Quarantine has forced me to turn off my snowplow parenting, otherwise I’d spend my entire day cleaning. By Andrea Askowitz
teens
Even though he’s grown, my son’s hugs mean more to me now than they ever have. By Dawn Gerber
She thinks when I say things like “balanced diet” what I really mean is “don’t eat sugar, it’ll make you fat.” By Lizabeth Sjaastad
In the Before Time, I wouldn’t have allowed Call of Duty in our house, much less allowed him to play it for hours on end. By Deborah Williams
What if you are the best mother you can be and it’s still not enough to save your child? What if one mistake is the fatal bite? By Lauren Weiss
In our household, my children are allowed to eat with a good book or their tablet. I don’t expect them to talk. By Tania Lorena Rivera
Where once I was gatherer, now I am hunter. Acquiring food to feed my family has taken on new significance. By Susannah Q. Pratt
How, my girls wonder, can they live a big life if they can’t get out of the gate? I feel for them. By Francie Arenson Dickman
Every night this family of five sits down together to watch a movie. Rotating who picks, no opting out. By Daisy Alpert Florin
When children feel pressured to perform well in the public realm, they have a hard time recognizing what really matters to them. By Dr. Madeline Levine
We’ve had a rough time lately in ways that go beyond the ordinary awkward de-nesting of middle school. By Annie O’Brien
We are a generation of parents who micromanage our children’s safety. And yet, despite the very real fear of death, we keep sending them to school. By Francie Arenson Dickman
As parents of older kids, socializing with other moms was apparently no longer part of the job description. By Anne Helena
Did my son really need a backpack every time he left the house? By Sherri Sacconaghi
Our bond is like entangled particles—if he feels something in his heart, I feel it too, instantaneously. By Darcie Whelan Kortan
I want my son to see the value in committing to something because it’s beautiful and worthwhile, not because he’s certain to succeed. By Daisy Alpert Florin
Be bold. The book you suggest could save a kid’s life. By Melissa Hart
I now hear regularly about girls who are so fearful of disappointing their teachers that they skip sleep to do extra-credit work for points they don’t need. By Lisa Damour
I wanted to believe that bringing teenagers into our life would make it easier to let them go. I was wrong. By Meredith Gordon Resnick
This has become our routine: reliving each event point by point, trying to trigger a memory. By Amy Roost
College counselor and admissions expert, Sara Harberson, offers valuable insight into the nitty gritty of the application process.
I tell my mom I’m eating everything I’m supposed to. But she sees through this immediately. By Allison Richards
My daughter is trapped inside, trying to make admissions counselors she doesn’t know fall in love with her. By Sandra A. Miller
I’ve always told my sons that “boys will be boys” is neither a license nor an excuse. To hear that rhetoric used to erase Christine Ford’s allegations makes me want to scream. By Deborah Lindsay Williams
When it was time to walk away—leaving my son there and a part of my life behind—I didn’t have any regrets. By Randi Olin