It's not uncommon for parents to "borrow" a friend's or relative's address in order to enroll their kids in a good school, so why was one mom sent to jail for doing it? If caught, most of the time the kids just get sent back to their designated school, but actually sending a parent to jail?! What's next, a public flogging?
You know we're living in tough times when the Girl Scouts eliminate product lines in order to increase profit margins. The wee cookie-peddlers are offering a pared-down menuthis year to maximize profits. Good thing the Samoas are still around (along with perennial favorites like Thin Mints and Do-Si-Dos), or the villagers would be out with their pitchforks.
Elton John's been censored -- at least the family photo of John, his partner, and new baby was. One Arkansas supermarket hid the US Weekly issue featuring the new family on the cover with a "family shield." The shield is normally reserved for literature that one must be 18 years of age or older to purchase, but the store decided it was too scandalous for children to see fully clothed homosexuals holding one of the cutest babies ever. If they're trying to protect young eyes, maybe they should cover up all of the "Celebrity in Rehab" and "Teen Mom" covers instead.
Have an irrational fear of snakes and spiders? Blame your folks. You're probably passing the fear on to your kids as well, so later in life they can blame you. A study at Rutgers University shows that these fears are learned behaviors taught by our parents. Other scientists say that Hollywood exploits these fears with movies like "Arachnophobia" and "Snakes on a Plane," which of course leads to fears of suffering through bad movies. For that we blame you, Samuel L. Jackson.
A recent survey showed that 4- to 5-year-olds are more likely to navigate a smart phone app than to be able to tie a shoe. To be fair, there are probably more smart phones than lace-up shoes in this country, so no wonder that skill's on the decline, but what other "life skills" are slipping, and which ones should we teach our kids?
"I never inhaled." Should that be your pat answer if your kids ask whether you ever smoked pot? Probably not, and we should probably all stop picking on poor Bill for that phrase. But what should you say if you get asked about your (previous) marijuana use?