Raising a Realist

I haven’t been a very good blogger recently. Aside from a couple of Wordless Wednesdays, I haven’t missed any posts, but with the quality of some of them you might have wished that I had. I haven’t been as aggressive in growing the site and I haven’t been replying to as many comments as I [...]

I asked Lily to write a review of the latest film she had seen, but as she did it with a paint brush in some sort of pictographic toddler language, I have taken the liberty of translating:   E.T. and Daddy’s Cloying Sentimentality A Detailed Analysis by Lily Sterling Daddy suggested I watch this movie [...]

*Sorry, it’s a downer post today. If you’re already having a bad Monday, save it for later* Yesterday went well. A testament to Wifey’s sainthood is that for Mother’s Day we took her out to the beach, it turns out to be overcast, and she still (says she) had a good time. Unfortunately, no matter [...]

In honor of Mother’s Day, I’m setting up a not-really exhaustive list of why Wifey is the best mother in the world. I could start with a clichéd account of her birth experience, but she would be the first to tell you that it really wasn’t that bad (for her; I will never get the [...]

Two close friends of mine are pregnant and recently found out they were having a boy. Another friend of mine, after having a boy, found out that their second was going to be a girl. As he so articulately put it, “This one will have to wipe from front to back!” Both of these made [...]

I always thought I would make a good president. If 5 years of hanging out with teenagers prepares you for anything, it’s dealing with our current congress. Then I think of all the things that would have to be opened up about my life and I become quite happy to remain a private citizen. When [...]

I recently drove past Highly Respected High School (a different one than my own). On their flashing message sign they were listing their National Merit Finalists. For those not in education, these are the best of the best seniors in the nation. Each school has somewhere between 1-20 of these students, depending on many different [...]

I haven’t been very critical on here yet, unless you count the occasional book review. That’s about to change, although I’m going to try and be as fair as possible. Blossom herself, Mayim Bialik, has a new book out where she is gracious enough to teach us how to parent. Like Jenny McCarthy before her, [...]

The most important thing I did in my classroom this year was acquaint my kids with Trayvon Martin. First, even though this was a full three weeks after the shooting, you wouldn’t have believed how many of my kids had not heard the news yet, even though it was already everywhere. This may be the [...]

First off, if you thought I would take this opportunity to blast Alicia Silverstone for her enchanting and highly attractive premasticating food technique, I’m sorry to disappoint you. Feel free to leave any comments about her if you want to discuss it, but when I woke up this (Thursday) morning and one of the lead [...]

Lily’s statement upon retiring from not-really-competitive soccer: Today I announce my retirement from not-really-competitive soccer. I want to thank my teammates (who I never talked to), my coaches (to whom I put my thumb in my mouth every time they tried to instruct me), and my father (who might have done serious damage to our [...]

Meizac’s post about a Canadian MP’s proposed rollback of abortion rights earlier this week got me thinking about what has formed and continues to form my opinion on the matter. Obviously my viewpoint is not complicated by having a uterus, but the issue still resonates with many males, particularly those who are blessed enough to [...]

Friday was the first day I felt like the head of my household. I don’t pay the bills. I’m no longer the primary breadwinner. I’m not extremely handy around the house. I don’t even mow the grass. I help around the house when I’m asked, but no one would be willing to debate that it’s [...]

While I was watching baseball and Wifey was taking a nap, Lily was in her playroom with her toys. This is becoming more and more common, just as I’m getting better at finding things for us to do together. For Easter, I got us a pair of Nerf guns, where I try to teach her [...]

Last week, Minnesota fought with themselves, their football team, and the NFL commissioner over a new stadium for the Vikings. This debate isn’t new. Sports owners are like my students with cell phones: when one gets a new toy, the rest want it, too. Zygi Wilf, the owner of the Vikings, does have one interesting [...]

We took Lily and Samson to the local dog park a few evenings ago in an effort to make sure neither one of them had the energy to be annoying over the weekend. Soon after we showed up, while Sam was being dominated by a doberman, another family arrived with a daughter a little older [...]