A new study says that the amount of time children spend on chores has dropped like the Dow to only 24 minutes a day—25% less than in 1981. Experts say the decline of chore time reflects “important behavioral and values shifts that will affect lives for years to come,” including issues like domestic bliss and the responsibility of doing volunteer work. Should children do more chores?... Read full article

Worse than poison ivy, today’s camp parents are itching to control every aspect of their children’s daily lives at camp —the very place meant to teach independence and responsibility away from Mom and Dad. Should summer camps return to the days of no cameras, no cell phones, no parents?... Read full article

Moms pack many things, but does a responsible mom also pack a gun? The question was recently raised on the website BabyCenter, where a mom blogger described the terrifying experience of a mother who was attacked. Many moms, from police officers to celebrities, are confessing to carrying a weapon and having the willingness to shoot and kill if necessary.... Read full article

Parents are frequently encouraged to share more activities with their kids. But should drinking alcohol together be one of them? Is it time for parents to take a different approach towards kids and alcohol? Time Magazine reporter John Cloud says it’s a “good way to teach responsible drinking behavior”.... Read full article

The shocking news from the small fishing town of Gloucester, Massachusetts spread across the country and around the world: 17 girls from one high school were pregnant, part of a supposed ‘pregnancy pact’ in which the students intentionally set out to become teen mothers, with a vow to raise their babies together.... Read full article

If you electronically monitor every website your kids view, secretly read all their instant messages, filter their TV viewing, restrict their incoming and outgoing calls, and track their movements by GPS devices lurking in their backpacks and cell phones, are you parenting, or spying?... Read full article

Pamela Paul wants a third child. Writing in the Washington Post about her desire to have a “sprawling” family like the one she grew up in—“with seven brothers, real and step”—Paul mused about the high cost of raising a child these days: $204,060 according to a new federal estimate.... Read full article

A juvenile court judge in Ohio ordered 40 year-old Brian Gegner to make sure his high school dropout daughter earned her GED. But when teenaged Brittney didn’t hit the books hard enough to pass the test, the judge threw the book at Brian Gegner, ordering the father jailed because the daughter failed. Should a father be responsible when his 18 year-old daughter can’t do the math?... Read full article

There’s no question where babies come from. But there are plenty of questions about where they belong. In a bar? With a nanny? Starting a new life with someone else? Your recent comments here on other posts show there’s lots of spirited debate about responsibility when it comes to how and where we care for our kids. So, do babies belong at the office every day?... Read full article

When two dogs are in a cage to fight each other, it’s illegal. When two children are in a cage to fight each other, it’s part of the fastest growing sport in America: “ultimate fighting.”... Read full article