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Dreamstime/Dreamstime/TNS

Editorial: Social media companies refuse to safeguard kids. It's up to lawmakers now

Parents / Parenting News /

From state capitols to Washington, D.C., lawmakers are scrambling to come up with regulations that can protect kids from the potential harms of social media, since the platforms have been unwilling to adopt reasonable safeguards themselves.

In just the last few months, Florida passed a law banning children under 14 from having a social media ...Read more

Dreamstime/Dreamstime/TNS

Lori Borgman: Students turn the table at home-school

Parents / Mom's Advice /

When our kids were young, I briefly considered home schooling. Then I was teaching our son to play piano, found myself with the John Thompson Book for Beginners rolled up in my hand, ready to swat him on the arm, and realized I was not home-school material.

We paid a neighbor for piano lessons. She taught all the kids in the neighborhood and ...Read more

Lee Avison/Dreamstime/TNS

Ex-etiquette: Exes at odds in the wedding party

Parents / Family Living /

Q: My sister is getting married, and her fiance has asked my ex to be his best man. My ex and I don't get along very well and I have asked her fiance to reconsider many times, but he refuses to consider how I might feel. I am also in the wedding party as well as my two children, ages 10 and 12. Plus, there are other former couples who are ...Read more

Groom Hopes To Build Life-Long Relationship

Parents / Focus on the Family /

Q: My bride-to-be and I are getting married in a couple of months. We want to have a solid, life-long relationship, so we're asking various people for advice. What's your perspective?

Jim: We all enter marriage wanting a loving relationship that will thrive and endure. So, I commend you for asking how you can actually experience that kind of ...Read more

Parents Need -- And Have -- The Right To Make Mistakes

Parents / Georgia Garvey /

Do parents have the right to make a mistake?

That's the question at hand when we talk about medication and surgery for gender dysphoria in children. But it's not an issue that begins when kids enter puberty. Parents start making high-stakes medical decisions, ones that have lifelong consequences, virtually the moment their children are born. ...Read more

The 7 Habits of Highly Effective Toddlers

Parents / Lenore Skenazy /

Face it: a head start is a head start.

Parents know this -- and so do their toddlers. Underage overachievers can't afford to wait till kindergarten. They need to grab the cat by the tail. Savvy publishers, awakening to this huge (if pre-literate) market are busy preparing the very first self-help books for preschoolers. Some bestsellers in the ...Read more

Dreamstime/Dreamstime/TNS

Indoctrination and gender ideology: A look at Moms for Liberty's claims about NC schools

Parents / Mom's Advice /

RALEIGH, N.C. — National and local leaders of Moms for Liberty came to Raleigh this week to promote a message that parents have to fight against indoctrination of their children by public schools.

Panelists at the Town Hall voiced concerns on issues such as a rise in school crime and teacher turnover and the difficulties of parents getting ...Read more

Bernard Walsh/Universal Pictures/Universal Pictures/GETTY/TNS

Family guide to new movie releases

Parents / Parenting News /

'ABIGAIL'

Rated R for strong bloody violence and gore throughout, pervasive language and brief drug use.

What it’s about: A team of kidnappers tasked with guarding a young hostage in an isolated mansion discover that they're locked in with a vampire.

The kid attractor factor: This is a horror film for adults, not kids.

Good lessons/bad ...Read more

DREAMSTIME/TNS

Lori Borgman: Took the bait, hook, line and sinker

Parents / Mom's Advice /

I took the bait and I'm not even embarrassed to say what the bait was.

It was a fishing scam. Not trout, bass, anything you throw back in the water, or cook on the grill -- fishing with a "ph." Phishing.

Phishing is when online fraudsters try to scam you out of money by enticing you to open an email or text without first checking the web ...Read more

Victorass88/Dreamstime/TNS

Ex-etiquette: When kids share a room ...

Parents / Family Living /

Q. My 12-year-old daughter recently told me her 11-year-old stepbrother tried to kiss her before he went to bed the other night. She was already asleep, and they share a room. We gently confronted him, and he admitted to it, but he was very embarrassed, and my daughter is mortified. My husband and I have only been married six months and we moved...Read more

TNS

Rockstar’s vulnerable, transformative journey from debauchery to redemption

Parents / Mom's Advice /

The subtitle for Ben Mason’s memoir "Sex, Trucks, and Rock ‘N Roll" is “a Spiritual Journey,” but that’s much too tidy for this book. “ It’s four in the morning,” starts chapter one, “ and I’m still wired.”

So starts this headstrong story of the life of a musician, songwriter and free-thinking drummer. Every girl wants to ...Read more

Carl Juste/Miami Herald/TNS

The voucher effect? South Florida Catholic schools see more kids, even waiting lists

Parents / Mom's Advice /

MIAMI -- Helped by an influx of new Floridians, and boosted by the state’s newly expanded voucher system, Catholic schools in South Florida are seeing steady growth and even adding new classrooms. That’s in stark contrast to what’s going on in the public schools, particularly in Broward County, which faces tough decisions on closing entire...Read more

Alejandro A. Alvarez/The Philadelphia Inquirer/TNS

A DNA test revealed Matt Katz was conceived by a sperm donor. His mother had no idea

Parents / Parenting News /

PHILADELPHIA -- Matt Katz wanted to know where his Jewish ancestors once lived in Eastern Europe, so in 2016 he spit into a plastic vial and mailed in his DNA test. He expected to be 100% Ashkenazi Jewish.

Instead, he learned that half his DNA came from Ireland. He was shocked, but perhaps more jarring, so was his mother. She confirmed through ...Read more

The Search For A Healthy Work/Life Balance

Parents / Focus on the Family /

Q: Between work, parenting, and just life in general, I feel totally swamped most of the time. Trying to take a day off doesn't seem to help. What can I do?

Jim: Some years ago, I crashed my motorcycle and broke my ankle. I hunkered down to recover at home, cancelled trips and tried to enjoy the extra time with family. But one event that I didn...Read more

IVF: The New Republican Nail for Their 'Pro-Life' Hammer

Parents / Georgia Garvey /

My husband and I started trying to have children when I was 33.

I was older than some first-time moms I knew, but I was also younger than plenty others. My husband and I were both healthy, and there was no reason to suspect we'd have trouble conceiving. In fact, I was so confident of our success that for my birthday that first year, I asked ...Read more

Dreamstime/Dreamstime/TNS

Lawsuit accusing NC of warehousing foster kids in psych facilities survives challenge

Parents / Parenting News /

CHARLOTTE, N.C. — A lawsuit accusing North Carolina officials of unnecessarily warehousing foster children in locked psychiatric facilities has survived the Department of Health and Human Services’ effort to dismiss the case.

The federal complaint contends that the North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services discriminates against...Read more

A24/TNS

Family guide to new movie releases

Parents / Parenting News /

'CIVIL WAR'

Rated R for strong violent content, bloody/disturbing images, and language throughout.

What it’s about: A team of photojournalists capture the front lines of a war raging in the United States while traveling from New York to Washington, D.C.

The kid attractor factor: This is a serious, violent, adult drama. Not much appeal for ...Read more

Ampack/Dreamstime/TNS

Ex-etiquette: Accepting differences

Parents / Family Living /

Q: My girlfriend and I moved in together about 4 months ago. We both have sons about the same age. They are nothing alike and it’s really difficult for her—and me--because she compares the boys all the time and it makes it very uncomfortable. For example, her son is very athletic, mine is not. He prefers to draw and she has out and out said ...Read more

Vladimir Voronin/Dreamstime/TNS

Lori Borgman: Conversations are growing ear-resistible

Parents / Mom's Advice /

My husband and I have experienced some hearing loss. The most frequently heard word at our house is "WHAT!?"

More pressing than our physical hearing loss is our selective hearing loss, something that happens to couples who have been married a long time.

Just the other day, the husband was working on his laptop at the kitchen table with his ...Read more

Wei Chuan Liu/Dreamstime/TNS

Bright outdoor light at night may increase stroke risk

Parents / Mom's Advice /

Too much exposure to bright outdoor lights at night may increase a person's stroke risk, new research suggests.

The study involved more than 28,000 people living in a large city in China. Researchers found that people exposed to the highest levels of artificial outdoor light at night had a 43% increased risk of developing cerebrovascular ...Read more