
Parenting Teenagers: The Wall and the Mason
The "Be a Wall" movement stems from the fact that being a teenaged girl sucks almost as much as trying to figure out how to raise one.

5 Things You Need to Know Before You Can Change Your Kid's Behavior
Before we can hope to change our kid’s behavior, we need to be aware of five things that explain why children act the way they do.

How to Help Your Kids Find Their Place in the World
It’s not enough to pick a college major simply because that was your best subject in high school.

5 Ways to Get Your Kids Focusing on Giving Rather Than Getting This Season
This is a submission in our monthly contest. November’s theme is Gratitude. Halloween wasn’t even over when our mailbox was getting stuffed with holiday catalogs. Before I could blink the kids were...

An Overprotective Parent Asks, "When Do You Know It's Time to Step in?"
Yep, I am one of those: I am an overprotective parent.

Why I Love TV Time With My Kids
Sometimes there aren’t two hours in the day for a family bike ride. But there are 30 minutes to watch a show and lazily connect with one another.

5 Rules for Foster Parents From One Who's Been There
Whether you have children of your own, you’re married, single, or you are just wanting to help out, fostering kids is a special kind of parenting.

How to Answer Big Questions About the Big Guy in Red
I have found a few easy answers that should quell your fears and keep the magic of Santa alive and well in your house for a long time.

Why We Love (and Need) Superheroes
There's no denying superheroes hare firmly rooting their place in American pop culture, and the love of them has never faded – it's only intensified.

Sending My Firstborn to Pre-K: a Mortality Exercise
If motherhood is total ecstasy and absolute despair felt in every cell of your body, then having a pre-kindergartener has been peak both for me.

Why I Won’t Tell My Kids “You’re Okay”
We have to do some guessing with these tiny humans who can’t yet tell us what’s wrong, but let’s not confuse this with telling them nothing is wrong.

Enjoy this time! Wait … THIS time? You mean like, right now?

Don’t waste money on overpriced, obnoxious baby toys. What babies really want are random, inanimate objects from around the house.

The Rainbow on Our Gratitude Tree
Last November, my little family began what I had hoped would be a new family tradition: a gratitude tree.
Why My Daughters Can Show Their Underwear If They Want To
My experience is the restrictions on girls’ lives don't arrive in the form of dramatic events, but in the accumulation of thousands of everyday interactions.

New Traditions Born After Spending Baby’s First Christmas in the Hospital
Something about being in kindred company at a children’s hospital on Christmas both humbled us and made us feel extremely grateful.

Finding My Shoes and Freeing Cinderella
Leafing through old albums, I am stirred by memories that evidence so many manifestations of myself: the student, musician, wife, writer, Mom.

Apparently, grizzlies are crap when it comes to the Daddy game. With a range of as much as 1,800 square miles, their biggest issue in this department appears to be absenteeism. Dad is always busy a...

This is a submission in our monthly contest. November’s theme is Gratitude. If you're like me, you overuse the phrase “I’m sorry.” I apologize for everything, at least I used to. I apologized for ...

Keeping Guilt in the Family: Why Parents Shouldn’t Toss out the Guilt
What is so good about guilt, and why I am the seemingly lone parent out there that thinks we shouldn’t banish guilt?
Notes From a Slacker Lunch Packer
Sometimes I scan the classroom at lunchtime to see if any other kid has a Ziploc baggie and I feel a pathetic sense of relief when I spot one.

The Simple Question That Brings Our Family Closer Every Single Night
Whether we find ourselves happy to be at that table, or barely able to look each other in the eye, at some point someone asks this question.

How Playing Favorites Among Your Kids May Play Out
Do you ever play favorites with your kids? Maybe you spend more time with one child, are more affectionate to one over another, give additional privileges to certain children, or discipline your ch...

10 Reasons I am Grateful for My Teenagers
In honor of Thanksgiving and the season of gratitude, here are 10 reasons I am grateful to be the parent of a teenager.