Category: Parenting

I’ve spent a lot of time in these columns railing against the blame heaped almost exclusively on moms. When a kid acts up—or even just acts like a kid—moms get the stink-eye. From other moms whose kids are being better behaved at that moment. From moms whose kids did the

Parenting is my usual topic but just as we are constantly being reminded to put on our oxygen mask first (are there like 200 plane crashes every day that I don’t hear about?) it has often been said that if you want to work on your kids, focus on your

I want to clarify what I mean when I write, “after you have kids, it’s no longer all about you.” The other side could be–has been–argued. What about the needs of the parents? Isn’t it the moms and dads whose well-being should take precedence? Aren’t the adults supposed to put

In a more patient age, discussions—rather than polemics—about what books students should be encouraged to read were still a thing. I’m not sure how these conversations turned into narcissistic death matches involving power hungry small-minded, big-agenda bullies. But here we are. If you don’t want your children to read about

On August 29, 1939 Angela‘s parents told her to pack a bag, that she and her two younger brothers were leaving Campobasso, the Italian town where the family had lived for as many generations as anyone could remember. You can bring whatever you can fit into a suitcase, her parents

Remember Dion and the Belmonts in 1959 crooning, “Why Must I Be a Teenager in Love”? “Each night I ask the stars up above, why must I be a teenager in love” I don’t know that my eighth graders and I substantially improved the lyric with our homage (parody?) in

I have been accused of championing mediocrity. In these weekly newsletters. Ouch! Untrue! These denunciations follow a familiar pattern: you disparage highly selective schools, you tell us it’s okay if our kids don’t get As in advanced math courses, you suggest that a good relationship with our kids is more

The good news is that the newsletter today has no references to the life-lessons bestowed on those of us unfortunate enough to be obsessed with running. The bad news is that there is a home appliance repair metaphor. Our good old reliable Artisan Series 5-quart Tilt-Head Stand Mixer, repository of

“You keep using that word. I do not think it means what you think it means” suggests the incomparable Many Patinkin as Iñigo Montoyo.  I read *Can’t Hurt Me* this week. It’s not just one word. I don’t think the entire book means what the author thinks it means.  David

My request last week for vignettes about your children was met with an overwhelmingly pleasant response. Here is one of my favorites: On the first day of school, the teacher noticed one of her new first-graders packing up and starting for the door at noon.  The teacher asked him what