Earlier this week our children’s elementary school went into lockdown. I don’t know all the details, but the pieces of the story that I’ve gathered suggest that a note was found in the boys bathroom claiming someone brought a weapon to school. When I was in elementary school — more than 25 years ago (yikes!) […]
A few months ago Joey found my poker chips. They had been in the basement collecting dust with most of the other things I brought home from college. There was a time when poker was a pretty big part of my life, but it’s been a while since I last played. Of course, Joey had […]
Being hypocritical is not a requirement to become a parent, it’s more like a symptom of becoming one. Still, hypocrisy is one of my major pet peeves, so I try hard to avoid acting that way. It’s not always easy. I don’t think all people who act hypocritically do it on purpose. Not all the […]
Whether your child is two weeks old or two decades, by now you’ve probably realized something: you’re not perfect. No parent is. I know it may seem like some are. But remember this: that house you’re visiting — you know, the one that’s immaculate and without a single toy or loose item strewn about — […]
Fast results. Quick responses. Minimal effort. We want everything to happen sooner than right now. We latch onto overnight successes and laud their “sudden achievement” rather than acknowledge their climb up the dark side of the mountain. We fail to recognize the momentum that swings them into our awareness during their moment of glory. It […]
The basic nature of parenting is that we want to give our children better than we had. Whether it’s financial, emotional, physical or anything else, we want their lives to be better than ours. No matter how fantastic our childhood, we’re always trying to make things better for them. Usually that is a very noble […]
When I named this blog Lessons and Love I thought the title made perfect sense. Teach my children the lessons life has taught me and shower them with love in the process. As much as I still like that name, I’m beginning to think maybe I had it backwards. Maybe it should be love first, […]
I think personal legacy is something most people contemplate at some point in their lives. How do I want to be remembered? What piece of me do I want to live on after I’m gone? These questions become even more focused when one becomes a parent. Will my children continue to live by the values […]
A few days ago CBS News published a story on Vice President Joe Biden. I’m not especially prone to an interest in politics, so I don’t know a whole lot about specifics of his accomplishments in office. From my non-political position, I consider Biden’s greatest contribution to be his empathetic nature. He exudes such a […]
If you’re anything like me, you have regular conversations with the wall. Three-foot high walls that poop. It’s so hard to tell if what you’re saying is getting through to them, that sometimes you wonder why do I bother? Where is the evidence of parenting success in my daily life? Is parenting an exercise in […]