Guest Stars-Glenn Close
When a woman becomes a mother, it’s like she’s cut in half. From that moment on, you’re constantly choosing between your child and your career. It’s not like you can just walk away from what you do, and you also have this little being for whom you are now responsible. While your instinct is that you have to be there every minute of the day, you just can’t. And that sets up a conflict—whether it’s guilt, I don’t know, but it’s reality.

How’s Your Sex Life?
Like most working moms, Elizabeth, a northern NJ mother of two, has a detailed daily list of things to do in order to keep her household running. Somewhere on that list, buried way beneath walking the dogs, feeding the cats, doing laundry and taking her daughter to ballet, is a mental note to have sex with her husband.

Your Bilingual Babe
Chances are you’ve seen how speaking another language can open doors in the business world. But did you know the best time for your English-speaking child to start parler français or hablar español is now? “Young children have an amazing ability to learn languages,” says Nancy Rhodes, the director of foreign language education at the nonprofit Center for Applied Linguistics in Washington, DC.

Guest Stars-Chandra Wilson
My audition for Grey’s Anatomy in March 2004 was nothing out of the ordinary. I certainly had no idea that Grey’s Anatomy was going to be “my big break.” In fact, I was doing Caroline, or Change off-Broadway at the time, and it was moving up to Broadway. I thought, This is the one. This play is going to be my big break.

Playtime!
Years from now when your kids recall their fondest childhood memories, chances are they’ll talk about the great times the family spent together—you chasing them through the park, rowdy games of tag, charades in the family room while the rain pummeled the windows. Play is the essence of childhood. “It’s how children learn everything the best, from reading to counting,” explains Lawrence Cohen, PhD, author of Playful Parenting.

Kid-Friendly International Airlines
There are few things as frightening as taking an international flight with small children. First, there’s the walk of shame down the aisle, as other passengers avert their eyes in the hopes that looking away will somehow propel you and your offspring to a seat far, far away from them. Then, there’s the trepidation as you buckle your children in and wonder how they will spend the next eight hours confined in their seats. Will they bicker and bawl, loudly, over who gets to sit by the window? How many hours will it be before they start kicking the seat in front of them out of sheer boredom?

Let’s Talk About Race
Until he was 9 years old, Niko Crawford, of New Market, Maryland, was proud to be a Muslim. But when he started third grade, everything changed. The children in Niko’s class that year began taunting his best friend, Mohammed, calling him a “terrorist” and an “Osama lover,” and even trying to beat him up on the school bus. Niko, who is African-American and not easily identified as a Muslim, stood up for his friend, but he didn’t tell anyone about his own family’s religion. The teasing continued, though, and eventually Niko came to his mom in tears.