Wire Family

CHICAGO - When it comes to advocating for her 8-year-old son's serious illness, Gelse Tkalec is on a much lonelier path than those strewn with pink ribbons and yellow bracelets.

This is a confusing time for parents who are chauffeurs to not only their children but also their children's friends. Children are passing along all kinds of legal information to one another about booster seats.

Rusty Wallace didn't know what to expect before the results of voting for the NASCAR Hall of Fame's Class of 2013 were announced Wednesday.

MEN IN BLACK 3

SACRAMENTO, Calif. - Rachael Mahoney is in the midst of a decade of loss. In the last few years, her father and her sister, her only sibling, died. Her marriage ended in divorce. And now her elderly mother's health is failing.

Want to join the hot new meet-up group?

Your spouse wants to break up every fight between your kids. You want them to work out their differences. Who's right?

What should Jimmy do?

There's a chance, a pretty good one, that we'll never decide what makes a good mom.

Reduced to bare numbers, the story of Katie seems impossible.

Dear Mr. Dad: In last week's column you complained that advertising ignores dads. As I understand it, moms make most purchasing decisions. Wouldn't advertising to men alienate women? And why should advertisers spend money pitching to people who don't buy anything?

Not since Demi Moore appeared nude and pregnant on a1991 cover of "Vanity Fair" has an image of an American mother so divided, enraged, delighted, captivated and horrified the masses.

Q: My partner of five months has never had children. I have an 8-year-old daughter. At first my daughter and my partner were interacting wonderfully, but that is not the case now.

Having read the survey of college graduates that found nearly one in four would not take a job that didn't allow them to make or receive personal calls at work makes you wonder if they live in the real world.

How they raise their kids is a touchy subject for lots of parents. When I was growing up, it was said that one should not engage in discussions of religion or politics. These days, engaging in conversation concerning how someone raises their children is just as likely to end the relationship as a discussion of their religious or political beliefs.

A simple "pull-to-sit" test on infants at six months old may help doctors predict autism and other delays, a new study has found.

Across the country last year, the most popular baby names were Jacob and Sophia, according to the Social Security Administration's latest count.

Around the globe, the leading cause of death for children younger than 5 is pneumonia, according to a new study from the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health.

Good or bad, we mothers bear the brunt of the blame for our children's problems.

It's the middle of the night and new mom Katie Champ rocks back and forth in the dark, struggling to nurse newborn Kaylee.

BATTLESHIP

Babies can be good yoga partners. Just ask the folks at Pacific Cultural Center's Ashtanga Yoga Institute.

Another Mother's Day, another year of your husband planning the whole day. Should the kids kick in a little help next time?

Four years ago, at the Beijing Olympic Games, Procter & Gamble's ad campaign was "Proud Sponsor of Moms." I complained loud and long about that one - how leaving dads out in such a glaring way was insulting and demeaning.

Q: My boyfriend has been divorced for four years. We have lived together for two years. He has three kids, ages 5, 7 and 9. His ex-mother-in-law takes care of his kids when they are not with their mother, which is the majority of the time. The evening visits are usually at the ex-mother-in-law's home. The ex just adopted two more kids - an 8-month-old and a 2-year-old. These kids are also at the ex-mother-in-law's home and are now bonding with my boyfriend's children. His ex is also in and out of this house while he is there. He knows this set-up makes me uncomfortable. Should I accept? Or should he change?

An advocacy group is petitioning the President to ban photographs of him and all cabinet members eating any food that is unhealthy, mainly burgers and dogs (hot dogs, not the other kind of dogs although they are probably against that, too).

The cover story in last week's (May 21, 2012) Time Magazine is all about "why attachment parenting drives some mothers to extremes - and how Dr. Bill Sears became their guru." That is the article's subtitle. All I can say, somewhat hopefully, is "at last."

LOS ANGELES-Sarah Hyland has been keeping a pretty big secret for a very long time: The 21-year-old "Modern Family" actress has grappled with kidney disease since she was in single digits.

For many, the photograph of a sexy blond mother nursing her almost 4-year-old son was provocative enough.

Sure, becoming a mom is pretty amazing. And while doing the deed might be the furthest thing from your mind at the moment (those boobs belong to someone else right now!), we promise you'll want to have sex again someday. So here are nine postpartum birth control methods that will help you get back in the sack without conceiving another baby before you're ready. Talk to your doctor about what method is best for you.