New Jersey may be famous for Snooki, Tanning Mom, and generally being the butt of a million jokes, but according to a new report, it's the number ONE best state to raise a kid in. Released by the Foundation for Child Development, the annual Child Well Being Index (CWI) is a state-by-state comparison of quality of life for kids. Fist pump?

The report weighs 28 indicators in seven categories, from family economic well-being and health to emotional/spiritual well-being. Curious to know where your state stacks up?

You know, I was all ready to get on board with the Machiavelli Mom. Trying to blend a family of kids and stepkids after a marriage, Suzanne Evans decided she needed some out-of-the-box thinking. So she turned to Niccolo Machiavelli's The Prince for ideas. She was doing fine until she decided to apply the scheming Italian politician's divide and conquer theory to parenting ... and then things went off the rails.

In an article in the Wall Street Journal meant to promote her new parenting book, the Machiavelli Mom admitted she pitted at least two of her kids against each other in a competition over who could fare better in school.

My 7-year-old came home excited from school the other day. Apparently during standardized testing, her school is going to allow the kids to chew gum. Great. My kid is being bribed to take yet another test. Way to keep it classy, local elementary school! It's no wonder a mom in Pennsylvania behind a movement to pull your kids out of standardized testing is getting so many followers.

Did you even know you could yank your kid out of these tests?

Didn’t our parents used to tell us that we’d be asking people if they wanted fries with that if we didn’t study hard in school and go to college? Well the job market is apparently so bad with the millennial generation that it may require a degree to get a job at McDonald’s.

A Massachusetts McDonald’s recently posted a job listing for a full-time cashier that listed a bachelor’s degree and 1-2 years experience as requirements.  No mention of how much the job pays, but it’s doubtful that it’s enough to make a very serious dent in those student loans.

Sure we see stories of teachers who abuse children, or use questionable means of discipline in the classroom (duct tape seems to be a recurring theme), but most of them are pretty amazing.

Every day they are entrusted to care for and teach our kids. After a few hours alone with my own two children, I find it mindboggling that they can handle 20 or more for an entire day. Not only that, they have to deal with their parents too -- which sometimes may be even more challenging.

I'm sure there are many types of annoying parents they deal with (I wonder which I might be?) but among the worst have to be the finger pointers. You know, those who blame anyone and everyone besides themselves when something goes wrong. Here are seven things parents like to blame on teachers when -- in most cases -- they really should be blaming themselves.

I don't generally encourage my kids to look at celebrities as role models, but Angelina Jolie is an outstanding exception to that rule. The actress and mother-of-six is a rarity among the rich and famous, because she actually uses her wealth and status to do good for others. From her work with Syrian refugees to her recent visit with war zone rape victims in the Congo, Jolie is particularly passionate about helping women and children, and her latest effort is the perfect example: Angelina Jolie has opened an all-girls primary school in Afghanistan, a region where girls are traditionally discouraged from getting their education -- to put it mildly. Remember, just a few months ago, 14-year-old Malala Yousafzai was shot in the head by Taliban members in neighboring Pakistan for promoting the idea that girls should be allowed to go to school.

I think it's safe to assume that for the vast majority of parents, watching your child struggle in school is an incredibly stressful experience -- more stressful for the parents than the kids, in my opinion. So I'm appalled by the bill Tennessee legislators are attempting to pass which would cut the welfare benefits of parents with kids who don't meet attendance and academic requirements. How exactly is making a family's home even more of a stressful environment supposed to help kids do better in school?!

It's all part of the ongoing public education blame game: Some parents say teachers aren't doing enough, others -- both parents and teachers -- say there's only so much teachers can do; parental involvement is the key to a successful education. Seems like the purpose of this bill is to force that parental involvement. But why don't legislators understand that making a low-income family's situation WORSE will make more parental involvement virtually impossible?

Does anyone else feel like all that relentless testing we make our kids do isn't making them any smarter or better educated? If you don't feel that way now, the latest testing scandal might change your mind. A whopping 35 schools are accused of tampering with test scores in Atlanta, Georgia. It's the biggest school cheating scandal in U.S. history. The adults sold out the kids.

Back in 2008, two reporters for the Atlanta Journal Constitution thought an elementary school's amazing test scores sounded too good to be true. So they started investigating ... and the scandal grew larger and larger, involving teachers, administrators, and even politicians. Under insane pressure, adults in charge of educating children allegedly tampered with test papers and then lied to cover it all up.