Kids are a blessing. And also a pain in the ... tush. That's why a hilarious, tongue-in-cheek "test" on whether a couple is ready for parenthood is quickly going viral. Here are my top 5 favorite parenting preparation tips from the quiz (which was written by an anonymous British[?] blogger):

"Go to the supermarket. Arrange to have your salary directly paid to its head office." No big deal, right?

"Sing songs in the dark until 4 a.m.... Put the alarm on for 5 a.m. Get up when it goes off... Make breakfast... Keep this up for 5 years and LOOK CHEERFUL." Awesome.

"Buy a chocolate ice cream cone and put it in the glove compartment. Leave it there...Get a coin. Insert it into the CD player...Take a box of chocolate biscuits. Mash them into the back seat." Who doesn't love chocolate... everywhere?

"Repeat everything you say at least five times." Say again?

"Make a recording of someone shouting 'Mummy' repeatedly. Important notes: there must not be more than a four-second delay between each Mummy, and include occasional crescendos to the level of a supersonic jet." So special.

And that's just a taste of the "test." (The "Going for a Walk" and "Getting Ready for Work" tips are also great.) Any "Mummy" or mommy, or daddy should appreciate it. Any parents-to-be should, well, curl up in a ball and cry. HA! Just kidding. Sort of.

When you are actually ready for a bundle of joy (or another one), lots of great tips here.

P.S. -- Huge "thank you" to my parents.

There are parents whose hearts broke on the day their child was diagnosed with ADHD, and who painfully weighed the treatment options for ADHD, taking great pains to avoid putting their child on medication before finally resorting to it. And then, as a new NYTimes article points out, there are parents (and doctors) who are more breezy -- even eager -- about the whole thing: pinning the ADHD label on a child (true or not) to get him or her the meds that will help boost his attention span and grades in school.

It's nothing new for (usually affluent) high schoolers and college kids to pop Aderall to have an academic edge -- which is so obviously not cool. But the trend the Times points out  is a little more complicated, you see, because it involves prescribing ADHD drugs to young, poor children who are generally not thriving in school. In these tough times, schools (and -- if you read between the lines -- parents) are struggling to meet kids' needs, especially in poor, rural areas.

The article focuses on a doctor in rural Georgia who subscribes to that theory: "He calls the disorder 'made up' and 'an excuse' to prescribe the pills to treat what he considers the children’s true ill — poor academic performance in inadequate schools."

So it's socially just to give these kids a leg up, right? To slide them some pills that help D's and F's turn into A's and B's?

There are parents whose hearts broke on the day their child was diagnosed with ADHD, and who painfully weighed the treatment options for ADHD, taking great pains to avoid putting their child on medication before finally resorting to it. And then, as a new NYTimes article points out, there are parents (and doctors) who are more breezy -- even eager -- about the whole thing: pinning the ADHD label on a child (true or not) to get him or her the meds that will help boost his attention span and grades in school.

It's nothing new for (usually affluent) high schoolers and college kids to pop Aderall to have an academic edge -- which is so obviously not cool. But the trend the Times points out  is a little more complicated, you see, because it involves prescribing ADHD drugs to young, poor children who are generally not thriving in school. In these tough times, schools (and -- if you read between the lines -- parents) are struggling to meet kids' needs, especially in poor, rural areas.

The article focuses on a doctor in rural Georgia who subscribes to that theory: "He calls the disorder 'made up' and 'an excuse' to prescribe the pills to treat what he considers the children’s true ill — poor academic performance in inadequate schools."

So it's socially just to give these kids a leg up, right? To slide them some pills that help D's and F's turn into A's and B's?

By now, “mommy wars” has become a household phrase. We all know the battles and opposing sides: working mom vs. stay-at-home mom, breastfeeding mom vs. bottle-feeding mom, attachment vs. free-range … the list goes on. We’ve all taken our various sides and have our own personal battle scars from living with our choices and facing the upturned noses of those who chose differently. And the Internet, bless its soul, has helped us dig in our heels, wage ugly words, and fire judgmental accusations against each other at lightening speed.

But I’m kind of over that. And I think (hope) that while these wars will surely always boil under the surface, there’s a new movement to band together and accept each other’s choices, and just know that we all do the best we can, and what’s best for our own individual families. With any luck the wars will soon get a downgrade to something more like … spats. Can I get an Amen?

So the mommy wars aren’t what get me riled up these days. No, it’s something a little more tricky to put your finger on, something that masks itself as a positive thing but leaves you feeling just as icky. In honor of the upcoming festivities this week, I’m going to call it the Mommy Olympics. The all-out, fierce, no-holds-barred competition of who can out-do, out-shine, out-perform the other--a race to the finish of earning that gold medal of parenting (if only it existed!). Official sponsor: social media. Leaving the rest of us–please say it isn’t just me--with only feelings of inadequacy.

A new study published by the online journal Pediatrics has found that individuals who were spanked, hit, or slapped as a child have a higher risk of mental illness as an adult, including mood disorders, anxiety disorders, alcohol and drug abuse dependence, and several personality disorders.

The study included a sample of civilian, non-institutionalized adults aged 20 or over. They were asked about current medical conditions and past incidence of physical punishments.

In interviews, participants were asked how often as a child they were pushed, grabbed, shoved, slapped or hit by their parents or any adult in their household. The participants used a 5 point scale to answer never, almost never, sometimes, fairly often, and very often.

Those who answered sometimes or higher were defined as having experienced harsh physical punishment as a child.

Participants who also reported severe physical abuse, sexual abuse, emotional abuse, physical neglect, emotional neglect, or exposure to intimate partner violence were excluded from the final analysis.

Overall, about 5.9% of the participants reported harsh physical punishment during childhood.

After adjustment for socioeconomic factors and family dysfunction, the study found that those who were physically punished were at an increased risk for most lifetime Axis I mental disorders. Including:

• 41 percent increased risk for depression
• 93 percent increased risk for mania
• 49 percent increased risk for any mood disorder
• 36 percent higher risk for any anxiety disorder
• 59 percent higher risk of alcohol abuse or dependence
• 53 percent higher of drug abuse or dependence
   

The study concluded that the findings provide evidence that harsh physical punishment, separate from child maltreatment and abuse, is related to adult mental disorders.

It was the (fake?) tongue ring seen 'round the world. Yesterday, news of 11-year-old Willow Smith getting a tongue ring blew up on the Web. The "wild child" daughter of Will Smith and Jada Pinkett Smith had posted a pic of herself and a friend with fresh "piercings" (hers on her tongue and her friend's on her chin/lower lip) on Instagram... Side note: Parents, if you don't know what Instagram is, you probably should (photo-sharing social media platform connected to Facebook).

It turns out -- according to singer/actress Willow anyway -- that the piercings were just fake. "It's fake... Sorry," she later commented on her Instagram photo. But not before the masses saw it and wondered, "Where are her parents?!!"

Well, a new hole in your child's head is one thing to be concerned about... But I would say, the bigger question in this era of cyber-scariness might be, why would an 11-year-old -- even a rebellious celeb offspring with a "career" of her own (yes, folks, she sings one of your faves: 'I Whip My Hair Back and Forth') -- have her own (well-publicized) Instagram  and Twitter accounts?

You have probably noticed that FamilyEducation.com got a makeover! The FE Team was thrilled to officially launch the spruced-up site this morning. Welcome to our new look! It's the same great parenting content you've always relied on but it has a modern design and should be much easier to navigate.

Every topic, from Babies to Teens to Mom's Life and more, is packed with popular related articles, advice, and activities that are perfect for your family. Your favorite features, such as our Printables Center and informative slideshows, are still here but with a fresh face.

Enjoy looking around and diving deeper into the topics you love. Please let us know what you think and if you have any questions!

-Erin & The FE Team

In your 30s... Not a huge shock, but that's what a small new study published in the journal Human Reproduction concluded.

The University of California, San Francisco, study asked 107 parents who used in vitro fertilization to have their first child at age 40+ about the pros and cons of having kids at that age. Some of the pros they cited: being more self-confident and understanding; one of the big cons: lacking physical energy they had in their 20s and 30s.

The participants were also asked the "optimal age for parenting," and 80 percent of the women and 70 percent of the men said it was in the 30s. Circumstances, such as women not meeting the right partner earlier in life, were the main reason they didn't have kids earlier, many participants said.

When did you have kids, and do you feel that it was the "right" time for you? Check out these related resources:

• Over Age 35 and Expecting
• Under Age 20 and Expecting
• Quiz: Are You Ready for Baby?
• Tips for New Moms: Get Ready to Regress
• Family Planning: Is It Time for Another Child?
• Planning for Family Expenses

Think back to before you had kids-- did you judge other moms?

I'm not judging if you did, because if I'm being completely honest with myself, I did the same.

Bad behavior? Fast food?? An entire hour of television?!?

Pffftttt-- those parents obviously all had it wrong. My kids won't be subjected to those awful things.

No processed food will ever pass their lips! No brain-numbing children's show will ever be viewed by their bright little eyes!

They'll only eat organic foods! Only play with imaginative toys (none of this princess-y, girly, ruffled stuff!)! And they will sleep when told to sleep and behave in all public places!

I mean, how hard could that really be? How can't any of these parents get it right? Am I right?

Hello! This is Earth calling! It's time to come back now!

Ask any parent, and almost all of them will say parenting is the best and hardest thing they've ever done. Of course it's worth it, but that doesn't mean it's always easy. And it certainly doesn't mean that you have to love every single minute of it.

But to those who don't have kids, well....they just don't get it. And they won't get it until they have their own little bundle of joy, with all the highs, lows, and in-betweens that come with that.

So, it's easy to understand how those without children stand there, with a smug look and a "I can do better than that" expression on their face. And it's ok, you can admit it-- you did it too. And you can at  least take some solace in knowing you aren't alone.

Still feel guilty for judging those parents? Read this article.

See? You really aren't alone. Feel better now?

Last weekened T. and I, accompanied by two neighborhood friends, went to a performance of The Sound of Music, put on by a local college. I had taken T. to one play before--Peter Pan. She was young then, about four years old, and while she still remembers the play, it's one thing to see a play at four, and quite another to see it when you are eight, and you love musicals, and you wake up each morning belting out songs from Annie, or The Sound of Music, and your new favorite book is Theater Shoes, by Noel Streatfeild.

I hadn't been to a theatrical production in ages. I might have been as excited as T., and when the lights went dark, and the curtain rustled a little in that magical hold-your-breath moment before it was raised, I had to give T.'s arm a little excited squeeze.

There were good parts, and not-so-good parts. One of the actors had clearly strained his voice over the previous days of performing (we were at the last show), and Maria seemed tired and too-serious ("Mama," T. whispered to me right before the intermission, "Maria is supposed to be happy"). But I don't think T. minded at all and, in the end, I didn't mind one bit, either.

After we dropped our friends off at their house, I pulled away, and looked in the rearview mirror just in time to see T.'s face dissolve into tears.

"What's wrong?" I asked in alarm.

She was so sad that it was over--that performance she'd been waiting for so long, that she'd scored the days leading up to it off on her wall calendar. It was done, the magic faded, and in its wake just a rainy, ordinary Sunday evening.