My 75-year-old mother, known as “Grams” to my three kids, is dying of cancer one thousand miles away in Florida. Three months ago she was playing tennis four hours every day. Now she can barely sit up in bed to watch the Australian Open on television. more

Yesterday over my morning coffee I devoured the New York Times “How to Speak Nanny” explication on well-educated, highly empowered moms stymied by communicating with our children’s caregivers. more

Lisa Belkin’s 2003 New York Times Magazine article “Abandoning the Climb and Heading Home” pissed me off. more

Last night at a school meeting I told a working mom of third grade triplets that I was writing a story about University of Maryland time diary gurus who insist that working moms have 30 hours of leisure time. more

When baby number one arrived 13 years ago, I had no email account or Internet connection. My Fortune 100 company used an internal company network – employees were forbidden to use computers to communicate with anyone or conduct any research outside the corporate ‘net. more

Get this: 40% of moms with kids under 18 undertake unpaid charitable work each year. Translation: we volunteer a lot. This constitutes a clear sign of insanity, since there are no busier people on the planet than moms with kids under age 18. more

I know you’re sick of Christmas cards – it is January. Or maybe you never liked them. Don’t send ‘em. Ridicule the parents who write long-winded holiday updates filled with exclamation marks about how darn special the kids are turning out. more

As a kid I loved Christmas. The holiday revolved around my mother and her huge Wasp-y family, a high-spirited clan originating with seven once-wealthy, East Coast, Harvard-educated brothers and sisters who were more or less turned into penniless orphans during the Great Depression. more

When you’re first pregnant, delirious with excitement (or panic), and strangers want to rub your belly, no one tells you that the first several years of motherhood can be excruciating. Not because of sore nipples or lack of sleep. But because of the pervasive, at times overwhelming dread that serious harm will befall your child. more

With trepidation I recently agreed to: Buy Sarah Palin’s New York Times #1 bestselling autobiography, Going Rogue ... more