Influences Archives

Seven-Year-Old Shows New Racial Awareness

How in the world do we deal with this stuff?

More Innocence Lost, Color Blindness Is Over

Blogged fast, out of need: Used to be hard to tell if Girl Child really meant what she said or was just goofing, pulling the Old Man's chain, trying to get…  read on »

A Man Must Do His Own Daisy Girl Iron-Ons

SAH dads, you know you’re working the gender role thing, but where do you draw the line?

Father Rejects Dogginess, Does His Own Job

If we stay-at-home/work-at-home fathers had a mascot, it would be a dog, a special dog.   The dog that can count to seven. The counting per se is no big…  read on »

Child Can Swear On Very Special Day

Isn’t control better parenting than outright curse-word prohibition?

Hearts, Flowers, Strong Adult Language On G*d D*mn Valentines

- Please Daddy. - No, honey, not yet.     - Please, just a little bit. - I know how hard it is to wait. But it’s just like Christmas. If we…  read on »

No Is New Yes

Do you and your kid(s) find happiness in refusal?

Negative Responses Liberate Positive Energy

Okay, that’s it. Five minutes after eight, right when we said we’d stop the movie and go upstairs to get ready for bed. Girl Child acts panicky – “But this…  read on »

Ghost of Birthday Party Past

Kid's big day should be kid's, right?

As Child’s Seventh Approaches, Father Reflects, Prepares Self Spiritually

Among our zillion digi-pictures is a shot that says a lot about making kids cry at their own birthday parties. The image dates to a small backyard gathering when Girl…  read on »

Daughterized Dad #1

Has fathering female(s) changed your world?

Call That A Ballerina? Are They Nuts?

Somewhere, probably right here on Wrenmead Street, a dad and male progeny watch a playoff game on TV and scream abuse at some screwup idiot knucklehead jerk with no business…  read on »

See Daddy Run

Do you show off for your kid(s)?

Once In A While, Child Should Cheer For Parent

Apologies to Aesop, but slow and steady does not win. Rabbits dust tortoises. In a big citizens’ run like last month’s 8K in a suburb next to ours, rabbits win…  read on »

Damn That Potty Mouth

Have problems with profanity? You, kid(s), everybody?

Setting Bad Example Maybe Not So Bad

We have, right here in Upper Unsuburb, the world’s most depressing Chinese restaurant. Dark, fantastically dreary, serving food nowhere cheap enough to be so lousy. There ought to be an…  read on »

Shoot The Care Bear

A little twisted humor is harmless, right?

No Mercy For Pink Ursine With Magic Rainbow

Eyeballs from Minerva, meaning that Girl Child’s playdate friend might be disturbed and her parents, if they hear, will think I’m psycho. Sorry, Baby, but GC has already hauled out…  read on »

Minerva Discovers Rule Of Three

What if one/all of yours were triplets?

Imaginary Multiples For Enhanced Clarity

Minerva, in case you’re wondering, is blognamed after the Roman Goddess of Wisdom. True story. One of many that show why Minerva is a Big City Suit and I do,…  read on »

A Lesson Too Far

How much organized activity is too much?

Parenting, Not Pushing, Really

You’d think that the dramatic arts pro who directs our Youth Theater could put on an act, like she’s not wondering if I’m another pain-in-the-ass pushy stage parent. But just…  read on »

God For Godless

Do you do religion for sake of kid(s)?

Defaulting To Faith Of Our Great-Great-Great-Grandfathers

“But I am Jewish!” That was our sobbing Girl Child, age almost three, after I mentioned in passing that we were not what her beloved Jewish Community Center preschool was,…  read on »

No-TV Blowback

Thinking about weaning kid(s) off the screen? Already did?

Disarmed, Almost De-Fingered, By Media Ban

Parenting rule of rules: The Law Of Unintended Consequences. Do some right-minded thing, and suffer weird side effects. I give you… A sudden longing for the days when the Old…  read on »

Generation Kinder-Kill

Is pretend violence okay?

Why We Should Give Up on World Peace

Girl Child at the mirror, grooming for school. She vamps for full effect. Little soon for that, but, hey, she does her own hair now. Brushing I do not miss,…  read on »

The Word-Size Queen

What happened to speaking simply to children?

That’s No Way To Talk To Your Baby

Blogging back to summer’s end … So close to Manhattan, you see vortexes of uptightness and bad mood all the time, but here is the terrible F5. Total destruction to…  read on »

Pater’s Plays

Look To The Rainbow by Petula Clark and Fred Astaire

Living bequest of Irish-oid wisdom from Dad to Daughter, celebrated by both in sentimental duet. More sentimental if you, like Pater, are a fan of Fred Astaire, pushing 70 when this was recorded. Message in the song for us dads: Your good words can be a lifelong treasure for your kid(s), better than gold, which the titular Finian (Astaire) loses.

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Pater’s Picks

The Hurt Locker directed by Kathryn Bigelow

The Hurt Locker cover

Fatherhood adds immeasurably to the hurt of U.S. Army soldiers portrayed in this Iraq War masterpiece -- N-O-T definitely not for kids -- that deserved more than…

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