Parenting

zombie with cell phone
City Life

Your Cell Phone Is Stealing Your Soul

“Do you remember,” my husband said in the middle of yesterday’s Eagles game, apropos of nothing, “how when you used to call a friend’s house, […]

City Life

Study: Day Care Could Cost You As Much as College

CBS Philly reports on a new study suggesting day care costs rival college in the tally of lifetime child-rearing expenses. The station talks to Shawn Towey, […]

Baby with ipad
City Life

Would You Let Apple Babysit Your Child?

In India, a 17-year-old girl committed suicide after her parents restricted her use of Facebook and her cell phone use. And though it sounds extreme […]

City Life

A Tale of Two School Lunches: Excess in America, Insecticide in India

It was the juxtaposition, I think, that got to me. The first story in the Wall Street Journal told how the headmistress of that school […]

Be Well Philly

Dad Files: 6 Things Every New Dad Should Know

A few weeks ago, I gave a talk for expectant parents at the Please Touch Museum. I can’t be sure what it meant to the […]

City Life

Wharton Researcher Says Young People Uninterested in Parenthood

Wharton prof Stewart Friedman has a new book out, Baby Bust, New Choices for Men and Women in Work and Family, in which he examines how fewer young […]

Be Well Philly

How Having a Baby Later in Life Affects Your Breast-Cancer Screenings

I’m almost 40, and I’m about to have my second baby. It’s comforting at least to know that I’m not alone: A recent Los Angeles […]

City Life

Philly Researcher Helps Prove New Baby Smell is Real

The New York Times reports on research proving that “new baby smell” is a real thing—nature’s way of making moms even more attached to (and […]

City Life

A New Study on Breastfeeding Proves… We Read Too Many Studies

A new study tells us that many moms quit nursing because they’re nervous about nursing. Finally!!! A study that proves we read too many studies! […]

City Life

You Can Save This Penguin. Or You Can Turn the Page.

I read in the news last week that the Detroit Zoological Society is building the largest center in the United States devoted to penguins. Construction […]

City Life

Does Your Company Have a Bring Your Parent to Work Day?

Lest you think that “helicopter parenting” is an American thing, know this: a French woman was just charged with fraud for taking the Baccalaureate test […]

City Life

God Goes to College

In four years of college, I had, among others, the following roommates and suitemates: • An Ohioan prima donna who pledged a sorority as soon […]

City Life

38 Reasons the Cost of College Is Worth Every. Single. Penny.

The high cost of education has been very much in the news of late, particularly after the President’s recent speech about his plan to bring […]

City Life

10 Reasons I’m Glad Summer Is Over

As an academic and a mother, I think of the year as running from September to June, even though the number changes in January. I’ve […]

City Life

Kate Gosselin Sues Jon Gosselin for Stealing Her Stuff, Trying to Ruin Her Life

The latest in the apparently still developing Jon and Kate Gosselin (minus eight) story. Kate has sued her ex-husband Jon, both of whom live in […]