Eddie Field had ears that stuck out like mug handles from either side of his head and a face that was a constellation of freckles. He wore his hair in a Boy’s Regular barber cut, cropped close to his head, which only served to give emphasis to both the freckles and the unfortunate angle of [...]
Looking for Eddie Field
July 8th, 2008 · Comments
Tags: Children · Family History · Parenting · Teenagers
Summer on the Coast of Maine, Doggy-Style
July 2nd, 2008 · Comments
I’m spending this week on the coast of southern Maine. If I had a choice, I’d spend most of the week as I am right now: in a low-slung beach chair, toes buried in the warm sand, and book propped open on my lap, pages ruffled by the strong wind off the water.
Every few minutes [...]
Tags: Business · Children · Dogs · Parenting · Pets · Teenagers · travel
Beta Before Alpha
June 8th, 2008 · Comments
My friend Rachel emailed me an article the other day from Yankelovich, a market research company. The article, produced just after Mother’s Day, heralded the arrival of “Beta Moms” and their “newfound acceptance that being a ‘just good enough for my family’ mother…speaks to a more forgiving, laid-back approach to parenting.”
Unlike “Alpha Moms” (or, as [...]
Tags: Children · Family History · Media · Parenting · Women
Korean Otters
April 30th, 2008 · Comments
My friend Maryse called me the other day with a question, she said, about her daughter Laurie-Maude, who is in the same grade as my daughter Caroline. It was Korea Day at school, she said, and Laurie-Maude wanted to dress as an Otter. “How do Otter’s dress?” Maryse wanted to know.
At least, that’s what I [...]
Tags: Children · Family History · Women
The Shadow Knows: Watching Superbad with My Son
April 3rd, 2008 · Comments
When I was a kid, in the 70s, I used to swipe my older brother’s Mad magazines. A lot of the humor was over my head, but that only added to the allure: This was a peep show into an unknown world, and I was lusting to grow up.
One Mad feature I did get, however, [...]
Tags: Children · Dogs · Media · Parenting · Secrets · Teenagers
Competitive Parenting As Child’s Play
March 24th, 2008 · Comments
If April is the cruelest month, March has to be the strangest. At least, this March: What a strange few weeks it’s been. Silda Spitzer stands by Eliot; Gilligan’s Mary Ann is a stoner.
Then, last night, as I was watching my daughter thumb through a new catalog from a local toy store, I noticed small [...]
Tags: Children · Parenting · Pop Culture