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TBT: Laughing at Ourselves
“The wit makes fun of other persons; the satirist makes fun of the world; the humorist makes fun of himself.” (James Thurber, American Humorist) Thurber alludes to a truth about human nature: It is easy to make fun of others, but it is more productive to make fun of yourself. I actually learned this lesson […]
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Parental Peace Keepers
“First, keep the peace within yourself. Then you can bring peace to others.” (Thomas A Kempis) In almost every circumstance, we can make things better for those around us if we are the calmest person in the room. But far too often, we don’t do what it takes to make that possible. If we really […]
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The Responsibility of Freedom
“A hero is someone who understands the responsibility that comes with his freedom.” (Bob Dylan) Years ago, I missed my daughter’s piano recital; I was traveling for work. I called her from the road afterwards and asked her how she thought it went. We chatted about that for a bit, and I ended by saying, […]
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The Freedom of Responsibility
“Now the thing that I call livin’ is just being satisfied with knowin’ I got no one left to blame.” (Gordon Lightfoot, “Carefree Highway”) I’m currently writing two books on adulthood: one to help teens make adult choices, one to help parents launch their teens into making those adult choices. Before beginning either, I had […]
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Wives Don’t Raise Husbands
“All women should know how to take care of children. Most of them will have a husband some day.” (Franklin P. Jones) It is very common, unfortunately, to make jokes about dads occupying the role of the biggest kid in the house; i.e. the biggest kid mom has to raise. We even see it routinely […]
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TBT: Boys Teaching Men
“Grown-ups never understand anything for themselves, and it is tiresome for children to be always and forever explaining things to them.” (Antoine de Saint-Exupery, The Little Prince, 1943) My son just taught me something last night. After I told him he needs to sleep in his own bed “because that’s what big boys do,” he […]
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The Beauty of Discipline
“Without discipline, there’s no life at all.” (Katharine Hepburn) When our daughter was a senior in high school, we eliminated all rules. That year was a wonderful dress rehearsal for this year, when she’s away at school and we have very little window into her daily life. That meant it was up to her to […]
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Dressed for Success
“Self-respect is the fruit of discipline; the sense of dignity grows with the ability to say no to oneself.” (Rabbi Abraham Heschel) Remember the first time your 3-year-old daughter dressed herself? She was spending a lot of time in her closet, and she finally presented herself—clothed in a horribly mismatched collection of colors, patterns, and […]
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Enduring to Endure
“Beyond talent lie all the usual words: discipline, love, luck — but, most of all, endurance.” (James Baldwin) I have to admit that it’s been fun, as my teenagers start to launch, talking to them about work. Sure, we still converse a lot about school, and relationships, but we also talk about business, and what […]
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Response+ability
All along, our greatest hope for your kids has been that they each become a “responsible” adult. I know, I know, every parent says that. But not every parent means it the way we at ScreamFree do. Most parents, when they say the word “responsible,” are trying to convey the idea of doing the right […]