Circumcision really wasn’t a topic that came up much in my life until I was faced with the responsibility for making a decision about whether to cut my own child or not. How do you make a choice like this? It seems weird and incestuous to be contemplating the future sexual gratification of your unborn son.

The choice not to circumcise has become increasingly popular - you know, the way vegetarian meats have become popular - not that pork farmers have anything to worry about, but people don’t look at you sideways (as much) if you pack it (for lunch). There are even movements amongst Jews that are questioning--circumcision, not pork. Some say the originally prescribed circumcision was only meant to be the very tip of the foreskin and not the more severe version of circumcision today, which, they claim, is barbaric.

I run with the crowd that is fringe enough to consider not circumcising, but in the end not quite fringe enough to keep the fringe on their boys. The main reason seemed to be locker room phobia - not wanting their little peters to be made fun of. Considering that many men get castration anxiety if you so much as stare daggers at them, I was surprised that, it was the dads who seemed to lean more pro and the moms who had a hard time imagining inflicting any pain on their poor innocent Mr. Pickles.

A recent New York Times Magazine piece reported that doctors have confirmed that circumcision reduces the chances of a man contracting HIV by 60 percent. Tina Rosenberg makes the argument that this is as good as any vaccine we are ever likely to develop for the wily HIV virus.

What do the iPhone, Bennifer and a new playground have in common? A) They've revolutionized their fields (hmmm). B) They're curvy and sexy. C) People hang around them seemingly needlessly. D) They've created an absurdly overblown media frenzy. E) All of the above. If you haven't figured it out I'm making a joke about the new David Rockwell-designed playground that is set to be built by the South Street Seaport. It was a really funny joke, maybe you just didn't get it because you somehow missed the massive (for a playground) amount of press it's been getting. The New York Times alone printed two stories and a flurry of opinion pieces about it last week. David Rockwell is a really cool architect who has designed places like Nobu and sets for Cirque de Soleil. His thing is creating experiences--seems like a good fit for a playground. Apparently the dude moved to Lower Manhattan (I told you he was cool) and then had a kid and realized that there weren't really any playgrounds by his house. So, what do you do if you're a super cool, famous architect and there's no playground near your house? You offer to design a super cool one and the Parks Department and private donors (hopefully) line up to pay for it. So what's all the fuss about?

Dear Mommy Poppins:

When I come home from work I want to play with my three year old son, but I just don't know what to do with him. I feel terrible about it, but, while I'm a project manager at work, I can't manage the simple act of finding something to do with my kid.

Signed, Feeling Played

Dear Played,

It can really be a blow to your self-image as an ГѓВјber-parent to be sitting there staring at your child and wondering what in the world you could actually stand to do together. Especially when they're little, the days can seem very long and playing Power Rangers can get old fast.

The JCC is celebrating Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. and Coretta Scott King with performances by award-winning musicians, writers and dancers. Held at the Peter Norton Symphony Space, 2537 Broadway at 95th street. No advance registration; seating is limited. Doors open at 6 pm.

If you're a parent, you have too much stuff. It just goes with the territory. Toy passions come and go, but your apartment stays the same size. Time to purge. Face it, you're never going to make bread in that breadmaker; Tamagachis are so last year; and those horrible tapered jeans from the 80s--oh no, wait, those are back in.

Quality Time postings are dedicated to activities for spending time with your kids to make the most out of the limited, but amazing, time we have together.

The way I see, it there's basically two types of people: people who like opera and people who don't. One of those groups happens to be much, much, much, much, much larger than the other, but that's still how I like to break it down.