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Love 'em or hate 'em, every mom clashes with her in-laws. Scroll down any message board and you're bound to read hair-raising tales like the ones on Parenting.com's in-law board. […]

When Melissa and Rudy Haberzettl's son Jacob was born in November 2006, he was perfect in every way--full-term, healthy weight, and a champion eater. Like many new moms, Melissa was […]

There are few issues that preoccupy new parents more than this: Is my baby growing normally? When the percentiles seem off-kilter, we worry--but experts say there's rarely reason for concern. […]

Byline: Margaret Renkl He's a cute, sweet, happy toddler. A generation ago, he'd probably be growing up in an institution--but today his world is open For parents with three small […]

Byline: Margaret Renkl What if your child was so anxious she couldn't go to preschool? Or so mad she bit you and drew blood? These moms made the wrenching decision […]

Byline: Margaret Renkl How to help your baby get a move on Sam, my oldest child, took his first solo steps on his first birthday but wasn't a competent walker […]

Byline: Margaret Renkl Why even babies need privacy For parents, it can be a real shock. That adoring infant who couldn't take his eyes off you, who wept like the […]

Byline: Margaret Renkl Why moms need security objects, too It's two o'clock in the morning, and I've had a bad dream, the kind that makes you afraid to go back […]

Byline: Margaret Renkl By the time he's 18 months old, your baby will have had more than 20 shots. How to make it easier and safer You walk into the […]

Byline: Margaret Renkl Everyone knows it's wrong to shake a baby, but not how little it takes to cause brain damage--or worse It was the kind of phone call that […]

Byline: Margaret Renkl Questions about sex come up when you least expect them--and sooner than you think. Here, the answers you need I once believed the birds and the bees […]

Byline: Margaret Renkl How they develop people skills, and how you can help There's nothing like your baby's first smile--it's a wonderful reward for all your hard work in the […]

Byline: Margaret Renkl Every mom knows how fast a cold can spread from one family member to another. But moods can be just as contagious. The other day, my 4-year-old, […]

Byline: Margaret Renkl When my younger sister brought her first child home from the hospital, I spent the night at her house to help. My brother-in-law had crashed, the house […]

Byline: Margaret Renkl I started hating the holidays the year my oldest child, Sam, was 5 and so pumped with pre-Santa anticipation he couldn't fall asleep without two hours of […]

Byline: Margaret Renkl Shannon Peterson's 6-month-old son, Nicholas, brought home not one but two different strains of flu last spring. By the time the illness finally cleared out, it had […]

Byline: Margaret Renkl When my husband's sister called to announce her engagement several summers ago, he and I both got on the phone to congratulate her. Then we hung up […]

Byline: Margaret Renkl When he was 6 months old, my first child, Sam, began to drool. He drooled and drooled and drooled--a veritable Niagara of saliva. As new parents, my […]

Byline: Margaret Renkl When my dad was 5 years old, his father died and his mom was forced to take a job that required her to travel. It was the […]

Byline: Margaret Renkl Once, it was simple. You took your baby to the pediatrician and he got his shots. But for some years now, a growing number of moms and […]

Byline: Margaret Renkl My desk is covered with family photos, among them a shot of my eldest son, Sam, then 2, standing up in his little red wagon to plant […]

Byline: Margaret Renkl When I first fell in love with Haywood, he was, like me, a liberal-leaning, dead-broke graduate student of American poetry. Our idea of a fun date was […]

Byline: Margaret Renkl "It's all a blur to me now." That's how Anne-Marie Welsh, a mom of three, recalls last Thanksgiving at her house in Erie, Pennsylvania. Her husband was […]

Byline: Margaret Renkl Since the rest of your household probably goes to heck in a handbasket when you're sick, you need to do all you can to stay well: --Get […]

Byline: Margaret Renkl Sam, my easygoing firstborn, hardly ever cried as an infant and sailed cheerfully through the presumably-terrible twos without a single tantrum. But at 3 he became inexplicably […]

Byline: Margaret Renkl I am not a former boy or even a former tomboy. My only brother did not engage in stereotypical little-boy behavior, and my father was the original […]

Byline: Margaret Renkl It's morning at the Kowalski-Zelaya home on the west side of Nashville. In the family room, Marisa, 6, plays with a Barbie. Her sister, Claire, nearly 2, […]

Byline: Margaret Renkl I think of all of my children as surprise babies. Sam was a surprise because he arrived after a single, spontaneous, "oh, who cares about birth control" […]

Byline: Margaret Renkl When my son Sam was a toddler, I banned toy guns and swords. I bought him a doll and a toy vacuum cleaner instead. Boys play aggressively, […]

Byline: Margaret Renkl Even when I was pregnant the first time, I understood that growing a watermelon-size human being in a womb normally the size of a pear was going […]

Byline: Margaret Renkl My husband was adamant: "I want it to be a surprise," he kept saying. "After the baby's born, I want to call my parents and say, 'It's […]

Byline: Margaret Renkl When my son, Sam, was 4 months old, I decided to do something about the postpartum pooch around my middle. To keep Sam occupied, I set him […]

Byline: Margaret Renkl The baby was sleeping, my 4-year-old was playing outside, and my husband was working in the toolshed. The house was, for a moment, blessedly silent. I poured […]

Byline: Margaret Renkl I have no formal medical training, but as the mother of three kids who've never met a microbe they didn't invite home, I'm on a first-name basis […]

Byline: Margaret Renkl My two older sons are very different kinds of boys. Ten-year-old Sam, for example, hates birthday parties, preferring to ask just one other child to go to […]

Byline: Margaret Renkl The day had begun in a frantic, "no clean socks and nothing good for breakfast" kind of way. When 8-year-old Sam's ride to school pulled into the […]

I had big plans for my first maternity leave, the nine blessedly unencumbered months I'd spend away from my teaching job. First, of course, I intended to love, care for, […]