For parents serving abroad, life is filled with difficult realities—like how to explain why mom or dad has to be gone for so long. As the U.S. enters into year two of the Iraq war, Connect for Kids' Rob Capriccioso talks to Sergeant Roberta Martinez, a mom who's been there since day one.

Forward-looking business leaders care about the early care of young kids, to stabilize a workforce with more full-time young parents and to make sure young children arrive at kindergarten ready to learn. This report describes how business has become more involved in providing family-friendly workforce supports and engaged in child development and school readiness policies and programs.

Good child care matters for families; it also makes a difference in the bottom line. Noting that too many children are entering school ill-prepared, the Business Roundtable and Corporate Voices for Working Families are urging lawmakers to protect funding for preschool programs for 3- and 4-year-olds in these tight times. They argue that a government commitment to early childhood education is essential to America's efforts to improve education and develop a world-class workforce.

In contrast to experimental studies that found negative effects of maternal employment on adolescents' school performance, this March 2003 study found no evidence of harmful effects on adolescents.

In the 1990s, an increasing proportion of poor children were living with working parents, but that trend has reversed. In 2001, the percent of poor children living with working parents fell to 40 percent compared with 43 percent in 2001, according to this February 2003 report by the Child Trends DataBank.

The debate over work requirements and participation rates in TANF reauthorization continue this year in Congress. Are proposals realistic that would require increased work requirements for a larger proportion of welfare-to-work families? This December report from the Urban Institute gives a good reality check.

Individual Development Accounts are becoming an increasingly popular way to help low-income families accumulate assets, but this is complicating the asset rules for many federal programs. This briefing book from the Corporation for Enterprise Development and the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities summarizes the current rules.

According to this survey, most parents say today's America is a difficult environment in which to raise kids. Parents tend to worry more about protecting their children from negative social influences than about paying the bills or having enough family time together.

The United Press International reports on research indicating that middle-class kids may experience difficulty as they hit seventh grade-including increased anxiety, depression and beginning substance abuse. Researchers cite two possible causes: increased academic pressures and feeling isolated from parents.

This national non-profit organization, represents many areas of domestic family planning, including clinicians, administrators, researchers, educators, advocates and consumers.