I have been a parent for almost 6 years now, and have come to realize that raising children can be a hard, tedious slog, filled with frustration, setbacks and no small amount of mucous. With all the hassles and difficulties children consistently offer us, it still surprises me that our…
My children, ages 3 and 5, are well-practiced in the fine art of humiliation. They carry black belts in the subject of embarrassment. They are Ninjas of shame. I suspect they even have a creed: “I will humble my parents to the best of my ability.” A recent trip to…
The city in which I live is populated with many homeless people. I frequently encounter them at intersections while I’m driving. They stand at the street corner, stoic and world-weary, with hand-drawn cardboard signs and far-off gazes. When I pull up next to them at a stoplight, I always try…
I didn’t receive a whole lot of abuse for my previous post on corporal punishment. If my circle of viewers were large enough to include the 19 states that allow corporal punishment in schools, I’m sure I would have been a little sore today. I guess I got away with…
During some point in human history someone decided that a good method of getting a child to behave properly, learn from his mistakes and lead a moral life, was to get a piece of wood and beat him with it. This was probably the same person whose contribution to bronze-age…
