sometimes. Our rule was, tantrum all you like, but take it to your room, we're trying to watch Chopped. We had maybe 10 tantrums total.

Oh they were the worst, those year 7 b.c. kids. Always tearing through town on their donkey carts blasting that damned loud Lyre music.

Thank you. I am so tired of the constant refrain that "today's kids are the most spoiled ever." (And the constant trotting out of that dreadful New Yorker article to support it.) From Hesiod to Bronte to Roald Dahl, people have been complaining about spoiled children and how they will ruin the future of the planet…

Yes. Basically the way I've tried to look at it is this: My daughter is the world's worst troll. If I get angry, then she wins!

As a parent I learn to pick my battles with the kid. Sometimes a tantrum needs to run its course and followed by a talk. A kid's not going to be an angel all the time; as long as it's not in public where he's inconveniencing others JujyJunior can vent frustrations without feeling he's going to get a smack.

Children are smarter than you think. If you don't think you can sit them down, look at them in the eye, and talk to them, then you're the idiot. Even at two you can talk to them. I remember Oprah giving this tip a very long time ago on her show: "Lower your tone of voice when you reprimend them. Don't raise your…

"I see no hope for the future of our people if they are dependent on frivolous youth of today, for certainly all youth are reckless beyond words... When I was young, we were taught to be discreet and respectful of elders, but the present youth are exceedingly wise [disrespectful] and impatient of restraint".

Fill them with existential dread that their lives are meaningless when they misbehave?