Your friends from college may be the best you ever have, guard those relationships like gold. By Francie Arenson Dickman
mental health
It was so much easier to ignore my own pounding heart amidst the turbulence when I was worrying about my son’s instead. By Lauren Apfel
I had spent the last sixteen years keeping my son safe and warm. Was I going to do just the opposite in an effort to help him? By Jeannette Sanderson
My son’s fight or flight mechanism often shut out his ability to function. I was devastated I had not been able to help him. By Jill Dyer
My confidence in myself as a parent, a wife, and a woman were badly shaken. I was a mess. By Diane Pomerantz
I wanted to laugh and not think about my mortality. I wanted to attend functions at my son’s school without a perfectly tied head scarf. By Kai McGee
As someone with a son dead because of heroin, I couldn’t look away.
By Bill Williams
We trot her out into the world, trying to help her gain confidence through exposure. But it only lasts for so long.
By Linda Pressman
I love my baby, but I miss my relationship with my husband terribly.
By Abigail Rasminsky
She slid into anorexia at 16. She stopped smiling. She ignored her friends. She counted almonds.
By Amy Rumizen
Kids—they break you wide open and expose parts you didn’t even know could feel pain.
By Katie Rose Guest Pryal
He’s passing as a boy now—as long as he binds his breasts.
By Katrin Grace
When you’re a parent, you have to believe that no matter what your child does or says they still deserve to be loved.
By Erika Sauter
I wait for sleep, for the fever to break, the tooth to fall out, the rash to go away.
By Zsofia McMullin
The doctor finally looked at me and said, “We can’t hold her down. She’s sixteen.”
By Laurie Lichtenstein
Nobody told me while my house was falling apart that eventually I would start to see clearly again.
By Lauren Apfel
None of the parents I know are copping to having a kid who is average.
By Christie Tate
I want my children to be part of a college community that is more in line with the ideologies of #Imwithher than #MAGA.
By Randi Olin
If actively fearing for your children’s safety is a natural instinct, my maternal hardwiring must be faulty. By Lauren Apfel
I had to step back and let her stand on her own two feet—even when she was shivering feverishly under the covers.
By Candy Schulman
I waited until my thirties to have kids, but there are still moments when my feelings don’t match my age.
By Ann Cinzar
After surgery, a mother comes to terms with the reality that a clean house is not the same as a loving home.
By Leslie Kendall Dye
Both my children hate being around me and water—I’m the parent whose urgent, borderline hysteria ruins all the fun.
By Christie Tate
Is it possible to love being a mom without knowing why?
By Christine Organ
A summer internship might help my daughter narrow down her career options, but I think she needs a break from the stress of her freshman year. By Randi Olin