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Nation of adults who will write like children?

By Katia Hetter, Special to CNN
August 10, 2011 2:04 p.m. EDT

(CNN) — A glance at teen stars Miley Cyrus and Justin Bieber’s letters to their younger selves makes one thing clear: their handwriting is terrible. In the letters, part of the Habbo Celebrity “Advice to My Teenage Self” book, the content is messy and their [...]

Storytellers share their tales for live audience

By Katia Hetter, Special to CNN
July 13, 2011 8:20 a.m. EDT

(CNN) — When Howard Chiou went to Taiwan for his grandmother’s funeral, he had another dead person on his mind — the cadaver he was dissecting in his anatomy class. The Emory University medical student kept dreaming about who this dead man might have been [...]

How to negotiate with your kids

By Katia Hetter, Special to CNN
July 26, 2011 8:36 a.m. EDT

(CNN) — “I can’t watch TV without my pajamas!”

I should be reading the last of three bedtime stories to my 3-year-old before I sing the three songs that usually send her to sleepyland. No more than three. That’s the deal. But I have to make [...]

Stop calling Huma Abedin a victim

By Katia Hetter, Special to CNN
June 20, 2011 3:05 p.m. EDT

(CNN) — Americans snicker over the sordid details of former Rep. Anthony Weiner’s Internet escapades. But they pity his wife, Huma Abedin. They see an accomplished and beautiful woman betrayed by her husband’s Twitter posts. And she’s pregnant? The details just get worse and worse.

Abedin [...]

Smartphone danger: (My) Distracted parenting

By Katia Hetter, Special to CNN
June 14, 2011 11:57 a.m. EDT

(CNN) — “Mama, put the phone AWAY.”

That’s my kid talking to me, and she’s only 3.

She’s scolding me, but she’s scolding you, too.

So listen up.

I understand your work pays the bills and you only have time to connect to people through Tweeting your mood or [...]

My Faith: How saying a blessing changed my secular family's meals

By Katia Hetter, Special to CNN
June 12th, 2011 01:00 AM ET

“Hey, we didn’t sing the blessing!”

After all these months, my 3-year-old daughter’s words still startle me.

Since my family’s move from New York to Atlanta, Georgia, last year, almost everything in our lives has changed. That includes the instruction of a blessing before eating. We do [...]

Don't Kill the Birthday Guest

By Katia Hetter, Special to CNN
May 24, 2011 9:05 a.m. EDT

(CNN) — The job of a children’s birthday party host seems straightforward: Thomas the Tank Engine or princess theme? Traditional yellow cake with icing or ice cream cake? Jelly beans or arts and crafts in the gift bags?

To which we suggest a modern twist: Don’t [...]

Bedtime story: Go the bleep to sleep

By Katia Hetter, Special to CNN May 13, 2011 3:12 p.m. EDT

(CNN) — Adam Mansbach’s toddler wasn’t thirsty. She wasn’t hungry. And she definitely didn’t need Dad to make up another story about farm animals having a picnic and dozing off. The possibility that he would never get to leave her room [...]