I recently read a fascinating book about childhood that captured a sentiment that I think is common to parents today. In the book, titled, Where did you go? OUT. What did you do? NOTHING, Robert Paul Smith laments the loss of a child’s world of games, play and imagination, a private world, wholly separate from [...]
Read the rest of this article »The American child-rearing schedule is a little odd. On the one hand, when the school year is in session we make the kids get up at dawn, work at school from 8 – 3, and spend the rest of the day occupied with homework, sports and lessons. It’s a harsh, Puritanical kind of calendar, suggesting [...]
Read the rest of this article »Father’s Day is coming right up, and as much as I am not a fan of greeting card holidays and trite sentiment (or maybe because of that), I’d like to take this time to give a huge shout out and a sincere round of applause to all of the fantastic dads that I know. And [...]
Read the rest of this article »I never thought that I would welcome busy weekdays stuffed with school and homework, but I feel like I spent most of spring break acting as an electronic device gatekeeper. The entertainment delivery systems (computer, video games, smart phone, and television) were always there, always tempting, and always ready to start an argument over the [...]
Read the rest of this article »I feel lucky to live in such a library-rich neighborhood. My family uses all four (four!) of our neighborhood branches. Usually we make one library run a week to switch out multiple bags of books. Sure, we often have a small tab for late books, or more rarely a larger one for a book that [...]
Read the rest of this article »Where would Los Angeles families be without school carpools? In the daily diaspora that is getting kids to school on time and home whenever we can, we’ve come to rely on these formal but friendly collectives. Without carpools, our round trips to school would multiply out of control, wreaking havoc on our work schedules, gasoline [...]
Read the rest of this article »Holy cow, does my back hurt. At first I thought that I was dying, because surely it would take some organ failing to cause this much pain. In fact, I happened to tune to a radio story about back pain on the way to the Doctor’s office, but I didn’t pay much attention to it [...]
Read the rest of this article »No resolutions for me this year. I’ve had plenty of experience with those buggers, and I can’t remember a single one that ended up changing my life. So I’m starting a new tradition: The New Year’s Wish. Wishes are lower pressure, and since they have just about as much chance of success as a resolution, [...]
Read the rest of this article »My poor son. He’s a maximalist kid with a minimalist mom. Then again, pretty much every kid is a maximalist when it comes to the holidays.
For Luke, the more songs, the more lights, the more tinsel, the more lawn ornaments, the more presents, the better. Though I sincerely believe that for him, it’s really not [...]
“Mom, I’m tired, so I’m going to bed now.”
I have to ask the readers with grown children: When does a parent hear those magical words? When?
I’m guessing that it probably happens the first time your adult child comes to visit you with their new baby, and leaves you in charge of the grandkid.
As my kids [...]
