One might think that having a famous actress for a mom would make breaking into the biz a breeze, but according to Kate Hudson, trying to step out of mom Goldie Hawn's shadow was both "discouraging and daunting." So the star, mother-of-two and Ann Taylor spokeswoman had a lot of experience to draw from when she addressed an audience of teen girls at the ANNpower Leadership Forum, a mentoring program that puts teens from across the country in contact with successful women in business, entertainment and nonprofits. Hudson's advice?

"Take a chance on your own talent and your ambition because if you don't do that, there's no one else who will."

Damn straight! (Wish somebody said that to ME as a teen.)

Which is not to say that Hudson didn't feel supported by Hawn -- quite the opposite, in fact.

As parents, we all want to do right by our kids. We want to be the best possible version of ourselves. We want to be kind. We want to lead by example. And for many of us, we want to teach our children the value of a hard day's work. And although it isn't always easy, and although we sometimes fail, we always try at the very least. But let me ask you this: If you became a millionaire, thanks to selling the land your vegetable farm resided on (and then made even more money, thanks to a few smart business decisions), would you still get up six days a week at 3:00 in the morning to pick up trash off the streets just to "set an example" for your kids? To try to ensure they don't become entitled brats with no work ethic whatsoever? One mom did. And she's been doing it for 15 long years.

Have your teenagers been whining that they want this for Christmas or that for Hanukkah? 'Tis the season ... to get your teen their first job!

Yes, the dreaded J-O-B. Dreaded more for parents, I'm finding. Most kids actually can't wait to get out there and work, because they're sick of depending on Mom and Dad to cough up the cash for their newest gizmo or gadget. But there's something about sitting your baby down to fill out their working papers that makes you realize they are growing up before your very eyes.

You want to protect your little darling, but you also want them to get off their duff and actually do a little something to get that fancy schmancy game console. So what's your best bet? Maybe this list of perfect "first jobs" will help.

Here's a question: Would you go to work if you weren't going to get paid? I'm guessing probably not. And that's exactly why I think paying kids with "poor academic and behavioral records" to go to summer school is a brilliant idea. That's what the Washington, D.C. "Summer Bridge" program is all about -- 305 students targeted as "less likely than their peers to graduate high school within four years" are being paid $5.25 an hour to hit the books during summer break, in the hopes that they'll stick with the routine when the school year starts.

Of course opponents of the program are worried that kids who participate are going to end up thinking they deserve rewards for going to school from September to June, too, and that bribing kids to learn "sends the wrong message." Sure, these seem like valid concerns -- until you consider the way most at-risk teens are forced to live: Hand-to-mouth. Day-to-day.

Here's an interesting question to ponder, as a parent: Let's say you happen to be "ultra-rich." (No, I didn't make that term up.) "Disposable income" is your middle name. Money up the wazoo. But of course, you can't take it with you, so where do you want it to go when ... well, when YOU go?

The obvious answer would be to leave your beloved children a sizable inheritance. Right? I mean, I'll admit I'm not "ultra-rich," but I've always thought part of the point of BEING ultra-rich is having the ability to provide for your family for generations to come. Or maybe not. Because according to a report from U.S. Trust, Bank of America's private wealth management division, some 32 percent of the super-wealthy "don't feel it's important to leave an inheritance for their children."

In what has to be one of the saddest stories I've heard in a long time -- an 18-year-old woman fell and plummeted 400 feet to her death while she was posing for a picture on a rocky ledge at Yellowstone National Park. She was apparently out hiking on the North Rim Trail of the Grand Canyon with friends when she decided to venture off the beaten path to have her picture taken at a spot known as "Inspiration Point." As she sat down on the edge of the 1,500 foot deep canyon, the rocks gave way and there was nothing anyone could do to save her.

And what makes this story even more devastating is that she was planning on spending her entire summer at Yellowstone working with a concessions company -- and the accident happened on her very first day on the job.

What does your teen want to major in in college? Architecture? The arts? Does he or she want a well-rounded humanities or liberal arts degree? If so, bad news: A new report from the Georgetown Center on Education and the Workforce has found that recent college grads with those degrees have some of the highest rates of unemployment: 13.9 percent unemployment for architects just getting out of undergrad institutions, 11.1 percent for those clutching an arts degree, and 9.4 percent for those who majored in the humanities and liberal arts. Even if your kid is lucky enough to get a job in one of those areas and hold onto it, maybe even collecting a graduate degree along the way, he or she is not looking at a lot of upward potential in terms of salary. Arts majors with graduate degrees earn about $55,000 annually, on average, whereas engineers with graduate degrees pull in about $100,000. Or, you know, more.So what are you supposed to do?

Kids are notorious for thinking in the here and now. Nowhere in their impulsive little minds — the heavily used part, anyway — are they hashing out the consequences of the things they do. Social media and online communication have made it worse. You’re already impulsive at that age to begin with, but the instant gratification of saying whatever comes to your mind and expressing it to whoever’s around to listen (or read) makes them even more off-the-cuff. That’s one battle. But by all means, moms and dads out there, can you please make sure that the email addresses that your kids are shelling out to their teachers, potential bosses, even — gasp — college admissions officers, don’t read anything like CutieBooty6969? Or HotnSexyFlirt? Or 2High2Care? One of my friends, who’s a teacher in Baltimore, was telling me about the hotmessness she comes across on her student’s contact information. Scary stuff.