“Childfree” is defined by Wikipedia as thus: “… ’voluntary childlessness’ is a form of childlessness. The term was coined in the English language late in the 20th century and is used to describe people who have made a personal decision not to have children… The meaning of the term childfree extends to encompass the children […]
This article originally appeared on Hypervocal.com. Republished here with permission. After reading a few articles covering the recent story about Beck and Kieran, the couple who only revealed the sex of their child when he was five and starting school, I seem to be in the minority. I praise these parents for having the courage […]
Before I met A, our 20-month-old son’s full-time caregiver, I could scarcely imagine having a virtual stranger spend every day in our home while my husband and I were at work. Of all the things to worry about when choosing somebody to look after your beloved child, this is the shit that kept running through […]
Republished here with permission from The Good Men Project. My Mom died of cancer in the late evening hours on May 17, 2008. I remember standing behind my dad as he huddled over her bed, his huge hand holding hers and his other covering his own face. I listened to him, unnerved by his uncontrollable […]
“What are you going to do when Heloise is old enough to Google your name?” I’ve been asked that question at least a dozen times in the past month, as the controversy around my pre-sobriety past has grown into a moderately noticeable kerfuffle in the blogosphere. I’ve written several times—and at several different sites—about my […]
This piece originally appeared on Daddyshome.org. Republished here with permission. First off, I’m probably not the one to be writing this. I should just step away from the computer, take my beer with me and head on down to watch the rest of the football game. All very manly tasks done by the average male […]
Our daughter Heloise was conceived right before I turned 41. Being “old school” about these things, my wife and I kept her pregnancy a secret until early in the second trimester, when we started telling family and friends. When I announced our happy news to some colleagues over lunch, one cocked his head and asked […]
One spring, I am at an art show, and my fabulous midwife Michelle Fitzgerald stops by my show. I’m delighted to see her. She asks after my kids first, then my husband. I stumble a bit, trying to say that we weren’t together anymore. It hadn’t been but two-and-a-half years since she delivered our youngest […]
Republished here with permission from the Kids and Sex Blog. I was recently reminded of the sweeping cultural changes occurring regarding sexual identification when a friend told me that her son had come out twice—first at 17, proudly announcing he was gay and second, four years later, awkwardly confessing he was . . . well […]
This originally appeared at The Mamafesto. Republished here with permission. One of the fun things about Facebook (you know, besides profile-stalking) is connecting with old friends. It’s especially neat when you find yourselves not only waxing nostalgic about the “good old times” (aka the ’90s), but when you can find some current common ground to […]
This week, we came across an article in Businessweek called Behind Every Great Woman by Carol Hymowitz. It explores the changing rules of many modern families—as more women earn high-level corporate roles, more husbands are staying home to raise their children. And since 23% of wives now out-earn their husbands, women now fill a (slight) […]
A lot has been written about the dangers of overexposing children to media, specifically television. Once a mantra echoed predominantly among the upper middle class, these days it seems the majority of Americans know that too much screen time can have ill effects. Whether and how folks heed that warning in their daily lives is, […]
