Sometimes it is Okay to NOT Answer Your Child’s Question!

I recently received a distraught call:
“My daughter wants to know if the Easter Bunny is real. I don’t want to lie, but I don’t want to spoil her fun.”
Parents confront the dilemma of how much ‘truth’ to divulge with questions at every stage of development: “Do you promise you’ll never die?”; “Did you drink smoke [...]

Like Avis, Stepfamilies Have to Try Harder

I can’t think of a better time than Christmas to talk about stepfamilies. After all, Jesus grew up in one. While we never heard much about His stepfather, Joseph, he gets my vote as the patron saint of stepfamilies. Imagine spending a day in his sandals trying to co-parent the Son of God.
Someday, I plan [...]

Helicopter Mom: Are You Hindering Your Child’s Career?

By now, you’ve no doubt heard the term “helicopter parent,” which refers to a parent who hovers over the various aspects of her or his child’s life, including their college education and career.
In a 2007 report, generational experts Neil Howe and Bill Strauss point out that the helicopter parent isn’t an anomaly. Parents of millennials, [...]

Creating Healthy Self Esteem: Beauty’s Secret

The other day a book arrived at my office by author Debra Gano called Beauty’s Secret. Before I could read the book jacket, my 8-year old daughter walked in an assumed the book was for her. That was the last I saw of it, but boy did I hear about it. Not only did this book win [...]

Dr. Susan’s Fit and Fun Family Action Plan

Current childhood obesity statistics are alarming as over 12% of children 5 and under are obese and over 17% of children 5-19 are obese. Nearly 23% of kids don’t engage in any free-time physical activity, and the typical American child spends about 44.5 hours per week using media outside of school. The economic slump has [...]

Introducing a New Relationship to Your Kids

If you’re a single mom whether newly divorced, widowed or have been without a partner for a while, the odds are you will eventually start dating. However, one of the most common concerns a single mom has when it comes to dating is when to introduce one’s child to a new partner and what is the best [...]

Keep the Married Name or Change it?

I never really liked my maiden name: a German derivation I always had a hard time pronouncing. So when I got married, I was secretly thrilled about ditching the old name and moving up in the alphabet to “A.” I like being first (who doesn’t?) and my married name allowed me to be numero uno in [...]

Single Moms, Jealous Children

It’s all but too common that single moms will feel the need to push love away because they are overly concerned that their children will be jealous or upset with them for getting involved again.
While this apprehension is correct – that their children may indeed be jealous – this is not a good reason to [...]

Ask Dr. Susan Bartell: My Child’s Acting Out!

 Question: My second child is nearly 4 years old and has been acting out in an aggressive manner for the past several months. My husband and I recently separated and when we are together, it is often times explosive. While we try to keep our tempers in check around the kids (older son 10), there [...]

Single Moms: Try a Nature Staycation with Kids

Most of us single moms have childhood memories of special places outdoors where we would play for hours. Maybe it was climbing our favorite tree or the camping spot our parents took us by a creek where we caught tadpoles or the hiking trails through the woods where we’d explore with our friends.
Play in nature [...]

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