H1N1, or baconthrax, as one of my kid’s teachers called it, is making and breaking the news practically every morning and night, but this famous strain isn’t the only one getting passed around lately. It’s flu season, and as such it’s time to get smart about germs—especially if you’re a mom. First, the flu shot is a great preventative measure to stay healthy, (or so they say) but it’s not magic. There are plenty of illnesses that mimic ...

Any day now they'll be leaving for college. For many parents, it can't come soon enough. Despite all those teary, sentimental Wal-Mart ads about how much easier it is to let go if you've furnished their dorm rooms with color-coordinated goodies from their college living department, by now you may be simply hoping all of you survive until departure day arrives. Somehow the same poised, confident, almost-adult who graduated two short months ago turned into a cranky, whiny, sarcastic, disobedient ...

A discussion and how-to guide for building your child’s fondest memories. It is well known in the field of psychology that if you ask a married couple to recount their fondest memories together, more often than not they will tell you of a time when they had very little and were struggling to build a life together. Usually they will laugh and tell you something like when they used a cardboard box for a table – but had each other. It ...