How Concerned Should We Be About Our Teens
I am raising three teenagers. Their behavior frustrates me. The risks they take terrify me. But a new Federal survey conducted among 50,000 teenagers shows that I’m dead wrong to be so amped up. Because today’s teens are actually far more mature and responsible than I was at their age. Here’s the good news for…
The Gift Of Play
When my siblings and I were kids growing up in Washington DC in the 1970s, afterschool activities meant playing kickball or exploring Battery Kemble Park with a few dozen other elementary school children, unsupervised by adults. Christmas presents for the luckiest families meant toys, books and stuffed animals. We never saw a flash card or…
Holiday Eating When Your Child Has An Eating Disorder
Turkey. Pumpkin pie. Hannukah gelt. Eggnog. Christmas cookies. Sounds delicious, right? Essential elements of holiday joy? Except when your child has an eating disorder. When you have a child with anorexia, bulimia, overeating or orthorexia, even ordinary meals are torture sessions. Your child gets anxious if you watch what they eat (or don’t eat) too…
A Campaign Promise We As Parents Can All Keep
The post-election news, social media, and our own minds are filled with shock, joy, outrage, anxiety and despair following the November 8th voting tally. Call volume to crisis hotlines Tuesday night was more than twice as high as past elections. But I’ve never known an election that had such a dramatic affect on kids. Everywhere…
I used to think I was a good mom.
Until my sweet 12-year-old daughter starting surreptitiously videotaping me with her phone. She chooses random, boring daily moments when Im not posing or even paying attention. And then she plays them back to me, her face deadpan, like a lawyer presenting irrefutable evidence to the Supreme Court justices. Me telling her (for the five hundredth time in one night) to brush her teeth before bed. Me explaining why I am, and any self-respecting female …