Children grow up loving to play. In fact, play is a child’s career. That makes playing with your daughter a fabulous way to connect with her interests and be a potent, positive force in her life. But we fathers sometimes have difficulty playing with our children because we aren’t kids anymore.Life is filled with stress and demands (many of them work-related) that distract us … [Read more...] about Dads, Daughters, and Play
The Northeast Nostalgia Tour
When our daughters were 14 (14 years ago), we went back East to show them where we grew up; a trip they teasingly call “The Northeast Nostalgia Tour.” In New Jersey, my mother showed the girls where I was born and went to grammar school. She told how my late father was not present for my or my sisters' births (very common in the '50s) and how she didn't go to my christening … [Read more...] about The Northeast Nostalgia Tour
When the Door Slams
It’s hard on our fatherly pride when we don’t instinctively know what our adolescent daughters are trying to tell us or when we feel disrespected by how they communicate. When my daughters were teenagers, we had emotionally charged conversations that sometimes resulted in one of them angrily and emotionally (or actually) slamming a door on me. Sometimes, my feelings got hurt … [Read more...] about When the Door Slams