When my son was 11 he told me, “I wish I wasn’t autistic. It would be easier to make friends.” By Joanne De Simone
parenting teens
The toddler parents were looking at me in wonder, as if they couldn’t believe their children would ever be old enough to go into the exam room alone. By Deborah Lindsay Williams
Parenting isn’t like baking. The ingredients you mix together aren’t the same with each kid. By Randi Olin
I can’t imagine a time without children in my house, just as one month ago I could not imagine an evening without bath time. By Kelli Kirk
Yes, I am enjoying a front row seat to my daughter’s semester in Cape Town. But I still wonder whether all this technology is giving us too much access to our kids. By Randi Olin
Coming to peace with the reality that you can’t make your kid do things is actually liberating. By William Stixrud and Ned Johnson
I’m terrified that my teenager, who has Down syndrome, won’t ever find real love—and also that she will, but that it won’t be the right kind. By Amy Silverman
Catherine Newman’s not-so-ordinary advice column for the parents of teens.
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
At the onset of adulthood we are, in so many ways, revisiting the days of infancy.
By Francie Arenson Dickman
I want him out in the world. But this process—the leaving process—is excruciating.
By Emily Franklin
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
Our family square is about to become a triangle and I’m not sure my son will be ready for it.
By Randi Olin
She slid into anorexia at 16. She stopped smiling. She ignored her friends. She counted almonds.
By Amy Rumizen
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
All the years of doing and hoping, praying and sculpting—you wait to see if it worked.
By Lisa Romeo
The swings she used to ride are still moving, but she’s long gone, and I realize it’s only the wind.
By Robin L. Flanigan
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
Our no cursing rule is one way I maintain the boundary between child and adult.
By Lisa Sadikman
I am shocked still by the parenting moments that break my heart.
By Catherine Newman
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
Why do so many kids have tutors? Are the placement requirements that lax or is everybody just trying to get a leg up?
By Francie Arenson Dickman
Peggy Orenstein’s Girls & Sex is a deftly executed, non-judgemental cultural commentary on the complexities of female adolescent sexuality.
By Lauren Apfel
Beyond the pillow fights and giggles, how can we make sure our kids will be safe when they sleep at a friend’s house? By Randi Olin