The Responsibility Project

Liberty Mutual

Responsibility. What’s your policy?™

Blog: parenting

Having a Third Child

Posted on June 10, 2008 by Kathy McManus Comments (74)

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 »
Dad Behind Bars

Posted on June 5, 2008 by Kathy McManus Comments (13)

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 »
White Lies

Posted on May 20, 2008 by Kathy McManus Comments (19)

Do these pants make me look fat? We all tell white lies, but when we do, are we being irresponsible? Read full article »
America’s Worst Mom?

Posted on May 8, 2008 by Kathy McManus Comments (43)

Mothering without smothering. That’s the responsible balance Lenore Skenazy was seeking when she recently allowed her 9-year-old son to ride the New York City subway alone for the first time. Read full article »
Father’s Day

Posted on April 16, 2008 by Kathy McManus Comments (2)

Responsibility encompasses a lot of inevitable territory: family, friends, job, and country. But should responsibility extend to forgiveness? Giving second chances? Seizing the moment before it’s lost forever? Read full article »
Shot Through the Heart

Posted on April 10, 2008 by Kathy McManus Comments (9)

Like most competitive athletes, in-line speed-skater Corey Gahan hoped fierce determination and hard training would give him the edge he needed to fulfill his dream of becoming the best in his sport. But unlike most competitive athletes, Corey Gahan’s father insisted on supplying that winning edge, regularly injecting his son with steroids and human growth hormone, the same illegal substances at the heart of the ongoing major league baseball scandal. Read full article »
The Nanny Diaries

Posted on April 8, 2008 by Kathy McManus Comments (48)

On a hot afternoon in New York City, my friend Miriam was sitting at a grassy public venue, watching her child play alongside other kids in the care of various moms and nannies. A long-time New York resident, Miriam is fully aware of the city’s urban imperative: mind your own business. But she couldn’t help but notice the crying of a nearby baby, approximately nine months old, strapped in his stroller facing the sun, while his nanny ignored him and chatted with another nanny. Read full article »
Attack of the 3rd-Graders?

Posted on April 4, 2008 by Kathy McManus Comments (131)

The shocking headlines out of Waycross, Georgia— 3rd-graders plotted to attack teacher, brought knife, handcuffs —lowered the bar on school violence and raised the alarm among parents, teachers, psychologists and just about anyone with an opinion about the country’s future. Read full article »
Babies in the Bar

Posted on April 1, 2008 by Kathy McManus Comments (133)

So this baby walks into a bar, and …Well, the baby didn’t actually walk into the bar—it was in a stroller, pushed by its mother, who was going to have a drink or two with some other moms who brought their kids, and…that’s why this is no joke. There’s a bar fight brewing across the country. In Seattle, Austin, Philadelphia, Boston and beyond, bar patrons are getting lathered up on both sides of a polarizing parenting issue: is it responsible (or even acceptable) to belly up to the bar with young children in tow? Read full article »
Seen on the Street

Posted on February 28, 2008 by Kathy McManus Comments (6)

Parental advisories abound these days. Toys are toxic. Cold medicine is dangerous. Sesame Street has an adults-only warning. Cowabunga! Is the letter of the day X, as in Rated? Read full article »