A City Mom Recent Posts

The search for a private moment just got harder: technology set to invade the bathroom

KimStrickland — Fri, 01 Jun 2012 12:36:36 -0500

For most people in search of a private moment, one could always count on a retreat to the bathroom. Even though for most parents, that space was invaded years ago, now there’s an even worse infiltration on the horizon than a merely curious toddler. The bathroom, it seems—the last bastion of privacy, is on the... Read more »

A Suburban Dad's Guest Blog: Political Advertising Season

asuburbandad — Wed, 30 May 2012 09:13:27 -0500

By Rick Kaempfer Thanks to the Supreme Court Citizen’s United decision, experts say we’re due for more political advertising this year than ever before. When you are bombarded by constant political advertising it doesn’t take long for that to infect every part of society. Discussions like these will soon be commonplace… In a couple’s master... Read more »

A picture speaks a thousand words: Mom and Dad are Dork 1 and Dork 2

KimStrickland — Sat, 26 May 2012 17:27:23 -0500

My family and I ran the Ravenswood run this year, and I already wrote a blog about it. But I’m writing another one, because a little while later, the online photos showed up only to emphasize what my husband and I already suspected as parents of three teenagers: we may be dorks. Now, as a... Read more »

Whipped Cream: light, sweet, fun, completely unnecessary and not a bad metaphor for an approach to life!

KimStrickland — Tue, 22 May 2012 12:30:54 -0500

We spend so much time being serious walking through life, not smiling at each other or ignoring each other completely and, just maybe, sometimes we shouldn’t be so afraid to smile or to crack a joke to a complete stranger, to have some fun in a completely unnecessary way, one you know will bring a... Read more »

Damn right there’s a double-standard: My daughter is not allowed to walk to school.

KimStrickland — Fri, 18 May 2012 09:28:26 -0500

“It’s not fair,” is the cry I get from my daughter when I repeatedly deny her permission to walk to school by herself. Her friends do it, she tells me. I’m tempted to ask her If your friends jumped off a bridge… No actually, I’m not tempted to ask her that, because that was always... Read more »

A Suburban Dad's Guest Blog: German Chicago

asuburbandad — Wed, 16 May 2012 12:10:11 -0500

An out-of-town friend of ours was visiting not too long ago and asked me if I could take him to Chicago’s German neighborhood. We went to the only German neighborhood that still looks like a German neighborhood (Lincoln Square), but we both realized that it’s German-ness was hanging by a thread. In a few years... Read more »

A series of untitled events.

KimStrickland — Tue, 15 May 2012 11:11:18 -0500

It just occurred to me that my life is now a series of untitled events. At least according to iPhoto, anyway. Ever since the photo-documentary of our lives has gone digital, I don’t take the time anymore to record the names of events, much less who’s in the photo and where it was taken, at... Read more »

A City Mom steps in to fill huge gaping void of blogs about Mother’s Day

KimStrickland — Fri, 11 May 2012 17:51:38 -0500

It’s Mother’s Day. I’m A City Mom. I should say something. Something (<——get it?) profound, deep, meaningful and heartfelt about the holiday. Here it is: In honor of Mother’s Day, I’m taking the whole damn weekend off. Thank you for reading A City Mom! Follow me on Twitter @acitymom and/or Like me on... Read more »

A Suburban Dad's Guest Blog: Superheroes for Aging Grown Ups

asuburbandad — Wed, 09 May 2012 09:21:21 -0500

By Rick Kaempfer The movie “The Avengers” is doing big box office. I haven’t seen it yet, and I probably won’t see it unless my boys force me to take them. Superheroes just don’t speak to me as much as they once did. The sorts of things they save people from aren’t really problems I... Read more »

Can a dog understand a broken promise?

KimStrickland — Tue, 08 May 2012 13:36:26 -0500

Last night before bed, I made a promise to my dog. I snuggled up to her and said, “Tomorrow morning, you and me, running by the lake. Would you like that? Jogging? You and me?” and she licked my face. We do this routine all the time when my plan is to go for a... Read more »