I hope many of you can relate to this and that I'm not alone. Scenario - you have to be somewhere in 30 minutes and you are at least 25 minutes away (that NEVER happens in suburbia, right?). As you hear the clock ticking in your head you notice your son is still playing in …
Hostage Negotiation
For those who don't know me, I'm an experienced hostage negotiator. This is a very high stress role where even the slightest mistake can be costly. You can train all you like, build up the rapport with your team, and run through scenarios until you are blue in the face, and none of that guarantees …
“I Don’t Feel Well…”
No parent likes hearing the words "I don't feel well" from their child. Sometimes you hear it when picking them up early from school, other times you hear it in the middle of the night. The words by themselves don't tell you as much as the rest of the context: how they are walking, what …
First Things First
One of the awesome things about kids is watching them grow up, become more and more independent, and ultimately, gain enough knowledge and skills to take care of you in your old age. This post is dedicated to a lot of the unique firsts you get as a parent. First time driving them homeFirst stepsFirst …
Childhood Justice
Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere. Martin Luther King, Jr. The childhood sense of fairness is unparalleled in its ability to create conflict and strife. The height of the Cold War pales in comparison to the scorn felt by a child who has perceived wrong. And the offense doesn't need to be as …
Why Do Spiders Need to Die?
The Itsy Bitsy Spider climbed up the water spout;Down came the rain and washed the spider out;Out came the sun and dried up all the rain;And the Itsy Bitsy Spider climbed up the spout again;-The Itsy Bitsy Spider A year ago, a spider would have sent my kids running, despite my professions that they are …
The Smell of Grass
A child said What is the grass? fetching it to me with full hands; How could I answer the child? I do not know what it is any more than he. Walt Whitman Nothing is more suburban than mowing the grass on a Saturday morning. The whir of other lawn mowers fills the air, water flows …
Food Choices
It's amazing the things kids will and won't eat. They start off with milk and then are transitioned to things pureed. It doesn't matter what, they'll eat it. Pureed spinach? Yep. Pureed meatball? Yep. Pureed Mac and Cheese? Yet. And then they hit 18 months and start getting picky. All of a sudden food they …
Boys and Girls
A person's a person, no matter how small.Dr. Seuss If you're like me, you're a fan of Dr. Seuss. From the start of One Fish, Two Fish he had me hooked. The rhyming nature of his work, the tongue twisters he puts together, and even his illustrating are a huge reason he still is a …
Suburban Fatherhood 