Win/Win: Some people sign up for a 5K run to raise money and call it a day. Not our friend Jodi from Pistols and Popcorn. When she decided to help her brother raise money for the Lance Armstrong Foundation that has been helping them struggle through his wife's breast cancer, she didn't stop with a 5K, she went the extra mile (or ten miles in this case).

Jodi has created an amazing fundraising event on her site. For a mere $5 raffle ticket you can win cool kids duds, an oil painting portrait of your kid, event tickets and more exotic prizes. Plus the grand prize is tickets and the possibility to meet Michelle Williams at her red carpet premier. Thanks, Jodi, for humbling us all in our piddling efforts. PS, can I win the Appaman clothes? Click here to learn donate/enter.

The end of over-parenting? Lisa Belkin writes in last week's NY Times Magazine about a perceived shift from overbearing "helicopter" parenting to the new trend toward nonchalance in parenting and questions what this really means.

Cookie and Gourmet Magazine's Kid's Restaurant Week is June 20-28. Participating restaurants in NYC will be offering early seatings where parents pay $29 and kids under 11 pay their age. It's a great way to introduce your kids to eating out in nice restaurants and get a great meal at a great value.

Mayoral control of the public schools sometimes seems like one of those issues that is so complicated I feel like I can't understand it well enough to take a stance, but it's an important issue that affects all parents in New York City. Downtown Express had a great editorial which explains why it supports mayoral control, with some refinements, predominantly more input from parents. I think this is a good approach to support because, while overall I do think Bloomberg has done a good job running the schools, my one main gripe is that he behaves like such an autocrat.