It’s often described as a tightrope, but that’s not terribly accurate. There is no risk of falling off either side. This period of life, the immeasurable, undefinable, delicate space between childhood and young adulthood, is more akin to finding yourself in the middle of a meadow. It can be peaceful and pleasant but also foreboding. All depends on the direction of the wind and the light or absence thereof. The meadow in the midst of youth and growing up is a vast space between two distinctly different environments: to the left, the lush forest up ahead with flora and fauna but with less … [Read more...]
About Jeff Bogle
Time Flies but Parent Learns Growing Up Never Ends
Eight traffic lights separate the short driveway in front of our home and our grade school’s two separate parent drop-off zones. Pushing back from the gate by 7:46 a.m. affords us the time to just miss a few of them. We’ve got to be reversing out of the driveway by 7:46 each morning with lunches, flutes and books in tow, or else. Any later, even just one minute later, and a just missed traffic light flipping from green to yellow to red might result in my oldest child being late for school, and this parent having to walk her in, hand her over, and walk back to the car alone with a pink tardy … [Read more...]
Nearly a Tween, Daughter Enjoying Childhood for as Long as She Can
My wife and I decided we wanted to raise children, not groom future college students or prep them for cubicled middle management, and to invest in childhood at every turn. Our return on investment has been remarkable. She’s arrived here at her own pace, free from impediments and devoid of turbocharged power boosts that would race her toward an imaginary checkered flag. My oldest daughter is 12. And a half, technically. A tween by any definition, and her childhood is still going strong. Some days she’s got the swagger of a confident individual who has all the answers, in a distinctly … [Read more...]
Judging Other Parents Brings Smug Satisfaction, Regret
There was a time not so long ago, let’s just call that time "yesterday," when I would have judged you. Quietly. To myself in the moment we two shared without your knowledge but not in nearly as creepy a way as that sounds. I would be again judging you later, to my wife that evening after the kids were in bed and I’d become a tad punch-drunk thanks to the lateness of the hour. I’d crack wise and witty about your laziness, about how you’d rather keep your toddler distracted than have to actually engage and be present as a mom, about how your kid is growing up perfectly suited to the modern … [Read more...]
Sex: Talk to Your Kids About It so They Don’t Repeat Your Mistakes
There’s no evidence of my mom or dad ever sitting me down for “the talk.” Any knowledge of female anatomy I gained during my formative years was acquired from unseemly sources: a flickering screen in the dark of night in the basement, glossy rags stashed beneath off-season clothing, and crude classmates in the hallways of my private, all-boys high school. If you were to develop a sex ed plan, mine would be close to the opposite of ideal. My lack of understanding about girls, and about my own body too, was painfully obvious during my high school years … and in the years that followed. … [Read more...]
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