Todd Lyden

While back, I wrote a post on Father's day about being a father and how being a parent is a job. I wistfully look back as I look forward to another school year quickly approaching and the evidence of my "work" is becoming less and less my handiwork. Our youngest has just moved on to middle school. Josh has moved into high school and the oldest has graduated from high school and about "start" her life. We've had a tacit arrangement with the kids. We do NOT want boomerang kids coming back to haunt us. So they have always been told, they are staying with us until they are REALLY ready to go out and that includes the joke that college has become. Sadly, despite the fact that I have spent a good chunk of my career working in higher education, I know that it is a folly to think that sending a child off to college is preparing them for much other than to have a lifetime of loans. Thankfully, Amanda has gotten the message. She has a plan to go to local c...

(Updated Picture, but not updated dates below) If you have known me any length of time, you've heard me speak about these people above. I married into being a (step)father when Amanda (12) and Josh (9) were eight years younger. Then came the terror of their sister Erica (6).   This Father's Day (yesterday), I mentioned to someone on Twitter that being a parent was like being in the Peace Corps "the hardest job you'll ever love." Fellow parents, can I get an "amen?" Being a father is a different thing from being a mother. If you want the graduate level course on understanding it, watch Bill Cosby's "Himself." One thing in the relationship between most children and their parents is clear who is mostly in charge. Cosby said it: " I am not the boss of my house. I don't know how I lost it. I don't know where I lost it. I don't think I ever had it. But I've seen the boss's job... and I don't want it....

photo © 2008 Epic Beer | more info (via: Wylio ) I suppose the title was misleading. This isn't a review of the poignant Oscar nominated movie. If you would like one, look at Damond's here. Rather, I wanted to talk about the state of raising kids today. I inherited two great kids when I  married my ex-wife nearly eight years ago. We had our own together six years ago- you've heard of her.  We've had the "kids in the world" discussion a few times. The state of the world is so rocky, global warming , wars etc. I've actually heard people say they were not having kids because they could not imagine bringing kids into "this" world. Wow. When I was growing up I remember the Cold War. I remember the drills. We heard the history of the Bay of Pigs and how on the brink we were then! The problems of the world may have changed slightly or a lot I supposed based on your point of view, but if our parents all took the same POV none of us would be ...