Wire Family

After struggling to breast-feed her first two children, Nyssa Retter was determined to do better with her third.

What image pops into your mind when you hear the word "scientist"? A nerdy guy or gal in a white lab coat hunched over a microscope? A wild-haired Albert Einstein look-alike mixing bubbling liquids in test tubes? Whether you thought of, we're betting that you wouldn't describe a scientist as "cool." Unfortunately, that uncool factor keeps a lot of kid from going into science, and that may explain why the U.S. is lagging so many other first-world countries in STEM (science, technology, engineering, math). But there are a number of companies that have set out to turn those old stereotypes on their heads and make science cool. Besides being fun (and educational) for the kids, these science kits are also a fantastic way for parents and kids to play - and learn - together. Here are a few from Discover with Dr. Cool (www.discoverwithdrcool.com)

Parent advice (from our panel of staff contributors):

Growing up with a severely disabled brother, Abby Brown felt less like a sister and more like a "third parent." Nigel, two years her junior, was born with a rare disease called linear sebaceous nevus syndrome that left him nonverbal and needing assistance to eat, dress and use the toilet.

Last year at this time, Kendall Livingston felt like a failure. The Fenwick High School senior applied to seven colleges and, despite her stellar academic record and test scores, didn't get accepted at any of them.

Dear Mr. Dad: With all the talk of bullies and school violence, isn't there a way to predict which kids will grow up to be criminals and which won't?

The happiest jobs right now, according to online jobs site Careerbliss.com, include real estate agent, senior quality assurance engineer, senior sales rep and construction superintendent. The unhappiest jobs include nurse, teacher, customer service rep and associate lawyer.

My refrigerator is full. Actually it's stuffed, each shelf brimming with plastic containers, food-storage bags, jars and cans. In this land of abundance, I have more than plenty, and in a world with so much need, that makes me lucky. Very.

For most of her life, Angela Williams kept the abuse to herself. There were no words for the horror and the guilt and the shame she felt. And who would believe her? In some ways it was just easier to pack it away, soothe herself with drugs and alcohol, to attempt suicide.

Question:We have two boys, 8 and 7. They are completely, and I mean COMPLETELY, out of control. They constantly argue, fight and tattle. If they're not fighting, they're playing chaotically. Homework is a constant battle, and getting them to bed takes over an hour. To top it off, they completely ignore us when we give them instructions, and one boy's disobedience seems to make the other boy worse. It's driving me absolutely nuts, but they don't seem to care. We can't go out in public or have people over to our house because their behavior is at its worst when other people are around. They love an audience. PLEASE HELP!!!

Question: I'm dating a guy with teenage daughters 16 and 18. He is always hugging them, and when we sit on the couch he will rub my leg and theirs as well. We went to a talk yesterday and his youngest daughter laid her head on his shoulder - his response was to lay his head on hers. It only lasted a second, but I am confused about this. Some people think his daughters are his girlfriends. Am I over reacting? What's good ex-etiquette?

Road safety is an important issue, and one that we as parents can't afford to be lax on. It is very important that children learn from day one the habit of practicing street and sidewalk safety. By applying the use of your child's dominant sense you can make the lesson easier for them to assimilate and learn.

As a five-year veteran of the single mom gig, I've been on a constant emotional rollercoaster - feeling like queen of the universe for potty-training my son in a month, panicking at 3 a.m., as I nurse his 104-degree fever, and even doing a happy dance after dropping him off at day care. I'm free, I think ... even though I'm headed straight to work. Then there's the sinking guilt of raising my son without his father and the exhaustion of having to do it all. Being a single mom is pretty much as tough as it's cracked up to be, but that doesn't mean I don't love it.

Dreams come in all shapes and sizes. I'm here to tell you firsthand that all dreams can be realized if taken one step, and in this case, one sip at a time.

While not an official holiday, April Fools' Day on April 1 is celebrated with practical jokes and hoaxes. In several European countries, children and adults observe the occasion by trying to tack paper fish on each other's backs and shouting "April fish!"

It's not a secret that the national economic crisis has affected nearly every American family, but economists and researchers are now finding ways to quantify how it has affected children specifically.

Tori Spelling and Dean McDermott are proud parents of "four amazing miracles" - sons Liam, 6, and Finn, 6 months, and daughters Stella, 4, and Hattie, 1. With two in diapers, things are "definitely chaotic" in the Spelling-McDermott household, but Tori says things have "gotten easier" in recent weeks.

It's a cliche, but cliches are cliches for a reason: Single moms are poorer than married moms. I know this for a fact. I know because I've been a single mom for three years. I also know because I blog about personal finance and single parents at Wealthy Single Mommy ( http://www.wealthysinglemommy.com ). The fact is, according to a 2010 census - the most recent data available, 41 percent of households headed by single women with children live in poverty - nearly triple the national poverty rate.

We can thank four Cassville High School teenagers in Missouri for another contender of things you never imagine you would have to explain to your child: Never pee in another's person drink.

When Bruce Feiler, intrepid journalist and father of twins, set out to discover what makes happy families tick, he deliberately avoided parenting "experts," psychologists and the whole self-help industry.

This week, I'd like to examine one of the common English expressions uttered by young Homo sapiens, but then usually abandoned as they reach maturity.

Secret nature names are an intriguing category: baby names that reference animals or weather or some other aspect of nature in their meaning without being explicit about it the way names such as Lily and Fox are.

When I was in elementary school, I couldn't wait to get home and get into the kitchen. If I wasn't assisting my mom as a junior sous-chef (licking the cake batter bowl was my specialty), I was making chocolate chip cookies, cupcakes, fudge and bittersweet chocolate brownies on my own.

Oh, Monday. There aren't a whole lot of folk who love Mondays. Kids dread going back to school. The nine-to-fivers dread going back to work. It's a day of having to pay bills or answer emails you avoided on Friday or sign forms or go to the dentist. When was the last time you heard someone say "Yippee, it's Monday! Can't wait for today!" Never, right? Maybe it's time we did something about it. Instead of a ho-hum day, followed by a blah dinner and ending with a boring night of nothingness, let's spice it up a bit.

At about age 6, there was dissonance in Jae's life.

If you're putting together an Easter basket for the kiddies, stuffed animals and toys are absolute must-haves. Here are some of our favorites for this time of year.

Many folks are skipping marriage these days, but a new study shows that happily married couples consider themselves healthier than their unmarried peers.

Your high schooler cheated on a big assignment. Is this a sign of larger problems?

"Success is a lousy teacher. It seduces smart people into thinking they can't lose." -Bill Gates

Dear Mr. Dad: A few months ago, my husband got back from his 3rd Army deployment - two in Iraq, one in Afghanistan. He's been diagnosed with PTSD and is getting treatment. But I'm worried that his condition is somehow rubbing off on the rest of the family. Our children are having problems in school, I'm finding myself on edge and agitated all the time, and my temper seems to be getting shorter by the minute. I used to think that if we survived three deployments we could survive anything. But now I'm not so sure. What can I do?