Alex McCord

What's the worst thing you've ever let your older child do to the younger one? Ours are two years apart, so we let the older one stay up later, we let him have my old iPhone to use as a wireless device and yes, we sometimes give in to his...

Kids are great, and I love mine. Except when they make me want to bury my head under a pillow and scream. Every once in a while, the adorable darlings threaten to turn mommy or daddy sociopathic. In those cases, it's time for THE LIST:

• Home Game. With two boys,...

Never, I mean never, underestimate the good feeling you get from your child doing something you want them to do. This Mother's Day, my husband and 6 and 8-year-old sons made dinner, which involved fruit salad for dessert. My kids have gone through phases of eating everything, eating nothing, eating...

Often, the name of the game in parenting is "Whatever it Takes." This week on Coffee Shop Confessions, a mom admits that she saves time by putting her kids to bed in their school clothes.

Is it okay for her to do that? Maybe. We don't know what goes on in her house. Did they take a shower first? Are the sheets clean? Do they brush their hair and teeth in the morning? We don't know any of this.

I know at my house, it would be a problem. I have boys, and dirt is their best friend. We wouldn't send them anywhere in public if they hadn't just been cleaned. Or something like that. But is there a double standard? It's 100% true that if anything is ever off with a child such as messy hair, untrimmed fingernails, a stain on a shirt, or mismatched clothes, people judge you faster than the crowd on Jerry Springer.

Maybe the answer is do whatever it takes, but just don't tell people. But then again, after four years in reality TV... what do I know? What do you...

This week on Coffee Shop Confessions, a mom reveals that she blows off steam by flipping her daughter the bird behind her back. When we shot this episode, I was horrified by the mom's behavior. I thought it was passive aggressive, that the mom was letting her daughter...

This week on Coffee Shop Confessions, a mom reveals that she uses housework to avoid playing with her son. 

Personally, this is one of the many reasons Simon and I had two children, two years apart. Once they were about 2 and 4 years old, they began to play together. These days at six and eight, they only surface when they are hungry. Of course siblings aren't workable for every family, and the payoff doesn't start until the youngest is old enough to engage.  

I'll be the first to admit that I don't always want to stop what I'm doing to play with our chums, but it's a balancing act. Life is short, and childhood even shorter. Besides, LEGOs are really, really fun to...

What is trust, and how important is it in a marriage? What planet are we on, and do we breathe air? To me these all seem like questions one never needs to ask because the answers are obvious, but maybe I'm naïve. In a perfect world, spouses would never lie...

Last week Bravo announced the new cast for the fifth season of the Real Housewives of New York City at the Upfronts, and by now most viewers know that I am not appearing on this upcoming season. I'm thrilled, however, that my new show, Coffee Shop Confessions, debuted the same...

Part of the hilarious and slightly surreal existence that goes along with being a reality TV personality in the 21st century is the constant wardrobe changes. This Saturday, we started the day taping a 20th anniversary tribute to the Wiggles, an Australian powerhouse children's band, switched it up by emptying...

Everyone buzzes about social networking, so much so that it's become the new buzzword that verges on the annoying. Remember synergy? Anyway, sites like Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter and the rest have become the primary way some people communicate. That's a good thing. It's great to be able to trade a...

The sun is shining, the birds are singing and things are looking up. As the Real Housewives madness shifts into book writing and work madness, I am taking a moment to be grateful.

When I was laid off at the end of February, it seemed like the sky was falling....

Thump! It's 6:56 in the morning and my husband Simon has been attacked by a hammerhead shark. Not to be outdone, the Madge cat grabs the shark by the head and attempts to chew its eyes out. Five minutes previously, François somnambulated his way into our bedroom with the shark...

Life is one big negotiation. Sometimes that involves compromise. Sometimes that involves spending time with people whom you don't like but for various reasons you're stuck with them.

What is it about negotiation that makes people so uncomfortable? Fear of the unknown, and anger that life isn't as comfortable and...

It's pouring rain and I've caught the plague from my son. A round of Fifth's disease (short definition: flu + rash) went through his school, and slowly but surely we all got it. Problem is that when an adult gets it you feel incredibly run-down along with that fabulous flu...

Emotional, irrational, angry, panicked, and that's just the stock market. At least the dollar is up on the yen and there's a cup of steaming hot peppermint tea waiting to be drunk.

It is so hard to know the right thing to do. This week I felt constantly yanked back...

I thought I'd gotten out. A little over two years ago, I was doing our tax prep. Although I'd had a great year creatively, with 3 films either in festivals or theatrical release, TV work and a challenging play, my reward for that was less than 1/16 of my husband's...