There's no question that childhood obesity is a vast problem in this country, but when it comes to how to address it, all sorts of debate erupts. When Dara Lynn-Weiss wrote for Vogue about the diet she put her overweight daughter on, people were outraged, and anti-obesity efforts are often denounced as fat shaming. So the question remains: How do we help our children maintain a healthy weight? One boy, 12-year-old Marshall Reid, illustrates why maybe we should ask them.

Two years ago, when he was 10, a schoolmate told him, "You're fat." After years of teasing, that was the final push he needed to change his life and get healthy. He went home that day and told his mother of his plan.

We know it; we hear it all the time; but in the midst of the daily grind, temper tantrums, and tried days, it's hard to remember just how quickly our children grow sometimes. So I always love the reminders that come along and stop me in my tracks and make me pause and try to take a breath and soak it all in. Actually, I both love and hate them, because they also make me desperately sad about the fleeting time we have with our children.

One dad captured beautifully the transformation over the years of his daughter, Lotte (adorable name and girl btw), through a series of videos. Posted on Vimeo, he said he filmed his daughter every week for 12 years. The result is amazing.

There's no doubt that teens are super excited about The Hunger Games movie coming out at the end of the week. And so are younger kids -- the novel had a huge following among tweens. But can they handle the violence? After all, this is a movie about a crew of 24 kids who are thrown together for the sole purpose of killing each other! That's kind of a wild premise for a kids' movie.

Whether or not your kids can handle Hunger Games the movie is up to you and them. But we'd like to help you out a little. Here's what you can expect to see. But I can't do this without revealing a few plot points -- so fair warning, parents. Spoiler alert!

Schools should not be providing condoms to middle schoolers. This seems obvious, no? But not everyone agrees, it seems.

A school committee in Springfield, Massachusetts approved a policy that would make condoms available to kids over the age of 12 as part of a comprehensive reproductive health policy to prevent sexually transmitted diseases and pregnancy.

That is one hell of a school supply. Can you imagine this popping up on your school’s “wish list” items? I wonder, will they have to ask the school nurse for condoms? Or maybe they will put them in one of those neat little dispensers in the boys' bathroom.

It never fails. You tell a certain kind of mom in the school drop-off line that your kid can't get enough of this one new video game, and they give you a look that turns you cold. They don't say it, but you know they're thinking, "You are a horrible mother! Don't you know that video games turn kids into violent morons?" Don't worry, you're a good mom -- she's wrong.

In fact, the more scientists -- not sanctimommies -- look at these things, it turns out there are plenty of bona fide health and behavior benefits for our kids. So next time you get the raised eyebrow from another mom who sees your kid walking around with a game console in hand, here's what you tell her:

At first glance, Iris, daughter of Jude Law and Sadie Frost, 12, looked like the poster child for age-appropriate fashion while attending the Vivienne Westwood fashion show in London this week. Complete with a Peter Pan collar and small pastel hearts scattered about the white, short-sleeved frock, it appeared to be a nice contrast to the too-old-and-too-sexy-too-early garb to which we often see tweens flock. Only once you looked more closely, it wasn't quite so innocent.

You see, all those cute little candy hearts were filled with sayings that were anything but sweet. Instead the sayings included things like: “Blow Me,” “Drink Poison,” “Choke,” “Eat Shit,” and “Please Drown." Personally, I think it's kind of hilarious, but plenty of people were up in arms about Sadie letting the little lady wear the dress. So she took to Twitter to offer an explanation/apology.

I know. I don’t want to talk about it any more than you want to read about it but this shit is going to happen so buckle up, buttercup.

If you have a child, chances are that one day very soon you will have to sit them down and have "THE SEX TALK." Most likely you’ll put it off because they are still far too young to even know what sex is, and occasionally you’re right. I’m 38 and I’m pretty sure my father thinks I’m almost ready for the talk.

It’s important to always be an authentic version of you. Unless you’re an asshole.  Then you can be someone else. Although, now that I think about it, there’s only one you so if you’re pretending to be someone else that's an authentic version of you as well. An authentic version of you pretending to be someone else. And now my head hurts. 

 Let’s start again...