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: I’m completely convinced that my son has an eating disorder. When he was little, he was always a little on the heavy side. At about 11—right when puberty hit—he suddenly started dieting. At first, I was proud of him for taking charge of his own weight. He looked really good and seemed...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
Dear Mr. Dad: I’ve been dating a wonderful man and think he’s “the one.” The only issue is that he has a two-year-old child. I never wanted to be a parent (I’m not sure I even liked kids), but that’s changed. I think I’m ready to be a stepmother and even have a child of...Continue reading
We’ve known about stem cells for half a century. They are cells that not only make copies of themselves but can also become other types of cells and tissues. This kind of biological feat is unique in science and has the potential to cure disease. So why haven’t we seen more scientific success and stem...Continue reading
As a young man, I often learned life lessons from my father. Perhaps none have been as lasting as the lesson he inadvertently taught me about health as his own health took a downward turn. While I was in middle school—a time when most boys are navigating puberty—my dad was busy prepping for heart valve...Continue reading