How often does the phrase, “When we were kids, we used to be able to …” come up in conversations with your friends about parenting? In our family, we recall with fondness such now-illegal activities as sleeping on the floor in the back of a family van, riding in the bed of our neighbor’s flatbed truck, and – especially memorable to me – sitting in the middle front seat of my grandmother’s Oldsmobile as we ran errands together. Two...

We’re watching The Masters in our house right now. One, because it’s on. Two, because Tiger Woods is playing. As a child, I wanted to be Steve Garvey. I copied his pre-swing rituals, tried to copy his actual swing (not so well), and used Head shampoo. I even wrote a fictional biography about him, that I’m sure was much better than his actual one. My 4-year-old is just beginning to identify sports teams on television – he...

From a young age, I’ve been a writer and editor. It’s something that has come natural to me, although I’d argue that since I started writing on a computer it’s become a little more difficult, as I’m one who can’t help but edit along as I type, rather than draft and go back. Old habits. Yesterday, I was driving my 4-year-old to our neighborhood IHOC – the international house of coffee – and he said...