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teens

Writing my college essay, thirty years later

cheerful women celebrating outside of a bujilding
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Your friends from college may be the best you ever have, guard those relationships like gold. By Francie Arenson Dickman

November 22, 2017 Obstacles, Parenting Challenges

Is it okay for my 14-year-old son to hug me all the time?

mother polar bear cuddling her baby
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Catherine Newman’s not-so-ordinary advice column for the parents of teens.

October 30, 2017 Parenting Advice

Do I send my troubled teen to a wilderness program?

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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

October 19, 2017 Parenting Challenges

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

Chased by a tiger: my son’s ADHD diagnosis

painting of a tiger walking
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My son’s fight or flight mechanism often shut out his ability to function. I was devastated I had not been able to help him. By Jill Dyer

October 12, 2017 Parenting Challenges

Yes, we might be overparenting, but it’s not all bad

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Not everything modern parents are doing is backfiring: our kids are tolerant, empowered and closer to us than ever. By Mary Janevic

September 28, 2017 Culture

The day my stepson said I love you

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Already in love with the boy’s father, I wanted to build something special with his son too.
By Hillary Vaillancourt

September 7, 2017 Family, Parenting Challenges

As my kids turn sixteen, reflections on the then and now

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At the onset of adulthood we are, in so many ways, revisiting the days of infancy.
By Francie Arenson Dickman  

August 29, 2017 Family

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

My daughter’s anxiety has grown with her

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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

August 15, 2017 Parenting Challenges

When the younger sibling is left behind

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Our family square is about to become a triangle and I’m not sure my son will be ready for it.
By Randi Olin

July 31, 2017 Family, Parenting Challenges

When I first realized my daughter has an eating disorder

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She slid into anorexia at 16. She stopped smiling. She ignored her friends. She counted almonds.
By Amy Rumizen

July 12, 2017 Parenting Challenges

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

Top surgery “show and tell” with my transgender son

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He’s passing as a boy now—as long as he binds his breasts.
By Katrin Grace

May 11, 2017 Culture, Family, Obstacles

The blurred boundaries of mothering an addict

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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

April 26, 2017 Parenting Challenges

Motherhood and Waiting: from boys to men

watercolor sketch of two men walking with their arms around each other
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All the years of doing and hoping, praying and sculpting—you wait to see if it worked.
By Lisa Romeo

April 11, 2017 Family

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

Why politics matters to me in the college selection process

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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

February 14, 2017 Culture, Parenting Challenges

When older siblings don’t want to play anymore

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My daughter loves her little brother dearly, it’s just that she’s outgrown him.
By Elizabeth Maria Naranjo

February 9, 2017 Family

Gen-X moms, it’s time to rise up

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We will fight, my daughters and I. In our black stretch pants and pink pussy hats, we will take our stand.
By Francie Arenson Dickman

January 30, 2017 Culture

The boring tragedies of parenthood

Sketch of ancient women in a row holding onto each other
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I am shocked still by the parenting moments that break my heart.
By Catherine Newman

October 27, 2016 Family, Parenting Challenges

Learning to be a worrier mom from afar

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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

October 25, 2016 Family, Parenting Challenges

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