I tell my mom I’m eating everything I’m supposed to. But she sees through this immediately. By Allison Richards
teens
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
I caught you with drugs today. I picked up your little glass pipe. It felt like a bomb in my hand. Boom. By Rica Lewis
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
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
Why is living in mom’s basement such a terrible thing? By Fara Nizamani
Nothing would be exactly the same again. I was inconsolable, even though the university’s family day was only a month away. By Dina Elenbogen
Parenting isn’t like baking. The ingredients you mix together aren’t the same with each kid. By Randi Olin
Ask your kid to give you a tour of their social media world. Add it to the “wellness checks” you may already do. By Caroline Knorr
Some lessons about social justice, no matter how terrible, are better learned by living than by lecture. By Francie Arenson Dickman
I decided to stop asking Austin about his plan. I decided to stop suggesting pathways and careers to him, as if I were a marketing director of adulthood. By Ann marie Houghtailing
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
I don’t want to mess this up. I live in fear of being seen as a privileged person with an accessory on my arm. By Jenn O’Connor
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
Catherine Newman offers advice to a grandmother, who is raising her 15-year-old grandson, about the reality of teenagers and conflict.
My son plays Fortnite. I’m not worried he will grow up to be violent because of it; I’m worried how the toxic masculinity it portrays affects us all. By Sharon Holbrook
I’m not sure when doing nothing after school fell out of favor. As a kid, I was a pro at nothing. We all were. By Francie Arenson Dickman
For what seems like a single frame of the video, I see my child silhouetted in the lights of the oncoming car. By Ian Smith
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 answers this question (and more!) in her next installment of Motherwell’s advice column for the parents of teens. Her kids weigh in too!
Decades ago, boys who lacked motivation were called late bloomers. Today, we call them underachievers. By Adam Price
Catherine Newman’s next installment of Motherwell’s not-so-ordinary advice column for the parents of teens.