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This article is the last of a five-part series designed to share parents' experiences with raising teenagers. Our articles follow the outline of a study headed by A. Rae Simpson, Ph.D., at the Center for Health Communication, Harvard School of Public Health.* Dr. Simpson’s report analyzed a broad range of recent research on teens. It provides a list of the developmental tasks of adolescents, as well as an outline of the five basics of parenting teens. These basics are: 1) love and connect, 2) monitor and observe, 3) guide and limit, 4) model and consult, and 5) provide and advocate.

A survey on affordability, report on the results and a resource list. 

This book offers information and inspiration, and also abundant warnings about the barriers to play in our society. Unfortunately, in our culture it is a challenge to offer children abundant opportunities for creative play. Parents must be vigilant and they must take actions that are counter to much of what has become the "norm." 

Catherine Myers reflects on her children's early years and the decision she and her husband made to try preschool and then to drop out, raising their children without school through their elementary years. 

Catherine Myers writes about the difficulties and rewards of family hikes.

Parenting books had forewarned me, but I still stepped right into the trap. A cranky, overtired four-year-old who always had trouble settling down to sleep, a day with too many difficult moments, and my own exhaustion set me up. To help my daughter relax one night, I ventured into dangerous territory and added an extra step to our bedtime routine.

Appreciation. Everybody craves it but often we treat it as a scarce commodity, hoarding it to ourselves. It doesn’t take the mother at home long to realize how much our culture undervalues her contribution to society.

Who needs a paycheck? Who needs a flat tummy? I knew motherhood was about sacrifice, didn't I? What I hadn't counted on were the more subtle shifts, the ones that get at my center, my sense of who I am.

In the not-so-distant past, even mothers who were unable to hire help or did not have family living nearby were usually able to take a cheap, easy break called "Go outside and play."