Parenting

Is there any escape from mother guilt and feeling lousy?

How can I help her become stronger so she can survive in a world that’s not always fair and tactful, and so that she’s not constantly suffering a maelstrom of emotion?

I don’t want to create tension in my family, but I also want to help them. What do I do?

Is there anything I can do to turn things around at this late date, or is it just too late?

How can I turn my lazy, self-centered youngster into a responsible and caring member of this household?

What can I do to help my daughter become more confident?

No matter how reasonable my instructions and requests are, my daughter gets mad.

I would have thought that the teasing child is to blame for causing upset to the other youngster. Am I wrong?

I feel terrible saying this, but the best time of year for us is summer, when Mendy goes to sleepaway camp. We all can finally breathe!

Our 10-year-old son is a very sensitive boy. My husband is not an overly sensitive person. He has very little patience for our son’s gentle nature; in fact, he calls him a wimp...

My son came home from kindergarten with scratches on his neck. When I called the teacher to ask what happened, she explained that he did it to himself . . .

My seven year-old son won't eat. He's as thin as a stick and the only thing that I can get him to eat is spaghetti. I'm worried that he's not receiving enough vitamins and minerals and that he is too picky of an eater. Do you have any ideas?

I have a teenage daughter (age sixteen) who has turned into a totally obnoxious individual! She used to be a sweet girl, but for the past year or two, things have been getting more and more out of hand...

My son is a gifted student who suddenly hates school. He complains constantly and is very stressed out and anxious. He desperately wants to switch schools but I am not sure if that is really something we should consider mid year...

My seven-year-old son is very into possessions. He can remember everything that he was ever given, who gave it to him and why he got it. He is constantly going around the house asking me about different objects, if they belong to someone, and if not, if he can have them. Also, he wants to keep total junk...

My husband and I are active community members. We have always valued being the ones that help shape a community, rather than just being one of the followers. And we have worked very hard to instill this philosophy of community activism into our children. However, our eldest daughter doesn't like to get involved with anything...

Every week the same scenario plays out at our family game night. My ten-year-old daughter starts up with her siblings and when we say something she gets very upset. I mean she throws a tantrum and says some variation of us not loving her. Nothing we do seems to work...

We give our children everything they need and want. Now that they are tweens and teens, we are having a real problem…

Recently my husband and I have begun to increase our Jewish observance. From learning in our local Chabad house, we have begun trying to keep Shabbat and have started to eat only kosher food. We are hoping to very soon make our entire kitchen kosher as well. Our dilemma though pertains to schooling for our children...

I am the mother of a beautiful thirteen-year-old girl who always seemed to be quite confident and happy with herself. Recently, however, she has been spending so much time worried about her clothes and how she looks...and now she is trying to go out all the time now wearing makeup...

I am the mother of three young children whom I absolutely adore. However, I feel like I am falling apart running after them. I grew up with a mother who was always stressed out and I don't want to be that to my children. Yet I don't know how to take care of all their needs and keep my home together...

My daughter is single, unemployed and just found out she is pregnant. She is 21 years old, a legal adult, and she has decided that she is going to have an abortion...

I am having a very hard time, as the holidays approach, with teaching my children the beauty of Chanukah and not having them see it as a Jewish x‑mas. I know it has become somewhat of a tradition to give children gifts during Chanukah, but is this really a Jewish custom?

We live in a very affluent area, one that is far above our means and economic level. The problem is that our children go to school with these other children, and expect to have the same clothing, gadgets and lifestyle that all of their friends have...

What do you do when you are in someone else's home where the kids are out of control? We are staying with my sister this summer but her kids are violent, disrespectful and basically, a terrible influence on my children. What can I do?

I live next door to a woman whose children are terribly misbehaved and a horrible influence on my children. Worse yet, the parents don't seem to notice or care. Every time my kids see them they ask to play. How many times can I tell my children "no, not today"?

I was so excited when my teenage daughter told me she wanted to attend a Purim party. Being that she does not seem so interested in Judaism, I thought this was such a positive step, until I saw what she plans on wearing for her costume . . .

My children play beautifully together when I am not around. Yet as soon as I enter the scene, the ‘Who is going to win Mommy’s attention?’ game continues in full-swing. Their constant bickering is driving me crazy and is turning their winter break into a nightmare...

My husband and I are highly educated with doctorate degrees. Our oldest son though is in 1st grade and isn't able to read yet and is falling behind. Not only isn't he the best, he is really the worst...

My husband keeps telling me that Halloween is American tradition and that there is nothing wrong with our six-year-old trick or treating, but something just doesn’t feel right. I think whole holiday is weird and I don’t want my child dressed up as a skeleton and going to strangers' homes? Am I overreacting?

I am a single mother of a teenage daughter who blames me for everything wrong in her life. I have always done everything I could for her but she doesn’t seem to appreciate any of it and recently left home to live with a friend. I am in so much pain and want her back home but can’t live with a daughter who hates me...

I recently gave birth to our second child and our first son, 2 1/2, is obviously in need of a lot more attention. He has also reached the depths of terrible two's...

I love my two-year-old daughter dearly but find it hard to keep her entertained all day. I would like to send her to a playgroup, but feel guilty...

I am having an incredibly hard time with my preschooler and I am starting to think I have the worst-behaved child in the world. He screamed the whole time in the store and people began staring. What is wrong with my child?

My husband and I feel it is very important that our children have a close relationship with their grandparents. The problem is that my parents are always fighting...

I just received news that my grandmother has very little time left to live. I am planning to fly to spend 10 days with her. I am nervous about being away from my kids, and about introducing the concept of death to their young, innocent lives...

I have three daughters, ages 16, 14, and 11. While I know their grandmother loves them, she seems to favor the eldest...

My daughter and I have always been extremely close. However, now that she is 17 she has been trying to distance herself from me. Why is she pushing me out of her life?

My married son is very distant emotionally from me. He very rarely calls, never e-mails me hardly ever invites me over...

My son has started a streak of lying. He tells me he does things and then I find out that he didn't. I want him to understand that lying is unacceptable...

Once we as parents make the decision about what is allowed and what is not, our kids will hear it in our voices.

My husband and his mother do not get along at all and she has decided that she will no longer be a part of our lives, including that of the children. She will not even return my 5-year-old's phone calls. What do I tell my kids when they ask where their grandmother is?

My oldest daughter just began first grade and is having a really hard time. She cries all the way to school and when I drop her off. It is heartbreaking. On top of that, my kindergartner has begun to act out on the way to school also...

I am a second generation Holocaust survivor with parents who both went through Auschwitz. While my parents both clearly had a relationship with G‑d, they were not observant and were in too much pain to ever discuss what Judaism meant to them...

I am having a problem with my two teenage girls. They are doing reasonably well at school, and they each have a nice set of friends. The problem arises at home.They are both hyper sensitive and vigilant about how much attention/gifts/privileges the other gets. If one of them feels slighted, that's when the explosion happens!