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teens

My battle with anorexia is my mother’s battle too

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I tell my mom I’m eating everything I’m supposed to. But she sees through this immediately. By Allison Richards

November 5, 2018 Parenting Challenges

You are not your college admission essay

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My daughter is trapped inside, trying to make admissions counselors she doesn’t know fall in love with her. By Sandra A. Miller

October 11, 2018 Parenting Advice

Finding a “teachable moment” in the Kavanaugh hearings

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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

September 26, 2018 Culture

After 18 years of parenting, what does it mean to be a good mother?

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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

September 26, 2018 Family

Teens and drugs, but not my kid?

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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

September 18, 2018 Parenting Challenges

On reminding our kids to be kind

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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

September 6, 2018 Parenting Challenges

Sitting in the waiting room of the pediatrician with my teens

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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

August 27, 2018 Family

Perspective | I let my adult children live at home

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Why is living in mom’s basement such a terrible thing? By Fara Nizamani

August 20, 2018 Family

On separation, running, and the college drop-off

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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

August 14, 2018 Family

Will I still make my banana bread when my nest is empty?

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Parenting isn’t like baking. The ingredients you mix together aren’t the same with each kid. By Randi Olin

June 20, 2018 Family

What parents need to know about social media and anxiety

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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

May 28, 2018 Parenting Advice

Perspective | Thank you, Donald Trump, for making my teenager care

Graffiti fist on brick wall
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Some lessons about social justice, no matter how terrible, are better learned by living than by lecture. By Francie Arenson Dickman

May 1, 2018 Culture, Family

My son chose comedy instead of college

empty stand-up comedy stage
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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

April 19, 2018 Family, Parenting Challenges

The very last bath of childhood

two little boys covered in bath-time bubbles
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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

April 18, 2018 Family

Raising a black activist in a mother’s white world

colorful handprints
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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

March 28, 2018 Culture, Parenting Challenges

My daughter is on her semester abroad, so why do we talk every day?

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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

March 8, 2018 Culture, Family

Learning how to let your teens motivate themselves

pencil sketch "The Self-Driven Child"
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Coming to peace with the reality that you can’t make your kid do things is actually liberating. By William Stixrud and Ned Johnson

March 2, 2018 Books, Parenting Challenges

What can I do about my teen messing up at school?

confused snoopy sitting at a school desk
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Catherine Newman offers advice to a grandmother, who is raising her 15-year-old grandson, about the reality of teenagers and conflict.

February 26, 2018 Parenting Advice

How to talk to our sons about guns and aggression

fortnite battle scene
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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

February 22, 2018 Culture

Can’t we just say no to overscheduling our kids?

Children's legs in ballerina stance wearing ballerina slipper and traditional sneaker
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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

February 1, 2018 Culture, Parenting Challenges

When three steps on the crosswalk saved my daughter’s life

grayscale young girl running across a crosswalk
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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

January 25, 2018 Parenting Challenges

The day my daughter told us her disability is love

Love painted in white lettering on wooden panels
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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

January 17, 2018 Parenting Challenges

What can I do about my tween’s snotty tone?

Caucasian man with speech bubble
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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!

January 9, 2018 Parenting Advice

How to realize your son is not lazy

Boy wearing rolled up blue-jeans and navy converse sneakers resting in grass field
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Decades ago, boys who lacked motivation were called late bloomers. Today, we call them underachievers. By Adam Price

December 5, 2017 Books, Culture

What can I do to protect my teen from a toxic friendship?

two interlocking colorful hands
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Catherine Newman’s next installment of Motherwell’s not-so-ordinary advice column for the parents of teens.

November 28, 2017 Parenting Advice

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