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Q&As in Home & Family

When should I let my teenager drive a car?

What matters isn’t your child’s age, but his maturity levels. How responsible is he? Can you trust him to follow road rules? Can he control his temper and impulses? When he is on the road, he has to consider his safety, the safety of his passengers, and the safety of all the cars around him. [...]

How do I remove bathroom stickers?

It can be hard to pull off the non-slip bathroom stickers without ruining your bathtub’s finish or surface. The trick? Don’t scrape them off. Instead, use your fingernail or a plastic credit card to lift the corners of the sticker. Then spray a laundry pre-treatment product all over the sticker. Leave it, drenched, for several [...]

How do I make a mood board?

A mood board is a great way to find your personal decorating style. Just get a standard bulletin board. Whenever you see something that appeals to you — a paint swatch, magazine picture, a piece of fabric — pin it on the mood board. You’ll eventually see an emerging pattern: colors, styles that seem to [...]

How can I trap fleas in my house?

Fleas don’t just hide in your pet’s fur: more of them hide in the house. Here’s a simple flea trap: position a lamp near your dog’s sleeping area, and put a bowl of soapy water underneath. The fleas will be attracted to the light and then drown in the water. You can also buy flea [...]

How do I know my child’s tantrums aren’t “normal”?

All toddlers throw tantrums, but talk to your pediatrician if the tantrums happen more than three times a day, and if they last for more than 15 minutes. Your child may be feeling sick or uncomfortable (you’d throw tantrums too if you felt pain and didn’t know how to say so) or may have behavioral [...]

How do I know if my baby has colic?

All babies cry, but the doctors use the “rule of three” to diagnose it as colic. It is colic if the intense crying lasts for more than 3 hours a day and happens at least 3 days per week for more than 3 weeks.

Can you spoil a baby?

“Don’t carry your baby so much! You’ll spoil him!” new parents are told. But child development experts say that there’s no such thing. Babies cry because they are hungry, tired, sick, lonely, scared, or bored. And they’re too young to meet those needs on their own, so they ask for help. Responding to those needs [...]

Why is spanking bad?

Studies show that kids who were strongly and frequently spanked developed self-esteem. But even if you only do it “sometimes” (and with a light hand) parenting expers believe that it’s counterproductive. The goal of discipline is to replace an unwanted behavior with an acceptable one, and kids don’t get that if all they remember is [...]

How do I remove pesticide residue from my garden soil?

Chemical pesticides can contaminate your garden soil, making plants weaker, while the insects you try to kill become more resistant to it. You can remove pesticide residue by adding organic matter to your soil, lowering the concentration of pesticides and activating the soil’s natural ability to heal itself (and release pesticide residue over time).