Blog Posts by Parents.com

By Gail O'Connor

What is it like to have the whole world call you a bad mother?

Mom Dara-Lynn Weiss would know. Last year Weiss wrote about putting her obese 7-year-old daughter Bea on a strict diet, and posed with her, post-diet success, for the pages of Vogue. Weiss has now authored a slim volume called The Heavy, out yesterday, about the experience. (The heavy is Weiss, who was the one to monitor and sometimes get tough when it came to Bea's diet.)

RELATED: Raise a Healthy Kid in a Supersize World

I'd read the article before I read the howling on the Internet over Weiss's piece-she was called "abrasive," "irrational," "truly disgusting," and a "monster," among other things-and I was always sympathetic. Weiss's story didn't fit the profile of your "typical" overweight American family's. She had served well-rounded dinners with healthy vegetables. She kept no junk food in her cupboards (which is more than I can say). And she reserved fast food for a semi-annual

By Jeannette Moninger

When feverish, congested 2-year-old Kadence woke up in the middle of the night, her mom, Marena Teague, gave her a dose of ibuprofen and cold medicine, just as her pediatrician suggested. Kadence started fussing again a little later, and Teague, half asleep, reached for the medications again. "I realized almost instantly that I'd double-dosed Kadence with both medications," says the Summerville, Georgia, mom. In a panic, Teague called poison control. "I was told to keep Kadence awake for a few hours to make sure she didn't develop breathing problems or become unconscious," she says. "I kept the phone in my hand in case I had to call 911 fast."

RELATED: Signs and Symptoms That Indicate An Emergency

Thankfully, Kadence, now 5, was fine, but other kids aren't so lucky. Each year, an estimated 71,000 children are treated in emergency rooms for accidental medication poisonings. Medical experts say that many parents unintentionally goof when giving kids medicine.

By L.A. Pintea

When my partner and I started telling our friends and families that we were going to have a baby, everyone was happy and excited for us. We were the only same-sex couple in our extended family and in our immediate circle of friends, as is often the case with gay people, so everyone had a lot of questions. Although people asked really insightful and thoughtful questions about our future family, we also heard some that left us scratching our heads. Here are the 10 questions I hope I never have to answer again, and the reasons why.

RELATED: How to Discuss Being Gay With Your Child

1. Which one of you is the mother?
We both are! We're both parents and we're both women, so we're both mothers; more than that, we're both equally responsible for our child's well-being, safety, and education.

In our case, my partner and I were together for four years before we had our son. We wanted to have a baby together. Together we dreamed about what our baby would

By Lisa Milbrand

More than 60,000 kids from Russian orphanages have found families in the U.S. since the Russian adoption program began more than 20 years ago--but now Russian President Vladimir Putin is looking to put an end to one of the most popular international adoption programs for American families. And that's a big mistake for everyone--especially the thousands of Russian children who will end up growing up in the sterile, stifling orphanage environment, rather than the embrace of a loving family.

RELATED: Everything You Need to Know About International Adoption

If you look back, there have been rumblings of a ban for the past several years. Russian officials are angry about the 19 Russian children who died in the care of adoptive parents here in the U.S. (as they should be), and are concerned that some children have ended up in institutions here, after their parents deemed them too difficult to manage. And when Torry Hansen sent her son back to Russia in

By Vicki Glembocki

A few months ago I crashed headfirst into my most frustrating parenting problem to date: My daughters were ignoring me. I could tell them five times to do anything -- get dressed, turn off the TV, brush their teeth -- and they either didn't hear me or didn't listen. So I'd tell them five more times, louder and louder. It seemed the only way I could inspire Blair, 6, and Drew, 4, to action was if I yelled like one of The Real Housewives of New Jersey and then threatened to throw their blankies away.

This was not the kind of parent I wanted to be. But their inability to obey or even acknowledge my husband, Thad, and me made us feel powerless. While walking through Target one Saturday, I heard no fewer than five parents say some variation of, "If you don't start listening, we're walking out of this store right now!"

RELATED: Smart Discipline for Every Age

I recognized that at least part of the problem was me. After much lamenting about my lame

Parents magazine spoke to Kathleen Sebelius, Secretary of the Department of Health & Human Services, to demystify the Affordable Care Act (ACA). This is what your family needs to know.

Edited by Jessica Leigh Hester

Parents: Which parts of the act impact women and families?
Kathleen Sebelius: In 2010, preventive services started to be offered without co-pays. This was a way to encourage things like folic-acid supplements, immunizations, and mammograms, because we know that prevention or early detection is cheaper and healthier than treating a problem. Then, in August 2012, we rolled out a series of benefits aimed specifically at women. These include free HIV screening, contraception, and pre- and postnatal maternity benefits such as gestational-diabetes screenings and breastfeeding supplies and support. Too many women have been faced with policies that don't cover maternity care, and if something goes wrong along the way--they end up with an emergency C-section or they have a baby

By Amy Julia Becker

Even though I'm the mother of three small children, I've never been a huge fan of child safety regulations. I often roll my eyes at warnings on labels. I think back to my own childhood, when Fisher-Price Little People were shaped like cylinders instead of marshmallows, and we still managed to survive. I think back to my helmetless bike riding days. I often tell my kids that I believe in germs and dirt, by which I mean I bypass antibacterial hand wash, and I allow them to play with other kids who have the sniffles (though I avoid stomach bugs like the plague). I also allow them to take calculated risks that sometimes result in skinned knees and sometimes result in greater strength, balance, and flexibility.

RELATED: Parents' Biggest Concerns for Their Kids

So I read the recent Safe Kids Report on the effect of sequestration (aka the fiscal cliff) on children's health and safety with some degree of skepticism. And yet, despite my own laissez faire parenting, this

Parents.com's experts predict the kid-focused health stories you'll be talking about in 2013.

By Richard Rende, Ph.D., and Kara Corridan

1. The Book That'll Change How Mental Health Disorders Are Diagnosed
If you're not familiar with the term "DSM-5" yet, you will be. In May 2013, the American Psychiatric Association (APA) will publish the 5th version of its Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-5). The DSM is used by clinicians to diagnose psychiatric disorders, and it's what insurance companies and policy makers use to determine whether a person needs treatment, and what type they need. This latest version is well over a decade in the making, and we've already heard lots of debate over the major changes.

For instance, many people--parents and professionals alike-are worried about the plan to eliminate Asperger's Disorder from the DSM-5 and create one category of autism spectrum disorder (ASD). Critics contend that kids who currently have Asperger's will