A good many of the problems during the first year of marriage are caused by unrealistic expectations on the part of you and your spouse. She, for example, might expect you to remember her birthday and anniversary every year when best-two-out-of-three is the most anyone should … [Read more...]

Are you, like me, married? Then take heart – and another helping of dessert. Your fat isn’t your fault. It’s your spouse’s. In one of those “duh” kind of moments, a study conducted at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill concludes that married people and other … [Read more...]

One of the many dilemmas facing parents these days pertains to meal choices, and their consequences. For example, I avoid granola and bark mulch-based breakfast cereals because they produce in me enormous volumes of gas, which I’m sure you’re delighted to know. My children, … [Read more...]

I think that, maybe, I should feel badly about what I did. After all, he’s just a kid –- and a 6-year-old at that. I rationalized it by telling myself that “he’s got to learn sometime” and “this is just the way the world is.” What makes the situation more questionable is that he … [Read more...]

Schoolyard playgrounds used to be dangerous places. The key words there are “used,” “to,” and “be.” I’m a believer that the higher the danger levels on a playground, the higher the coolness factor. Over the Christmas holidays I visited my parents in Ohio where I grew up. During … [Read more...]