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teenagers

My 16-year-old had to make medical decisions on his own. I was shocked.

IV drip pole against blue background
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Whisking him off to surgery without even a mention to his parents seemed a premature exit from the cocoon of childhood. By Lauren Apfel

October 14, 2021 Parenting Challenges

Q&A: Motherwell talks to best-selling author Jessica Lahey

Book cover of The Addiction Inoculation
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Her new book offers an honest and straightforward guide for preventing substance abuse in children.

April 7, 2021 Books

I have a trans teen. This is why it’s hard right now to be a Harry Potter fan.

harry potter glasses on cloak
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It’s a shock that J.K. Rowling—one of our family’s champions—has chosen to deny the very existence of our child. By Carrie Goldman

September 15, 2020 Culture, Parenting Challenges

Excerpt: How to help your teen be a (functioning) person

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Catherine Newman’s wonderful new book offers a guide to 65 hugely useful, super-important skills for teens and tweens.

May 19, 2020 Books, Culture, Family

What is your biggest parenting challenge right now?

Close up of hands covered with blue, yellow and gray paint
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We asked, you answered. In three words.

May 9, 2019 Family, Parenting Challenges

On the anniversary of my friend’s son’s death

Close up on shiny black stones with a green leafy sprout coming from the ground beneath
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I sent you a bowl of black stones because of the hardness of loving a child for exactly who he is. By Brianne DeRosa

January 24, 2019 Parenting Challenges

The last pause of motherhood

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It’ll only occur to me months later, in the flurry of taking you to college, that this was the quiet part before the big crescendo. By Jennifer Niesslein

January 11, 2018 Family

When somebody says stop, you stop

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I’m raising two boys. And I am conscious of raising them to be people who hear and respond to the word “no.” By Brianne DeRosa

October 18, 2017 Culture, Parenting Advice

Does my teen need a label for her sexual orientation?

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Maybe she will meet the “right” guy or girl. Maybe she will never be interested in sex.
By Melanie Lopez

September 12, 2017 Culture

The unfeathering of the nest as my son leaves for college

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I want him out in the world. But this process—the leaving process—is excruciating.
By Emily Franklin

August 24, 2017 Family

Sex-ed for kindergarteners? Yes, please

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The sooner a child has a framework to understand the nature of healthy relationships, the better.
By Lauren Apfel

July 6, 2017 Culture

If I divorce her dad, will she still be family?

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I could not teach my stepdaughter, this girl so quickly becoming a woman, that to stay was always right.
By Katie Gutierrez

June 20, 2017 Parenting Challenges

Night walks with my teens (who are about to leave me)

multi-colored geometric drawing of a couple walking at the end of tree-lined avenue
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I wish the kids could stay this age forever—on the cusp of leaving, but never leaving—only I know it would not end well. By Catherine Newman

May 30, 2017 Family

What Jennifer Senior thinks we need to be happier parents

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The author of All Joy and No Fun talks to Motherwell about parental anxiety, adolescence, and what she regrets about her bestselling book.
By Rebecca Gale

April 20, 2017 Books

What happened when my daughter and I stopped straightening our hair

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For black women, wearing our hair in its natural state was—and still is, to some extent—considered defiant.
By Margaret Auguste

March 30, 2017 Culture

Dress codes: who gets to decide what a girl should wear?

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Leggings, spaghetti straps, midriff shirts—what’s the harm? Motherwell’s cultural conversation with parenting experts Lisa Damour, Jessica Lahey, and Peggy Orenstein.

March 27, 2017 Culture

Mourning how quickly my tween is growing up

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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

March 20, 2017 Family

My teenage daughter is refusing the HPV vaccine

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The doctor finally looked at me and said, “We can’t hold her down. She’s sixteen.”
By Laurie Lichtenstein

March 13, 2017 Parenting Challenges
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