'Tis the season for those of us whose children tromp off to school two or three or five times a week to start thinking about the dreaded holiday teacher gifts. Why dreaded? Do we not appreciate our teachers? I know I can't speak for every parent, but I feel pretty confident speaking for most of us when I say it's really, really difficult to come up just the right teacher gift.

It used to be that parental praise was doled out sparingly, if at all. Our parents and grandparents didn't expect their folks to constantly tell them what a good job they were doing or how great they were; that's simply not what was done. And then pop psychology came along and told us that out kids need to develop good self-esteem, and that happens with our praise, and then somehow an entire generation of "Good job!"ers took over the world.

My daughter started middle school this year. I'm only exaggerating a little when I tell you that I spent the first two weeks in a permanent clench, memories of my own awkward middle school years washing over me in an unexpected wave of PTSD. But the good news is that she absolutely loves it; she's adjusted well, both academically and socially, and most of my fears, it turns out, were for naught. The only thing she doesn't like about middle school is just about the only area where I never had any sort of problem, back in my day. The issue: Backpacks and lockers.

There's no denying we're truly into October, now (no matter what the 80-degree temps here in Georgia may feel like), and that means that those of us with kids in school are starting to receive Halloween Paperwork. For us, it's requests for help with room parties, as well as "helpful" memos about what will and will not be tolerated at school in terms of Halloween celebration.

It is, perhaps, ironic that right around the same time that Mackenzie Phillips went public about her incest experience, a second entertainment icon was thrust into the limelight for sexual misconduct, as well: Roman Polanski was arrested in connection with a 30-year-old rape charge and the entertainment world went into an uproar.