Parenting & Family Issues

My husband and I are active community members. We have always valued being the ones that help shape a community, rather than just being one of the followers. And we have worked very hard to instill this philosophy of community activism into our children. However, our eldest daughter doesn't like to get involved with anything...

Every week the same scenario plays out at our family game night. My ten-year-old daughter starts up with her siblings and when we say something she gets very upset. I mean she throws a tantrum and says some variation of us not loving her. Nothing we do seems to work...

I am due to have twins in a little over a month. My mother in law has decided that she will come to stay with us for a month to help me get back on my feet. I am a nervous wreck about her coming...

I have had a difficult relationship with my mother my entire life. While I was never physically abused, I definitely suffered severe emotional abuse. Still today when I am around her I revert to being a hurt child and don't feel I can protect myself. Should I cut off the relationship or somehow pretend to ignore what bothers me?

My in-laws think we should take the kids away over the summer and have offered to pay for it. But we really don't enjoy family vacations with young children. I'd love to use the money to send the kids to camp instead, but my husband is worried that his parents would be insulted if we don't take them up on their offer...

We are, fortunately, quite successful and have always been able to give our children everything they need and want. When they were younger this never seemed to be an issue, but now that they are all tweens and teens, we are having a real problem...

My son recently remarried and his new wife has three children from her previous marriage. Her three children are close in age with my son's three children. In addition to us being a bit overwhelmed and trying to adapt to this new Brady Bunch situation, I am not sure how to really integrate my new grandchildren into our lives...

Recently my husband and I have begun to increase our Jewish observance. From learning in our local Chabad house, we have begun trying to keep Shabbat and have started to eat only kosher food. We are hoping to very soon make our entire kitchen kosher as well. Our dilemma though pertains to schooling for our children...

I am the mother of a beautiful thirteen-year-old girl who always seemed to be quite confident and happy with herself. Recently, however, she has been spending so much time worried about her clothes and how she looks...and now she is trying to go out all the time now wearing makeup...

I am the mother of three young children whom I absolutely adore. However, I feel like I am falling apart running after them. I grew up with a mother who was always stressed out and I don't want to be that to my children. Yet I don't know how to take care of all their needs and keep my home together...

I am incredibly close to my father, and he has always been a tremendous pillar of strength for me. However, I can't really say he has aged gracefully; and while he has always loved to protect and give to me, he doesn't really want any help in return...

My daughter is single, unemployed and just found out she is pregnant. She is 21 years old, a legal adult, and she has decided that she is going to have an abortion...

I am Jewish but was not really raised with any religious observance. Last year my sister went to Israel for a year abroad in college. The person who has returned is someone I don't even recognize. She calls herself a "baal tshuva"...If she is a religious Jew, will she be able to stay close with me?

I have a very strained relationship with my mother and I always have. Perhaps it is that we are so different, or maybe that we are so similar, but we are rarely able to spend time together without us both blowing up. I do love my mother but I have a hard time being around her...

This year for the first time we are hosting the family Passover seder. We were very excited to finally be able to have everyone in our home, until we found out that distant cousins, who we find very offensive, plan on coming...

I am having a very hard time as the holidays approach with teaching my children the beauty of Chanukah and not having them see it as a Jewish x-mas. I know it has become somewhat of a tradition to give children gifts during Chanukah, but is this really a Jewish custom?

We live in a very affluent area, one that is far above our means and economic level. The problem is that our children go to school with these other children, and expect to have the same clothing, gadgets and lifestyle that all of their friends have...

What do you do when you are in someone else's home where the kids are out of control? We are staying with my sister this summer but her kids are violent, disrespectful and basically, a terrible influence on my children. What can I do?

I live next door to a woman whose children are terribly misbehaved and a horrible influence on my children. Worse yet, the parents don't seem to notice or care. Every time my kids see them they ask to play. How many times can I tell my children "no, not today"?

I was so excited when my teenage daughter told me she wanted to attend a Purim party. Being that she does not seem so interested in Judaism, I thought this was such a positive step, until I saw what she plans on wearing for her costume...