R E S P E C T — Find Out What It Means to Me

Respect.  Isn’t that really all parents want from their kids?  Isn’t it about the hardest thing to actually teach them to do–treat us with respect?  I struggle with this a great deal due to the way my two teenage boys sometimes speak to me, respond to a request, and generally behave.  It is not with much respect, at times, and I don’t like it.

Aretha had the biggest hit with her rendition of “Respect” though it was originally performed by Otis Redding in 1965 (here’s a link to a great video of her performing it in 1968).  Some of the lyrics to that classic song resonant for me on this topic: “All I’m askin’ for is a little respect,” and “R-E-S-P-E-C-T, find out what it means to me.”
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Radio Show – The Family Dinner with SPECIAL Guests

Radio Show – The Family Dinner with SPECIAL Guests

First air date: Thursday, September 23, 2010

Featured guests:

Special Guest Kimberley Blaine (TheGoToMom) discussing her new book, The Go-To Mom’s Parents’ Guide to Emotion Coaching Young Children

Wayne Levine (BetterMen.Org) for “The Men’s Room”

Jeff Pulver (#140conf and @jeffpulver) for “Teen Rap”

Julie Spira (CyberDatingExpert) for “Single Parent Dating”

The column referenced is, “The Family Dinner.”
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The Family Dinner

A Dad’s Point-of-View, by Bruce Sallan

The Family Dinner

I had a discussion with some other dads the other day about “the family dinner.”  To my surprise, many of these men described their family eating adventures as just that, an adventure.  Or, more specifically: a circus, trial, ordeal, and other pejoratives.

My immediate thought was about the classic image of Norman Rockwell’s painting, “Freedom From Want” with the image of “mom” or “grandma” presenting the turkey at what is likely a Thanksgiving dinner, with the whole family eager, excited, and present.  “Dad” or “grandpa” is looking on, with the expectation that he will carve the bird.  How quaint; how lovely; how sadly antiquated, I fear.
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What Is the State of Gender Affairs?

There’s no question that technology changes faster than most of us yuppies and boomers can handle.  I don’t know what the current number of years for technology “generations” is, but I do know that if you have children five or more years apartin age, they will each use technology differently.  I’ve observed my own two boys, just three years apart, using social media/smart phones each in his own distinct way. My younger son relies almost exclusively on texting, while my older son actually occasionally talks on his cell-phone.

Things may not move quite this fast with our state of gender affairs but I assert that we are now experiencing changes in our gender roles much faster than at any other time in human history.  While I’m part of the sixties generation where we believed we re-invented everything, from sex to politics, established that anyone over 30 didn’t know anything, changed college life forever, was the first generation to have the pill, and the first to topple a presidency and end a war by withdrawal, we still have our own adjustments to these gender changes.
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Radio Show – Are Second Marriages Harder?

Radio Show – Are Second Marriages Harder?

First air date: Thursday, July 29, 2010

Featured guests:

Jim Scheinberg (North Pier Fiduciary Management) for “Family Financial Matters”

Wayne Levine (BetterMen.Org) for “The Men’s Room”

Pastor Drew Sams (Calvary Church, Westlake Village, CA) for “Teen Rap”

Julie Spira (The Cyber Dating Expert) for “Single Parenting Dating”

The column referenced is, “Are Second Marriages Harder?.”
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