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The Cruel and Beautiful Tricks of Time

I like to think I became a grandparent at a fairly young age (don’t we all?).  Let's don't dwell on whether that is a delusion.  Just believe me when I say that life can sometimes look very similar to the way it rolled before the age…
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Confessions of a Spoiler

It is a truth universally acknowledged (as the immortal Austen might have put it), that giving stuff to kids is fun. They make it so easy for you, the little buggers, when they radiate anticipation, joy, and wonder in such bewitching fashion,…

Can Manners Really, Truly Be Fun?*

Seated recently at my table for Sunday dinner, my grandson uttered a phrase that is sure to make the heart of any grandparent sing with delight and hope for the future. “May I please have some more mashed potatoes?” he asked, with…

Culinary Fantasies and Four-Year-Olds

I had the chance to feed Buddy and Sis their dinner the other day, and when thinking ahead to the menu, I thought I’d try something easy that might be a fun change of pace. We’ve always been big breakfast fans in my family, and upending…

Bottomless Pits, With Legs

“I declare, I believe that boy has a hollow leg.” This affectionate observation was delivered many years back at family dinners by our great uncle, watching in good-humored amazement as my little brother worked deftly through his…

The Longest Days of the Shortest Years

It seems indisputable that today’s world harbors parenting challenges that we never imagined when my daughter was young. Yet one essential truth remains, universally acknowledged then and now: Two-year-olds are impossible. The other…

Temptations and Toddlers

(Today’s Chronicle story is provided by a guest writer.) They’re here! They’re here! I hear them on the other side of this door. Mom! Come open this door! I’ll keep shouting until you open up. You never come to the door fast…

Soundtrack for a Saturday Morning

It’s a crisp, clear fall Saturday morning, and Small Sister and I are hanging at the park. Her mother’s in a yoga class nearby, and I’m happy to entertain Sis while my daughter gets an hour of stretching and peaceful introspection.…
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Child-proofing: Another term for Don’t Kid Yourself

Quick! Twenty minutes on the clock. Go. Living room: Art pottery whisked off coffee table, stowed on top of fridge. DVR remote up onto mantle, same place each time, in fervent hope I can remember where to reclaim it. Embroidered throw…

A Grandparent by ANY Other Name

When the news came awhile back that my first grandchild was on the way, it was, in all candor, a major shock--a two-step process, like an earthquake and its attendant after-shock. The first-wave tremors brought joy, of course; I knew my…
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Zen and the Art of Negotiating with Toddlers

A brilliant, Harvard-trained Ph.D. who was teaching a business school class on negotiation that I attended not long ago added intriguing dimension to her lecture with an interesting personal anecdote. This insightful strategist, who consults…
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Going Home (Part 3 of 3)

The departures gate creaks open, admitting the mid-day sun and a puff of air into my stuffy front hallway and illuminating the piles of luggage and Absolute Necessities that travel everywhere.  The pile is crowned by the ragged and ubiquitous…
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The Visit (Part 2 of 3)

A good Girl  Scout or former camp counselor probably would have laid out a schedule, maybe even in writing, with proven estimates of time required for each activity, interspersed with breaks for healthy, pre-approved snacks.  Instead,…
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The Arrival (Part 1 of 3)

I don't know if you've ever been smack dab in the path of a tornado, as I once was, many years ago, but it's true what they say:  There's an unsettling, yellow-tinged calm all around, just before the maximum-force winds blast through.  That…

Born to Lean In

Two years after I skidded haplessly into the ranks of grandparents with the arrival of our mysterious man-child, the new generation gained yet another member. And this one is a girl. Aha! I nod to me, feigning confidence.  Surely…

At the Apple Festival

If I said it once, I said it a hundred times, after we learned my grandson was on the way. I don’t know the first useful thing about little boys. Sure, I have a little brother. I still call him that, though he is a handsome six-feet-plus…

On the Road, Together

It is our first road trip together, just the two of us, this fellow and I, and I consider that fact briefly as we climb into our seats.  Is there something more I should have done to prepare, I wonder--but, too late now.  We are traveling…
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