Mommy Dearest — We love our nanny — she takes amazing care of my son every day. But all of a sudden, her breath is so bad, that I honestly can't be around her and I actually think it's really gross that my son is around it all day. How do I address this with her? Any money she makes, she sends to her kids back home, so I doubt that she wants to pay for a dentist, but it's so gross that I am Read more

Mommy Dearest — My 7-year-old daughter is begging me to allow her to get her ears pierced, and I don't think she is ready. Many of her friends have already gone through the "punch," and each time she sees another one with some glitter in her earlobe, I get an earful of reasons she should be allowed to have it done. I didn't bejewel my own ears until I was 10 years old and I'd like to keep it Read more

Mommy Dearest – I'm a SAHM, but plenty of my daughter's friends' have two working parents, which means that they are cared for by nannies and babysitters. Now that my daughter is in preschool, she is asking to play with specific friends, rather than the ones I set her up with, and that often means that it is the nanny and me hanging out while the girls play. While the nannies are certainly nice Read more

Mommy Dearest — Over the past few years, we have become friendly with some of our son's classmates' parents, often going out with them without the children. Last week my son and one of his friends had a pretty large disagreement — reducing both to tears and leaving them both vowing to never speak to the other again. We've resolved the actual issue between the kids, but the children still Read more

Mommy Dearest – Camp season is drawing to a close this week and the topic of discussion at the bus stop this morning turned to tipping the counselors. It is my son's first year at camp and I hadn't realized that the counselors needed to be tipped. All of the parents agreed to a set amount per child (the camp, apparently, doesn't have any guidelines about this) but my son was closer with some Read more

Mommy Dearest, I loved school, but my brother and sister-in-law were never into academics. Their son (my nephew) is going into third grade and always talks about how bored he is in class. His test scores are extremely high and though his teacher recommended placing him in a nearby private school where he would be challenged, my brother isn't interested because of the cost. He hasn't even looked Read more

Mommy Dearest – I know it is terrible to say, but I don't like my daughter's best friend. She is pushy and manipulative and seems to bring out the worst in my child. When the girls are together, all I get is sass from my child and if they have been playing together I can see a change in my daughter's entire attitude. I would stop scheduling play dates with her but I a) know it would devastate Read more

Mommy Dearest – I'm a full believer in allowing children to express themselves. I don't argue when my daughter wants to wear crazy things to school. I allow her to paint her nails in hideous colors. And I've even been known to help her add some wild purple streaks to her hair. But we've come to clashes over self-expression versus hygiene. After running around at camp all day, she resists Read more

Mommy Dearest – My husband grew up in a very affectionate family where hugs and kisses were never spared on the children. When my kids were babies and toddlers, I thought nothing of my in-laws giving their grandchildren kisses – be it on the cheek, forehead or lips. But now that the kids are 5 and 8, I'm beginning to get a bit uncomfortable with the lip pecks. Though I have yet to discuss it Read more

Mommy Dearest – Yesterday, while toiling away at work, I received a phone call from my son's nanny. It seems the friend he was playing with had been promised a lunch at McDonald's and had invited my kindergartner along. I try to avoid fast food restaurants at all costs, so our nanny called to ask if it was OK to go for lunch with the friend. In the background I could already hear my son Read more