Do your kids get an allowance?  Do they have to earn it? Money is on everyone’s mind these days and it was a spirited topic during a recent Thursday evening Tweet Chat that I host, called #DadChat**.  Tweet Chats are growing as different communities band together for an hour or ...

How many times have parents heard their kids say, “It’s not fair!”  How many times have older kids called their parents, “Hypocrite?” How many times were the kids right? My older son called me a hypocrite the other day because I was making disturbing noises early one morning, while he and his brother were still ...

My teen son got a job! Amazing! It took over a year of searching by foot and on the Internet, applying countless times, and uncharacteristic persistence and follow through. It was not easy. He experienced some unfair treatment and he also hurt himself in his efforts numerous times. As with so much in life, we ...

I put off enabling my son to drive for as long as I could, but he passed the driver’s test on his third try and succeeded in getting his grades up to our agreed-upon level. I couldn’t delay it any longer. He now drives.  As a native Southern Californian, I ...

When I was a kid, my birthday excursion each year was a trip to Disneyland.  This was back-in-the-day when Disneyland was not only fun, but not overly crowded.  It was also when they sold tickets that were labeled “A” through “E,” with the “E-ticket” being for the better rides, like the Matterhorn. The expression “E-ticket Ride” came directly from those ...

Amy Winehouse is dead.  She died at 27, and thus has joined that exclusive “27 Club” of performers who died at the tender age of 27. That list includes Jimi Hendrix, Janis Joplin, Jim Morrison, Brian Jones, and Kurt Cobain.  Are there lessons we parents can learn from these senseless deaths? Of course there are.  Our kids ...

Let’s call it “dramatic license,” as I totally adore my family and wouldn’t trade them or my life with anyone else, but at this moment, time, and place, I don’t like them very much.  Just as movies often put up a title card that says, “Based On a True Story,” ...

As I begin writing this column, I find it ironic how little I’ve written about conflicts in my home between my wife, my boys, and me over our blended family.  My wife “inherited” my two boys and my two dogs when she agreed to marry me. Having not had kids, ...

Why do so many people, especially teenagers, like the scariest horror movies? What happened to wholesome family movies? What happened to actors and characters like Fred MacMurray, Mary Poppins, Lassie, and the good guy being cool? When did Fred become Freddy (from the Nightmare on Elm Street movies)? Or for ...

Every generation seems to have its standards of proper behavior and every generation tends to judge the next generation by their own generation’s standards.  How often does a parent say something like, “When I was your age, we never did…” or “If I did that, my parents would…” I found myself doing exactly that when some good friends whom ...