This sleepover extravaganza left a memory that lingered like a hangover. Turns out that staying awake all night isn’t what it used to be. The cards were admittedly sloppy, competing as they were against time best spent on anything but; however, the sentiment therein was genuine and heartfelt, if not misspelled. That my youngest son, freshly turned to 11, didn’t balk for a moment when I suggested he write thank-you cards was immediately chalked as a victory in this scenario, whereas grammar and penmanship were the battles to be fought another day.We were working on gratitude in the medium … [Read more...]
Daughter Flirts with 1st Date, Dad with 1st Stroke
Scene: Our dining room, evening. My daughter and I are setting the table.Her: Hey, Dad. Want to hear a funny story?Me: Always. Let's hear it.Her: OK, so today at lunch, I'm sitting outside with Grace and Skye. And we're just, whatever, hanging out by the art studio and this guy comes up to us.Me: What guy?Her: Just some random guy.Me (pausing to process): Random guy. A random guy. Like a guy your age? Or a 50-year-old guy in a raincoat roaming around your campus? Do I need to call someone?Her (rolling eyes): Oh my God. I'm talking about a kid who goes to my school. … [Read more...]
Gift to Dad Shows Daughter Reads Him Like a Book
If you were a holiday, which one would your kids say you were, and why? My 13-year-old daughter, Lindsay, answered: “You would be Halloween, Dad, because you’re scary when you get mad.”Lindsay’s reply was part of her Christmas gift to me last month. She had been stumped about what to give me, so she settled on a little “What I Love about You” book. The most creative part was that she had to fill in the blank for 50 reasons why she loves me. The book was intended for a romantic couple, not a child-parent relationship, which added to the difficulty. But that did not stop her Mad Lib prowess … [Read more...]
Parents Can Be Overstimulated, Too
“Do you know why they call Wednesday ‘Hump Day’?” I asked my 12-year-old daughter, Lindsay, a few months ago.“Yeah. Because people hump,” she replied.With a chuckle, I realized her tweenhood was over. She had now joined her older sister in the snarky world of teenhood. But Lindsay’s end-of-the-innocence reply also stirred a stew of conflicting emotions and thoughts in me — e.g., Was that a joke? An educated guess? A reason for concern? A need for several talks with her mother? An indictment of my less-exciting Wednesdays? All of the above? I found myself, in a word, … [Read more...]
Your Parental Costume Changes as Your Children Grow
Halloween season always reminds me of the time I dressed as Clifford the Big Red Dog. My children’s school needed an adult volunteer to wear the costume for a reading event. I decided to oblige in part because I like to laugh, and in part because my two young daughters liked the idea. In other words, they had not yet reached the Age of Embarrassment.As children gathered in the gym, I started to suit up in a “secret” adjoining room. The costume was large and heavy, so a few parents helped me with the process. I remember being so amused by one of the instructions on the costume’s interior: … [Read more...]