ArcaMax

At the end of fourth grade, Olivia Ohlson-Ellis’ mom, Virginia Ohlson, was diagnosed with breast cancer. It was caught early through a mammogram, and she had a double mastectomy and chemotherapy in summer 2017 to remove the cancer that had spread to her lymph nodes.

It was that summer, at 10 years old, that Ohlson-Ellis took her aspirations ...Read more

Gabrielle Union is opening up about her journey to have her first child with Dwyane Wade, and it wasn’t an easy road at all.

In a candid essay, “The Hard Truth About My Surrogacy Journey” for Time magazine, taken from her new book, “You Got Anything Stronger?” the actress takes us back to when it all began in 2016.

After having ...Read more

I have received some splendid thinking-of-you gifts lately — and it's not my birthday or anything.

A paper bookmark sits on my desk with each letter of the word "Grandma" drawn in a different color. It is a large bookmark with zigzag ends and a small heart cut out of the middle. You slip the corner of the page you want to bookmark into the ...Read more

Q: My two young teens are constantly begging me to buy them clothes. It’s become highly annoying. After reading your book on teenagers, I’ve decided to stop buying them any clothing and give them each an $750 annual clothing allowance. Should I give them the whole amount at once or give it to them on a monthly basis?

A: Great idea! However,...Read more

Q. I have a bonus family. My husband has two kids and I have two kids. We’ve added a son three years ago. We have tried your suggestion of a family discussion to air differences, but things seem to spin out of control. What’s good ex-etiquette?

A. Family discussions are great ways to problem-solve, but bonusfamilies must be careful that ...Read more

DALLAS -- When Tracy Matheson set up the soft interview room at the Mesquite, Texas, Police Department on Aug. 27, she wished she didn’t have to. The Fort Worth resident wishes the other 30 rooms she has created around Texas and the nation weren’t needed to help sexual assault survivors as they recall one of the most traumatic moments of ...Read more

COLUMBUS, Ohio -- When the pandemic hit, Tillie Day didn't understand why her daughter, who she knew only as her caregiver, couldn't visit her in the Columbus nursing home.

Deneen Day would visit her mother from afar, but Tillie couldn't connect the voice on the phone with her daughter's face at the window. Deneen tried FaceTiming her mother, ...Read more

PHILADELPHIA -- Nissah Coverdale doesn’t remember exactly what her mom said when she sat down the 11-year-old and her three siblings that day in May 2020, but the message was one that would change her life: Pop Pop had passed away.

Nissah wasn’t sure what to think or how to feel.

Sad? Confused? Angry?

Before the pandemic, Nissah, her ...Read more

NORFOLK, Va. -- About a decade ago, Tanya Weaver began to urge women at her Portsmouth, Virginia, church to get mammograms.

She’d been shocked to learn the area had one of the nation’s worst rates of breast cancer, particularly among Black women. On a shoestring budget, the 54-year-old human resources manager began helping peers who often ...Read more

CHARLOTTE, N.C. -- While people over the age of 12 are being encouraged to get vaccinated against COVID-19, one group is getting special attention from doctors and public health officials: pregnant women.

That’s because pregnant women are much less likely to be vaccinated. Only about 25% have gotten at least one dose of COVID-19 vaccine ...Read more

On Sept. 11, 2010 — 9 years after planes struck the World Trade Center towers in New York, at the Pentagon and crashed in a Pennsylvania field — I was hooked up to contraptions halfway across the country in a hospital in Little Rock, Arkansas, bringing new life into the world.

My twins, Kayla and Kendall, were born about 5 weeks early that ...Read more

Dear Mr. Dad: Despite all the press coverage of our pullout from Afghanistan, U.S. servicemembers are still deployed all over the world — and I’m one of them. I’m in the Navy and am about to deploy for six months. I’ve read your book, "The Military Father," and learned a lot of great stuff about keeping up my relationship with my kids ...Read more

DETROIT – Jessica Trotter went from working on a heritage Girl Scouts badge in elementary school to tracing back her lineage three centuries.

Now, Trotter, 44, of Lansing, Michigan, is helping others do the same by exploring genealogy, the study of family and family history. Trotter authors a blog, www.genieroadtrip.com, packed with advice. ...Read more

Q. I have two bonus children with whom I am very close. My husband and I also added another daughter three years ago. I try to have alone time with all of them and inevitably one will ask, “Who do you like best?” I’m always at a loss for exactly what to say. What’s good ex-etiquette?

A. It’s human nature for a child to wonder if he or...Read more

It’s all over the web, that “grit” thing. Seems like every day, I get some promo for a webinar on how to get more grit, project more grit, or get in touch with your inner grit. So allow me to enlighten the reader on how to help your child acquire grit.

First, what is grit? Grit is equal parts determination, tenacity and emotional ...Read more