I love having girls. The complexities of my twin daughters’ personalities confound and delight me daily. Next year they’ll go to kindergarten, taking one more step toward independence. But, while I love watching them mature into confident and capable girls, my fears about the world they’re growing up in can get the better of me. In the dark shadows of 4 a.m. I can get fixated on eating disorders, cyber bullying, and the violence against women that continues in our culture. I wonder, how can I prepare them for danger without contaminating them with fear? … //READ MORE

One day during her second grade year, my daughter came home from school with her first big assignment: to write a report on an ancient Egyptian god. For my child’s subject, the teacher chose Nephthys, a goddess who had two crucial but vaguely similar jobs: to supervise the work of housewives, and to lead women into the underworld.

Nephthys was also famous for killing her husband, disguising herself as her sister, then getting her brother-in-law sloshed and seducing him into impregnating her. Nice role model, that Nephthys. She makes wearing a vile of blood around one’s neck or stepping out of a limo without panties look like the work of Mother Theresa. … //READ MORE

On the morning of December 14, 2012, artist and mother Scarlett Lewis got news of a school shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary in Newtown, CT. Her 6-year-old son Jesse and 19 other children died that day along with seven adults, including gunman Adam Lanza. Eyewitnesses say Jesse saved the lives of nine of his classmates telling them to “run now” when Lanza paused to load more ammunition. Jesse also left a personal message of hope for his mother and the world. Just days prior to the tragedy, Jesse wrote three words on his chalkboard at home: “Nurturing. Healing. Love.” … //READ MORE

The other day on the phone, my mother told me again. “You do too much. Why do you do this to yourself? You’re always running around. You should learn how to say no.” She’s said these things to me for years, partially because she remembers how exhausting it is to be a mom. But also because she can’t understand why I take on so much responsibility that falls outside what she considers the normal realm of family obligations.

Sure, I’m taking care of a home, a marriage, two kids and a dog, as well as attempting to get a new business off the ground. I also freelance, volunteer a lot of time to my children’s school, attend conferences, and very often host meetings and get-togethers in my home. This is stuff my mother didn’t do when she was raising a family—partially because she wasn’t cursed with the same kind of frenetic energy I have, but also because she had no real need—like I do, living so far from my family back East … //READ MORE

The first time my daughter, Eva, terrified me with her illness, she was only a few months old. She was a little stuffed up. It seemed like a mild cold. Then she spit up, just a little. Then she aspirated her vomit. Then she turned blue, her eyes bulged. Mute panic filled her small face. My husband was downstairs. I screamed for him, even as I turned her upside down and smacked her back as hard as I dared. Vomit flew from her mouth and she cried. I fell back on the pillows with Eva on my chest as my husband came in. For me, this moment marks the beginning. It was the first of many times that one, or, more often, both of my twin daughters would get seemingly every single illness out there and then take it to a frightening extreme. … //READ MORE

It’s summertime, and there are a million fun things you’d like to do with your kids while the days are warm and long. However, cash is not exactly falling from the sky, so a vacation or a trip to a pricey theme park aren’t good options. So how do you keep the fun going for two months without going broke? … //READ MORE