Christina and Joe Heredia both work full-time and have four children under five years of age: triplets who have just turned two -- Samantha, Taylor and Ryan -- and older brother Brandon who is four. Christina is a well-meaning perfectionist who always tried to please her dad. Now, as an adult, she frets that strangers will judge her mothering skills, but in fact she's her own harshest critic, brought to tears by what she feels is her inability to deal with the challenges of raising these little ones. The simplest tasks are three times harder with the triplets -- they cannot be trusted to obey Mom on a short walk through the neighborhood without straying; Brandon tries to get attention from his parents by acting out; and all of the children disrupt mealtime, barely eating.

• Jo Frost