Connecting with my oldest daughter (16 years old – 10th grader) has been a challenge. We’re in the awkward stage. She no longer likes my jokes or goofy behavior (which took months and several blow-ups for me to acknowledge – duh!). I’m getting better at tactical approaches to uncover opportunities to connect. (More…)

• 	Posted by: Joe Keenan | 1 Comment(s)
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I don’t know what Sundays are like at your house, but at my house there’s a lot of football watching. This past Sunday was no different. After I brought my daughter Freckles home from cheerleading (believe me, it’s absurd that I’m the squad’s coach), I made sure to catch some of the Patriots-Cowboys game with my husband and my son, Tank. Tank is 7½. (More…)

• 	Posted by: Sarit Catz | 2 Comment(s)
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Did you see the article in the New York Times about how reality shows are getting “too real?”

A&E’s “Intervention” let someone drive drunk and I remember years ago MTV’s “Real World” let someone get so drunk she had alcohol poisoning. Producers and networks, or more specifically their lawyers, say they have no responsibility to step in to stop a crime. I’m sure that’s true. And I’m not saying they have even a moral obligation. That’s on them. They have a job to do and that’s to make compelling TV. Whatever.

Here’s my problem: we are watching this stuff. Not me, personally and obviously not you either, but we as a general public. (More…)

• 	Posted by: Sarit Catz | 3 Comment(s)
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Marion Jones has admitted to the world that she cheated and abused drugs in order to reach the pinnacle of women’s track and field. She has been suspended from competition and has returned the five medals she won at the 2000 Olympics.

In the wake of this disclosure, words that have been commonly used in the public discourse include “sad” and “disappointing.” They’re interesting words because they have not been used much - if at all -in the discussions about other athletes who have achieved (or have been accused of achieving) a pharmaceutical advantage.

Why are we treating Marion differently?

I think a big part of the answer is parenting. (More…)

• 	Posted by: James Ponti | 0 Comment(s)
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My nine-year-old daughter, Freckles, is a big reader. It’s great, although I think I’m single-handedly keeping Amazon in business. She’s at that “tween” stage where they read a lot of book series. All of Nancy Drew, Lizzie McGuire, Camp Confidential. Now she’s reading a series called the Beacon Street Girls. (www.beaconstreetgirls.com)

The Beacon Street Girls are a multi-ethnic group of friends in junior high. I read the back cover of a few of the books, they seemed appropriate. I bought them. Freckles read them. She wanted more. I bought the rest of the series to date online.

One night before bed, Freckles comes out of her room very upset. She’s crying, she’s panicky, she wants to do “that breathing thing.” In through the nose, hold, out through the mouth. You know. (More…)

• 	Posted by: Sarit Catz | 0 Comment(s)
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I have found that being a father and being a writer have a lot in common. Both have the capacity to fill me with incredible joy and staggering self-doubt. Just when I think I have one really figured out, I usually fail on an epic scale. And, it is when I think I’m licked that I most often stumble upon a stroke of creative genius. (Unfortunately, I never seem to remember how I got there.)

But the biggest thing that they have in common is that they offer few definitive answers. Writing and parenting are so subjective that beauty and success often exist only in the eye of the beholder.

For me, writing and parenting have also travelled along intersecting courses. I have been writing for kids at the same time my wife and I have been raising two of our own. It’s not surprising that having children has helped my writing. My sons offer inspiration and insight and often influence my work in both direct and indirect ways. What has surprised me is how much working in the industry of entertaining kids has helped me better understand the world they face. (More…)

• 	Posted by: James Ponti | 0 Comment(s)
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So, last night was “Back to School” night at my kids’ school which, in my town, is when the parents go in and meet the teachers and see the kids’ classrooms and listen to the PTO President talk about the wrapping paper fundraiser, the coupon book fundraiser, the bingo fundraiser, the raffle fundraiser, the movie night fundraiser…

Anyway, my kids are back in school.  Woo hoo!  One thing my daughter, Freckles, is working on in school is a “What I Did Last Summer” multi-media presentation.  She took a disk to school on Monday with digital pictures of the highlights of her summer.  These included a bunch from a weeklong trip Freckles, her younger brother, Tank, my dad and I took to Washington, D.C.

(More…)

• 	Posted by: Sarit Catz | 1 Comment(s)
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