09 Mar

Dad and Buried Posted in discipline 3 comments

Out of Control

On Friday, I wrote about our tendency, as parents, to overvalue our impact on our kids.

We wring our hands over every little thing we do wrong, terrified that the slightest misstep will set our kids on the wrong path. But once you consider how many other influences are out there, you realize that such micromanagement – of our parenting, of their lives – is impossible.

I can’t get my son to do the littlest things right now, why should I think I have the power to get him to do big things when he’s older? I’m all out of control.

Parents are Overrated

I’m kind of a big deal. But you already knew that. I mean, I’m regularly featured on Scary Mommy.

Of course, even if I weren’t a world-renowned blogger whose diatribes about how living with children is like being in prison have been translated into multiple languages and who has subsequently been hated-on by people on multiple continents, I’d still be pretty damn important. Because I’m a parent.

And if kids are our most valuable resource, then parents are priceless.

Except we’re not. Because parents are overrated.

Read more about Parents are Overrated …

27 Feb

Dad and Buried Posted in Drinking 5 comments

Parenting Superpowers

I spend a lot of time complaining about all the things parenting has taken away from me. My energy, my free time, any instance of silence, the ability to open a bag of chips without a mop-headed midget running in and demanding all of them, without even knowing what they are.

But today I’m looking at the bright side.

Parenting doesn’t just take, it gives. And over the past five years, I’ve acquired some amazing talents that never would have manifested if I weren’t responsible for a child.

Because with great responsibility comes great power…

Read more about Parenting Superpowers …

13 Feb

Dad and Buried Posted in Eating 3 comments

Fun Ways to Involve Your Kids in Valentine’s Day

Last year around this time, I wrote a fairly irrational post about Valentine’s Day, in which I questioned its prominence and the things it teaches children.

I must have woken up on the wrong side of my heart-shaped bed, because I don’t really care all that much about the holiday and its harmless traditions, and I don’t usually get carried away about things like that.

This year I’m making amends by embracing both Valentine’s Day and my son’s involvement in it.

30 Jan

Dad and Buried Posted in Lists 3 comments

The Stages of Parenthood

Last night, I watched a movie about parenting. And it was the most terrifying movie I’ve seen in years.

The Babadook is phenomenal. It’s about more than just parenting – grief, depression, guilt, children’s books, insomnia, cockroaches, monsters – but at its core it’s about a single mom trying to raise a difficult child on her own in the aftermath of a tragedy, and the toll it takes on her, her son, and their relationship. Also it’s about a terrifying monster from inside a terrifying children’s book.

It’s probably the best horror movie I’ve seen in years, not least because most of the scares don’t come (solely) from the supernatural but also the psychological (like other favorite Rosemary’s Baby, or maybe Don’t Look Now). I highly recommend it; just try to choose a day when your kids aren’t pissing you off!

You wouldn’t know that The Babadook is about parenting by the title. But what would a movie about parenting be called?

Dad and Buried

Category: Lists

Out of Control

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Parents are Overrated

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Parenting Superpowers

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Fun Ways to Involve Your Kids in Valentine’s Day

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The Stages of Parenthood

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