Those Osbournes never know when to keep their opinions to themselves. Actually I don’t think they’ve ever even heard of the concept. But once in a while one of them makes a surprisingly good point, which hallways throws me a bit. Kelly Osbourne has come under fire for criticizing the Spice Girls for bringing their young children on stage during their performances on their recent tour. And she actually makes a bit of a good point.

Kelly Osbourne has lashed out at the Spice Girls for showing off their kids onstage. The outspoken reality TV star, whose own mother and father Sharon and Ozzy have often come under fire for their parenting skills, has offered her own family tips.

The 23-year-old admits she admires Gwyneth Paltrow’s celebrity parenting, but the Spice Girls are at the bottom of her list. She explains, “I respect Gwyneth Paltrow because she covers her babies’ faces - she never lets the paparazzi get that picture.

“I’m not going to put the Spice Girls down, but they took their kids on stage at every single show of that last tour of theirs. To be a child of three and have 25,000 girls screaming at you - I don’t think that’s necessarily good.”

[From Hollywood.TV]

Kelly actually makes a decent point, and she says it in a fair way. She’s certainly not “lashing out.” While I’m not really a fan of Gwyneth Paltrow covering her kids faces – I’m afraid that might give them some kind of weird shame complex – I could see how the Spice Girls bringing their kids on stage every night could be seen as a little exploitative. While it made news everywhere that three-year-old Cruz Beckham had some major break dancing skills, bringing the kids on every night to perform might have been a bit much. On the one hand it’s cute to watch, but on the other I couldn’t help but feel it was a little put on. Both Melanie Brown and Geri Halliwell brought their babies onstage as well. From other videos it appears that the kids are wearing earphones to block out the screams, which is good and shows their parents are taking their health into consideration. But it somehow seems like they’re trying to profit off their kids. Hopefully they all enjoy it and are having a good time, but I think in this one instance, Kelly Osbourne actually makes a good point. Now let’s see if she has anything to say about her own parents’ not-so-great decisions.

Here’s Kelly Osbourne alone with her family at the Birt Awards on February 20th. Images thanks to PR Photos.

An older image of Angelina with Zahara and Pax
This week’s Life & Style has an article titled “Brad and Angelina try to be normal” which is all about their semi-settled life in a suburb of Austin, Texas while Brad films Tree of Life. They say that Angelina and Brad are fitting in well with the community and that Angelina drops off Pax and Zahara to daycare at 8am and picks them up again at 3:30. Six year-old Maddox attends the Lycee Francais School, which is another branch of the bilingual school he attended in both Prague and New York. Little Shiloh stays with her mom while her brothers and sister are off during the day:

The duo, who are living near Austin, Texas, while Brad films… “are just like the rest of us,” Leslie, a parent at Bright Horizons Day Care Center - where Pax, 4, and Zahara, 3, spend their days - tells Life & Style. “They drop the kids off, work, then pick them up.” In fact, Angie, 32, personally brings Pax and Zahara to daycare at 8 a.m. before taking Maddox, 6, to the Lycee Francais School (if Brad’s already on set [and unable to do it]).

While the older kids are out, Angie (who’s more than five months pregnant) runs errands and spends time with Shiloh, 22 months. But she makes sure she and Brad are back to pick up the kids at 3:30 p.m.

The two are clearly trying to give their kids a down-to-earth upbringing. But with security guards posted in the daycare parking lot, private flights out of the Smithville-Crawford Municipal airport and a top-security ranch in Cedar Lake, Texas, to call home, life is far too chaotic to be seen as normal. “There’s a lot of fuss and security now that Brad Pitt is making a movie here,” Kathy Moree, a 7-Eleven clerk in Smithville, Texas, tells Life & Style.

[From Life & Style, print edition, March 31, 2008]

I don’t know how families with many children manage, but they do somehow. It also seems unfair to point to Brad and Angelina as somehow uprooting the kids when they are trying their best to be there for them and to create routines and a semblance of normal life. They move around because they have to be in different cities for work.

It’s hard to keep things stable and the same for kids and I only have one son and things seem to constantly change with my family. We just moved to a new city about three months ago, we’re trying to get our house set up, and the daycare and babysitter situation is hard to manage. My son is three and he definitely feels the change. I just do the best that I can.

Life & Style points out that the Brangelina family were in New Orleans from March 13 to 17 so that Brad could break ground for the Make it Right charity with President Clinton. They’re now back in Texas. It’s looking more like Angelina might give birth in the lone star state. She still hasn’t confirmed her pregnancy, but there’s really no need to at this point.

An older image of exes Denise and Charlie with their girls
For her daughter Sam’s fourth birthday party, Denise Richards didn’t go for the standard preschool-pleasing fare like a magic act or a pirate or barbie theme. Richards had a birthday party for her daughter that sounds more like something an adult woman would do with her friends - a spa day:

“There was a sign on the front door that said ‘Sammi’s Spa,’” a source tells Star. “And waiting there were tiny bathrobes monogrammed with each kid’s name,” the source notes. All the girls got their nails painted and their hair done, while the boy’s hair was styled into Mohawks.

[From Star Magazine, print edition, March 31, 2008]

I have a little boy around that age, and there’s nothing more annoying to him than having his hair washed. We got one of those shampoo visors and that seems to have done the trick, but he would surely throw a fit before allowing anyone to style his hair.

Little girls are more into mommy-type activities and might really enjoy a spa day, but it sounds more like a publicity stunt for Richards’ new reality show than something a four year-old would ask for. Star notes that “everything was filmed for Denise’s upcoming reality show” so you know why she didn’t throw a party fit for four year-olds.

Richards won a court battle in January with her ex, Charlie Sheen, to include their daughters on television and claimed that the girls said they wanted to be on TV and that they love to dress up and get their hair done. Her daughters are 2 and 4.

Another stunt that Richards recently pulled for the show was having her “Charlie” tattoo on her ankle removed. At least it didn’t involve exploiting her daughters. That’ll show him Denise!

This show is going to be distilled down to clips of Richards looking like the ultimate stage mom and will hopefully do more damage to her already-poor image. Her next career move will probably involve pushing her daughters into some sort of show business venture. She’s just prepping them for it with this reality show.

Sam and Lola better practice their scowls - it’s their only defense against commercials and child modeling.

Header image is an older one of Denise, Charlie Sheen and their two girls, Sam and Lola, thanks to Splash News.

Since she regained limited supervised visitation with her young sons a little over a week ago, Britney Spears has dutifully spent time with them, and could end up being allowed to visit them as often as three times a week. However according to Page Six, both Sean Preston and Jayden James are having a hard time adapting to having her back in their lives, and are suffering some of the traditional emotional ups and downs that one would expect.

Britney Spears’ visits with her kids have been emotional for the whole family. Sean Preston has been sleeping in the same room as father Kevin Federline lately because he’s been having nightmares.

According to insiders, Preston, 2, also cried for his dad at first when Britney picked them up, but Kevin soothed him and he settled down.

“Jamie told Kevin that Britney handled the visit well. She actually did cry, but that was only because Sean cried when she took them from Kevin,” says the insider.

[From Page Six]

The article goes on to say that the boys are confused by their mom and don’t have that feeling of safety that kids needs. This is the main reason that Jamie Spears or a psychologist is required to be there the whole time. Jamie is said to be very good with the boys and they love their grandpa. He has seen them consistently, often visiting them at K-Feds house when Britney couldn’t. The “source” also says that Britney doesn’t really know how to give her sons what they need, and instead views them in terms of what she enjoys, which is dressing them up and showing them off.

Part of the problem is that Britney treats her sons more like dolls than children. “She dresses them for show and tell,” says the insider. “She likes to show them off, but not give them the nurturing they need. I understand she is working on this part of her motherhood with her psychiatrist.”

Other sources tell us that the kids are said to be playing a “pivotal role in her progress.”
“Brit has expressed interest in becoming closer to the boys. Kevin hopes she is talking from her heart.”

[From Page Six]

Britney has supposedly made a deal with her parents that as long as she works hard in therapy and with her sons, she won’t have to go back into the hospital. It sounds like it’s good that they’ve made some sort of agreement so Brit knows exactly what she needs to do to avoid negative consequences. It’s really sad that her sons have to be a part of her “treatment,” and getting her life back together. Obviously it’s probably best for them to have their mother in their lives in the long run, but it sounds like in the short run it’s pretty emotionally trying for them. Let’s hope Britney is not actually pregnant again – despite the rumors and every growing stomach – and that she can just focus on getting her life back together.

In other Britney/Jamie Spears news, today it was reported that Jamie is now allowed to draw $2500 from Britney’s accounts for acting as her conservator. That’s $10,000 a month. He definitely deserves to be paid for all his hard work, but the downside is that now people can question his motivations, whereas before that wasn’t as easy.

Courteney Cox and David Arquette’s daughter, Coco, is three and a half and supposedly loves shocking her family by saying naughty words. Star Magazine reports that the tot enjoys riling up her family by saying forbidden swear words. They claim that Courtney says that she can’t get her to stop and is hoping she’ll grow out of it:

“Coco’s somehow learned to cuss like a sailor,” a source told Star. Courteney told the source that scolding Coco hasn’t helped. “Coco thinks it’s funny and goes right on swearing. Courteney’s just hoping she’ll outgrow it. She doesn’t want her saying these things to teachers or other kids!”

[From Star Magazine, print edition, March 10, 2008]

It’s Star so who knows if this is true, but she wouldn’t be the first three year-old to swear in order to get a rise out of her parents. They don’t know what the words mean and just like to get a reaction. My son loves singing “I like big butts and I cannot lie.” He doesn’t know the words beyond the first sentence, but he heard the famous ode to large butts in the movie Shark Tale and will just belt out the song during dull moments. We laugh our asses off, so that could explain why he does it.

Here are videos of little kids swearing, not always intentionally.

Little girl says she’s going to kick a monster’s ass:

Little boy mispronounces “truck”

This one is pretty bad, the girl yells “mother f’er” repeatedly. I couldn’t help but laugh, but I did feel slightly guilty about it. The mother explains in the comments that the girl heard her say it when she dropped a can on her foot and that her kid does not say this all the time:

Oh please, save your sanctimoneous [sic] drivel for someone whose child actually repeats naughty words in front of people that matter. Although it’s NOYB, she hasn’t repeated it since.

Now, where are all your chastisments for the myriad other mummies and daddies who have videos similar to mine? Thanks, have a nice day!

[Comment from user AmeriBrit68 on YouTube, who submitted the video below]

Coco and her parents are shown at the pumpkin patch with a friend on 10/6/07, thanks to Splash News. Courteney Cox and David Arquette are shown at the Dirt premiere on 2/28/08, thanks to PRPhotos.

Farrell with his mom, Rita, at the Oscars
This week’s In Touch has a new interview with Colin Farrell in which he talks candidly about being a father and how he proud he is of his son, James, 4 1/2. James has a genetic condition called Angelman Syndrome, which is considered to be rare and is often misdiagnosed as cerebral palsy or autism. People with Angelman Syndrome suffer from developmental and physical delays, speech problems and an inability to speak, and often have epilepsy. They are affectionate, enjoy human contact and are said to be able to communicate nonverbally in ways that exceed their speech, which can be limited to about 5 to 10 words.

Farrell told In Touch that he would rather “be home with my boy than out on the town,” and that he’s “just a blessed father to have this boy in my life.” James’ mom is Farrel’s ex girlfriend, model Kim Bordenave:

Has being a dad changed you?
Being a father kind of pushes you to an extreme of gentility and strength at the same time that you never thought could possibly reside in you. But I’m fairly sensitive, anyway!

What’s James like?
He’s an amazing child and the way he’s meant to be. I’m just a blessed father to have this boy in my life.

How is he doing these days?
Now, he’s great. When he took his first steps last year, there wasn’t a dry eye in the house.

Thats must have been a happy moment.
He’s a happy boy and if you can honestly say that your child is happy, then you’re a very, very fortunate man.

What does he look like?
Many people think he looks like me. Lucky little man!

Where is home these days?
Wherever I find myself. Dublin will always be home. But I definitely do live in LA, too, for work and my boy.

You haven’t been seen out much lately.
Quite honestly, I’d rather be home with my boy than out on the town.

When you came to Hollywood, you were anointed the newest It Boy - what was that like?
All of the attention confused me from the get-go. At the same time, I found it enlightening to see how you could go from being no one to someone in just a short time.

Did you enjoy the attention?
Oh, I’ve enjoyed being famous! But I don’t think I would have had the patience to be in this business for even a month if I was chasing something as elusive as fame.

[From In Touch, print edition, March 3, 2008]

Farrell first revealed his son’s diagnosis last October, when he expressed many similar sentiments, saying that his son has shown “amazing courage” and is an “incredibly happy boy.” He said James enriches his life and that he is dedicated to help him reach his potential in life. He also said that the only time he remembers that there’s something wrong with him is when he sees him around other children his age.

People with Angelman Syndrome have an average life span, and it sounds like James has a loving father with the resources to make sure that he’s well cared for and comfortable for the rest of his life.

At Sunday’s Oscar ceremony, Farrell introduced the performance by Irish musicians Glen Hansard and Marketa Irglova, who later won best song for “Falling Slowly” from Once. Farrel brought his mom, Rita Farrell, as his date. When I first saw these pictures I thought he was dating a cougar because his mom is hot!

Farrell currently stars as a likable hitman in In Bruges, which is getting good reviews and is out in theaters in limited release.

Thanks to Splash for these photos.

An older image of Britney and her boys
After more than a month of no contact, Britney Spears was allowed to spend a few hours with little Sean Preston and Jayden James on Saturday. After much back-and-forth between the lawyers for Spears and K-Fed, a deal was worked out in which the boys could see their mother in her home under the supervision of her psychiatrist and her father/conservator, Jamie Spears.

Britney Spears was reunited with her sons for three hours on Saturday.

After lawyers for Spears and Kevin Federline reached a visitation agreement Friday, the pop star saw her children Preston, 2, and Jayden, 1, for the first time since Jan. 3.

The boys left Federline’s Tarzana house Saturday morning – put in their car seats by their father, according to photographers – and were driven by Federline’s bodyguard to Spears’s Studio City home.

A source involved in the case says, “The real hero was [Spears’s father] Jamie. He has taken charge, and she has visitation again.”

Sources confirm to PEOPLE that Jamie and Britney’s psychiatrist were present for the visit.

After a three-hour stay, Spears’s sons left again in the back of Federline’s grey Dodge truck driven by his bodyguard.

[From People]

This just further proves how good it is for Britney to have her father back in her life. Less then three weeks after Papa Spears took over, Britney has access to her children. I doubt this agreement would have happened if Sam Lutfi was still controlling her life. Many sources close to Spears are now saying that it was Sam who encouraged Britney to blow off numerous court appearances, and interfered with her home phone and cell phones when she was supposed to be contacted about taking random drug tests. It was these behaviors that contributed to her losing the kids in the first place.

It was probably a lot easier for the boys to be re-introduced to their mother, after such a long absence, with their grandfather in the room. Both Jamie and Lynne Spears spend a lot of time with the boys at K-Fed’s home, most recently taking care of them while K-Fed attended Fashion Week.

I’m going to keep my opinion on whether Britney really should be allowed to see the kids just yet to myself. For now, this could be a good thing for all concerned, but this is Britney we’re talking about.

Britney Spears has not seen her toddler boys, Sean Preston, two and a half, and Jayden James, one and a half, since January 3 after a high-profile standoff with police over handing them over to their father for a scheduled visit. While Britney’s first ex-husband has said that she has confided in him that she does not want full custody or responsibility for the boys, and thinks that she can just have more children later on if she feels the need, she does want to see them. Their father, Kevin Federline, is said to be advocating that Britney should have supervised visitation, always with one of her parent’s present.

There was a custody hearing in Britney’s case yesterday, in which she was represented by a new lawyer because her old firm couldn’t reportedly deal with how uncooperative she was. Lawyers tried to work out an arrangement in which Britney would get some kind of supervised visitation with her children, but TMZ reports that talks fell through and no agreement was reached. That means that, for now, she will not be able to see them. The tabloids reported this week that she does talk to them on the phone, but at that age it’s not much. Maybe she can arrange for K-Fed to set up a webcam so she can see them at least, if she wants to.

Britney has been under her father’s supervision by court order, and has hired a new lawyer to help her fight her dad’s conservatorship, claiming that it violates her civil rights. She is trying to get her conservatorship case moved from LA County to Federal court. Her new lawyer, who may not be recognized by the court because she technically doesn’t have the right to hire her own attorney as that is reserved for her conservator, says that “These are issues of confinement. Very serious confinement. Not allowed to contact her friends. Not allowed to use the phone. Not allowed to come and go as you please. Bodyguards controlling you and so forth.”

Britney looks like she’s doing moderately better, and was seen going out for sushi on Monday night. She even gave the paps a crotch shot, just like the old days.

I don’t know what the solution could be for this woman other than being cared for by her father until she is stable enough to take baby steps on her own. She doesn’t seem able to care for herself, and she was the victim of someone who was drugging her food, denying access to her cars and phones, and by some accounts stealing her money. Now her father is making sure that she stays safe and isn’t taken advantage of, and that requires some confinement. She’s not mentally stable, so it seems like her options are continuing to have someone monitor her, or going to a mental hospital. If she gets full control of her affairs back at this point it doesn’t seem like it would bode well for her.

Britney is shown out for sushi on Monday night. I’ll spare you more crotch shots, but she definitely wasn’t wearing flesh-colored panties.

Few word combinations scare me more than “Britney Spears” and “kids.” Perhaps “hatchets,” “kidnappers,” “machetes,” “wells,” and “swiftly moving rivers” - but that’s it. And Britney Spears is just as dangerous to kids as all those other things, and there is absolutely no exaggeration there. Really the only way she could be more dangerous to a kid is if Britney Spears used a hatchet and/or machete to kidnap a kid, tossed the weapons down a well and then jumped with the kid into a swiftly moving river. But the next most dangerous thing would be if Britney were to teach a children’s dance class. And while no one in their right mind would give Britney Spears a hatchet or a machete right now, apparently plenty of parents would give her access to their kids, which is just as dangerous.

For some random and completely unexplainable reason, Britney was allowed to teach a dance class to seven kids at the Millennium Dance Complex yesterday. Yeah, remember those horrible pictures? That’s what she wore to teach little kids. And according to Millennium’s owner Robert Baker, the kids just ate it up. Or were terrified into lying.

Britney looked happy and upbeat, he said. Madonna’s “Material Girl” and “True Blue” were part of her play list. Britney led the class in “her favorite brown cowboy boots, fishnet stockings, a red short skirt, and a bluish greenish top that hangs down past her skirt.”

“She worked out this great little routine for them, they were dancing all over the place, she had them dancing in a circle like a choo-choo train,” he said. “The kids loved it- they are having a ball right now. And Britney- she’s just drinking it up. She’s totally enjoying herself. It’s an amazing class- she and the kids are certainly enjoying the process.”

Parents for the seven kids waited outside while she taught. A little girl, who took the class, gushed, “We had so much fun. Britney was wearing little red shorts and she looked so pretty” as she and her mother headed to their car.

“Britney’s telling me that she likes this so much that she’s thinking about making it a regular thing, possibly every other week. She loves to interact with the kids, and she feels that it’s important to give back to the dance community,” Baker said.

[From Us Weekly]

In related news, a man named Robert Baker lost all his worldly possessions after his dance studio, the Millennium Dance Complex, went out of business. Okay that’s not true yet, but give it time. Seriously, why would anyone align themselves with Britney Spears right now? Or worse, align your business with her? I hope to God those parents’ noses were plastered against the classroom window. If Britney Spears got within a hundred yards of my hypothetical kids, I would commit all sorts of violent acts against her. Which is why it’s a good thing my kids are hypothetical. What kind of parents would let their kid spend time with someone who’s been committed to a mental hospital twice in a month? Who took her own kid hostage? Who speaks in a British accent for no reason, and who, when she gets lost, just jumps out of her car and tells photographers to drive her home? A crazy person, that’s who. Do we let crazy people around impressionable little kids? No. Especially when they’re wearing this outfit.

The past two weeks have been pretty tragic in terms of unexpected deaths of young celebrity men. Between the death of Brad Renfro, 25, and Heath Ledger, 28, there’s been a lot of drama and sadness. Since Brad’s funeral, it’s come to light that he had a son, listed on in his obituary as “Y Renfro.” Us Weekly reports that Brad’s son’s name is Yamato, he’s four years old, and he lives in Japan with his mother. They also say Brad was seriously considering marrying Y’s mother, and had a longing for family.

… a week before his death he visited his family in Knoxville, Tennessee. “In other years, we had to babysit him,” his cousin Jesse Hasek told Us. “This time, he was like, ‘I’ve got it figured out.’ It was the happiest I’ve seen him.” In Knoxville, Renfro glowed about his 4-year-old son, Yamato, who lives in Japan full-time with his mom. (Yamato was “unplanned,” Hasek told Us, and his mother is “a friend he had over there.”)

“He asked me, ‘Do you think I should marry her? I like the feeling of family,’” Hasek recalled. “It crushed Brad that his kid lived on the other side of the world. He was saying, ‘I should bring them over permanently and be a part of their lives.’”

[From Us Weekly]

Us also reports that Brad’s roommates were letting him live with them rent free to help him stay off of drugs. They report that Samantha Pearson, Brad’s on-and-off girlfriend spoke with him 12 hours before his body was found, and said he was drunk. She said he was has happy and laughing, and she asked him to please be careful. Toxicology reports still aren’t back from the lab, so we have no official confirmation of how Renfro died. It sounds like he was in a bit of a two steps forward, one step back place in his life, but he was generally working on his issues. It’s a sad end for Brad and his family and especially his young son.