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Boy or a girl? Generally one of the first questions parents answer about their lil ones, it's the one that Toronto parents Kathy Witterick and David Stocker opted to skip completely when their baby was born nearly one year ago, on New Year's Day. Named Storm, an appropriate moniker for a child that was the subject of more than a little controversy, the baby's parents publicly announced that they would not be revealing Storm's gender in The Toronto Star. Unsurprisingly, the family has faced its share of haters, critics, and detractors over the past year who feel that the family is more than just wacky — that they're doing actual psychological damage by imposing their extreme beliefs on their innocent lil ones.

Today, as Storm's first birthday approaches, the lil one is thriving. With two doting older siblings — including big brother Jazz, whom his parents identify as "gender independent" thanks to his affinity for pink, fairy birthday parties, and dresses — and a community of supportive friends, the family is sticking by their commitment to raise their children with "the freedom to choose who they want to be, unconstrained by social norms about males and females." What do you think? Inspiring trailblazers or irresponsible parents?

Chelsea Clinton sat down with Brian Williams on his nightly Rock Center show to explain why she's leaving behind her "deliberately private life" for a journalism career. But before she got personal last night, Chelsea reported on former-educator Annette Dove, who has committed her life to helping impoverished children in Pine Bluff, Arkansas with hot food, tutoring, and someone to talk to.

After her inaugural "Making a Difference" report, Chelsea went on to discuss why she's putting herself out there for the first time. She said, "For most of my life, I did deliberately lead a private life and inadvertently led a public life." But after her grandmother, Dorothy Rodham, passed away in early November, she decided to change course. Chelsea explained that her grandmother had a core adage in life: that life is not about what happens to you, but about what you do with what happens to you. Chelsea said her grandmother had recently been "challenging me to do more with my life, to lead more of a purposefully public life. That being Chelsea Clinton had happened to me and that I had a responsibility to do something with that asset and opportunity."

See Chelsea's full segment below and tell us whether you're looking forward to more from her.

Forget about apples; maybe it's really a baby a day that keeps the doctor away! Two recent studies point to the health benefits of having children, and the first study, conducted at the University of California, San Diego, goes so far as to say that the more the merrier! Researchers followed 1,300 women from California and concluded that women who experience at least four pregnancies are less likely to die from cardiovascular disease than those who have never given birth — mothers of large families are half as likely to die from a stroke.

A second study, conducted by Australia's Deakin School of Health and Social Development found that childless women appear to be in poorer general health, and rank lower on measures of vitality, social functioning, and mental health. Researchers asked themselves what came first — were the women in poor health because they didn't have children, or were they childless because they were in poor health to begin with?

Does the possibility of improved health make the idea of procreation more appealing?

Somebody call Jamie Oliver, because US legislators need a quick lesson in nutrition. Earlier this year, the Department of Agriculture introduced new school meal nutrition standards created in the wake of our childhood obesity epidemic. Among the lunch-line changes were new standards limiting the use of potatoes and sodium and increasing the use of fruits, vegetables, and whole grains in the cafeteria.

Congress, it seems, doesn't agree with the revised standards. This week, the legislative body put forth its latest spending bill — including budgets for the USDA — that will put tater tots back on school menus and consider pizza containing two tablespoons of tomato paste a vegetable. Yes, the simple presence of tomato paste allows a white flour, fat-laden meal to classify as a veggie. Congress argues that the USDA's recommendations were too expensive to enforce.

What do you think? Should cuts be made elsewhere to ensure that kids receive healthier meals in school? Or is it OK to consider pizza a vegetable?

Patti Labelle might be in the market for a very good publicist. According to ABC News, a lawsuit was filed on Monday by Kevin and Roseanna Monk, claiming that the legendary songstress flew into a rage, allegedly screaming at Roseanna Monk and throwing water on both Monk and her 18-month-old daughter. What prompted this extreme reaction? Apparently Labelle (who has five children of her own) didn't approve of the way Rosanna Monk was supervising her daughter, and didn't appreciate Monk's response, "Lady, mind your own business," when confronted by the songstress. The little girl was understandably petrified, throwing up, and crying hysterically, and is apparently now having trouble sleeping through the night.

Being a diva is one thing, but this sounds totally beyond the scope of normal human behavior — can't imagine Aretha pulling this type of stunt. Have you ever witnessed anything like this? What's the most inappropriate reaction to a toddler you've ever seen?

Letting your child lick a complete stranger's lollypop is a repulsive idea to most parents, but that's exactly what parents around the country are doing in an attempt to infect their tots with the chicken pox virus, thus avoiding the chicken pox vaccination. Since the vaccine's approval in 1995, every state now requires children to be vaccinated before entering daycare or preschool with relatively few exceptions, including: children can skip the varicella prick (the chicken pox vaccine) if the parents abstain from vaccinations for religious reasons, or if a child has contracted the virus on their own.

For parents opposed to the vaccines for any number of reasons, that last exemption clause has led to the creation of Facebook groups like "Find a Pox Party in Your Area" where parents connect with other like-minded adults to pass around infected pops, a modern day pox party — except with complete strangers.

What do you think? Would you ever order an infected lollipop to avoid vaccinating your child?

It's one of the many ironies of motherhood — once baby is finally sleeping through the night, it's mom that can't seem to get any sleep. Regardless of how tired mama may be, by the time she finally puts her head down, thoughts of kids' schedules, signed permission slips, work to-do lists, household chores, and more begin flooding her mind. It's become such a common issue that The New York Times has dubbed the sleeping pill mommy's lil helper these days.

In a recent article, the newspaper delved into the insomniac mother epidemic, suggesting:

One of the great untruths of modern parenthood is that children — with their runny noses, lost teddies, nightmares real and faux — are largely to blame for mothers’ lack of sleep; that women are all like Christina Applegate in the sitcom “Up All Night,” cutely wan from their infant’s 2 a.m. feedings. But here is the reality: it is the mothers who keep themselves awake.

Do you find yourself turning to prescription sleep aids since becoming a mother?

Forget push presents; what wealthy pregnant women from around the world really want postchildbirth is US citizenship for their lil one. Hence the rise and booming popularity of birth tourism — where foreign women with substantial financial means come to the US to have their babies. The US is the only developed country, other than Canada, that grants jus soli, or birthright citizenship to any individual born here. Like parents everywhere, these women want the best for their children: for them, that means access to American schools, universities, and jobs.

Expectant mothers generally enter the country on a tourist or business visa — it's illegal to refuse entry to a woman on the sole grounds that she's pregnant — a few months before her due date. Once here, she needs somewhere to stay and help navigating the system. This is where the industry comes in: from the southern coast of California to the suburbs of New York City and everywhere in between, Americans are catering to this specific group of women, setting up birth tourism centers where women can rent rooms and receive help obtaining their babies' passports and social security numbers.

Birth tourism isn't a new idea — it's been going on for decades — but a recent move by Congress, which if passed will put up significant roadblocks for women hoping to deliver on US soil, has brought the topic to the forefront of the immigration debate.

What do you think about birth tourism? Should it be illegal?

There's something scary about giving birth on October 31 — at least according to a new study conducted by Yale University's School of Public Health. Analyzing data collected across the US over an eleven-year period, researches found that fewer children are born on Halloween than any other average day. At the same time, Valentine's Day sees a higher than average rate of women giving birth. The study reports:

On Valentine's Day, which conveys positive symbolism, there was a 3.6 percent increase in spontaneous births and a 12.1 percent increase in Cesarean births. Whereas, on Halloween, which conveys negative symbolism, there was a 5.3 percent decrease in spontaneous births and a 16.9 percent decrease in Cesarean births.

The results of the study challenge the generally accepted notion that spontaneous birth is a natural, biological, and largely uncontrollable event, suggesting that the cultural beliefs of the expectant mama impact when she actually goes into labor.

What do you think? Would you try to mentally will yourself to avoid labor when the roads are clogged with trick-or-treaters, and the ER is filled with Halloween revelers?