Always Jacked

Raising a Rebel Without a Clue What to Do

Alan — Fri, 03 Sep 2010 14:01:01 +0000

TweetJack has hit a pair of developmental milestones at the same time. He is copying almost everything we say. He is also openly defying us. I wasn’t anticipating waging full-on psychological warfare with him until he hit fifteen. (Read this next line in the voice of that movie trailer voice-over God, the late, great Don [...]

Wordless Wednesday: Texting

Alan — Wed, 01 Sep 2010 13:08:32 +0000

Parenting in an Age of Train Wreck

Alan — Tue, 31 Aug 2010 13:24:53 +0000

TweetOver the past few days, there’s been this vortex of horrible. Dina Lohan was on the Today Show, defending her parenting and her daughter. Paris Hilton got arrested and took a mug shot that looks better than most people’s wedding pictures. And the New Jersey housewives reunited, four grown women who act like botoxed six-year [...]

100 Words or Less About Love

Alan — Fri, 27 Aug 2010 12:10:12 +0000

TweetOne of the things I’m starting to do a bit more is “meet” other moms and dads who blog. As it’s called social media for a reason, I’m going to start sharing more about that community here. The blog Dad at the Chalkboard issued a writing challenge this week, to write 100 non-fiction words inspired [...]

Insane in the Train

Alan — Wed, 25 Aug 2010 11:22:12 +0000

TweetJack is starting to really like things. Not the way adults like things. By clicking on a button so that our likes populate our stream. His likes are ferocious. The wife described it pretty well in a status update last week. Jack’s reaction to the train exhibit at the Botanic Gardens today was like an [...]

Scott Pilgrim vs. His Parents

Alan — Thu, 19 Aug 2010 11:26:00 +0000

TweetOn Monday night, I went and saw Scott Pilgrim vs. The World. Good thing I did. It didn’t do well at the box office over the weekend, so it probably will be out of theaters by the time you finish reading this. Which is too bad. Because it rocks. It’s based on a series of [...]

Kid or Content?

Alan — Thu, 05 Aug 2010 11:41:01 +0000

The battle, between the urges to live and capture your life, is nothing new. It's not new to writers, who have been known to jot things down their friends say during dinner and other invasions. And it certainly isn't new to parents. How many photo albums are filled with pictures that follow children from birth to college graduation? I was thinking about this on Sunday while we were on a farm, well north, for a corn roast.

City v. Suburbs: Part One

Alan — Fri, 23 Jul 2010 19:55:37 +0000

TweetMy friend, Lisa, wrote a blog post about why she didn’t go to Taste of Chicago this year. It’s on the new blogger community, The Chicago Moms, right here. Her primary reason — aside from the heat, mediocre food, crowds and pale, large people who feel compelled to spill, shirtless, over their jean shorts and [...]

Raising a Geek

Alan — Tue, 20 Jul 2010 12:33:07 +0000

TweetOver the weekend, I read a story in the New York Times about these Brooklyn kids who go to a summer camp based on a book. Camp Half-Blood, as it’s called, is based on the Percy Jackson series in which young Percy finds out that he is half Greek-god. (That Zeus. Such a wolf.) So [...]

Why Superman Doesn’t Have Kids

Alan — Wed, 14 Jul 2010 10:36:11 +0000

TweetJack has some kind of problem with my glasses, in that he likes to grab them and throw them to the floor. Bending steel and outrunning a speeding bullet are one thing. But constantly trying to keep your glasses on your face while protecting a secret identity? Yeah, Superman, I kind of get why you [...]