Young Child
Talking to Young Kids About the Current Events
A mom to a kindergartner is asking whether she needs to start talking to her kids about current events now that her child has started school?
Big Kid
When Justice Isn’t Served, What Do You Tell Your Teens?
Recent events in the news are enough to make a rational person want to secede from the human race. How can we make this a learning opportunity for our teens?
Baby
Swaddling & SIDS: A Common Sense Look at “That Study”
Has a new study REALLY established a link between swaddling and SIDS? Let’s ignore the scary headlines and take a deeper look.
Your Life
Travel & Parental Separation Anxiety
A mom will be separated from her toddler while on a business trip for the first time. She can’t seem to put out her concerns and fears, about being away from her child, out of her head. What can she do about this parental separation anxiety?
Health & Safety
Lavender Oil, Revisited
Amalah explains the evolution of her change in personal opinion regarding her once safety-focused concern on lavender oil in children’s personal care products.
Health & Safety
No, You Cannot Play Football
Having moved recently to a new neighborhood, football has been on Amalah’s mind and she shares her recent thoughts about her young kids playing contact sports.
Pregnancy
Is It Safe? Hot Yoga During Pregnancy
A reader asks whether it is safe to continue practicing hot yoga now that she’s pregnant.
Big Kid
How To Handle The “Bad” Girlfriend
A reader is worried her young teen son’s girlfriend is a bad influence; there’s lots to unpack, here, but I give it my best shot.
Health & Safety
It’s a Miracle Any Of Them Live To Adulthood
We’ve all missed an illness or worse-than-we-realized injury in our little kids, but does it stop happening when they get older? Not exactly. At least we’re not alone.
Health & Safety
Tell Me How To Feel About: THE LEASH
Kids on leashes. Probably one of the top parenting choices all but guaranteed to earn you some judge-y side-eye or comments from strangers, even more so than say, breast- or bottle-feeding in public.
Health & Safety
A Realistic Checklist to Picking a Pediatrician
I still distinctly remember the rising anxiety I experienced throughout my first pregnancy as the deadline for choosing a pediatrician approached. It felt, at the time, like choosing a pediatrician was my very first major decision as a parent and thus my first opportunity to get it completely wrong. I didn’t though, and neither will you.
Big Kid
How To Help When Far-Away Family Is In Crisis
Today’s query asks if being far away means a concerned aunt can’t help her nephew, and my answer is that she can help more than she thinks.
Health & Safety
Potty All the Time: Overactive Bladder in Preschoolers
A well potty-trained young child has an overactive bladder during the day which the doctor says is anxiety related. However, the problem is getting worse and the parents more concerned.
Health & Safety
Babyproofing Your Home
Our new-to-us house is one big adventure zone for my 2 year old. Babyproofing is at the top of my current to-do list. Here are my five top tips.
Big Kid
Figuring Out Mental Health Care For Teens In Crisis
How does a parent navigate the health system to get a mentally ill teen the help they need? It’s hard, but not impossible. Get the support you need and keep going.
Health & Safety
The HPV Vaccine: Separating Myth From Fact
A mom is trying to understand the information out there about the HPV vaccine and whether she should vaccinate her tween son.
Big Kid
A Driving Contract For Teens
We’ve been talking a lot about teaching your teen to drive ’round here, lately, and so we thought it might be a useful thing to come up with a sample template of parent-teen driving agreement.
Health & Safety
Fighting Cultural Food Wars
An expat mom is trying to avoid power struggles with her family-by-marriage and now toddler son (too) over the amount and regularity of sweets and unhealthy foods being served in her new and adopted home country.
Products & Services
Five Great Sunscreens for Sensitive Skin
Amalah shares her favorites sunscreen choices for sensitive skin, just in time for summer.
Postpartum
Sex After a C-Section: What’s “Normal?”
A postpartum mom is now experiencing pain and other symptoms after sex and wants to know if this is normal after a c-section or whether this is something she should be more concerned about.