One mother is outlawing the “F” word in front of her daughters. However, in this case, the “F” stands for “fat,” and this mother, Stefanie Wilder-Taylor, 46, of Encino, Calif., says people talking about weight issues in her daughters’ presence is damaging to their self-esteem.

When a summer camp counselor used the “F” word, “fat,” on Wilder-Taylor’s then 5-year-year old child, she was unnerved by her daughter’s reaction.

“‘Mommy, I can’t drink soda because drinking soda gives you a fat tummy,’” Wilder-Taylor told ABC News of her daughter’s response. “I was horrified. They are too young to be thinking about dieting or whether they are too fat or too thin.”

Wilder-Taylor, an outspoken author and comedian, made a rule to not allow the “F” word to be used by anyone in her house, and wrote a blog sounding the alarm for adults that children listen to what grownups say very carefully.

“Let’s not talk about self-hating our bodies in front of my kids,” said Wilder-Taylor. “I’ve got three young girls here and impressionable.”

Instead, Wilder-Taylor likes to dance with her girls to show that women of all shapes and sizes should strut their stuff proudly.

“I do little booty shakes in front of my kid’s face,” she said. “I try to let them know that, ‘Yeah, you know, my butt might be a little big, but it’s awesome.’”

Her 500-word blog sparked some outrage, but also a lot of praise from moms trying to keep their daughters (and sons) free of the weight anxiety. Some teens ABC News’ Juju Chang spoke with agreed.

“It would make someone insecure,” said one teen.

And yet, these girls’ owns moms felt differently–that every adult who influences kids has a duty to counteract all that pressure to be thin.

“We as parents give them responsibility to others to help them interpret messages,” one parent said.

“I think, ‘It makes you fat,’ or that kind of stuff should just be left off the table,” said another.

“It’s kind of offensive to the kids,” one mother said. “They should tell them to lower on the soda, but not, ‘Don’t drink soda ever again.’”

Parenting expert Dr. Karyn Gordon appreciates Wilder-Taylor’s efforts, but doesn’t believe it’s a realistic goal.

“I love the mother’s heart in this. She’s got her heart in the right spot. She’s very concerned about how this is impacting her daughters,” Gordon said. “I just don’t know if it’s realistic, in terms of expecting everybody, anybody who comes into her home in terms of certain words that are off limits.

“I think it’s the most important, the number one source of influence for a child in terms of their own body image is actually the parent. How the mother has her own perception of her own body.”

Seattle mother Robyn Rosenberger has turned making a child’s cape into a movement.

For the last six months Rosenberger, 28, has been sending her Tiny Superheroes capes to children fighting illness and disability in the United States and beyond.

See more happy, positive news stories and America Strong pieces here.

TinySuperHeroes

“I want the world to know we think of kids with illness as different. Truth is, they are extraordinary because they overcome things we can’t imagine and they do it with a smile,” Rosenberger told ABC News. “These capes are more than fabric. A cape is a visible sign of strength that everyone can recognize. It lets kids and their family know how extraordinary they really are. Almost every kid who puts the cape on sticks their arms out and starts running!”

Rosenberger, who has a 19-month-old son, moved to Seattle from St. Louis, Mo., four years ago. Last summer, she started sewing again and made a superhero cape for her nephew’s second birthday and her son.

Rosenberger had been following the blog of a girl named Brenna, below, who was born with a rare congenital skin disease.

TinySuperHeroes

“It became clear that Brenna needed a cape!” she said. “I quickly realized there were other kids out there who actually were tiny superheroes.”

Rosenberger sewed her a cape with a big yellow B. Brenna loved it and in January “Super Brenna” was born.

As soon as the cape and Brenna were featured on Rosenberger’s blog, “we were immediately met by dozens of other nominations for tiny superheroes,” she said.

Her Tiny Superheroes now include “Super Anthony” in Illinois who is suffering heart and muscle problems as well as “Super Mabel” and “Super Andrew.”

Rosenberger is maintaining and building a network of Tiny Superheroes. In six months, she’s sent 700 personalized capes to sick children in 45 states and 11 countries. Each cape comes with a handwritten message.

The mother of Super KE, below, a 10-year-old battling a severe gastrointestinal disorder, said he never takes his cape off.

TinySuperHeroes

“He has taken the cape into his biopsy, to the emergency room,” she said. “He showed other patients. It helps give him a sense of comfort.”

Rosenberger now gets 10 to 20 requests a day. She quit her job and has pulled friends in to help.

“We are building a TinySuperhero squad. Together these kids can make a difference. We cross-reference their stories,” she said. “Then, by sharing them we can help raise awareness. Raising awareness brings funding, funding leads to more research, and research brings cures.”

Rosenberger has mailed capes to children affected by Oklahoma’s recent tornadoes.

She hopes to establish contacts with children’s hospitals and ultimately have a Tiny Superheroes center “that takes our relationship with the children outside the virtual world.”

“If you would have told me six months ago that this would be my life, I would have paid a million dollars to make this my life, but I wouldn’t believe you,” Rosenberger said.

ABC News’ Dina Abou Salem contributed to this story.

Madison Paige Baxter, “Maddy,” played last year as starting defensive tackle for the sixth grade team of Strong Rock Christian School, a pre-K to 12th grade private academy in Locust Grove, Ga.

“My mom counted that I had five sacks,” Maddy said of her success on the field.  “The entire crowd thought it was one of their boys but when they saw my number and looked at the roster, they saw it was me.”

Now administrators at Strong Rock have told Maddy that she will not be allowed to play next year as a seventh-grader because she is a girl.

“It’s taking that fun that I had for a year and snatching it right out from under me,” Maddy said.

In a statement, the school defended its decision that sports should be separated by sex.

“Middle school girls play girls’ sports and middle school boys play boys’ sports,” the statement read.

Maddy’s mother, Cassy Blythe, said that a school official told her that boys have lustful thoughts and might think of Maddy in an impure way.

“I think it’s very archaic and he needs to get with the times,” Blythe said.

Blythe and her daughter have started a “Let Her Play” Facebook page in response to the school’s decision.  The page has already been liked more than 30,000 times since it was created Tuesday, and received hundreds of supportive comments.

“People should be limited by ability…not gender,” one supporter wrote.

Blythe says that Maddy may switch schools if Strong Rock does not reverse its decision.  In the meantime, Maddy will play in a recreational football league to continue with the sport she loves.

“It was her dream to get a scholarship one day, to be one of the first female football players in college,” Blythe said.  “She really had big dreams.”

Joey Celis/Getty Images

Father’s Day has been celebrated since the early 1900s, but it was Richard Nixon who signed the law making it permanent, in 1972.

We’ll let the numbers tell the rest of the story, courtesy of the U.S. Census Bureau.

Happy Father’s Day!

70.1 million: Estimated number of fathers

24.4 million: Number of fathers part of married-couple families with children younger than 18 in 2012

1.96 million: Number of single fathers in 2012

7,368: Number of U.S. men’s clothing stores, as of 2010

15,542: Number of hardware stores, as of 2010

21,418: Number of sporting goods stores in 2010

189,000: Estimated number of stay-at-home dads in 2012

18 percent: Percentage of preschoolers regularly cared for by their father during mother’s working hours, spring 2011.

$1.9 billion: Amount of child support received by custodial fathers in 2009

34 percent: Percentage of custodial fathers who received all child support that was due in 2009

70 percent: Percentage of custodial fathers receiving non-cash support

For a new Father’s Day commercial the company that makes Huggies diapers will let a few expectant fathers experience (a little) of what it’s like to be pregnant. The Kimberly-Clark Corporation created a pair of pregnancy bands for expectant couples that replicate any baby movement felt by the mother on a matching band for the father so that dad can “feel” the baby kicking.

The pair of pregnancy bands, not currently available for sale, was created solely for a Huggies ad in Latin America, which shows real couples trying out the bands in a Buenos Aires hospital. The large white bands cover both parents’ abdomens and are filled with electronic sensors and LED lights. When the baby kicks in the mother’s womb, the movement is replicated in the father’s band, showing up with a quick burst of light and small vibrating impulses wherever the kick landed.

(Courtesy Kimberly-Clark Corporation)

In the video the fathers’ reactions range from shock to laughter to lots of tears.

“It is a video greeting card for dads on Father’s Day,” said Eric Bruner, a spokesman for Kimberly-Clark. “I would just say [it's] in honor of the dads in our lives.”

Unfortunately for couples looking to try out the devices, the pregnancy bands were created exclusively for the commercial and are not available to try out.

“We’ve seen questions [from people asking], ‘Can I try this?’” said Bruner. “For now it’s a one-of-a-kind device.”

However, Bruner said that the company was “evaluating their options,” so for future Father’s Day gifts expectant customers might be able to bypass  buying the ubiquitous Father’s Day tie in favor of matching pregnancy bands.

The Sushi Bar opened earlier this month  in Del Ray, a neighborhood in the Washington, D.C. suburb  of Alexandria, Va. And its  decided to ban kids. Not just the little, screaming toddler type either. All kids as in all kids under 18. Can’t vote? Can’t eat.

Del Ray is a family community. Which may explain some of the outrage directed at The Sushi Bar’s owners.

Owner Mike Anderson told ABC affiliate WJLA he’s “surprised” at some peoples’ negative reaction.

But comments on the restaurants’ Facebook page are far from all bad. Many commentors expressed support for the kids ban.

“This is a great Idea [sic] and I have 2 children. If I’m spending $15 to $20 an hour to pay someone to watch my kids I don’t want to put up with others,” one person wrote.

“I have seven kids. And I LOVE this idea of a kid free restaurant,” wrote another.

The Sushi Bar isn’t the first restaurant to ban kids.  In 2011, a Pittsburgh restaurant announced a ban on kids under 6.  Palo, a restaurant found on several Disney Cruise Line ships (Disney!) is for the 18-and-over-crowd only. Even guests at Victoria & Albert’s in Walt Disney World have to be over 10.

And the travel industry has long imposed minimum-age requirements. Air Asia recently announced the Quiet Zone which doesn’t allow kids under 12. Malaysia airlines has reportedly banned kids in first class for years, thought there’s never been official word from the airline on the matter. The airline did, however, recently create an adults-only seating section on the upper deck of aircraft on its London – Kuala Lumpur route.

And if you want a truly kids-free vacation, there are plenty of resorts that cater to adults only. Here are 18 to choose from.

ABC News is owned by the Walt Disney Corporation

Remember your senior portraits? The ones you probably now look at with dread, and hope you parents won’t drag out at family reunions?

High school seniors now have many more options, because the age-old tradition has evolved into elaborate, highly personalized upscale photo shoots that produce perfect photos that wouldn’t be out of place in glossy magazines.

Brittni Schroeder, an El Paso, Texas, photographer who specializes in the modernized take on senior year photography, said she pulls out all the stops for her clients in order to create a wonderful experience for them. The star treatment includes two hours of hair and makeup in preparation for the shoot.

“We really try … hard to make them feel like they’re America’s next top model,” she said. “We doll them up, they get cute clothes, they look cute and sassy.”

Couple Wears Duct Tape Outfits to Prom

When Laura Garcia heard about the kicked-up photo op, she knew it was what she wanted.

“It’s going to capture who I am as a senior, and who I’ve become over these last four years, and they’re memories that I’m going to be able to hold for the rest of my life,” she said. “It’ll capture my outer and inner beauty.”

Schools are even revolutionizing their take on in-school portraits.

Susan Varro of Prestige Portraits by Lifetouch in Hayward Calif., said things have changed quite a bit since the days of those pensive senior poses shot in front of a standard blue background.

Now, it’s about “giving the students the change to express themselves personally … expressing a side of them that maybe in the past they wouldn’t have been able to do,” she said.

Teen Turned Away From Prom Over Cleavage Wants Apology

Prestige Portraits does school shoots around the country, during which they encourage outfit changes, changing backdrops and props such as skateboards, guitars and even motorcycles.

Jessica Shreck, who attends Long Beach High School in Lido Beach, N.Y., said she felt like a “superstar” when she shot her portrait.

“Well, my passion is soccer and I want to play it in college, so I got a soccer ball, and took some action shots and it was really fun,” she said.

Her photos won’t be hidden.

“Mine are definitely going to be out forever, and I’ll show my kids them,” she said. “They really represent me with my soccer and the soccer ball.”

Dana Berman, another Long Beach High School student, said her prop was her violin.

“It’s your senior picture, you want something that defines. And, to me, my violin does define me, so I thought, why not?” she said.

The special shoots aren’t restricted to girls.

Prom Dress Nightmare: Girls Use Social Media to Avoid Copying Each Other

The special senior photos might be popular, but they come at a price. Some students pay up to $2,000 for theirs.

Texas photographer Schroeder said it represents a valuable experience for the students.

“This builds their confidence,” she said. “They get to experience something where they feel beautiful, they feel like they’re on top of the world … but I don’t think you can put a price on self-confidence, I don’t think you can put a price on making somebody feel good about themselves.”

“Toy Insider Mom” Laurie Schacht has a round-up of cool new toys for summer.

Here are the complete product details shown on ABC’s “World News Now.”

PlasmaBug (PlaSmart)

• Sturdy, compact ride-on
• Lightweight: 2 lbs., 3 oz.
• Four standard wheels, one caster wheel for easy maneuverability and balance
• Swivels to navigate small indoor spaces
• Front and rear storage compartments
• Ages: 18 months and up
• MSRP: $59.99

ABC Sand Toys ( Spielstabil)

• This colorful set includes all 26 letters of the alphabet
• Each mold can be used again and again to create all possible words in the sand or even the snow
• Great to learn and to practice the alphabet and spelling
• Ages: 1 and up
• MSRP:  4.99

Sky Bouncer (Maui Toy)

• A new take on the traditional flying disk using the Sky Ball technology
• Flies through the air, bounces and floats
• Ages: 6 and up
• MSRP $9.99

Jumbo Bananagrams

• Jumbo Bananagrams is a giant version of the original word game
• Jumbo Bananagrams features 144-waterproof, three-inch square tiles packaged in a funky giant yellow banana-shaped tote bag.
• Requiring no pencil, paper or board, Jumbo Bananagrams is addictive fun and educational play for kids ages 5 and up.
• Players race against each other to build giant crossword grids and use all their letter tiles
• Jumbo Bananagrams is perfect for innovative outdoor play in the backyard or on the front lawn, at summer barbecues, at the beach  and on the playground
• MSRP:  $44.95

Catcher Set (Brer Rabbit Toys)

• Play in the yard or at the beach
• Comes in a mesh carry bag that is great for storage and great for the whole family to play
• Ages 5 and up
• MSRP:  $9.99

Air Hogs Saw Blade (Spin Master)

• Helicopter R/C with quick maneuverability
• Fly solo or take on an opponent in head-to-head combat
• Features a five-disk payload for rapid firing up to 30 feet
• Ages 10 and up
• MSRP $39.99

NERF SUPER SOAKER SWITCHSHOT Water Blaster (Hasbro)

• Intimidate the competition with the SUPER SOAKER SWITCHSHOT water blaster, which allows players to deliver extreme soakage by choosing one of four different spray options!
• The  SWITCHSHOT water blaster boasts a 20 fluid ounce detachable banana clip and detachable shoulder stock so fans can tailor their blaster for each water battle.
• Ages: 6 and up
• MSRP:  $29.99

Follow ABC’s World News Now on Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, Instagram.

mommysentials

Baby-wearing mamas: Pay attention. You may have run into the issue that there comes a time, say when you’re in a public restroom, that you need a place to put the baby you’ve been wearing. Since you’re a baby-wearing mama, you don’t have a stroller. And even if you did, rarely can a stroller fit inside a restroom stall with you. So actually, all mamas who leave the house with their baby: Pay attention.

You can now hang your baby on the restroom wall or door.  The hooks on the Babykeeper Hip Carrier, sold on Mommysentials, allow you to hang your baby up while you take care of business. Cost: $69.99. Don’t need to use it as a hip carrier? The Babykeeper Basic, which also allows you to hang your baby on the wall, is $39.99. Mommysentials notes the Babykeeper can be used not just to hang your little one in restrooms, but also in “many public fitting rooms and locker rooms.”

The Babykeeper, according to the Mommysentials web site, was born when one of its founders, Tonja King, needed to use a restroom with her 6-month-old daughter in tow, and “realized there was no safe and sanitary place to put her.” Ten years later, her sister Elisa ran into a similar issue. They put their heads together and Babykeeper was birthed.

Parenting website Babble included the Babykeeper in a recent piece “25 Baby Products Nobody Needs,” but I’m not so sure. Baby jumpers that attach to door frames have been available and popular for years and this doesn’t seem all that different. Also, moms: What do you do when you have to use the restroom and you’re alone with the baby? Presumably moms can at least put the baby in her lap, but what about dads? Share your ideas in the comments below!

Babykeeper is for babies 6-18 months old who can hold their heads up.

For Arvind Mahankali, the third, or, as he would say, t-h-i-r-d, time proved the charm.

The 13-year-old from Bayside Hills, N.Y., won the 2013 Scripps National Spelling Bee Thursday night after correctly spelling “knaidel,” the German-derived, Yiddish word for dumpling.

Click HERE to see the expressive faces of the Scripps National Spelling Bee contestants.

“At that time it didn’t register that I’d won,” Arvind said today on ”Good Morning America,” explaining why he kept a straight face as confetti fell and his family rushed the stage.

“I was actually ecstatic to have the championship,” he said.

Arvind outwitted 11 other finalists and outlasted nearly 2 ½ hours of tense competition in the nationally televised bee, in which he placed third the past two years.  Both times Arvind was eliminated on German-derived words, but this year he came prepared and knew he had the title in his grasp when he heard the word “knaidel.”

Click HERE for a full recap of the 2013 Scripps National Spelling Bee.

“I had studied ‘knaidel’ previously,” he said on “GMA.”

In his third and final attempt at the championship, Arvind, an eighth grader at Nathaniel Hawthorne Middle School, also did some more unlikely prep for the spelling bee, moving from the classroom to the gym.

“I just lifted a couple of weights, you know, so just when the time comes I’d be prepared,” Arvind said, knowing he would have to lift the giant gold trophy over his head, as the 85 Scripps National Spelling Bee champs before him have done.

Along with the trophy, Arvind, an aspiring physicist, also won $30,000 cash and a $2,500 savings bond.

Pranav Sivakumar, a 13-year-old from Tower Lakes, Ill., who was tripped up by “cyanophycean,” finished second in this year’s bee. Sriram Hathwar, 13, of Painted Post, N.Y., placed third.