I thought 2020 had run out of curveballs to toss by the holiday season. So around Thanksgiving our family decided to tackle a home renovation project: updating our basement. While the bad lighting, 1970s carpet and tombstone gray wall panels had served us fine for our first three years in this house, we needed a change. A contractor friend helped us with the plans and, by mid-December, the renovations were going pretty well. One evening after the workers had left, I started making one of my favorite dinners for the family: smash burgers! Cooking them tends create a smoky house so, as … [Read more...]
How to Help You, Your Children Deal with Life’s Many Mistakes, Failures
Mistakes failures suck. No. We meant mistakes "or" failures suck. Or should it be "and"? Oops. No one is perfect, they say, even though you try valiantly to be the perfect parent. And neither is your child, no matter what you post of your social media channels. So we have some mistaken failure advice, er, mistake and failure advice for you. In the latest of our “City Dads Sessions” video series, our intrepid Los Angeles Dads Group co-organizer Trevor Mulligan asks several fathers for their best parenting tips on dealing with life's many wrong turns. Here is what they had to … [Read more...]
Dad to Daughter: You Will Never Be a Disappointment to Me
"Whether you get As or Cs will be irrelevant. No single letter of the alphabet will raise or lower your value to me." Dear Daughter, I'm sorry. I'm sorry you're so stressed out right now. Finals week is always tough. You're a high school sophomore: no longer a child, not yet a college student. I'm sorry you have to care more about grades now than you did when you were younger. Yeah, yeah, yeah -- this is the year grades apparently count, the first year of grades that college admissions counselors will look at when you apply to schools. I'm sorry I can't be more helpful as you study. … [Read more...]
How to Suck at Adulting … and Survive
Does anybody else suck at adulting? You know what I mean. The doing of the stuff. Engaging in basic Life Maintenance. Paying the bills on time. Thinking ahead about what my family will have for dinner will be tomorrow. Signing field trip forms on time. Filing things before a deadline. Keeping track of when the oil was last changed in the car. Reminding other people to do things. Reminding myself to do things. Can I engage in active adulting when I have to? Yes. Yes I can. But it's a struggle. I've never NOT paid a late fee for my car registration (which ultimately ends up being more … [Read more...]
Failure in Child’s Spring Training Bring Life Lessons
Failure at something is how we learn. We try, we fail, we adjust, make notes, turn a tweak and try again. We may eventually win or we may find something else along the way that takes us in a whole new direction.
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“I’m not good at it,” he said, as if that were reason enough not to try. “What does 'good' have to do with it?” I asked. “I can’t do it.” “You won’t do it,” I corrected. “There’s a difference.” We were standing outside the batting cage with a handful of quarters and helmets that smelled of sweat and disinfectant. I had planned … [Read more...]