Christian Science Monitor | Living

Michelle Obama: politics tough, but 'Dad is always going to be Dad'

First Lady Michelle Obama discusses family life, the need for her daughters to have thick skin and her advocacy for American families to eat right and exercise during interviews to promote her new book on the White House garden.

Family vacation: Airlines asked to cut fees for seating together

Family vacation might be cheaper if Senator Charles Schumer succeeds in getting airlines to allow families with young children to sit together without paying extra for window and aisle.

Sharon Stone nanny trouble: Former sitter sues her for harassment

Sharon Stone, the Oscar-winning actress, was sued by her former nanny for allegedly insulting the live-in sitter's ethnic heritage after a dispute over overtime pay.

Ready for summer? Family vacation season opens with Memorial Day

The summer travel season, whether its visiting Coney Island, Disneyland or Yellowstone, opens Memorial Day weekend. Time to schedule those flights and check the highways for this year's family vacation.

Condoms to be handed out at Brooklyn high school prom

Condoms will be handed out at Brooklyn high school prom, according to school officials who notified parents this week. The school also plans a safe-sex program in the weeks leading up to the dance.

Celebrating Cin Ali: The stick figure who taught Turkey to read

Cin Ali – a stick figure cartoon character used to teach reading in Turkey from 1970 to 2000 – is celebrated in a new art exhibit in Istanbul. Although his storybooks are no longer used in classrooms, Cin Ali still represents simplicity in a complex modern nation.

Doggy couch surfing website has in-home vacation lodging for dogs

Doggy couch surfing? Website has in-home lodging for dogs when their owners go on a vacation and don't want to coop their pooch up in kennel caging.

After graduation: Five real-world steps to success

Cindy Brown, author of the book “The Girls Guide to Swagger” and creator of the online community of the same name, once taught a class at the University of Colorado, Boulder called “Real World Planning.”

It was a course formed in response to what she and some of her colleagues in the business world (and many of their professor friends) recognized as a lack of practical skills among the new graduates they saw looking for jobs. Many of these young men and women were eager and earnest, smart and motivated. But they were, well, clueless.

Sound familiar, parents? With graduation day around the corner, I caught up with Brown to ask her what her top tips would be for new graduates going off into the “real world.”

Turns out Brown’s advice is pretty good for the rest of us, too.

Kinship care beats foster care for raising kids – support needed

An estimated 2.7 million children are being cared for by extended family such as grandparents and other relatives, who are likely to be poor, elderly and unemployed, according to a new Annie E. Casey Foundation report that urges new support and resources for them.

The price of milk: Low for milk drinkers, but sinks family farms

With the price of milk low and feed and fuel costs spiraling, family dairy farms struggle to compete with large farms. In Vermont, the MacLaren family gives up dairy farming after three generations, joining the gradual national decline of small farms.

Etan Patz: NY police have suspect in custody in missing boy case

NY police say they have a person in custody who has implicated himself in the death of Etan Patz, the 6-year-old whose 1979 disappearance helped launch the campaign that put missing children's photos on milk cartons.

Noisy kid punched in theater: Parents, what were you thinking?

Disruptive kids in theaters are nothing new, but a recent violent incident highlights what steps parents and theater managers should take to make sure unsupervised kids follow basic movie-going etiquette.

Tornado arrives as uninvited guest at Kansas wedding (+video)

A video of a tornado at a Kansas wedding has gone viral. Who invited that tall, dark guest to the wedding, anyway?

DWTS contestant and author Bristol Palin to get own reality show

DWTS contestant and author Bristol Palin to get own reality show. The famous former First Daughter of Alaska's show, "Bristol Palin: Life's a Tripp," will premiere June 1 on the Lifetime network.

Noisy kid at movie theater hit by Washington man watching Titanic

A Washington man fed up with a noisy kid and his companions at a movie theater hit the 10-year old, knocking out a tooth and bloodying his nose. The man, charged with second-degree assault, claims he thought the person he hit was an adult and that the group was throwing popcorn at him and his girlfriend while they watched Titanic.

Overseas Oreo: Kraft names new global snack company 'Mondelez'

Kraft Foods, the world's biggest maker of sweet snacks such as Oreo cookies and Cadbury chocolate, named its new global snacks business 'Mondelez,' combining Latin words for world and delicious.

'Pink slime' author unapologetic to industry, consumer concerns

Used as beef filler for decades, "pink slime," was nicknamed by a former USDA meat inspector a decade ago, but recently it has sparked consumer petitions to remove it from school lunches and the closure of three Beef Products, Inc. meat plants.

Bullying legislation prompts opposition from conservative groups

A new bill in Illinois would require schools to adopt anti-bullying policies, but the Illinois Family Institute and Concerned Christians of America say that the law would challenge certain students' religious and moral beliefs.

'Mommy Wars' are American phenomenon, says feminist French author

'Mommy Wars' are strictly American, says feminist French author Elisabeth Badinter whose recently-released book, 'The Conflict,' argues that natural motherhood hinders women from fulfilling their full potential.

Mrs. Eastwood, star of new reality show, talks family, boy bands

Mrs. Eastwood, star of a new reality show, talks family, boy bands and her famous husband in a candid interview about her newly-debuted television show on the E! network.