The NYT recommends getting a mobile phone for children who are just about to enter teens: “Cellphones are now more or less mandatory for children at this age. Besides providing a social advantage, phones can reduce parental stress in a crowded mall, get children in touch for homework help, serve as a call to dinner — and be withheld as punishment that really works.

Forbes – It’s okay to hire nannies or housekeepers if you can afford it. As I was pregnant with my third child, I had a Canadian client tell me the single most important thing he’d learned raising children–and he has raised his very successfully–is to have quality, one-on-one time with each of them, regardless of how close they are in age or how much they enjoy being together.