Dear Mr. Dad: My 10-year-old son is quite smart and perfectly capable of reading, but it’s always been a challenge for him. And unfortunately, his teachers aren’t doing very much to help the situation other than send home notes and report cards saying that he’s reading below his grade level. My wife and I both...Continue reading
Dear Mr. Dad: My 14-year-old daughter seems to believe that she needs to start dating. She says “all of her friends” are doing it, and feels left out. Fourteen just seems too young. I don’t think anyone—boy or girl—should start ‘til at least 16. I want to tell her “over my dead body” but I...Continue reading
Dear Mr. Dad, My 12-year-old daughter is a liar. I wish it weren’t true, but just about everything that comes out of her mouth is a lie. If she tells me she’s texting a girl from school, it’s probably a boy. If I ask whether she’s cleaned her room, she’ll look me straight in the...Continue reading
Dear Mr. Dad: I have two kids, ages six and seven, and I’m completely crazy about them. On one hand, I’m confident that we have a good relationship, on the other, I worry that I’m a bad dad. One of the things I hate about myself is that I can’t seem to connect with the...Continue reading
Dear Mr. Dad: This Father’s Day is over, but what advice do you have keep dads involved every day? A: As someone who spends a lot of time doing research on and writing about fathers—and even more time trying to be a good dad—I agree that the fact that the one day per year that’s dedicated...Continue reading
Dear Mr. Dad: My 2 ½-year old is learning lots lot of new words, but has trouble singing even the simplest song. And although he sometimes rocks in time to music, he’s almost never on the beat. Is there a connection between language, music and rhythm, and is a problem with any of them a...Continue reading
Dear Mr. Dad: I remember a thoughtful column you wrote a few years ago about abortion and the need for men and women to talk about it. I’m wondering whether your thinking has changed in light of the draconian anti-abortion laws in Georgia, Alabama, and other places. I’m also wondering what you think about the...Continue reading
Dear Mr. Dad: My husband and I have a boy and a girl and we try as much as we can to treat them the same way. We don’t limit our daughter’s wardrobe to pink and our son’s to blue and we’ve banned gender-stereotyped toys from the house. But our daughter still behaves like a...Continue reading
We humans like to count and label things. We order the stars above us into constellations. We organize time into hours, minutes and seconds. We name the colors of the rainbow. We track how many steps we take with widgets on our wrists. Maybe it gives us a sense of control over our big, wide...Continue reading
Dear Mr. Dad: I am having difficulty communicating with my 11-year-old son. When I ask him questions, he barely answers with one syllable grunts and is completely uninterested in spending any more time with me than he has to. What can I do to build a better relationship with a child who thinks his father...Continue reading