Category Archives: Parenting

Our (first) year without a Santa Claus

It was bound to happen sooner or later. After years of dodging the bullet with elaborate explanations of how Santa deploys state-of-the-art Supply Chain Management systems to deliver all those presents around the world in one night, my younger children … Continue reading

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What should I teach my kids about the election?

As election day approaches, politics has become a common topic of conversation at my kids’ elementary school. Last week my 5th grade daughter had to watch the first presidential debate and then discuss it in class. When I asked Emmy … Continue reading

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My label-free children

“Hey guys – do you know why there’s no school today? It’s Yom Kippur, the day of atonement and the most important Jewish holiday.” It was September 26th, and I was taking the kids and the coon hound to the … Continue reading

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Be not conformed to this world…on picture day

Tomorrow is picture day at my kids’ elementary school, and this year is a big one: my daughter is in fifth grade. While the children in the other grades usually sport a range of attire (with my kids typically at … Continue reading

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Searchin’ for the Sabbath

Mom – when are we going to have time to do nothing? My eight-year old son Andrew recently asked this question after we’d been going non-stop for the past 48 hours. Andrew, who loves to read, play Legos, and just … Continue reading

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Selfish Sainthood

Last week I almost died. Well, maybe that’s a bit of an exaggeration, but there was definitely a scary moment where I thought things might go poorly. We were still in Aruba, and the kids had decided that they wanted … Continue reading

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Teaching sexual ethics to my kids

At the end of this past school year, one of my eight year-old twin sons came home with a ‘memory book’ where he’d written down his responses to a variety of questions. Favorite movie?……The Avengers Favorite sport? ……..Hockey Favorite hobby?……..Legos … Continue reading

Posted in Parenting, Religion and Morality | Tagged , , , , , | 6 Comments

Love the Bully, Hate the Bullying

I recently saw the documentary film ‘Bully‘, which tells the stories of several teens who have been victimized by bullying and, in two of the cases, driven to suicide. The film focused almost exclusively on the perspective of the victims … Continue reading

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Describing the Ineffable

It happened again. I lost my daughter. Not physically (thank God), but conceptually. Earlier this week I was driving my fourth grade daughter to some after-school activity. We were having a  conversation about how  some folks seem pretty self-centered, and … Continue reading

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Chrismukkah is comin’ to town

It’s the most wonderful time of the year: time to hang up the stockings, decorate the tree, participate in the church Christmas Pageant, light the menorah and fry up some potato latkes. In other words, it’s the season to confuse … Continue reading

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