Parenting

Helping your kids be successful is in many instances about putting them into the kinds of situations that emphasize their strengths and compensate for their weaknesses. This is true in big ways, like when choosing high school classes. Why force your

My middle kid had the N-word dropped on him again yesterday (he’s had to put up with this at least once a year since he was school aged). This time he was playing basketball with a kid he’d never really

There’s a kind of question that comes up constantly when you’re talking about parenting. I call it the “right time” question, and it starts way before there are even kids around to worry about. You know the kind of question

Setting clear but reasonable boundaries for children is an essential part of parenting. We’ve all seen situations where kids have been given either too little or too much structure and end up unable to regulate themselves. Kids need boundaries. It’s easy

This week has been a great week, because we finally (knock on wood) discovered a solution to our bedtime woes. My youngest son has real difficulties going to sleep at night. It isn’t for lack of trying, but some combination of

You may have heard this from a parent before, but sometimes looking after children makes me tired. I’m not talking about the physical tiredness that comes from children waking up in the middle of the night (which, thankfully, I no longer

I’ve written before about how our family often hosts homestay students from other countries – Japan, Spain, Mexico, Saudi Arabia, and now Germany. These students are usually in late high school or early university, and they stay for a semester

You know how you see a picture of your kid from 10 years ago, and you know it’s your kid, and you even know it was you who took the picture, but you can’t for your life figure out how

My sister-in-law and three year old niece are up from Louisiana for an early Christmas visit this week. It’s been a lot of fun having a little girl running around the house. My boys love it (although there have been a

I’m the only musically useless person in my family. Both of my parents and all four of my brothers play at least two instruments, some of them many more. All of them except my father have at least some post-secondary training

I have a friend who lets me use his company’s season tickets to see the Toronto Raptors a couple of times a year. They’re really good seats, way better than I’d ever spring for, especially if I’m taking a kid

I’m often asked by new or soon-to be parents (as I suspect many of you have been asked) what the hardest part of parenting is. I usually have two answers: The first, which I think I’ve written about before, and which

So my eldest son is planning his first date. To be clear, the girl in question has been his friend-not-my-girlfriend for a number of years now, and I don’t think that status has officially changed. He first told us about her

I need to begin by admitting that I’m not the neatest person in the world. I’m not exactly a slob either – I don’t like clutter, and I don’t like dirt – but I’m generally okay with things being a

My middle son, who had been playing rep level soccer as recently as September, has decided to switch his attention to basketball. The choice is partly because so many of his friends play basketball, and partly because of club issues

It’s been a rough few months around our family when it comes to great-grandparents. At the beginning of the year, my wife and I had all four of our grandmothers between us still living. Then my dad’s mother passed away in