When I walked into the White House Science Fair, I expected to meet incredibly brilliant kids. I was not disappointed. Among the budding scientists President Obama honored were teens who created a bicycle-powered, emergency water sanitation system, and another who developed a low-cost, robotic prosthetic arm. Though, the most impressive presenters may have been the youngest: Evan Jackson, 10, Caleb Robinson, 8, and Alec Jackson, 8. It wasn't just their project that impressed, it was the story of how they got there. There was no science teacher or school administrator who inspired these boys, it was their mothers. Women who work full time with no science background dedicated nights to encouraging their kids to invent something that was in league with much older students. It's just proof that we moms are more powerful than we think when it comes to giving our kids the best chances in life.

If I had to do it all over again just to make money, I think I would run an after-school program for grade schoolers. It's incredible to see the military-like efficiency with which parents and babysitters swoop in at pick-up to extricate their charges and re-route them to their next stops. Gymnastics, piano, fencing, karate, Kumon, soccer, yoga, robotics, tap, voice lessons, Italian ... you name it.

This is not a bad thing, mind you. I think it's great. Why not learn as much as you can always? And the kids love it. Except for one, that is: Mine.

My daughter has decided that after school she wants to do nothing. She is tired of having more classes after her long school day. She doesn't want to be signed up for another semester of ballet -- she's more of a hip hopper anyway -- and passed up architecture and drama, even when her pals were all in.

The assignment was simple: "Write one sentence about a family member and draw a picture about it." Now I'm sure this child's family has many interests and fantastic talents, but the kid zoned in on one of his mother's particular passions -- her wine drinking.

"My mom like's (sic) drinking wine," he wrote. The accompanying drawing shows a woman sitting at a table looking happy as can be in front of a glass of wine that's about half the size of her body. Busted, mom!

When Matthew Bent realized that his son Shiloh's school district wasn't going to take care of a bad bullying situation, he decided to take matters into his own hands.

It's not as ominous as it sounds.

Bent wanted to show the district -- and the world -- that he had his son's back, so he shared a photo on Facebook with this amazing anti-bullying message:

President Obama's recently-released 2014 budget includes an initiative that would provide universal preschool to low- and moderate-income 4-year-olds.

"That's nice," you're saying, "but how does he expect to pay for all that?"

Simple.

Obama wants to raise the federal tax on tobacco products.

I'm not generally a fan of raising taxes, but this plan sounds pretty good to me -- how about you?

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?