parenting

Another year, another Daddy Daughter Dance. This time around, MC was sick, so she was unable to come with Daniela and me. (She was pretty down about it until I reassured her that I’d take her out on a Daddy Daughter Date once she got better. That cheered her right up.) Things have changed quite a bit since our first Daddy Daughter Dance back in . . . 2013. For one thing, Daniela is 5’9″ now, give or take. So when she and I were dancing, I didn’t have to look down hardly at all, which sounds great, until you

There have been many different school projects and assignments I’ve been called upon to help teach over the years. I’ve helped make castles and collages. I’ve done more algebra than I ever thought I’d need to again. I’ve spent hours going over how to organize and prioritize. And each time I’ve done any of these things, I’ve done it willingly and cheerfully, often sitting down with the material a few minutes before I was called on to tutor the subject. If there’s one thing 13 years of grade school and 8 years of college have taught me, it’s how to

We have another kid who just entered middle school, which means this is now my third time through it. (Once as a middle schooler myself, and now twice as a parent.) It never seems to get any easier, sadly, and I’ve been trying to figure out why. Here’s a theory I came up with last night, and an analogy I came up with just now. A lot of the difficult comes down to Three Horns and Long Necks. In The Land Before Time, the animated movie I watched far too much of as a child, a group of dinosaur children