Delightfully stressful scenario: Some 9-year-old who’s already drowning in possessions invites your kid to his or her birthday. You need an appropriate gift, but what? My friend Julie thought she had it nailed: A Swiss Army Knife! Classic, cunning, status-y, and besides, didn’t Angelina Jolie buy Maddox one? Big mistake: The birthday child’s mother reacted […]

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Just when you thought Jon Gosselin, of “Jon & Kate Plus 8” fame, couldn’t get any more loathsome, People magazine reported that he’d signed a new deal to design kids’ clothing for the Ed Hardy label with help from his new girlfriend. This seemed unfathomable and was later refuted by the rigorous journalists at Entertainment […]

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I was talking to a California teacher the other day about the way her kids casually call each other “gay,” as the universal synonym for “uncool.” As she put it, they sincerely have no clue. Understandably, I didn’t have a lot of faith in the American public’s ability to appreciate the satire that supposedly excuses […]

» Continue reading "Sasha Baron Cohen: Hey, sorry, your manipulatively marketed movie bombed"

It’d hard to be funny when you’re hanging out with tiny people who see no compelling reason to avoid gaping pits, ravenous dingoes, speeding Camaros, and large houses made of gingerbread. The parenting experience more typically facilitates freaking out, not the writing of a bestselling humor book. So when someone like the truly hilarious Stefanie […]

» Continue reading "Admirably imperfect mom of the week: Stefanie Wilder-Taylor"

In the middle of the most recessive recession in decades, you’d think attendance at private schools might dip a bit. Nope, reports the Economist in a semi-horrifying story that makes you want to drown someone. In fact, even more parents are scrambling for the right to pay surreal, bankruptcy-inducing amounts: Compared with last year, applications […]

» Continue reading "Why insanely costly private schools could (but don’t) charge even more"