Jen

My boy is 7, his cousins are 7 & 8. The boy, who is 7, is much larger than my son and is a really bad egg. He has so far punched my son in the stomach, in the shoulder, pushed him down, and kneed him in the privates - all in the span of a week. The girl, the 8 year old, tricked him into putting his finger into one of those old-fashioned mouse traps that springs shut. My son's father has visitation and this has all happened at his house. When I asked him about it he called our son a liar! My son told me that his dad, the girlfriend, and the aunt and uncle who are the parents of these two kids have done nothing and the children have lied about it to stay out of trouble (they are always sent to play, unsupervised, in the family room in the basement, along with 4 other children - the youngest being 2 and the oldest being 9 or 10). What should I do or what CAN I do? My son is terrified of going to his dad's house because he's afraid of getting hurt!

Say the child is 4 years old, and very active and healthy. Could it be considered child abuse to put the child on a toddler-sized bicycle and have them ride 5-6 miles? And would you consider it so if the child does not want to?

I'm renting from a privately-owned apartment complex. This place is a disaster! They have a security entrance system in which you are supposed to buzz in your guests, but management disabled it and leaves the doors unlocked day and night. Someone keyed my car in the parking lot last night. People are smoking in the halls even though they are not supposed to (I have asthma so this is a big problem). The downstairs neighbor is beating on his girlfriend and son all the time in the middle of the night, like 2-4 am. The cops are here a few times every weekend to break up parties and fights. I have a 2-month old baby and just don't feel safe here.... What can I do to get out of my lease without penalties? I have only one rental referral, and would like to be able to use this one when I go to get another apartment....

Ok, here's the deal. When Qwest last came to service my DSL connection, they had to replace my modem. The technician only had one modem left on-hand, and it is currently plugged into my desktop. I just bought a notebook, and would like to connect it to the modem wirelessly. It has the card, but I need to know how to get the modem to broadcast wirelessly. My ethernet light is lit on the modem, but not the wireless light. Any way I can change this without having to call Qwest and have them come and set up my network? They charge another $8 a month for a wireless modem, and I cannot afford that right now....

My boy is 3 weeks old, and has been extremely fussy for about 1 1/2 weeks now. He was fine for the first week that we brought him home, and now when he is not sleeping or eating, he cries. The only thing that stops the crying is pacing the floor with him. I don't know what to do! Some people say that 2 weeks is too young for him to develop colic, so it might be something else...? He goes to the bathroom just fine, and he passes gas from both ends regularly. The only thing I have seen that seems a bit odd is that he drools a lot. Please, please, if you've been through this or know someone who has, HELP!!!

Anyone have any website links or suggestions? I'm looking to make my own crib set, complete with crib bumper, valance, crib skirt, etc. and I'd like some free patterns.

I am looking at traveling the country for the next few months, and I want to get a laptop so I can attend online classes for my degree. I will not be staying at hotels with free internet kiosks or anywhere else that will have a computer, for that matter, so I need something that will be very reliable that can work from my vehicle. What kind of internet can I get that will work for this? And what kind of hardware will I need to get for the laptop?