Cassandra Scrimgeour, 2/9/12

Blogger

When she looked up at me with these big blue eyes before fluttering off to sleep with her little hand on my chest, I swear I felt my heart skip a beat and a feeling stirring inside me I've never had before. I know now more than ever that I want a baby, maybe even more than one someday. But can you ever know for sure?

Alison Craiglow Hockenberry, 2/9/12

Contributing editor, Ashoka Changemakers

But it's a very different world now. For one thing, graduates are drowning in debt. Textbooks alone cost students as much as $1,000 a year or more. That's another area where innovation is challenging the old models.

Chrysula Winegar, 2/9/12

Blogger, Million Moms Challenge Community Manager

What's in a name? Well, a lot of confusion. Over the past week, a group named "One Million Moms" has campaigned against Ellen Degeneres and JC Penney for appointing her as its spokesperson.

Joni Hirsch Blackman, 2/9/12

Nest Half Full columnist

To Facebook or not to Facebook: I never thought that was the question. The last thing I needed was yet another reason to stay in front of a screen. But I am increasingly frustrated by this virtual brick wall.

Steven Crandell, 2/9/12

Writer

I have just finished doing something strange and normal. A family outing. With separated parents and both children.

Nick Chiles, 2/9/12

Author

With all the fuss over Beyonce's post-baby body, I'd like to take a moment to talk about my wife's post-pregnancy body. I understand that women spend years of anguish fighting and cursing that baby weight, but that is not necessarily what's on the husband's mind.

Marianne Mollmann, 2/8/12

Senior Policy Advisor, Amnesty International

The ordinance will not be very effective at influencing the overall depiction of sex in imagery and media. This outcome is all the more lamentable because encouraging condom use is so important. Let's look at the facts.

David Lindsay, 2/9/12

Managing Editor, Global Health Frontline News

Imagine watching your neighbor's child suddenly come down with a mysterious disease that robs her of vitality and leads to a slow, confusing demise.

Monica Gallagher Sakala, 2/8/12

D.C. blogger, Wired Momma

Peel back the layers of cultural stereotypes meant to catapult vulnerable and tired American parents into a perpetual state of self-doubt and longing for all things French, and all I reach is one conclusion: Good parenting is borderless.

Ana Beatriz Cholo, 2/9/12

Autism mom, former journalist, Navy vet turned flack

When I put myself in Josh Powell's shoes, they don't fit. He said he couldn't live without his two young sons. Fine. Why couldn't he have just killed himself then?

Marilyn Wedge, Ph.D., 2/9/12

Family Therapist; Author

The fact that the child's social context may play a part in causing the attention, focusing and behavior problems that we call ADHD can actually be interpreted as good news for parents.

Gary J. Gates, 2/8/12

Demographer who studies the LGBT population

Virginia's proposed law goes well beyond protection of religious freedom by affirming the right to discriminate in adoption and foster placement by any agency (religiously based or otherwise) based on any moral objection to certain types of parents.

Patrick Wallace, 2/8/12

Co-founder and Executive Director, aNoteToMyKid.com

I consider myself lucky to be experiencing the ongoing turmoil caused by the Prop 8 battle in my early- to mid-30s, well after I accepted myself as a gay man. I can only imagine what emotional damage this battle has caused teenagers who may be struggling with their sexuality.

Elizabeth Miller, M.D., Ph.D., 2/8/12

Chief of Adolescent Medicine, University of Pittsburgh Medical Center

Have you had "the talk" with your children? If this question instantly makes you think of the classic birds-and-bees chat, I was actually talking about the healthy relationship chat.

Oz Garcia, 2/8/12

Ph.D., nutritionist, recognized as the world's leading authority on healthy aging.

Children need to learn to develop a taste for healthy foods both in and out of the home. Schools cannot be complicit in bombarding their students with poor food choices and undoing a parent's hard work.

Barbara Becker, 2/8/12

Founder, EqualShot; Faculty, Columbia University

While walking with my 8-year-old son near our home in Manhattan, he spotted a purple swastika scrawled across a billboard advertisement. As I took in the complexities of the situation, my son uttered words that made my heart break.

Clare Winterton, 2/8/12

Executive Director, International Museum of Women