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At age 18, an American is old enough to fight, and die, for his or her country, but not old enough to buy a beer. At age 16, one can obtain a driver’s license, but not rent a car. And at age 17, one can get married in some states, but not in others. When, exactly, is a kid no longer a kid? When does childhood end and adulthood begin?

Does technology hurt a child's character development? Psychotherapist Sheri Noga believes there are potentially negative sides. As she sees it, today’s technology amplifies the mindset of immediate gratification; and that can be bad for children, parents and the world.

A new study suggests that children born via C-section are twice as likely to be obese by age three than those delivered vaginally way. On the surface, this might appear to be breakthrough work in our understanding of obesity, but how seriously should expectant mothers take it?

All this week, we’ve been talking about how students are learning today, both in and out of the classroom. Our conversations have looked at cell phones as educational tools, and at whether college students are studying less now than they did forty years ago. Today, we take a closer look at the study habits of primary and middle school students. In the past several years, a growing number of parents, teachers, and researchers have argued that kids are being assigned too much homework. After eight hours in school, they wonder if studying for hours at home afterward is really necessary.

Ovarian cancer is called the silent killer. Most women don’t receive a diagnosis until the disease has spread, until the chances for survival have dwindled. Once diagnosed, the treatment might be just as bad as the disease, as Dr. Vivian Bearing, the main character in Margaret Edson’s play “Wit," explains: "I am in isolation because I am being treated for cancer," she says. "My treatment imperils my health. Herein lies the paradox." Like Vivian Bearing, Susan Gubar is a professor of English, coping with ovarian cancer. Yet Professor Gubar's story of diagnosis and treatment is quite different from the one Margaret Edsons chronicles in "Wit."

Everyone is talking about this week's Time magazine, the cover of which features a young mom breastfeeding her son. Only her son isn't a baby – he's much, much older. Mary Elizabeth Williams has weighed in at Salon.com where she is a staff writer.

For some incarcerated women, spending time behind bars means missing out on the formative years of their child's or grandchild's life. But a program is trying to change that. Mommy Reads, a ten-week course offered through Sarah Lawrence College to mothers and grandmothers incarcerated at the Valhalla Correctional Facility in Valhalla, New York, helps women write children's stories and then record themselves narrating them. Polly Bresnick has been lead teacher and volunteer coordinator of the program for two years.

Martin Sheen and Emilio Estevez discuss their careers, relationship, family, and faith. Their dual memoir, Along the Way: The Journey of a Father and Son, tells stories about more than 50 years of family history and reflect on their life journeys.

Last week, we talked with Madeleine Albright about her life, and her discovery in adulthood that she was Jewish. We asked our listeners: Have you ever discovered a secret about your family or identity? We received a lot of responses, including one from Loren Levinson. She was adopted when she was a baby and raised her whole life in a Jewish household. But when she tracked down her birth parents as an adult, she discovered that her paternal ancestry was Muslim and that her birth mother is a born-again Christian. 

Two teenagers in Indiana listed on Facebook eight students and one teacher from their school that they’d like to kill. The school expelled the two girls involved in the exchange. Should students be punished for their cyber-activities off campus? Wendy Kaminer is a lawyer, social critic, and contributing editor at The Atlantic, and Regina Webb is the person who first got the Griffith Middle School involved in this case, when Webb's older daughter was one of the people whose name was listed as a potential mark in the Facebook exchange.

Auma Obama talks about her life in Africa and Europe, and her relationship with her brother, Barack Obama. Her memoir, And Then Life Happens, tells the story of her meeting Barack Obama for the first time in the 1980s, and how they built a lasting relationship, traveled together in Kenya, and researched their family history, and how she supported him in his political aspirations.

Entering a nursing home is a decision that many of us will make for ourselves and for the people we love. And when we make that decision, it’s with the hope that the highest level of care and professionalism will be administered. But for Alison Weingartner, this wasn’t exactly the case. She joins the program along with Kay Lazar, a health reporter for the Boston Globe who’s been covering Weingartner’s case.

As obesity rates in children have climbed over recent years, so too has the childhood incidence of type 2 diabetes. Dr. David Nathan, an author of the study and director of the diabetes center at the Massachusetts General Hospital explains why this study's findings are so troubling.

The Violence Against Women Act (VAWA) is up for reauthorization this year. While VAWA has served countless women since its inception, the rate of domestic violence homicides has remained virtually unchanged in nearly every state since the law’s passage in 1994 -- every state, that is, except Maryland, where domestic violence homicides have fallen by 40 percent since 2007. Jacquelyn Campbell can claim some credit for that decrease. She created the Danger Assessment, a screen that helps police and advocates determine the likelihood that an abuser will murder his or her partner. Susan Miller is the CEO of a domestic violence shelter in Kansas City, Missouri. The Kansas City Police Department implemented the Danger Assessment in 2009, and the number of women asking for help has skyrocketed.

The Danger Assessment was created by Jacquelyn Campbell, Professor at Johns Hopkins University School of Nursing. The Assessment is a screen that helps police, advocates, judges and others determine the likelihood that an abuser will murder his or her partner.

DANGER ASSESSMENT
Jacquelyn C. Campbell, Ph.D., R.N. Copyright, 2003; www.dangerassessment.com

Several risk factors have been associated with increased risk of homicides (murders) of women and men in violent relationships. We cannot predict what will happen in your case, but we would like you to be aware of the danger of homicide in situations of abuse and for you to see how many of the risk factors apply to your situation.

Using the calendar, please mark the approximate dates during the past year when you were abused by your partner or ex partner. Write on that date how bad the incident was according to the following scale:

1. Slapping, pushing; no injuries and/or lasting pain
2. Punching, kicking; bruises, cuts, and/or continuing pain
3. "Beating up"; severe contusions, burns, broken bones
4. Threat to use weapon; head injury, internal injury, permanent injury
5. Use of weapon; wounds from weapon
(If any of the descriptions for the higher number apply, use the higher number.)

Mark Yes or No for each of the following. ("He" refers to your husband, partner, ex-husband, ex- partner, or whoever is currently physically hurting you.)
___1. Has the physical violence increased in severity or frequency over the past year?
___2. Does he own a gun?
___3. Have you left him after living together during the past year? 3a. (If have never lived with him, check here___)
___4. Is he unemployed?
___5. Has he ever used a weapon against you or threatened you with a lethal weapon? (If yes, was the weapon a gun?____)
___6. Does he threaten to kill you?
___7. Has he avoided being arrested for domestic violence?
___8. Do you have a child that is not his?
___9. Has he ever forced you to have sex when you did not wish to do so?
___10. Does he ever try to choke you?
___11. Does he use illegal drugs? By drugs, I mean "uppers" or amphetamines, “meth”, speed, angel dust, cocaine, "crack", street drugs or ___mixtures.
___12. Is he an alcoholic or problem drinker?
___13. Does he control most or all of your daily activities? For instance: does he tell you who you can be friends with, when you can see your family, how much money you can use, or when you can take the car? (If he tries, but you do not let him, check here: ____)
___14. Is he violently and constantly jealous of you? (For instance, does he say "If I can't have you, no one can.")
___15. Have you ever been beaten by him while you were pregnant? (If you have never been pregnant by him, check here: ____)
___16. Has he ever threatened or tried to commit suicide?
___17. Does he threaten to harm your children?
___18. Do you believe he is capable of killing you?
___19. Does he follow or spy on you, leave threatening notes or messages, destroy your property, or call you when you don’t want him to?
___20. Have you ever threatened or tried to commit suicide?

____ Total "Yes" Answers

Thank you. Please talk to your nurse, advocate or counselor about what the Danger Assessment means in terms of your situation.

Chances are you use email. If you’re like 88 percent of Americans, you also own a cell phone. And if you’re among the well-connected 46 percent, you check your email ON your cell phone. All of this can make us feel more connected. But it can also make us less connected to those who are sitting right next to us. And it can be addictive. What to do?

New Census data released Thursday shows that the annual rate of growth in American cities has now surpassed that of the suburbs for the first time in 20 years. Lawrence Levy, executive dean of the National Center for Suburban Studies at Hofstra University, joins us to discuss why that shift is occurring.

Growing up, sibling rivalries seem to be the norm. But why do they so often persist into adulthood? And what can be done to mend these struggling relationships? Dr. Jeanne Safer is a psychotherapist and author of the recently released book, “Cain’s Legacy: Liberating Siblings from a Lifetime of Rage, Shame, Secrecy and Regret.”

In some states, parents frustrated with the public school system may have a new tool to fix their child’s education. Parent trigger laws, passed in some form in four states already, give dissatisfied parents the power to fire teachers, convert a public school to a charter, or even shut down the school altogether. As one can imagine, such a dramatic solution to the problem of public education has created quite a controversy. Parents and educators alike are asking: should parents have their fingers on the trigger of public education?

Nearly 4.5 million people in the United States have developmental disabilities, and more so than ever, these individuals are living longer lives. With a death of a parent, siblings often take over as the primary caregivers for those with mental disabilities. The HBO documentary, "Raising Renee" follows the journey of Beverly McIver, an artist who is put to the test in raising her sister who is mentally disabled.