Two months ago, our daughter Theresa married Paul in a downtown church here in Hamilton. Four days later Nancy and I celebrated our 29th wedding anniversary. Then, a week and a half after that, we attended the wedding of Nancy’s niece in Grand Rapids, Michigan. I’ve not written about marriage very often in this space,…
Who doesn’t love July – summer in all its youthful exuberance? Happy childhood memories waft into my mind on the warm breeze. I remember days floating on my back in Lake Erie’s waves, gazing into a sky so deeply blue I imagined it might swallow me whole. Or afternoons spent pumping hard on my bicycle,…
Another laughing scream, and I send them all outdoors. /
Out, out!
My children take risks, and that’s all right with me. Risky play, or what we lovingly call danger play in our house, is an incredibly important part of childhood. While it can be difficult for a parent to watch, the thrill of it allows children to feel excited by their accomplishments and challenged by the…
Did you know that children have a right to play? Article 31 of the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child recognizes “the right of the child to rest and leisure, to engage in play and recreational activities appropriate to the age of the child, and to participate freely in cultural life and the…
The jar of roasted red peppers slipped from my hands and shattered on the grocery store floor around my sandaled feet. In my rush to get through checkout before the toddler melted down and back home for the baby’s nap, I clumsily dropped the jar onto the tiles. “No!” yelled my three-year-old, who shares my…
Last Saturday was called the deadliest day for Jews since the Holocaust, and the war which has exploded in Israel and Gaza is only just beginning. On my social media, I follow artists who support Israel and even more artists who support Palestine. Many of them are responding with wisdom and empathy and grief. But…
Dear Parents and Caretakers, Something needs to be brought to your attention: your child needs you. This might seem obvious, but I think more time needs to be spent contemplating this statement. It is well known that Gen Zs are significant recipients of mental health struggles. Increased pressures – both academic and societal – as…
Last summer, we went beach hunting with the grandparents on the west coast of Vancouver Island. We were looking for a specific spot where we’d taken a photo when our eldest was almost four. For years the photograph has hung on our wall, a reminder of one beautiful corner of the world we love and…
Some call it the witching hour. That lost piece of time, like a forgotten tune, tucked between pages of homework, serving supper and filling the tub, the space between unpacking the dishwasher and packing school lunches, brushing little teeth and saying prayers and quickly washing clothes because your oldest son has run out of pants…
I turned 40 just before the start of the pandemic, and found myself grappling with the fairly common range of emotions that our society refers to as a “mid-life crisis.” I felt overburdened with responsibility and seriousness, constantly pressured by high expectations, and uncertain about where to go next in my career or how to…
My mother came to visit. This was a big deal because these days we live five thousand kilometres apart and I hadn’t seen her since I was home last year when my dad died. We email and video-chat fairly regularly, but that isn’t the same. It isn’t face-to-face. She came at the end of September and stayed with us for a month. When I told friends about this visit, they paused, then asked rather deliberately how it “actually” was. A whole month with your mother in your house?
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