Pump them up: A small but growing number of affluent parents are pressuring doctors to prescribe growth hormone shots for their short-ish but otherwise normal, healthy kids. According to the story: "Just last week, the father of a young baseball player -- a 14-year-old who was already 5 feet 6 inches tall -- expected Desrosiers to prescribe recombinant growth hormone (rGH) to add height to his budding athlete." ABC News: Growth Hormones on Rise in Healthy Kids

Spanking does take the daylights out of them: A new study finds that children who were spanked as 1-year-olds are not only more aggressive as toddlers, but also perform lower on cognitive tests. The reason why is unclear, but researchers theorize that parents who spank their kids are less likely to reason with them — something that is beneficial for cognitive development. Health Day: Early Spankings Make for Aggressive Toddlers, Study Shows

Grownups gone wild: Columnist Bruce Kluger says the recent rude outbursts by Rep. Joe Wilson, Kanye West and Serena Williams are making his job as a parent more difficult. "... for the past week, I've felt like putting my foot through my Sony Trinitron — because every time I turn the thing on, some idiot is undermining my lesson plan with an exhibition of bad manners." USA Today: Parenting is complicated by adults behaving badly