When I was a kid, being from a “broken home” was a stigma. These days, it is closer to becoming the norm. Before I was divorced, I thought people who crapped on their marriage vows because they are bored to be a lower form of life. That view hasn’t changed. I know that there are [...]
One of the kids said “wazzup”, so I showed them this: They now have fun play acting it out. All the time. “Hey Dad” “What” “WAZZUPPPP”
Bookzilla needed examples of stereotypes in media. She said that she wasn’t a media consumer. I told her to google Glenn Beck. She did. She pulled up the site and then said, “What now?” I told her to play some video. She played one video, one line of it and hit pause. It was one [...]
I don’t know if I am going to see this movie. Nicole Kidman stars as a mother who loses a child. She grieves. The trailer brought tears to my eyes. I was reminded of something I learned when I first divorced. Kids don’t know how to grieve. It takes time to learn that. Grieving should [...]
I was getting frustrated by the draw that computers have on my kids. I had already limited their computer time to an hour a night, but only if their homework was done. Bookzilla started piano in the fourth grade, but dropped it in the seventh. JMan started piano, grudgingly, in the fourth grade, and doesn’t [...]
I have two cats, Blitz and Sylvia. The kids wanted cats and I obliged them. Before I had kids, I thought cats were interesting. After having kids, cats are something to be endured. I have been referring to Blitz as ‘un petit chat noir’, dragging the words out. We were sitting around the family room [...]
Skiing season is on us again. I took last year off, but I have plans to go skiing with the kids each weekend this year. JMan is more athletic than Bookzilla, but I hope to work with her this year. I want her to really get into skiing and learn to enjoy the feeling of [...]
I have long been sensitive to the correlation of family strife and kids living badly. Before getting married, I noted the number of adults I met who had come from broken homes and the tough times they seemed to have as adults. Intact homes are not a guarantee of being able to raise kids who [...]
I got a pack of black t-shirts for each one of the kids at Costco. $12.99 for four shirts. What a deal. Bookzilla started wearing hers right away. JMan didn’t want them. I put them into his drawer anyway. This morning, he was asking for a t-shirt. I got yesterday’s laundry out of the dryer [...]