Tome of the Mommy: Telling Your Child There Is No Santa

There is no “right time” to tell your children that there is no Santa.
Worse yet, there is no right way.
If you’re lucky, as you’re stumbling to get the words out, your son will pat you calmly on shoulder and say, “Look, Mom, I know what you’re trying to tell me, and it’s okay. I’ve already [...]

Fertility: Can It Happen on Your Timetable?

I met Rachel Lehmann-Haupt two years ago when I interviewed her for my documentary “Seeking Happily Ever After.” Rachel was finishing her non-fiction book In Her Own Sweet Time (Basic Books, 2009), an honest and personal exploration of the many new fertility choices available to women today. As you will see below, Rachel is forthright, [...]

Ask Dr. Susan Bartell: When Your Child Acts Out

em>Question:
“I’m a single mom with a daughter who behaves well enough at home, but she certainly knows how to push all my buttons when we’re out in public. If I reprimand her, she screams and cries—and I get those looks: you know the ones: as if I’m an ax murderer. If I don’t I get the [...]

Single Mom Alert: What to Do When You Can’t Stand Your Child’s BFF

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It starts with a name. So-and-so is this. And so-and-so does that. Your child wants to hang around so-and-so all the time. They play at school. They may walk home together. They talk the evening away by phone or instant-messaging. 
So-and-so is the topic of conversation at dinner and the measure of all things good. 
Pretty soon [...]

Practical Answers for Single Moms Raising Kids on the Autism Spectrum

According to the advocacy organization, Autism Speaks, autism is a complex neurobiological disorder that typically lasts throughout a person’s lifetime and is part of a group of disorders known as autism spectrum disorders (ASD).
 
Today, 1 in 150 individuals is diagnosed with autism, making it more common than pediatric cancer, diabetes, and AIDS combined. It occurs in [...]

What Does It Mean to be a Good “Aunt”?

ou don’t have kids of your own. You don’t even have a cat. Whether this was fate, the luck of the draw, or a conscious decision, it really doesn’t matter:
It’s the way you live now.
That said, there are still ways in which you can commune with the younger humans in your life. Whether they are [...]

Single Minded Moms: Help Your Kids Buckle Down for a New School Year!

An Open Letter to My Sons

It’s coming on Mother’s Day and it’s been seven months and four days since I unwillingly said goodbye to you, holding on, tears streaming down my face and yours, too.  But I told myself, its OK; it’s just for a couple of weeks.
It was the day my three oldest sons returned to Tampa for what [...]