Q: My 9-year-old has started calling my husband “Dad.” Her father is furious and corrects her every time she does it. He says she already has a dad and allowing this is disrespectful. I understand why it hurts his feelings, but she's very close to her stepfather. This was her choice. What do I tell her?

A: There’s a fine line we walk ...Read more

PHILADELPHIA — Amanda Parezo, a self-professed “beach bum,” can no longer get onto the sand or lay out a beach blanket on her own.

The loose grains are “just impossible to navigate through” in a wheelchair, she said.

Still, she seizes every opportunity to return to the Shore — an activity that has brought her healing since her ...Read more

CHICAGO -- Englewood neighborhood native Deniece Rogers didn’t celebrate her 2011 bachelor’s degree, or her 2015 master’s degree. But when she crossed the finish line with her doctorate, she threw a party for herself because “that one, she felt.”

At 75, the Near North Side resident earned her Doctorate of Philosophy in Educational ...Read more

It’s been more than three years since California was in a drought. Reservoirs are above average levels. A strong El Niño is brewing in the Pacific that could bring soaking storms this winter.

But there’s a new endangered species across the state: grass. A broad new water conservation law will soon take effect in phases, banning the ...Read more

If I am ever put on trial for committing crimes against journalism, a charge for which I am clearly guilty, I’d get off by pleading insanity. Besides, my lawyer is in jail.

Maybe that’s why I wasn’t selected when I was called — not once, but twice — for jury duty.

When I spoke with the commissioner of jurors for an explanation, I ...Read more

CHICAGO -- Mike Lang was mid-high-five when he heard a faint ping against the bow of his boat.

Then came a clunk, as his wedding ring dropped 27 feet to the bottom of Lake Michigan.

Lang, 44, had been watching the U.S. Air Force Thunderbirds perform in last month’s Chicago’s Air and Water Show from his boat, anchored about a mile and a ...Read more

LOS ANGELES — Gnocchi sits attentively on a Beverly Grove sidewalk with his owner, Julia Luke. Gnocchi wears a pink collar with his name on it, an air tag and a red harness with a leash. He observes the neighbors. He sniffs the grass. He watches bugs crawl in the dirt.

"People know Gnocchi's name before they know mine," Luke said.

But seeing...Read more

Those of us attending the Young’s Plant Farm Annual Garden Tour in Auburn, Alabama, always have our eyes open to new plants, applications, or recipes. One plant that demanded attention this year was Golden Cascade Baby Sun Rose. Know upfront: It is NOT a rose. It’s from Proven Winners and marketed under their Proven Selections label. I hope ...Read more

On an August morning two years ago, Meredith Melville was crossing Piedmont Avenue in Oakland, California, to meet a friend at a cafe. While in the crosswalk, she noticed a car some distance away.

Perhaps she misjudged its speed, she said, because she’d walked only partway across the street when the car, a Toyota sedan, came bearing down on ...Read more

Dear Anna,

My wife and I are in our early 30s, married five years, no kids yet. I’ve started quietly looking up divorce lawyers, and I hate that it’s gotten to that point. The root of it is that I can’t trust what she tells me anymore. It’s been a pattern for years — she’ll agree to something, and I later find out she never actually...Read more

I don't know how you begin to sum up the impact of Gloria Steinem's life, except to say that almost every moment I’ve walked through the world as a woman has probably been paved, in some small or enormous way, by her advocacy.

Steinem lived a remarkable 92 years before her death on Sept. 2. She co-founded the National Women’s Political ...Read more

CHICAGO -- Karla Leon knew something was wrong when she couldn’t log into her financial aid portal.

For the past three years, the University of Illinois Chicago accounting major had checked her financial aid package well before classes resumed, confident that her scholarship and tuition costs would remain relatively steady.

Her education has...Read more

SAN DIEGO — As dusk approached San Diego's seaside enclave of Ocean Beach, its Sunset Cliffs bustled on a recent Friday evening.

Two engaged couples posed for wedding photos in between joggers, dog walkers and sightseers who clamored around Osprey Street to enjoy the day's majestic sunset.

It was a deceptively idyllic setting for what ...Read more

I give a lot of advice on how to use the various dating sites and apps, but it’s important to talk about what they are, why we should use them, and some general pointers for having a positive experience.

Online dating is:

--An additional way to meet people

--A screening tool based on things that are important to you

--A way to meet people ...Read more

SAN DIEGO — New UCLA research finds schools in San Diego County and statewide need to do more to support homeless students, calling homelessness an educational crisis that requires regional investment, dedicated funding, more federal protections and integrated cross-system support.

The academics’ report, released last month, argues that the...Read more

MINNEAPOLIS -- Ellianna Hink stood at attention inside the Minnesota State Fair Sheep and Poultry Barn, hoping her feisty, biting bird Hydrangea wouldn’t ruin her chance at victory in the Westminster dog show of youth chicken competitions.

Occasional cock-a-doodle-doos punctuated the muggy air as the judge circled the ring of finalists.

...Read more

Dear Kid Whisperer,

I have come up against a behavior with my eighth-grade students that I don’t know what to do with. And this behavior has multiplied in one of my class periods to the point that it puts a stop to all instruction almost every day. I call it strategic arguing. I have four students in my fifth period class who have realized ...Read more

My new therapist is sitting on the edge of my desk, legs crossed, head slightly bowed. His beady eyes peer at me through his black framed glasses as he holds a pen poised over his clipboard.

He’s three inches tall, made of molded plastic, and looks like a cross between Freud and Dr. Leo Marvin from the movie, “What About Bob?”

The ...Read more

Q: My ex shows up for everything that involves our daughter, even when it happens during my parenting time. Soccer practices, school events, sometimes even routine appointments. When I say something, she tells me, “I'm her mother. I have every right to be there.” I want us both involved, but sometimes I'd like to just be Dad without my ex ...Read more

Disneyland will look to the past in hopes of keeping up with the future when Walt Disney Imagineering creates a Tomorrowland 4.0 that promises to stay true to the land’s original vision of an imaginative, wondrous and optimistic future.

Disneyland announced a reimagined Tomorrowland that will feature new attractions and open spaces full of ...Read more