Valentine’s Nay

Valentine’s Nay

Valentine’s Day approaches.

Countless couples and would-be couples are, as we speak, scrambling to find romantic ways to mark the occasion. It’s stressful and time-consuming and expensive and, for those without sweethearts, frustrating and pathetic and why does God hate me?!

We all know that in its modern-day incarnation, Valentine’s Day is a holiday propped up by candy companies and card companies and restaurants and Yankee Candle, and yet even those of us who reject the concept often end up making some kind of concession to it, if only so our significant others don’t feel left out when the sheep in the office get flowers and they don’t.

Even the least cynical among us can see through the heart-shaped nonsense to the heartless industry behind it. So why do we get our kids involved?

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[VIDEO] “Try Not Having Kids”

[VIDEO] “Try Not Having Kids”

What I like about the “Try Not Having Kids” video I’ve posted below is that while it’s aggressive in its promotion of the child-free lifestyle, it’s not afraid to make some snarky comments towards the child-free contingent.

I am a strong supporter of people not having kids, and not only in a “you’d make terrible parents” way. I like having friends who don’t have kids. It’s good for parents and non-parents to have exposure to what they’re missing, and there’s no need to pretend both lifestyles don’t have their perks.

But most importantly, the video is pretty funny. And true. Having kids ruins your (old) life.

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Don’t Read My Blog

Don’t Read My Blog

I don’t know how to put this, but I’m kind of a big deal.

Not only are my tweets regularly featured in the Huffington Post’s weekly list of “Best Parenting Tweets” – follow me at @DadandBuried – but they occasionally publish my blog posts, in which I put forth my genius-level understanding of the intricacies of expert parenting.

This affiliation with such a popular, influential website gets my writing a lot more exposure, which is great, in theory. The HuffPo audience is not necessarily familiar with my blog.

And, judging by the comments they’re leaving on my posts, they hate me.

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The Parents’ Passive-Aggressive Holiday Gift Guide

The Parents’ Passive-Aggressive Holiday Gift Guide

As you know, I have a son. He’s three years old and I love him to death. He’s the best thing that’s ever happened to me that I occasionally wish had never happened to me.

This Christmas is the first time he really, truly gets it, to the point that he actively flips through circulars and points at the toys he wants added to his list (two years ago I wrote about the gifts he won’t be getting). We’re going to give him a good Christmas, and he’ll get more than he needs, much more than he deserves, and nowhere near as much as he wants.

All I want in return is a smile and some laughter and a lot less screaming. And, because I’m petty and small, I wouldn’t mind if he experienced a little bit of the frustration that the holiday season brings me.

With that in mind, I put together a list of items you can get for your young children that will give you as much joy as Christmas gives them by giving them as much aggravation as your kids sometimes give you.

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