No mother wants to ever have to fathom her child committing suicide, but when that child is a mere baby, it dwells in the realm of horrifically, mind-bogglingly tragic. A 7-year-old boy in Detroit was found hanging by a belt from a bunkbed in the home he shared with his mother and sisters. Doubly tragic, it was his 14-year-old sister who discovered him. Police say that the boy had previously expressed a desire to harm himself, and had been depressed about being bullied at school, his parents' recent separation, and being the only boy in a large family of sisters. Police do not suspect any foul play.

Ironically, his mother was trying to help him, and had last seen him alive when she went to go visit their pastor to discuss his depression.

I really want to look at the arrest in the decades old Etan Patz case as good news. I'm sure the parents of the little boy who went missing 33 years ago, only to become the first ever "face on the milk carton" are breathing easier today. But what about the rest of us? Does the confession from Pedro Hernandez really make life easier on the rest of us parents?

It's a selfish way to look at this whole thing, I know. Etan Patz' parents have been living with the horror of having said goodbye to their little boy one May day in 1979 and then never seeing him again. The pain is theirs and theirs alone. Except, not really.

Monday night was the first I'd heard of it -- my 10-year-old isn't particularly *ahem* organized, so when he thrust the fuck-me-in-the-eyes orange document into my hands, I wondered if I hadn't asked him to clean out his backpack, if I'd have been given any notice whatsoever.

We're working on his organizational skills.

Anyway, Monday night I learned that we'd been cordially invited to his school for his fifth grade musical.

First I'd heard of any musical whatsoever. But that's fine -- we got the information in time.

Ah, teenagers. You have to love them with their rebellious nature, their obstinate attempts to carve our their own identity with nose rings, pink hair, and outrageous outfits. In fact, they can sometimes go so overboard in their unorthodox appearance that they can even be sent home from school. That's what happened to one father. He got called to his 14-year-old daughter's junior high school and told to pick up his kid because she was dressed "inappropriately." Oh oh.

You won't believe what the girl was wearing.

Who doesn't love a military homecoming video? Seeing a mom or dad surprise their kids after months far away from home serving our country is enough to bring a pinprick or two to the eyes of even the biggest cynic. So how do you possibly make a video more heart wrenching?

You double it. Two parents who are serving our nation in the United States Army finagling joint leaves so they can come home together to surprise their two kids made me lose it this week. Soldiers Travis and Isela Ulman are an inspiration to all us parents who are trying to do the best we can for our kids. Just take a look:

Admit it -- you're jealous of your kids sometimes, right? They might think they have it tough when they can't fall asleep at naptime or the dipping sauce from their snack pack spills all over their backpack, but man, do they have it easy! The fact is, none of us really know how good we have it when our greatest responsibility in the world is heading to a play date or finishing our grilled cheese for dinner. Although, after seeing one little boy's "to-do" list, I might have to eat my words.

Posted on Reddit and BoingBoing.net by a guy who says his son wrote it, the kid's list of "Things to do today" is super adorable ... 

I get how frustrated Yong Hyun Kim must have been. The 31-year-old was in a Washington movie theatre trying to be all romantic, watching Titanic in 3-D with his girlfriend. Then the kids in front of him started acting like punks. Just how big of punks is in question, but he says they were yelling, throwing popcorn, and when he asked them to be quiet, they laughed at him.

I can only imagine how angry this made Kim; I would have been pissed too and wanted to do all sorts of things to their smug, rude little selves. The problem is that Kim actually did -- he punched one of the boys in the face. He hit him so hard that he knocked out one of the 10-year-old's teeth and left him with a bloody nose.

"I got so mad that it just happened," he told police.

Shannon Bradley-Colleary coined the phrase “The Woman Formerly Known as Beautiful" when she was seevn months pregnant, standing in line at the meat counter at Bristol Farms in Beverly Hills. Now this hilarious mom writes about her escapades as a "mom butler" and "Hollywood celebrity magnet" at a blog of the same name.

To celebrate Mother's Day, Shannon shares the story of how she came to appreciate her own mom thanks to her kids. We've all been there, haven't we?:

Here’s my sob story accompanied by violin in A minor: My parents divorced when I was 2. Both remarried. My dad once and forever. My mom (She Who Shall Be Named Culpable) three more times.

There was The Cop, The Fireman, and The Shipping Magnate.