Fortunately, our kids have mastered some basic life skills. They know their way around a grocery store and the kitchen. They know how to make eye contact, shake hands and make small talk. They say please and thank you, and write thank you notes (with a little nudging). They know how much to tip at…
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Parenting
Parenting
I’ve made peace with my teens’ clutter, and I think I’m going to miss it
My hubby and I live with teenagers — which means we live with a lot of stuff. Our kitchen table is not used as a place to gather for meals (that happens…
The Matzo Chronicles
‘Adulting’ is not for the tender-hearted, at any age
As a teenager, I saw the Barbra Streisand movie “The Way We Were” and cried. As the theater lights went up, my mother looked at my tear-streaked face and…
Parenting
A Father’s Day confession: I’m way into dad fashion
Editor’s note: For this special Father’s Day parenting column, Aaron Britt is subbing in for his wife, J. parenting columnist Drew…
Parenting
Virginia Woolf was right. I deserve a room of my own. (The kids can share one.)
When I shared a one-bedroom San Francisco apartment with my husband and two children, I had a recurring dream in which I discovered a hidden room. First,…
Parenting
So much anti-Semitism, and a trip I will never forget
When our kids were 12 and 14, we spent two weeks traveling around Eastern Europe. We visited the Pinkas Synagogue in Prague, where the sanctuary and…
Parenting
My 6-year-old’s beloved trash heap
Egg cartons litter the floor. Milk cartons and cereal boxes sit perched on his dresser and poke out from his toy bin. There is cardboard everywhere. This…
Parenting
Helicopter parenting, snowplow parenting — we’re doing our best
“Helicopter parenting, the practice of hovering anxiously near one’s children, monitoring their every activity, is so 20th century. … [M]others and…
Parenting
The consequences of unwanted advice to new moms
“Before I had kids,” mothers tell me, “I used to judge moms.” “I judged moms for giving their kids an iPad in a restaurant.…