Influences Archives
Seven-Year-Old Still Undecided On Sleep-Away Camp
How do you and yours work out big-deal decisions?
This One We Need Her To Weigh In On
Yup, there goes my daughter. Now and again Girl Child shows some little tiny bit of recognizable me. No idea how she picks it up – DNA, my mindful parenting… read on »
May 21, 2010
Gin-Flamed Tilapia - Fish, Fireworks, Wowza
Have a tough time selling young'uns, pisca-phobe spouse on food that swims?
Light Up Dinner With Super Easy Lit-Up Fish
Always looking to have it both ways, is our Girl Child… On the one hand, her first-grade social set frowns on fish and God forbid she should defy an Ewww!… read on »
April 27, 2010
Fatherly Pride In Swimming Ability Of Daughter
Which of your kid's accomplishments makes you bust a button?
Seven-year-old Makes Water Her Own Natural Element
Sebastian, FL – Couple hours of quiet while Minerva and Girl Child do the beach, leaving me some keyboard time and a bit of kayaking that I didn’t mention to… read on »
April 23, 2010
Girls Way Meaner, Says Yahoo Poll
Guys, were we really so outgunned when we were kids? Are we still?
Seem to have struck a nerve here. Ouch.
Having begged the question in recent posts, finally came out and asked -- Are girls meaner than boys? -- in latest Pater Post on the Parenting Channel of Yahoo's slick online… read on »
March 18, 2010
Against Conflict Resolution
Do problems between kids really need to be worked out?
Father Teaches Wisdom About Relationships With Words From Drinking Song
Maybe this is a mama thing. First time one of them leaned on me to get our girls together so they could work things out, was way back in preschool.… read on »
March 17, 2010
First-Grade Friends And Nemeses
Do kids need to be mad at somebody in their group? Is it a girl thing?
Child Nurses Resentments, Holds Grudges, Dad Wonders What’s What
Thank God, is all I can say, that I am not a practically-seven-year-old female. Just listening to Girl Child talk about the social warfare at school and up and down… read on »
March 10, 2010
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 »
March 6, 2010
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 »
February 17, 2010
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 »
February 12, 2010
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 »
January 29, 2010
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 »
January 20, 2010
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 »
January 13, 2010
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 »
December 24, 2009
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 »
December 11, 2009
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 »
December 1, 2009
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 »
November 20, 2009
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 »
November 6, 2009
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 »
November 3, 2009
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 »
October 27, 2009
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 »
October 23, 2009
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 »
October 19, 2009
Pater’s Plays
Song For My Father by Horace Silver
Try, just try, not to feel good. No music in the world is more fine and mellow than Silver’s big jazz smile for his progenitor. Minus words, we don’t know why thinking of Dad made the son so happy, but the mood catches.
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Pater’s Picks
BAD KITTY Books by Nick Bruel
Bruel's brill books starring psycho cat has our seriously reluctant reader second-grader poring over the pages for half-hour stretches, even more, without threats…
October 15, 2010 | Permanent Link
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