One day my kids will understand how blessed they are when it comes to Halloween. They live in a town — Berlin — that celebrates it like no other in my opinion. Plus, they have a mom who has a tremendous Halloween spirit and is amazingly creative when it comes to costumes and decorating the… Read more »

The typical hectic pace of family life came to a grinding halt last week when illness put a stranglehold on the house.For the first time in his school career, Beckett missed school for being sick, and it was a doozy of an illness. A virus knocked him off his feet for two straight days and… Read more »

Beckett and I spent a memorable night in the woods last weekend.It was part of a Cub Scouts family weekend at the Henson Reservation in Rhodesdale, Md. (near Sharptown). As I drove on the dirt road to the camp area, I had one of those special parenting moments. There Beckett, 7, was in the back… Read more »

Lots of my kids’ antics can simply be summed up with the cliché “boys will be boys.”That’s my simple conclusion often when I can’t figure out exactly what they are doing or why in the world they would think this or that is a good idea.Some examples of late:Rather than simply entering and exiting the… Read more »

It’s frightening to me how easy technology is for my kids to master.There truly is something with this generation of children. Mastering mobile devices, laptops and tablets just comes easy to them and consequently their expectations for what technology can do are limitless.Unlike previous generations, there are no intimidations or uncertainties to overcome. They simply… Read more »

There is something to be said for a kids’ uniquely myopic perspective.I actually wish I could share that simplicity sometimes.It was on full display the other night while talking about the fact the wet weather cancelled Beckett’s soccer practice and would probably do the same to his weekend game.He didn’t take it well at all… Read more »

In response to the kids making a beach day miserable last weekend, they each were sent to their rooms for an hour — without electronics — to think it over.With an afternoon free of sports and other commitments and knowing soon the weather will turn, we headed to the beach. For whatever reason, on this… Read more »

Rainy weekend days test my parenting mettle.The saving grace for last Saturday — the first day of significant rainfall in a few weeks — was the morning was fine, and we were able to get out of the house early for a soccer game and lunch. Once it started raining around mid-day, it essentially didn’t… Read more »

The first day of school is a big deal.I think it’s especially so when it involves little ones in elementary school and pre-school and sappy parents.Fortunately, with our boys attending different schools, we dodged an awkward conflict with Beckett and Carson not going back to school on the same day this year. At some point,… Read more »

The end of summer break and the start of school this week did not come as a harsh reality for at least one child in the house.He was fine with going back to school. He was looking forward to it and was ready. There was definitely no sleepy child on the first day that had… Read more »