Category: Parenting

Where does negative self-talk come from? We’ve all gotten the same memo. You know the one I mean, the one that says: “You can’t do it; you’re not good enough.” Where could a message this debilitating possibly come from? A man whom I respected spoke over the years of how

Over breakfast recently, I mentioned in an overtly casually-pass the toast-sort of tone that I needed to travel to Northern Virginia to look at boarding schools. “Where’s the marathon?” my long-suffering wife responded instantly. “I’m sure I don’t know what you’re talking about,” I replied. “Ethical independent consultants have to

Gathering at the hearth predates the Internet by 800,000 years. Gathering at the hearth predates communicating with symbols by 550,000 years. Gathering at the hearth predates an evolutionary adaptive increase in brain size by 300,000 years. Before you were you, before your ancestors had evolved into a species that could

Would you sell your 14 year-old daughter to marauders for $20 so you could score some drugs to support your careening habit? Of course not. Your child is less likely to be accepted to law school never mind live a contented life if she is employed as a forced sex

A number of my gentle readers* have inquired regarding my modeling advice. Not “Wear nice clothes to the audition,” modeling. Parents want to know how to combat the snares of process addictions. They want to know how to help their kids love reading (could it be as simple as just

Standing around the kitchen of a buddy of mine who had recently received a $350,000 MacArthur Genius Grant for his lifetime achievements in the field of poetry, it occurred to the few remaining guests that there are only so many ways to say “congratulations” and even fewer ways to say

No, not Sonny and Cher’s lesser known relative. Cui Bono is Latin for “who benefits?” Whose interests are served? Throughout your children’s development, keeping this query uppermost in your mind in your every interaction with them will make your kids more likely to grow up to be content, fulfilled, and

I don’t know what happened on December 6, 1941. I don’t know what led up to all that unpleasantness between the Hatfields and the McCoys. I don’t even want to think about what happened between you and your ex in the years leading up to the dissolution of your marriage.