The more I learn about how most of our food is made nowadays, the more cautious I've become about what I feed my son. The phrase "processed food" has taken on such a sinister tone in my mind I feel guilty whenever I pull that innocent box of mac'n cheese off the shelf. Only bad mommies feed their precious ones the evil processed food...

But I have my exceptions. Don't we all? I mean, the whole idea of processed food is that it's been kinda fixed-up for you already so you're prepared for those moments when your growing toddler is suddenly, randomly starving and has to be fed RIGHT NOW or there will be a melt-down. So what's on my "mom-approved" list?

Ah breakfast, the most important meal of the day. When it comes to toddlers, however, it can also become one of the most frustrating meals of the day. You want them to start the day off right, but sometimes, nothing just seems right enough for them to eat.

At my house, the biggest problem is the dreaded rut. We get in the habit of putting a rotation of the same things on our kids' plates each morning -- Greek yogurt, cereal, fruit, whole wheat waffles, and some turkey sausages. After awhile I even get bored of making it. Fortunately, whether you're dealing with a picky eater or just want to add a little extra fun to your morning, there are plenty of ways to take breakfast and make it even better. Here are six fun things to try:

Every time my daughter scooted out the door in the morning without a lick of food in her tummy, I could hear my own mother's voice in the back of my head. "Breakfast is the most important meal of the day," she intones. Yup, and I'm shooting for mother of the year, I was thinking.

This used to be my life: petulant toddler facing breakfast like it's a cowboy in the OK Corral and she's Wyatt Earp. That bowl of cereal was not going down without a fight. But lest my mother think I never listened to her, I righted the ship. My kid may not want to go to bed at night, but at least she wakes up ready to eat.

Want to make this miracle happen in your house? Here's how:

Eating breakfast alone is such a bore. I mean, who wants to sit there with no one for company but a boring old bowl of cereal and bananas? Lame. Problem is, Mommy and Daddy are only marginally better company than the box of Kix. They just drink coffee and stare into space like zombies.

If only I had a breakfast buddy. Somebody fun. Some kind of animal, yeah! That would be awesome. I know, a bunny rabbit! Nah, it would hop all over the table and that would get old fast. Maybe a puppy? Eh, I don't know if I want to deal with all the begging. I'm so cute, feed me, whimper whimper! I've got the "cute" thing covered in this house, dog.

So what I really need is an animal that's ugly. And won't hop or fly or beg ...

Can't wait to snap a photo of your toddler trying her first French fry? Well, you may want to hold off on that first fry. A new study on food and your brain just came out with disturbing results: Fast food can make you dumb. Seriously. Trans fats -- the kind found in fast food and processed food -- are tied with lower brain volume and worse cognitive performance. In other words, junk food makes your brain smaller and slower.

It's pretty hard to rationalize this one away. If you want your child to eventually do well in school, it sounds like you'll want to lay off the fast food. And you may want to cut back on the boxed snack foods, too. Sorry. We already know that childhood obesity is a problem (or do we?). But here's one more reason to take your children's nutrition more seriously.

I really should have thicker skin if I’m going to do stuff like this. I was at the park with my friend and her daughter, and as we were piling into the car to go home, I got a text from another friend asking “Are you going to Target today?”

“Hell no,” I said, imagining post-Christmas crowds of bargain shoppers.

She replied with a link to an article about a mom in Texas who was harassed for breastfeeding in a Target there. Nurse-ins were happening at Targets around the country, it said, with photos posted to a Facebook page.

“Change of plans!” I announced, and we pointed the car toward the nearest Target, and squeezed off the shot you see here. I thought mine would be among a bunch of other pics, and quickly forgotten, like when we protested Facebook’s blocking of breastfeeding photos a couple of years ago.

But it's sticking around, and people are continuing to comment. This could get interesting.

I’ve had to defend a lot of my parenting choices to my family, including, but not limited to, refusing to baptizing my child, not marrying (but living with) his father and living in another state. The one I find myself defending the most, inexplicably, is that I make all his food (except prunes -- how do you make prunes?).

This isn’t because I am a natural food freak and feed him only organic (although we do try). The truth is, I have a deep rooted fear that I will pass all my bad eating habits on to my son and that this “fat gene” people talk about isn’t a gene at all, but just a series of bad food choices passed on through generations.

In particular I fear salt and convenience.

Some things are just common sense: Kids need to be in car seats. Check. Those car seats need to be used correctly. Kids shouldn't touch the stove. Children should not play in the road. Don't stick a fork in an electrical outlet. I mean, these things are SIMPLE. Right?

So, I'm really struggling to understand why ER doctors are seeing two to three cases per week of people -- mostly toddlers! -- who have been burned badly by instant soup mixes. One D.C. hospital said sometimes they'll see six of these burns a week! I mean, correct me if I'm wrong, but isn't another common sense item "Do not hand small children things that will burn them?"