I am from Toronto. Lived here my most of my life save for 11 months travelling in Australasia, four months on a futon, red-eyed in Vancouver and the first six months of my life in then small town and now suburban Newmarket, Ontario. I have lived in a variety of nooks and crannies of this city. … [Read more...]
Broken Wing
All parents know that even the most well planned events can very quickly change to a big ball of poo due to life's cruel jokes. Take this past Thanksgiving for instance. Here it was a beautiful weekend planned in Hudson, the quaint town where my wife grew up just outside Montreal. Her mom's place is … [Read more...]
First Child Challenges
My second child bolts up in the morning, gets dressed and makes his bed. My first child rolls out of bed at the last minute and leaves everything everywhere. My second child sits at the dining room table quietly doing all or most of his borrow-a-book homework the day after it is assigned, knowing … [Read more...]
Closure
I never fully understood the need for closure. I never felt any emotional trigger when an event designed for closure happened in my life. Whether it was the end of significant life chapter or resolving a particular conflict, I don’t remember walking away, wiping my non-sweaty brow and saying “phew” … [Read more...]
Birthday Boy (Man)
Birthdays have never really been a big deal to me, nor were they growing up in my household. The only child birthday party I actually remember was my father taking eight friends and I to see the movie Hooper with Burt Reynolds for my 11th birthday. About halfway through this raucous comedy, an ample … [Read more...]
Weekday Go-To Dinners
The picture above is not part of my weekday meal planning. My sister is a way healthier cook than I am, so she gets credit for the beautiful summer salad that I blatantly used to draw you into reading my post. Shall we begin? I am primarily responsible for the food in our household. I do most … [Read more...]
Parental Pride
Parental pride comes in many different forms. Some days I am proud of my boys for actually rolling out of bed and onto the floor, the step-one of getting ready for school, even if there are 23 other steps to get them ready to scoot out the door. Other times, deeper times, like Hud demanding to say … [Read more...]
Five Questions My Kids Ask Me
And the answers I wish I could give them. What’s for dinner? What do you care? What takes me about 30 minutes to make is usually scarfed down in about seven seconds. I am surprised you can actually taste it. Oh and by the way, that green stuff is what humans call vegetables. We actually need … [Read more...]
Welcome Back Homework Blues
A consistent homework strategy is something we struggle with in our household. We have tried various forms of incentive programs, better service delivery, more robust and detailed calendars and schedules, pens with smelly ink, pencils that look like giraffes, enhanced complementary computer time, … [Read more...]
Alice
My dog died the other night. It was shocking but not surprising considering her fulsome life. I basically eulogized her here, so I will not again (ok a little bit) but as the category above suggests, this indeed was a life event. Two things stood out about Alice’s passing. First, my eldest son, … [Read more...]
- 1
- 2
- 3
- …
- 15
- Next Page »