Conservatives deal with facts and reach conclusions; liberals have conclusions and sell them as facts.
I’m seeing a terribly funny new meme on Facebook, aimed at explaining away Hilary Rosen’s statement that Ann Romney, who raised five children, fought breast cancer, and has MS, has never worked a day in her life. Friends are posting things to the effect that, while parenting is “work,” it’s
Continue reading11B40 asked a good question, which is why I’m so focused on McQueary, when it was Sandusky who committed the crime. It’s because I have no fellow feeling with Sandusky who, if the allegations are true, is a perverted monster. I therefore don’t need to analyze my behavior or parenting
Continue readingEvery time I return from a Navy League or Navy event, I lament the fact that we in the civilian world do not get to wear our honors and accomplishments on our hats, shoulders, chests or sleeves. The fact that there is no official boasting mechanism in my suburban Mom
Continue readingIt would be so nice if my children had inherited only my best qualities, plus their father’s best qualities too. Then, they would have been brilliant, talented and gorgeous. But that’s not how it worked out. For one thing, they’ve got qualities, such as athleticism and self-discipline, that neither my
Continue readingSometimes the matched sets just write themselves. Both of the articles I’m quoting here are from England. The first in our set is an article saying that town councils across England are being told that they need to reinstate actual playgrounds. The current versions, which are the kid equivalent of
Continue readingMy daughter started high school at our local public high. It’s a great high school. It’s got a beautiful facility, high quality staff, all the bells and whistles you can think of, an involved parent body, and a whole lot of very nice kids. I always knew all that, but
Continue readingIn Marin County, spanking a child is a very dangerous activity. Although spanking is not illegal, it’s enough to entangle you with Child Protective Services and, from that moment on, parenting life as you know it is over. Despite the danger, when my kids were little, I spanked them. With
Continue readingBack in November 2007, I wrote a long post talking about the fact that I see a lot of children who are labeled as having Asperger’s (a subset of autism) but who seem instead (or also) to be the victims of profoundly bad parenting. I noted that I have known
Continue readingAll of us have noted a trend, one that is especially prevalent in public schools, to insulate kids from losing. I know that my kids’ public school, as part of its master plan, has instituted a policy by which the kids don’t do any competitive sports on campus in order
Continue readingI never thought about it, but I was running my house like a commune. The kids had chores to do, of course, but the incentive was the greater good, my approbation, and an allowance that, in their minds, had no relationship to the tasks demanded. The kids did not find
Continue readingI would like your opinion. Mr. Bookworm thinks I’m taking “holier than thou-ness” to a nauseating (and hypocritical) extreme. I think he is on the verge of a parenting error. Here’s the deal: Mr. Bookworm came across an opportunity to obtain some stuff for the kids without actually going through
Continue readingDo you recall that, a couple of months ago, I wrote a lengthy post about the fact that the apparently benign sounding Child Protective Services has become a vicious scourge assaulting good parents because they’re easy targets? If you don’t recall that post, I recommend that you read it either
Continue readingMy daughter is a tween and is just starting to think that she is smart and I am stupid. We therefore had a little talk this morning. Or, rather, I gave her a short lecture. I explained that, when I was young and my mother, like me, was in her
Continue readingA few months ago, I did a post about out-of-control children who seemed to be the product, not of biological pathology, but of boundary-free parenting. A couple of weeks ago, I did a post about parents who were afraid to exert control over their children because of their fear of
Continue readingIts official name is Child Protective Services (and most parents recognize its acronym, “CPS”), but I have to think that my post title more accurately describes it, especially when it’s aided by busy-bodies — people who don’t really want to help a situation, but who do want to cause a
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