Scenario: Your 13-year-old daughter comes home from school, runs crying up to her bedroom with cell phone in hand. Do you: Go up and talk to your daughter but don’t ask to see the message on the phone. Demand to see the messages on the phone. Go back to making dinner and pretend nothing happened. ...

Wow, I think this is the longest I’ve ever gone without posting. Mostly, I’ve just been busy as a work-at-home dad. Here’s a typical day during the holidays: Read the news Feed the kids breakfast Lael, do you need to go potty? (she’s in training this week.) Edit an e-mail for work Lael, do y...

In recent months, my wife and kids have become hard-boiled egg fans. It makes sense: mild flavor, travels well and despite rising food prices, still one of the most affordable sources of protein. I, on the other hand, do not eat eggs because of past problems with high cholesterol. In fact, I credit ...

Enough of crashing economies, wars and dangerous toys. Today, I want to talk about something really important: scummy drinking glasses. The fact is, I tend to shut off world events as soon as I walk away from the computer. There are much bigger things to worry about. (Okay, that’s a total lie.) St...

After 10 more hours of driving on Sunday, I arrived in Scottsdale by mid-afternoon. I gave my family lots of hugs, had a bite to eat and then we started emptying the truck. Seth joined in but Gramma watched Lael. Within an hour, some friends, who really sped up the process, arrived. It took a couple...

I write today from our new house rental in Scottsdale. While it wasn’t the best night of sleep, it was nice to be in our new home. Poor Lael awoke in the middle of the night crying. She’s been somewhat traumatized by the loss of her old home in Chicago and the uncertainty of constant change. Weâ...

In my last post, I neglected to mention that we intend to rent a house. We picked one out and are currently negotiating with the landlord. Although not perfect, this house would be the largest I've ever lived in ...  a little over 2,000 square feet. It's in a well-known community called McDowel...

There have been very subtle clues on my blog and a couple not-so-subtle statements in DadTalk’s comment section. Did you pick up on it? Yes, we’re moving again. This time to Arizona. Next week. Sorry for the delay in getting out the word, but there were some work considerations forcing me to hol...

In recent years, I’ve said no to gifts on Father’s Day and even my birthday. We have enough financial pressures – and clutter – as it is. Yesterday, though, my wife surprised me with a handheld Play Station – God of War edition. Part of the fun for me is figuring out how these things work ...

Although I write about scary parenting topics a lot, I don’t sit and fret over everything. Out of all the topics though, the one that irks me the most is lead, which can cause serious, permanent developmental problems in children. You see, my kids stick everything except green food in their mouth:...