When you marry a video gamer, you realize you will probably raise video gaming kids. It's inevitable. What you don't realize?

One day you will realize that those video game consoles taking up space underneath your TV are the best friends you can always count on. Learn to use them wisely, and those gadgets and gizmos can make you a saner,  nicer, kinder parent. Seriously. Just look at the evidence:

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:

The Internet.

There's no escaping it. Computers are everywhere and on those computers is access to nearly anything your heart desires. Most adults have enough common sense (notice I said MOST) to use the Internet safely, but our children aren't blessed with such experience and wisdom.

Here are some things that parents need to know about children and the Internet.

Britney Spears may not have to look far for a backup dancer in the future, as she can just scoop one up right from her own living room. It seems little Sean Preston Federline, 6, has moves like his mama and can really cut a rug.

Brit posted a video titled "Preston Shakes His Groove Thing" on her Facebook page last Friday, and it already has more than one million views on YouTube. Check him out after the jump dancing along with a video game to "Shake Your Groove Thing" by Peaches & Herb.

There are so many examples of hatred, bigotry, and just plain idiocy in the world every day. The only thing more outrageous than knowing these people live and walk amongst us, is the fact that they're raising children. Many of those children seem doomed to be indoctrinated  and carry on with the same small-minded, hate-filled ways as their parents, but they don't always. A tale of two brothers in a video store illustrates beautifully how children can and do become better than their parents.

The story came from Kristen Wolfe, who blogs at Up and Down We Go, and was highlighted on Huffington Post. The 20-year-old student works at a Gamestop store in North Carolina, and she wrote a post about what she saw while working one day titled "Dear Customer Who stuck Up for His Little Brother."

There are so many examples of hatred, bigotry, and just plain idiocy in the world every day. The only thing more outrageous than knowing these people live and walk amongst us, is the fact that they're raising children. Many of those children seem doomed to be indoctrinated  and carry on with the same small-minded, hate-filled ways as their parents, but they don't always. A tale of two brothers in a video store illustrates beautifully how children can and do become better than their parents.

The story came from Kristen Wolfe, who blogs at Up and Down We Go, and was highlighted on Huffington Post. The 20-year-old student works at a Gamestop store in North Carolina, and she wrote a post about what she saw while working one day titled "Dear Customer Who stuck Up for His Little Brother."

When you have a child, people tell you that becoming a parent will change you. I'd always thought they meant I'd become more tired and cranky. (Mission accomplished!) But what took me by surprise is how many things I used to hate -- or at least dislike -- that I came to love. Like kids' music and robots and pirates.

Forget about shaping your child. Your child shapes you. Goodbye, grown-up vacations in foreign cities, touring museums and lingering in cafes. Now we're chasing manta rays and sharks in Florida -- a place I had absolutely ZERO interest in before I became a parent. I'm adding that to the list of things I used to dislike but learned to love in 2011.

Eeek! Did you just remember those nephews and nieces that are coming over on Christmas Eve? Why yes it is the last minute, but that doesn't mean you're completely out of luck. (You're out of luck when you come home after the stores close and you're out of tape.)

But as long as you have the Internet, a 24-hour drug store, and some tape, you're in business. Here are five great gifts for kids that you can still get right this minute.