Family
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Ramou Sarr: I was always terrified that my white nephew would grow up to be a racist. The events in Ferguson tested our relationship to its breaking point
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Rae Earl: The song from Frozen has joined the pantheon of mighty earworms. And I can’t block it out – heaven knows, I’ve tried
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Stefanie Gray: I’m Jewish, but I grew up happily celebrating both holidays. I have no intention of taking sides as an adult
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Philippa Perry: Children’s films are emotional workouts that gently teach the hardest truth: that most things may never happen – this one will
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From baking together to visiting Christmas markets, there are plenty of ways to keep your son or daughter amused over the festive season
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Does your family fight every Christmas? It doesn’t have to be that way …
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Business in brides is booming in north-west India as a result of female foeticide, but the women bought and sold are often trapped in lives of slavery and abuse, writes Anu Anand
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Lindy West: I used to take the concept of home for granted. Now my father has died, I am learning how to rebuild it
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Government due to respond to call for non-religious marriages to be enforceable in law, ending need for second, civil ceremony
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Clare Conville: Candice Curry’s letter reminds us that stepfamilies can have happy endings – as I found out
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We asked readers to tell us about the house where they were born. Their responses were moving and memorable. Here are some of them
You can see all the contributions – or share your own – via GuardianWitness
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Guardian Comment Network Children lie from the age of two, so here’s how to get them to tell the truth
Lara Warmelink for the Conversation, part of the Guardian Comment NetworkLara Warmelink for the Conversation: Rather than threatening them we should reassure children that confession won’t land them in trouble – and will make you happy
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The Observer's faces of 2014 Kellie Maloney: ‘I achieved a lot as Frank. I could never totally lose him’
The former boxing promoter revealed she was having gender reassignment surgery, went on Big Brother – and gained her family’s acceptance. By Andrew Anthony -
Even after divorcing, Jon and Tracy Morter still share a house with their three children. It seemed the natural thing to do
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Guillaume Gallienne was different from his three athletic brothers – he liked to dance and dress up as a woman. His mother treated him like a girl and told him he was gay. The thing is, he was actually heterosexual
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The letter you always wanted to write
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Family life Family life: Dad making like a monkey, Ol’ Man River by Paul Robeson and chocolate cherry pudding
Readers’ favourite photographs, songs and recipes -
Emma Freud’s only daughter is just finishing her first term away at college. So how did she cope when Scarlett left home? Here are her top tips for anyone whose child is heading off next year to live miles away from the family
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When Charles Lambert was born, his father was 64. After a childhood overshadowed by ill-health and old age, he cautions against late-life parenthood
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I followed links to blogs where men complained that women are biologically determined to be illogical, dimwitted, childish and in need of male dominance
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‘You need to leave those keys,’ my wife says. ‘Never!’ Constance says.
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When a donor egg proved to be the only chance for Tabitha Moses to have a baby, she wondered how much of a bond she would have with the child
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Lizzy Yarnold: Parents, be ready to pack your children off with just a kiss and a bag of essentials – and mobile phones are not allowed
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We have been married for more than 30 years, and I’m deeply upset to learn that there is this hidden side to his character. Annalisa Barbieri advises a reader
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We love playing games all year round, but particularly at Christmas – just don’t suggest Monopoly
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If you’re going to play a game, do it right, please thank you. Here’s how to cheat, lose and argue like a winner
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A mash-up of all the other Christmas columns I’ve done or someone else has done, or will do in the coming weeks, because every Christmas column idea has been done already
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The musician talks about his charismatic father and how being abused by a friend of his parents led to a long estrangement from his mother
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Julie Bindel: Ditching the word ‘tolerance’ and challenging the problems of marriage would be a good start if we are to end discrimination
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Additives found in plastics and scented products could affect brain development and lower IQ
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Jessica Valenti column No, I will NOT wrap all the presents. Why are women still responsible for the holiday joy?
Jessica Valenti: The holidays bring another set of gendered expectations. This season should be all fun and family, not enduring more chores and consumerism -
Vonny Moyes: Postnatal depression’s bigger, uglier brother hit me. When all eyes are on the beautiful baby, we can forget to look at the mum
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GuardianWitness blog Through thick and thin: readers' photos and drawings of their families - in pictures
From a 10-year-old’s drawing of his grandmother to a Jamaican wedding and an accidental recreation of Queen’s Bohemian Rhapsody cover, here are your visions of family life as inspired from drawings from the archive
JK Rowling: Isn’t it time we left orphanages to fairytales?