To-do made by female American with son (4)
I believe the answer is:
fuss
'to-do' is the definition.
(I've seen this before)
'female american with son' is the wordplay.
'female' becomes 'f' (abbreviation).
'american' becomes 'us'.
'with' is a charade indicator (letters next to each other).
'son' becomes 's'.
'f'+'us'+'s'='FUSS'
'made by' acts as a link.
(Other definitions for fuss that I've seen before include "To-do" , "Commotion; ado" , "Unnecessary agitation" , "Unnecessary excitement or bother" , "Bustle and bother" .)