By Kristen Berthiaume: Your Kid’s Pants Are On Fire! Chances are, your kid’s a liar – or has been. Most kids go through a lying phase at some point. Before age three, many kids lie because reality and fantasy are already all jumbled up in their cute little brains. By age four, kids may lie...

By Kristen Berthiaume: All right. So the title is a little harsh – I admit it. Of course, your child is very special. To you. And your family and your close friends. You love your child and think that everything he does is wonderful (except when the things he does drive you insane but that’s another...

I am a big fan of Bethenny Frankel, creator of the Skinnygirl margarita, star of the show Bethenny Ever After. Recently she commented on the challenge of juggling her work, her child, and her marriage and made a reference to how her husband’s “penis has cobwebs on it.” When I heard that, I...

By: Kristen Berthiaume: If you’re the parent of a young girl, you probably worry from time-to-time about whether she’ll have a healthy body image in 5 years. And with good reason – research indicates that around 40% of 1st through 3rd grade girls want to be thinner and eating disorders are being...

On some level, I get it, multiples are fascinating. They are to me now, but I’m not so sure they were in my pre-multiples life. I’m sure I would have gawked at a frazzled mom hauling sextuplets through the produce aisle, but twins would not have caught my attention. And I certainly would...

PARENT QUESTION: We are having serious issues right now with our girls not listening. How much leniency do you allow for their age (preschool)? PARENTING WITH A PHD RESPONSE: Selective Hearing Loss, or “SHL,” is a serious condition that affects millions of kids every second. SHL can be made worse...

Parent Question: How can we nurture the big sibling when a new baby wreaks havoc on their only child universe? Parenting with a Ph.D. Response:  From the moment he pulls that “I’m a Big Brother!” shirt over his tiny head, life as he’s known it is history. Now he’ll be expected to share everything:...

I quit my job. I did it two days before Christmas. I couldn’t stop sweating as I made the phone call. My voice had this weird shrilly pitch that comes out when I’m nervous. When I said the words, I started laughing. Thinking back on it, I probably sounded like I’d had a few too many...

Parent Question: When you have an older child who is pretty independent and high-spirited, how do you discipline her and get her to bend without breaking that spirit and independence? Parenting with a PhD Response: “Bending without breaking” is a great way to describe the challenge you face. On the...

By Harmony Hobbs: HOLY CRAP. If you are a parent of just one child, you may want to stop reading here, lest you be frightened out of having any more. Going from one child to two is hard, like really hard, like the OMG-I-may-not-survive kind of crazy hard that really cannot be explained. In order to understand,...