Spending time with my teenage son is like déjà vu as I grow to recognize my younger self in him more and more each day. His awkward self-consciousness, the inward turning, less communicative stance, his attraction toward friends and away from family, and his idealism, all strike a familiar chord. My son is me at that age – less messed up because he’s growing up without the chaos and dysfunction that I endured early and often. Yet the teen he’s becoming is very much a mirror of myself. It gives me empathy and appreciation for him at this point is his life, even as I feel my buttons pushed … [Read more...]
Waterskiing Bonds Generations of Dads, Sons
Before I was born, my parents lived in Charleston, S.C. Dad flew C-141s there, and they had a boat and several sets of wooden water skis. Dad would go waterskiing, doing slalom. Mom would drive the boat. Then, they'd switch places, and he'd pull her on a pair of skis. A few years later, I came along, and two years after that, my little brother. We never got to live in Charleston, but every summer, we'd get together for a week with two other couples my folks knew from the Air Force, and we'd spend a week on a lake in South Carolina or Alabama skiing and fishing. I was always amazed to watch … [Read more...]
Lessons Moms Learned from Their Dads, Part 2
Editor’s Note: To celebrate Father’s Day, we asked some moms we dig what was the greatest lesson their dads taught them that they abide by in raising their own children. Here are the second batch of lessons moms learned; the first series of responses ran on Tuesday. Lessons Moms Learned: Be present, be kind, listen My father has always been there for me, no matter what. His genuinely unconditional love taught me how to accept children for who they are. Value them as individuals. That means hiking with one, cooking with another. He taught me that being kind and being there to listen … [Read more...]
‘Good Talk, Dad’ – Bill and Willie Geist on the Challenges of Fatherhood
Blooming onions, beat-up red Jeeps, and baseball lineups are all part of our conversation with father and son Bill and Willie Geist, TV personalities and authors of the new book, Good Talk, Dad: The Birds and the Bees ... and Other Conversations We Forgot to Have.
We also talk about the challenges of being a good dad while pursuing a TV career, the changing media portrayal of dads, and life with a family in New York City.
Bill Geist is the beloved, award-winning, long-time special correspondent for CBS: Sunday Morning, whose debut Little … [Read more...]
Lessons Moms Learned from Their Dads, Part 1
Editor’s Note: To celebrate Father’s Day, we asked some moms we dig what was the greatest lesson their dads taught them that they abide by in raising their own children. Here are the first batch of responses. Watch for more Thursday. – KMcK. Lessons Mom Learned: Quiet strength My dad was in the military for 45 years. When I tell people this, they assume he’s a tough, take-no-crap, authoritarian type of father, but that’s not at all the case. He was strict when my two sisters and I were kids, for sure, but not in the screaming, yelling type of way. Rather, my dad is quiet and genial … … [Read more...]