I recently stumbled across two posts I wrote in 2014 about parenting. I enjoyed reading those posts, which had been inspired by my eldest child’s graduation from college, and I am republishing some of that content today. Parents need to be leaders: it's leadership by example. Parents also need to…
I’ve shared parenting suggestions here a few times. Leo Babauta, who writes on his site Zen Habits, is one of my long-time, favorite, personal development writers. Last year, he posted about some of the life lessons he has taught his (now mostly adult) kids—lessons they shared back with him on…
When my kids were in high school, I wrote a five-part series of "Teenproofing" posts about teens and drinking. The posts include many of my opinions and suggestions including not letting your kids drink in your house. My kids are all in their mid-twenties now, so I haven’t given a…
I first became aware of the climate crisis in 2006 when I saw the movie “An Inconvenient Truth”. The movie depressed me. My usual coping mechanisms failed. It took me over a year to overcome those feelings. I read everything I could about technology being developed to deal with the…
I recently watched the HBO documentary, Risky Drinking. It delivers a powerful, disturbing, and important message about dangers to our health and happiness from what are now called alcohol use disorders. The documentary had four segments. All of them were meaningful. The first segment focused on binge drinking. The filmmakers…
I recently read Asking for It: The Alarming Rise of Rape Culture—and What We Can Do About It, by Kate Harding. Harding pulls no punches in her assault on rape culture. She gives examples that will surely disgust any thinking person. “If we all abhor rape,” she says, “how did…
I think someone once said, "Life doesn't come with an instruction manual" and for sure I know parenting doesn't come with one. There are countless parenting books, articles, and more; and there is plenty of advice available from other parents. Nothing totally prepares you, but I'm a strong believer in…
Last week, I wrote about a powerful empathy exercise. This week, I want to write more about some additional powerful things I've learned recently about empathy. I like to watch parts of The Late Show with Stephen Colbert. It’s on too late for me, so I watch it on DVR…
I recently finished reading an extremely disturbing book, Missoula, by John Krakauer. Krakauer is the author of two other fascinating, non-fiction books I had read, Into Thin Air and Into the Wild. While Missoula was disturbing, I couldn’t put it down. Subtitled “Rape and the Justice System in a College…
When I was a kid, I was told “Don’t talk to strangers, don’t take candy from strangers, don’t get into a car with a stranger.” When my kids were young, I told them similar things, plus I taught them to avoid the dangers from the nascent world of social media.…
Last week I posted part one of my parenting suggestions. Here’s part two: 1. Protect your kids from internet dangers. I thought everyone was aware of the dos and don'ts, but I recently showed my cousin I could figure out his daughter's school, what team she is on, her best friend's…
This week, our oldest, our son Jeremy, graduates from college. As my wife Marcie would say, we’ve done all we can and he’s fully cooked. He was pretty well cooked in many ways before he headed off to college, yet while he’s much the same person he was at that…