When I was a kid, fences seemed unimportant. Boundaries never really crossed my mind. I reveled in the freedom to explore not just my own neighborhood, but all the neighborhoods in walking or biking distance. When I was 5 years old, growing up in Columbia, Maryland, the sidewalks were a bit like the road in…
Category: parenthood is a rollercoaster
I would be ashamed of my kids if they ended up being one of those guys that didn’t lift the toilet seat in public bathrooms. You know who I am talking about, the ones who somehow just don’t care or think it’s funny. Or something. I don’t know what it is. I don’t understand it.…
The other day I was asked by a father who cares very much about his daughter how he could help her deal with the struggles of communicating with hearing people during everyday activities. As he put it, he is concerned about her “transition into adulthood” without his being there to help. As a father of…
Spider Monkey pirate lizard of Sherwood Forest A photo posted by J Parrish Lewis (@jparrishlewis) on Jan 29, 2016 at 4:04pm PST I love imagination. And when kids can use their imagination in combination with a box of random costumes, you get even more creativity. We don’t have TV reception at our home. No cable,…
I was getting some plates out of the cupboard, and clearly I wasn’t careful enough, because I knocked over a stack of bowls which fell against a 2nd stack of more important bowls. This then led to the top bowl, one that I had hand-painted at one of those little clay painting shops for my…
I think that title says it all. Perhaps I don’t need to say more. I will, though, because sometimes just saying something is cathartic. I don’t know who reads these posts. I don’t write them to make money, especially since I don’t even make a penny writing them. It was a horrid afternoon. That’s my…
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Video Game Detox
My wife, out of the blue today, said: “I think we made it through the video game detox.” Right away, I knew what she was talking about and that she was right. It was a happy moment, and hopefully there won’t be a “retox.” For years, our kids would only have video game time once…
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Saturday
I have a tendency to stop myself from writing posts simply because of my Inner Critic, who says “does anyone really want to read about that topic?” or “I think it’s been said already, and better. Stick to fiction.” I should at least be grateful on some level that my Inner Critic, who’s half a…