Susan Usha Dermond

Question:

We recently made a family trip to Mexico City, which is where my husband is from. His family is relatively wealthy, so we were chauffeured around in an air-conditioned car and waited on by maids. When driving around the city, we would pass little children begging on the street corners. They all had stained faces and tattered clothing. Some carried around little baby siblings. My husband insisted that we not pay any attention to them, and not give them any money or food. I think this sent a really wrong message to my children, a daughter, 5, and a son, 7.

How can I develop their compassion for people less fortunate than they are? How can I gently make them aware of how very lucky they are?

Thank you!

Isabella, New York

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Question:

How do I talk to my daughter about teen pregnancy, now that her idol - Jamie Lynn Spears - announced that she is having a baby and getting married at 16-years old?

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Question: Christmas is quickly approaching and there are toy advertisements everywhere, beckoning my kids. I wish I could make this season more about family, love and compassion rather than presents. What could I do to make this season more meaningful and less commercial?

Also, could you recommend some family traditions we could start this year?

Best, Allegra S., Mill Valley

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Question:

I'm posting this while my bunch is all downstairs, watching a classic Jimmy Stewart movie that my husband thinks our son should see. My husband has fond memories of watching TV with his dad, and he wants to recreate that with our kids. If I shoo the kids away from the set and send them outside or upstairs to play board games or read, he doesn't join them. He'll go work on a ham radio project or surf on his own. I want my kids to spend lots of time with their dad, but not always in front of the set!

In his defense, he does their baths every night and gets them breakfast and takes them to school every morning - it's not like he's uninvolved - just that he doesn't seem to have any other way to relax with them.

Do you have any ideas for how to motivate dads to do SOMETHING ELSE with kids besides watch TV -- short of surreptitiously disabling the TV set? Thank you, ANolan

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Question: My kids keep asking if they can dress up as Hannah Montana, Polly Pocket or a Ninja turtle for Hallowe'en â?? all their friends are also asking for these costumes. How can I steer my children towards more meaningful choices, like characters from literature or history?

--Laura S.

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