How expensive? Estimates range from $10 – $15 thousand (USD) per child per year. And that only covers food, housing, health insurance, public education excluding college—the basics. And an assumption is made that your child doesn’t incur massive legal fees or cause wanton destruction like burning down your house. (If your child has burned down [...]

I despise the term “Mr. Mom” because it implies that the only way to be a good parent is to be a mom or that raising children is “woman’s work.”  I am a father, dammit. An equal parent. And a damn good one, too. When one hears the word “Father,” certain images spring to mind [...]

For those of you miserably eking out your days neck deep in the vomit and ire of your tantrum-prone toddler, let me clue you in: the “Terrible Twos” were nothing compared to the “I Will Stab You While You Are Sleeping Nines.” It only gets harder. Parenting, I’ve discovered, is like true love or being [...]

You know those days when you don’t get enough sleep and it’s Tuesday or Wednesday or some other day not a weekend and you wake up late and you have to rush the kids through breakfast and getting dressed and they seem just a little grumpier than usual and you really don’t want them to [...]

I’ve just published a new article over at The Blogfathers regarding online privacy, photo sharing, and blogging about your kids. Please visit and share your comments. Here’s an excerpt: I’ve often considered the important issue of online privacy for myself and my family. I’m not concerned with any of the crazy kidnap/murder/stalking scenarios that the [...]

Our vacation was so stress-relieving that, as I sat contentedly on the public toilet at the Morro Bay campground and heard footsteps approaching, I did not panic at all as I looked up and noticed that I hadn’t bothered to lock the door, the universal code among campers that means “this room is occupied.” I [...]

Both of our children potty trained several years ago which was unquestionably a Good Thing. And yet I’ve said and I still believe that, if it were possible, I’d have suspended or slowed their aging so that I could have enjoyed every nuance of their newbornness more completely. Not that I miss diapers and their [...]

The kids are in bed. The Girl is having trouble sleeping. The neighbor’s dog is barking beneath her window. She’s reading and drawing with the light on. I’ll check on her in a few minutes and tuck her in and slide the paper out from under her arm and admire her drawings and put her [...]

The kids were playing with their friends yesterday afternoon, running through the house, through the yard, feet stomping up and down stairs, and all the while the non-stop sound of laughter echoed through the halls, sometimes far away, a murmur, sometimes bursting unexpectedly into glorious explosions of joy. It was comforting. Like I’m doing something [...]