Dear Kid Whisperer,

As a retired elementary school teacher, I enjoy reading your column in the newspaper every weekend. I have noticed a common theme in your responses: Don’t punish students (for example by taking away their recess time) for exhibiting behaviors that are undesirable or attention seeking, but rather suggest replacement ...Read more

ATLANTA -- When my kids were young, I kept a stack of parenting books to consult on teething, toddler tantrums and bedtime routines. More often, however, I took my child-rearing questions to parents I met on the playground or in the neighborhood.

My own mother was no help. She had four children in proximity and always told me our early ...Read more

I am married to Mr. Security. We have an entire plastic tub full of timers. The lights in our house never burn brighter than when we are not home.

I typically spend the day before we go out of town packing. He spends the day setting up timers and reminding me what lights I can and can’t turn on.

The lamp in the family room is off limits. It ...Read more

Q. I served our country, had some serious things happen to me and just could not see through to the other side for years. I did not want to return home and met someone else. I hurt my wife and my family. That is something I live with every day, but I have no desire to reconcile. I try to take an active part in my children’s lives, but my ex ...Read more

MIAMI -- Leeann Parker got three things the moment she left prison after almost 20 years: a cool outfit, a hug from her 3-year-old grandson and a tote bag of new books.

Parker, who was incarcerated when her daughters were 5 and 9, said she entered Homestead Correctional Institution angry and bitter. At the end of August, with the help of a ...Read more

Ever since my wife, Sue, has been out of commission with an injured hand, which required surgery and has prevented her from performing important tasks like keeping me alive, I have had a whole laundry list of things to do.

At the top is — how did you ever guess? — laundry.

For the past 46 years, I have been a basket case when it comes to ...Read more

CHICAGO -- Glenda Rivera’s teenage son was shot while walking just across the street from his high school in Chicago's Hermosa neighborhood.

Rivera’s son survived. But eight years later, when her daughter enrolled in the same school, Rivera felt that she needed to do something to protect the children in her neighborhood from violence on ...Read more

Last year was exciting for The Garden Guy as I became introduced to a plant called Estrellita Little Star. The name is neat to me as Estrellita actually means Little Star. While that might sound redundant it also sounds like a profound introduction: This beautiful flower is Estrellita…. Little Star. It is like Spanish and English celebrating ...Read more

COLUMBIA, S.C. -- Columbia’s Main Street bustles with state employees walking to lunch, students shuffling in and out of their apartments, visiting relatives, prospective hires, panhandlers, landscapers and more. Tim Sease makes sure whatever is happening, it’s happening on time.

Almost every week for the last 50 years, Sease has been at ...Read more

PHILADELPHIA -- Dwayne Fair has to be careful about sitting on the steps outside his North Philadelphia house.

Someone is likely to walk by and ask him for help fixing something around their home. But he loves it.

“I don’t mind helping nobody,” said Fair, 60, building manager for the union hall of Philadelphia’s largest city worker ...Read more

MIAMI – Every Saturday morning without fail, siblings Joshua, Ava, and David Martoma used to wake up before sunrise, get dressed and pile into their mom’s car to drive down to the Federal Correctional Institution in southwest Miami-Dade to visit with their father in prison. They would often spend the ride asleep in the back seat.

The family...Read more

Last week, a group of students from Decatur High School in Georgia narrowly escaped a tragedy. The students were almost hit by a car when they neglected to do one of the most important things their parents probably taught them to do — look both ways before crossing the street.

The reason? They were all looking down at their phones.

An ...Read more

PHILADELPHIA — J. Jhondi Harrell, the founder and executive director of the Center for Returning Citizens (TCRC), remembers life before food stamps.

When he was 12, his father, a long-distance truck driver, had a heart attack. That was in 1967, and the family's economic well-being plummeted as his mother became the sole provider. To help make...Read more

Your ex’s birthday is coming up, and you’re sitting there with your phone in hand, debating whether to send that little “Happy Birthday” text ... and, of course, which emoji to go with it. It seems harmless, right? Maybe even polite. And I get it. You want to show that you still care and remember the important things.

But, often, the ...Read more

Dear Anna,

I'm a 29-year-old bisexual woman. My girlfriend (30) and I have been together for almost two years, and we recently moved in together. I love her deeply, but I’ve noticed that she’s always on her phone — whether we’re watching TV, having dinner or just hanging out in bed. I’ve tried to brush it off, telling myself it's no ...Read more

CHICAGO — Ever since Chuck Blatt got divorced 14 years ago, he’s established a routine with his daughters — visits and dinners on Wednesdays, Fridays and every other weekend. But this year, it started to significantly change when both women went away to college, his youngest for her freshman year at the Chicago College of Performing Arts. ...Read more

Dear Kid Whisperer,

Our 11-year-old nephew is spoiled, entitled, rude and disrespectful to both young and old family members. Family gatherings have become very stressful and tense due to him refusing to eat at certain times, refusing to greet adults, punching family members, interrupting adult conversations and generally being completely out ...Read more

Whoever first coined the phrase, "It's nothing big, it's everything small," was ahead of the times.

I think about that every time I pause over AI, A1 and Al.

Depending on whether you read that sentence in serif type (letters with slabs on the end of strokes) or sans serif type (no slabs), you may or may not have read it correctly.

The first ...Read more

Q. I have lived alone since my husband’s passing six years ago. Over those six years, I have grown very close to my grandson who is now 7. When he sleeps over, he likes to sleep in my bed. I recently met a man who I care for very much and he occasionally sleeps over. My grandson has met him and seems to like him, but he has never slept over ...Read more