Over the past few months, my daughter has become obsessed with Star Wars. Whenever she gets bored in the car, at home, or on a walk, she asks me to tell her about Princess Leia and her Rebel friends in their fight against Darth Vader and the Empire.

In a way, it's cute. I like telling her about Obi-wan Kenobi, Luke Skywalker and The Force. Plus, she very much enjoys my Yoda and Chewbacca impressions. We're more or less through Episodes IV, V and VI, just without some of the more grown-up details (she's still a little confused on how Darth Vader can be a bad guy and Luke Skywalker's father at the same time, or why the Rebels would spend so much time fighting the Empire in the first place).

On the other hand, through my description of this movie alone, my three-year-old has been introduced to following new concepts: weapons, purposefully injuring others (albeit in preemptive self-defense), and evil. I can only imagine what windows into the less child-friendly parts of humanity would open if she were to actually watch the movies.

Nevertheless, she really seems into it, so I'm trying to decide how long it'll be before we sit down with Episode IV for some quality father/daughter time. Help me Internets, I need some advice:

While I'm sure all of you undoubtedly love your husbands, wives, partners, children and so on, the same doesn't necessarily hold true for the extended family. Aunt Jeannie can't seem keep control of that obnoxious, abusive, and downright frightening little boy of hers, and you're not all that excited about cousin Mark's daughter teaching your confident, self-assured 10-year-old girl about Bratz dolls and eating disorders. Then there's your parents, who are always complaining, your siblings who can't stop bickering (even though they're all in their 40s!), and -- for some of you -- your grandparents, who refuse to stop making extremely racist comments in front of your kids.

Who needs a drink?

Better yet, maybe you need a Family Survival Kit. It comes complete with Criticism Canceling Headphones, Family Off, and Sleepy time Brat Darts. Hit play above or check it out on YouTube.

Every year I look for better ways to write the traditional holiday letter -- updating my friends and family on all the trivial, mundane, or private accomplishments that didn't make onto a blog somewhere. I've always been impressed by a couple friends of mine, who send out a 12-panel comic strip in lieu of a letter -- with each panel representing their family's most important event of a given month. I, however, am a terrible artist, so it was impossible for me to steal their great idea -- until now.

Comic Life is a new application that lets you create comics from your photos. It's a little like Comeeko (the comic creator used by popular bloggers like Girls Gone Child), except that Comic Life allows you to create entire comic strips (and even entire comic books) instead of just single pages.

Because think about it: how much do you actually enjoy reading everyone else's tedious annual updates? I garauntee they feel the same way about yours. Make this year's correspondence a little more fun -- your friends and family will appreciate it.

[via swissmiss]

Santa likes rich kids better than yours. Take the children of Posh Spice and David Beckham for instance. They're getting a tree house for Christmas this year -- which, at first glance, might seem pretty normal. But we're not talking about some home-made wooden fort David's building in the backyard -- the Beckham's new play time digs will cost $50,000.

Double that and you could buy an actual house.

Why this absurdly expensive Christmas present has to cost so much is beyond me. It's only 9ft tall, and doesn't even come with air conditioning, a hot tub, or the 72-inch plasma screen TV you'd expect to find in the world's most costly tree house. It's from Neiman Marcus, which I guess adds $47,000 to the price tag.

Now we know. That's what celebrities do with all their money.

[via Gearfuse]

Just to prove that she isn't the most unfit parent in the history of the universe, Britney Spears (allegedly) was looking into adopting a couple kids from China. And then, to make matters worse, rumor had it that she was pregnant.

However, today the world can let out a collective sigh of relief, as the former pop star's "constant sidekick" revealed that the pregnancy claims (made by In Touch magazine) are "BS." Thank goodness. I don't know if I can stomach another Britney Spears custody battle.

Although, before we go dismissing the the pregnancy entirely, let's take a moment to think about Britney's credibility. Just yesterday she was nearly thrown out of the Hustler store in West Hollywood for removing her underwear and trying on a pair of "Barely Legal" boy's shorts in the middle of the store. I know In Touch is a tabloid, but at this point, I'm tempted to take their word over Britney's.

What do you think?

[via Gawker]

Doesn't it suck when your best friend is getting so much attention that no one has time for you anymore? Welcome to the world of Paris Hilton, who's on again, off again BFF, Nicole Richie, is very famously pregnant with her first baby -- and, for the first time ever, overshadowing her buddy Paris.

In an attempt to get in on the action, Paris took an interview with Ellen DeGeneres, during which she told the daytime talk show diva that: "I wanna have a baby too."

To be fair, Paris was actually on the show to talk about her dogs (Ellen is celebrating canines this week), and her upcoming season of The Simple Life. That said, now that the world's most famous heiress is officially on the celebrity baby band wagon, I wonder if she has her eye on any potential fathers? Given who's available, which Hollywood stud do you think might make the best dad?

Remember when Kevin Federline married Britney Spears? He was a laughing stock, routinely mocked in the media for taking Brit's money, getting her pregnant, and partying like a rock star (instead of a back up dancer).

But times have changed. Now K-Fed has re-tooled his image, and -- especially in light of the recent custody battle for Sean Preston and Jayden James -- appears to quite the family man. So much so, that Details magazine recently called Federline a "good father," while also placing him at number seven on their list of the "50 Most Influential Men Under 45."

He tells mag: "To be a father is...everything. It shows me how little I am."

Granted, anyone would seem like parent of the year when compared to Britney Spears, but maybe this new side of K-Fed is more than just hype?

Now that we've moved off daylight savings time, it's getting dark just time for after school get-togethers like practice, study groups, etc. If your child usually walks home from school, this makes their trek considerably more treacherous.

Here's a novel way to make sure they're seen by passing cars -- the glowing umbrella. This keeps the rain off like a normal umbrella, but -- thanks to a bunch of LED lights underneath the fabric -- also acts like a personal headlight.

Unfortunately it's just a concept at the moment, but when it does go on sale, I'd highly recommend it. You could just force your kid to wear a flashlight helmet, or wrap them up in reflective tape -- but this seems to give off more light, and will almost certainly make your child more popular on the playground.

I'm just old enough that I can remember my very first time on the Internet -- my first email, the introduction of instant messaging, etc. So, in spite of all my efforts to be tech-savvy, there's a part of my brain that equates emails to letters, and iTunes to my CD collection. But the next generation has never known a world without computers, blogs, online social networking, and the Internet on their cell phones -- which leads many to wonder: what will they create that us boring old grown-ups can't even imagine?

That's the idea behind a children's "laptop club." Guided by a teacher, a group of 7-year-old students imagined laptops that they'd find most useful. Rosecrans Baldwin has subsequently written a great piece for The Morning News, interviewing both the students and the teacher behind the project, and also featuring a gallery of the student's designs.

It's a fascinating peak at the way today's kids might influence the future of technology.

[via Boing Boing]

By the time I was in college, references to drugs and sex in pop music were so common, I barely noticed them anymore. After all, I was a grown-up, capable of making decisions for myself, so why would I care if some artist wanted to sing about railing cocaine or gettin' busy with hos? I just wanted the music to sound good.

Then I had a child. Now every time I hear a new song about dealing drugs or "bringing sexy back," I stop and think: would I want my daughter listening to that?

According to Science Daily, if your kids listen to pop music, there's a 33% chance they're listening to songs about drugs. And if they're into rap music, it's even more prevelant -- with 77% of rap tunes referring to substance abuse. What's worse, is that -- at least in pop songs -- drugs are most often linked with partying, sex, or humor.

Not that I want my child to live in a bubble, or censor these artists, but it's a reminder that it's important to give your child a balanced view of substance abuse. Because let's be honest -- drugs can lead to partying, sex and hilarity. But they can just as easily lead to addiction, depression, death, and other consequences that probably won't come up on Ludacris album.

[via Shiny Shiny]