“You have to trust the other drivers,” my father said gently.With those words, my fingers loosened on the wheel, my shoulders relaxed, and my eyes refocused on the right side of the road.I was 16 and about to take a driver’s education class, but my father and I thought it might help to practice beforehand. (My mother wanted no part of it.) For many teens, it would have been time to cue the father-son tension. But my father had always been laid-back and hands-off, so I did not dread driving with him.Even though this was his sixth time teaching driving to a nervous teenager (I am the … [Read more...]
For Whom the School Bell Tolls When Graduation Looms
Yesterday is a blur. It is a convergence of two strong, independent streams crossed by time, so deeply intertwined that hindsight and distance often render them as one. That, of course, is not fair to the individuals bound within. Fortunately, a confluence has a way of splitting again, and two roads are always diverging in the now, stretching well into tomorrow.This is where we stand, with the window of elementary school officially closing behind the last one out, and the boys each moving up an academic notch, to middle and high school, respectively. Between them we shall leave no path … [Read more...]
Have Fun, Dammit! Parenting in the Immobile Age of Children
Can a parent force his teenager to have fun if she doesn't want to?I'm asking for a friend.As in, you go upstairs to your daughter's room on a calm, quiet Saturday morning, and you knock on her door in a way that's totally casual -- not at all aggressive or mean or in a way that would provoke the following response from the other side of the door:"WHAT?!?!?!?"Imagine you answer such a vitriolic outburst with a suggestion, presented in a meek, tentative tone like if one of those kind-faced, adorable ring-tailed lemurs could talk. Imagine your voice is that of a sweet lemur, … [Read more...]
Stopping by Forts on a Sleepless Evening: A Parental Bedtime Story
It is evening. Townes Van Zandt is playing through a scattering of speakers, each calibrated just right to replicate the scratch of a weary needle upon the endless spin of a tattered record, despite the glow of technology designed to hide just that. The song, whiskey-laden perfection sweetened with melancholy twang, is a digital version played through a popular app on a pricy computer, not an album sleeve in sight. I sold my phonograph over a decade ago, my stack of wax shortly after, and while I have regretted it ever since, I have yet to partake in the vinyl renaissance of modern-day … [Read more...]
Raising Tweens, Teens with Wisdom from Dads Who Have Done It
You finally master diaper changes, swaddling and burping then you turn around and -- WHAM! Now you have to conquer the art of raising tweens and teens.We have five City Dads Group members on the new Modern Dads Podcast who will put you a little more at ease by sharing their tales of raising tweens and teens in today's crazy world.City Dads columnist Whit Honea, a member of our L.A. Dads Group and the author of The Parents' Phrase Book, discusses dealing with the excessive homework his 11-year old son receives from one of his teachers.City Dads columnist Seth Taylor, a … [Read more...]