Just A Guy Having a Corny Moment With His Son

As my kids get older, each touching corny moment (and I mean “touching” literally, as well as figuratively) becomes more and more fleeting.  As I have two boys, the amount of kissing and hugging is reduced to the point of pretty much shaking hands, and with my younger son (13), an occasional hug and air peck on the cheek.  At least my (3) dogs still give me affection (and, my wife, of course – if I didn’t say that I’d be in the “dog-house”).

BUT, I had one of those “at this age” unusual and rare sappy parenting moments with my young teen when he and I went to see AVATAR. It was Saturday night so we thought getting there an hour early would be time enough to get tickets for the 7:00 p.m. show.  Nope, sold out. So, we got them for the 8:00 p.m. show and went for dinner.

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Do We Teach Our Kids How to Make Good Decisions?

One of the many things that we try to teach our children is how to make good decisions.  Sometimes the problem can be that we may not always make good decisions ourselves or we may allow emotions to influence our choices.  I found this to be true in a recent argument I had with my older son and a latter discussion about an important choice he wanted to make.

The argument was about his last-minute decision to back out of his promise to come skiing with me over Winter Break, preferring instead to stay home with his friends (and girlfriend). I got angry as he made this decision days before we were supposed to leave, thus leaving me high and dry with little time to find a friend to come in his place.  My wife and other son were already scheduled to go on a very special trip to Japan and Hong Kong.

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Just A Guy With A Mature Teen (Imagine That?)

I had a fight with my mature teen.  I acted like a teen and he acted like an adult.  I pouted.  He was reasonable.  I was yelling.  He was calm.  I hate when that happens!

It all had to do with expectations and desires, on my part, for my mature teen son to want to hang out with his dad.  Our family was apart this holiday season as my wife and younger son went to Japan and Hong Kong.

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Just A Guy Alone (on Christmas)

So, my first wedding anniversary is right after Christmas and my wife and I will be alone on separate continents. We didn’t plan it this way, but it turned out just as we planned.

We celebrate both Hannukah and Christmas, so at least we’ll have a couple of days of Hannukah before they leave. I’m quite conflicted doing both holidays, but I’ve had to let that one go–part of the compromises of marriage and a strong-willed, stubborn wife.  Or course, I’m not the least bit stubborn. read more