Another school shooting today, this time in Maryland. This time the “bad guy with a gun” was killed by a “good guy with a gun.” But, the bad guy was 17 years old, so even though there was someone there to put an end to it, I have to ask… Where are the parents? No […]
We’re evolving – all of us – and so is our world, or should I say “our worlds” as each of us is surrounded by our own experience. As society has shifted away from the “good ‘ol days” (a “Madmen” episode filled with smoke and sexism), we dads have had to pick up a bit […]
This is a great time of year for sports. We’ve just seen a great French Open, Stanley Cup Final, and NBA Final. Whether you’re an athlete or not, sports offer real opportunities to teach values, focus, and tenacity. As parents, even just watching sports with our children provides us all with many teachable moments. Fairness […]
There are very few things that I find “absolute” in parenting. What works for one family may not work for another… except for the three strategies I am about to share with you. These primarily concern multi-child households. They worked really well with our family and I believe they will work equally as well for […]
I’ve lived long enough to see many of my divorced friends find new mates. It’s quite a relief actually – not because I think everybody needs to be a couple, but because their divorces have left scars that I’m happy to see healing. In many cases my friendship with these people began with deep discussions […]
I believe that most parents are good parents. It’s my observation that a majority of our citizens are well-behaved, respectful, and law-abiding. But I also see a society that devotes an immense amount of energy and resources to deal with the minority of adults who are products of “bad” or no parenting. Laws have been […]
I don’t typically regret much. I believe what’s past is past. As I get older, however, the passage of time allows me to look back and consider life’s lessons. Our children are now grown, for the most part. Our sons are certainly men, our daughter is a very self-reliant college girl, and our daughter-in-law is […]
When I went to college in the mid ‘70s, I made fun of people who sat in the front row of the class. I thought their eagerness to get good grades was a “kiss ass” thing and that real “free thinkers” didn’t have to conform to the rigorous judgments of academia. This attitude was reinforced […]
My Grandfather, Nathan, was an incredibly shy man. In addition to being very short (5’4”), he was a quiet and kind immigrant who listened far more than he spoke. He came from Russia to pursue a better life, and made his living as a bicycle-riding handyman in Toronto before moving to Detroit, where my mother […]
I never thought I’d use a new-age term for happy chickens to address a parenting-related issue, but I suppose over-cautious parents are as oppressive to children as cages are to chickens. The organization known as Free Range Kids is “fighting the belief that our children are in constant danger from creeps, kidnapping, germs, grades, flashers, […]