... And 10 Worst, From Futurama to Mommie Dearest

Mother Earth, Marge Simpson make the cut

(NEWSER) - No one's perfect, but some moms get pretty close—even if they do have control issues, out-of-wedlock kids, or a little drug habit. Time picked these winners for going against the grain.

1. Dumbo's mom: for giving her child wings
2. The moms of The Joy Luck Club: for caring a bit too much
3. Gaia, or Mother Earth: for the skies and the fields

Cite more depression, anger compared to employed mothers: Gallup poll

(NEWSER) - Stay-at-home moms struggle with sadness, depression, and anger more often than employed mothers do, according to a sure-to-be-controversial new Gallup poll. While 26% of stay-at-home moms reported feeling sadness much of "yesterday," that figure was just 16% among employed moms. Some 28% of stay-at-home moms said they have been diagnosed with depression, an assertion made by just 17% of employed mothers. Meanwhile, 50% of the stay-at-home group felt stressed and 19% felt angry "yesterday," versus 48% and 14% in the employed group. The poll comes on the heels of a furor over Ann Romney's stay-at-home status , Politico points out. More»

US inches up from 31st to 25th: Save the Children report

(NEWSER) - Good news for American moms: The United States is a slightly better place to be a mother than it was last year, according to Save the Children's 13th annual report on the topic. The US rose from 31st to 25th place in its look at 165 countries. For the best places to be called Mom, look to Nordic countries: Norway took top honors, followed by Iceland, Sweden, New Zealand, and Denmark, reports the Guardian . Niger brings up the rear, below Afghanistan, Yemen, Guinea-Bissau, and Mali. More»

Some find the term 'gross,' but Wilson Diehl needed to hear it

(NEWSER) - Since becoming a mom, Wilson Diehl had “internalized the wildly sexist notion that moms are unsexy,” she writes on Salon . “Maybe I could be a hot 35-year-old married lady, but a hot 35-year-old married mom?” But on a ladies’ weekend in Chicago with friends, Diehl found herself “dressed in not-too-badly-baby-stained clothing, drinking hot toddies and engaging in an ever-so-slight flirtation” with two college guys. When her friends whipped out the baby photos, Diehl thought it might be time to leave the guys alone so they could hit on younger women—but when she suggested doing so, one was quick to protest, “No way, man! You all are MILFs!” More»

Selling advice to parents is just adding stress

(NEWSER) - Thanks to offhand comments from her son ("You're a mean mom!") and underhanded comments from other parents ("Your son's very competitive!"), Karen Houppert wakes up at 2:30am every day, wrestling with self-doubt. The newest parenting trend—family coaches to perfect your child-raising skills—joins the already $2.1 trillion "mommy market" of advice and enrichment for sale. "And what if you resist such costly 'enrichment' for junior?" she writes for Salon. Answer? "Bad mommy!" More»