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Who's your Daddy? CEO, carpenter, or full-time care bear, local dads are coping with big changes, thanks to a bad economy. This month, we meet local men who lost their jobs, but found a new lifestyle - and a new life as a full-time Daddy. Our special family health section, HealthMap, takes a closer look at anxious kids. How can you help a child who worries too much? We also tackle the dangers of kids' sports. And bank on Ages & Stages to keep you current on money matters...from saving for college to taming the 'gimmes.' Happy Father's Day!
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Ages & Stages: Money Matters
Getting School Ready: Get a little respect! Out & About: |
Feature: Full-time Daddy HealthMap: Regulars: From our Readers: Letters to the Editor |
About this issue
Respect this, please
My 23-year-old daughter, Ari, was sitting beside me and peered over the barely legible chicken scratch on my notepad, which read:
- Gimme that!
- Remove the temptation — Diet Coke
- Pay for chores?
- Sock $ away for college
- R E S P E C T
“If we need to have a conversation, Mom, just tell me,” she blurted out with a modicum of irritation. I was confused but intrigued by her inaccurate assumption that my notes on a few articles in this June issue had anything to do with her. Then, I reread the list through my daughter’s eyes. I was fascinated that these subjects seemed so personal to her life at this moment in time. One more read through, and I realized how similar and global are the issues that we parents deal with — for a very long time. From the time our precious darlings are just two, until … ? Please, give me the end date, because we certainly have not arrived!
This issue is loaded with a healthy dose of practical guidance that may be just what is needed as we move from the harried and overscheduled school life to the happy yet uncomfortable disorder that arrives with sunshine and summer freedom. Meet my hero of this issue, Mindy Shivers, or Mrs. Shivers, to you! (“Get a little respect”) “I’m not my kids’ friend,” says Mrs. Shivers, knowing that informality can undermine her established “sass-free zone” at home. Parents who raise thoughtful and polite children are purposeful. It takes absolute clarity to protect kids today from what feels like the omnipresent rudeness that has become acceptable in our society.
Oh, the behavior we model, with our own lack of “please” and “thank you” in this era where we are wired nonstop. I often wonder if and when the cultural pendulum that leans heavily to the side of disrespect will move in the opposite direction.
Our collective efforts as parents to first demand more of ourselves to be more kind, charitable, empathetic and respectful can only lead to our children being just that.
Happy Father’s Day to all,
— Alayne Sulkin, Publisher/Editor
