So, lately I keep overhearing young children at the playground talking about ... The Simpsons. I asked a few friends who revealed they sometimes watch Simpsons and other "for grownups" cartoons with their kids (the children ranged in age from 4 to 9). One mom asked, a little sheepishly, "is that bad?"

To find out, I called Caroline Knorr, Parenting Editor of Common Sense Media, a site which reviews media to help parents decide what may or may not be appropriate for children.

"We have The Simpsons rated at 12-years-old and say it's 'iffy,' which really means you would want to watch it with your child, and to talk about the issues that come up, and to make sure that if something comes up that goes against your own values as a family, you're talking with your kids about that."

It definitely matters how the child is watching, Knorr notes. She adds, "The most important thing for children is to have a close relationship with a loving and caring caregiver. So if the child is having a loving interaction with a parent while watching The Simpsons, that will be remembered by the child. That relationship is going to trump the media messages, especially in the early years. It's different than saying: 'Go in another room and watch on your own.'"

But what about younger children watching?

"Hi Sabrina," the email began. (Hi! Thanks for writing!) "My 8 year old son has not learned how to ride a bike yet. Is this really bad? I feel guilty that at this age he doesn't know how to ride."

Low bike-skills guilt -- I get it. As moms we are pros at feeling guilty over issues like this. Her note goes on:

"He gets frustrated very easily, and I tried on various occasions last summer to teach him only to have him 'give up' within the first 10 minutes. I didn't want to push him so I just let it go."

The letter mentioned a few other important points: 1) The same issue had arisen when Mom bought her son a skateboard (frustration followed by quitting), and 2) her son is otherwise healthy and active, he enjoys a few sports and loves playing outside.

"Am I worrying over nothing?" she asks at the end. To find out, I called my friend and Mommy Advisor Rosanne Tobey, director of Calm and Sense Therapy, a counseling service, for her take on the situation.

"My first question is, 'How frustrated is this child getting?," Tobey says. "This mother is right in her instincts to want to teach her child and in wanting to try pushing him a little further. And her instinct that they're quitting too soon might be correct also..."

"Is it just me or is every child in a stroller at this mall drinking biggie-sized soft drinks? I mean, it's practically in their sippy cups." Looking around the mall ... my friend seems to be right about this. Hmm... How bad is soda for kids?

To find out, I called Gwenn Schurgin O'Keeffe, MD, who is a board-certified pediatrician and an active member of the American Academy of Pediatrics as an official national media spokesperson (she goes by "Dr. Gwenn").

"The two issues are caffeine and sugar," Dr. Gwenn begins. "Kids who drink any sort of sugary drinks have been linked with childhood obesity because you're adding a lot of calories to a child's day." What about diet soda? Still bad, says Dr. Gwenn, "If it's diet soda, they're drinking that instead of water or milk." She lists other soda-related risks...

"My son refuses to wear a coat," reports a worried mom. "He's 9 years old and it's 20 degrees outside here. How bad is it for him to go out without a coat? Is it unsafe?"

Ah, the old at-the-door, put-on-your-coat drama. Is it dangerous for a child to go out coat-less when it's cold? To find out, I called Gwenn Schurgin O'Keeffe, MD, who is a board-certified pediatrician and an active member of the American Academy of Pediatrics (she goes by "Dr. Gwenn."). "Well, on the good news front," Dr. Gwenn says, "It sounds like this mom is encouraging her child's independence and that's always positive." Oh good, because who among us has never let a child put on their coat outside once they realize they are cold, rather than wrestling it on in the hallway?

"On the bad news front," Dr. Gwenn continues, "This isn't the greatest time to encourage independence, because if it's 20 degrees, a 9-year-old can get cold-related illnesses incredibly quickly."

Like a cold?

"Like cold-related illnesses, such as hypothermia and frostbite," says Dr. Gwenn.

Is this true even if it's not that cold out? What's the cutoff?

"In fact," Dr. Gwenn says, "A child can get hypothermia in 50 degree weather with no jacket. If their body gets chilled and their core temperature drops, it can happen. It's a myth that it has to be below 0 degrees to get hypothermia."

"Oh never mind that," a mom friend yells into the phone, "That's just daddy doing the 'Nightly Bedtime Revving Up of our Children Just Before Sleep.'" She sounds frustrated, yet at our house, I can't help but notice that Daddy manages to run the children screaming all around, then wrap up playtime, brush teeth, sing a little song and say good night once and for all, sending them off into dreamland.

So, maybe some loud-screamy-playtime before bed isn't so bad ... but it seems like such a bad idea. Is it? To find out, I called my friend and Mommy Advisor Rosanne Tobey, director of Calm and Sense Therapy, a counseling service, for her take on the situation.

"Children go to sleep well and consistently when they have a good routine and enough winding down time so they're downshifting from high gear into sleep mode. If you get them really worked up and then try to get them right into bed, they may still feel like 'Hey, it's silly time! Let's party!'"

So it's not a good idea? "Well, it's not necessarily a bad idea, if you're going to have fun play time but you're still leaving enough time for some wind-down in your routine for the night, then you'd probably be okay." So is it all about consistency or all about timing, I ask Tobey. A little of both, she replies. Some things to keep in mind:

"How should a parent take sides when a younger child is hitting his or her older sibling -- and "don't hit" doesn't always work? How can we make sibling hitting stop once and for all?"

When siblings are hitting each other, the mom feels punched, too. To find out what to do in this situation, I called my friend and Mommy Advisor Rosanne Tobey, director of Calm and Sense Therapy, a counseling service. Here's what she recommends:

Step Pre-One: Anticipate. Sometimes a mom can hear a situation ramping up but for some reason it can be hard to react until after things really start to go downhill. Tobey suggests keeping a close ear and springing into action to interrupt the hitting before it starts. "When you hear things getting heated, get in between your children and change the topic," and the mood. Now, to be realistic, Tobey admits, this is not always possible, such as when you're driving on the freeway and everyone is trapped in seat belts. For those times when prevention isn't possible, try these steps...

Overheard at the playground:

Mom 1: "I want another baby but my husband's not into the idea."
Mom 2: "Why are you talking to him about it? He'll be happy once you have the baby. Just have it."

Um, really? Would most marriages survive that? To find out, I called my friend and Mommy Advisor Rosanne Tobey, director of Calm and Sense Therapy, a counseling service, for her take on the situation.

"Well," Tobey says, "first of all, it's so not guaranteed that 'he'll just be happy once they have it.'"

"I hear this discussion a lot when couples are thinking about adding another child, for instance, going from two to three children," Tobey adds. "And the hard part about just going for another one without getting your husband on board with the idea," Tobey continues, is that you can't guarantee anything about the future."

For instance: What is she planning to do if her husband doesn't adjust? In other words: What's the plan if her husband is not happy once the child comes?

"Sports are not for every child," says a mom next to me on the playground bench, as her son watches a ball whiz past him and roll to a stop in the sandbox. "What if a child is simply disinclined to be competitive? And why..." she leaned in closer and switched to a stage-whisper, "do his other relatives act like this is a betrayal against the boy's very core?"

Besides, the mom confesses, she was concerned that not being good at sports would make him feel ashamed on the field. Truth be told, she doesn't want him to play. But sports teach children so much about teamwork, sportsmanship ... is it bad if a mom really doesn't want her child to participate? And if so ... how bad?

To find out, I called my friend and Mommy Advisor Rosanne Tobey, director of Calm and Sense Therapy, a counseling service, for her take on the situation.

"I think there's a real value in playing sports," Tobey says. "If you have an active child, recreational sports can be a great way for them to expend all that energy."

Back-to-school night just passed and some mom friends were talking about how special these nights are... and how awful it is if a parent has to miss it. But sometimes missing a big event really, truly, can't be avoided. So if a parent just can't make it to the play, or choir recital or open school night... how bad?

To find out, I called my friend and Mommy Advisor Rosanne Tobey, director of Calm and Sense Therapy, a counseling service, for her take on the situation.

"This is a tough one," she started. "How a parent handles it depends on how big a moment it is for the child. If it's a really big moment, like the first day of kindergarten, of course it's going to feel worse for the child."

But for other important events, like a school play that a parent just can't make it to, it's still not ideal to miss them, but there may be ways you can mitigate the damage, Tobey said.

"For instance, I know a mom who just had surgery and couldn't go to back-to-school night..."

What 5-year-old doesn't love a tea party? But there is caffeine in tea ... which seems like an iffy idea for little ones. No?

Hmmm, well ... is a little spot of tea for children bad, and if so, how bad? To find out, I phoned Mommy Advisor Christine Palumbo, a nutritionist in private practice in a Chicago suburb, who's an adjunct faculty member at Benedictine University.

"Weak [caffeinated] tea is fine," said Palumbo, "Or, if a mother is concerned about caffeine she can always purchase decaffeinated tea." Palumbo had other ideas to get the nutritional nod of approval.