We have three children ranging in age from 3 to 7. The bedtime routine in our house is simple. First, my wife takes the youngest upstairs while I stay downstairs to get the older two into pajamas and ready for bed. On her way upstairs with the little one, my wife pauses at the top to say good night and wave to the two older children below. If you’re having trouble picturing this, think of the classic party scene from The Sound of Music when the Von Trapp children sing their good night song and wave good night from the upstairs balcony and the adoring party-goers shuffle to one side in mass … [Read more...]
Add Life to Your Work-Life Balance with These Tips
The stress and commotion of the workplace can attach to you like a leech. By the time you get home from another long work day, any desire you had to do anything with your family can suddenly become the lowest of priorities. You kick your feet up and reach for the remote, but ... You know dang well that your kid and family need you. They want you to play, help with things around the house, and plan for the future. But you are just so exhausted. So how does one find the "life" in work-life balance? I've been on a constant search for that during the past few years. I look to determine … [Read more...]
Bedroom Sharing Days Over, Siblings Split for Better or Worse?
The distance between them is a mix of years and meters, measures in degrees of space and sound and time. Two boys joined at the bloodline, bound by fate and floor plans, my sons have shared a bedroom from the beginning, their bunked barracks always a common ground. That changed last week. For the first time ever, the boys are each in their own room. They believe they have gained freedom and independence, which is true. But I cannot help fear a paradise lost in nightly confidants and the whispers between them. Also, a place for potential guests should any care to visit. This change in the … [Read more...]
Special Moments Happen When Children are at Their Most Frustrating
Raising a child requires the patience I can only imagine the bar patrons in Cheers had for Woody. You love the guy, but if he sings that "Kelly song" again you’re going to jab a fork in your eye. I’m just a dad; just a regular guy who still craves time to himself. I would love to go wherever, whenever. I do not miss going out all of the time, but I do miss going in to renew my vehicle registration without having to explain to my oldest son why pancake mix is not something to put in your pockets whilst trying to block my youngest son from eating it off of the ground. Frustration builds over … [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...]