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: 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: 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
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
Dear Mr. Dad: I think I know how you’re going to answer this question, but my wife and I have been arguing (in a friendly way) about whether moms are naturally better parents than dads. She says yes, but I disagree. What’s your take? A: For decades, conventional wisdom told us that when it came...Continue reading
Dear Mr. Dad: A few months ago you talked about limiting screen time for toddlers and the importance of picking good quality games for when we do allow screen time. There seem to be in infinite number of choices out there. How on earth do we know what to pick? A: There are literally hundreds of...Continue reading
In Part 1 of this series, we talked about how to talk to kids about drugs and alcohol and some of the dangers inherent in drug and alcohol abuse. How To Prevent Your Child From Using Drugs and Alcohol It is most likely for someone to start trying drugs during their teenage years which can...Continue reading