How We Lost the Art of the Signature

I recently took my teenage daughter, Ava, to the post office to renew her passport. After waiting in a long line, sorting through legal documents, and paying a slew of fees, the clerk behind the counter handed Ava a pen, slid the last form in front of her, and asked her to sign her name. Ava held the ballpoint pen in her hand for several seconds before panic spread across her face. “Can’t I just print it?” she asked, which made the lady behind the counter scowl. “No, I need a signature. And not

How I Met Your Father

The other day, my daughter and I watched The Giver, the film adaptation of Lois Lowry’s 1993 novel. The story is set in a utopian society that’s eliminated pain and strife by converting to “sameness,” a plan that’s also eradicated human emotions. A boy named Jonas is selected to be the Receiver, the person who stores all the community’s past memories, in case they’re needed to make an important decision. He’s trained by the Giver, whose job is to transfer all that history—feelings included—to hi

How to Raise a Musical Kid

We’ve all read the statistics. Kids who play an instrument perform better in school, score higher in math and English tests, and may even be more successful in life than their nonmusical peers. That’s not to say that people who never learn to read music turn out to be duds, or at least I hope not, considering that I didn’t begin studying piano until after age 40. But the ever-mounting evidence of music’s benefits is pretty powerful. For this reason, many parents are determined to give their kid

Are You a Mindful Mother?

There are days when being a mom makes me feel like the luckiest woman in the world. I feel blessed to have two beautiful children who are thriving under my care, and the rewards seem endless. Other days…well, I don’t have to tell you about other days. Whether they involve temper tantrums, sleep deprivation or just the general chaos that often comes with parenthood, those are the days that try a woman’s soul. Being a mother is a life-transforming event that can rock even the most even-keeled, se

Bouncing Back After Baby

Here’s something I don’t easily admit, especially not to thousands of newspaper readers. A few weeks after giving birth to my second child, I found myself walking down Chestnut Street in faded sweatpants, with bags under my eyes, pushing a stroller that felt like a clumsy new appendage, and doubting that I would ever again look anything like the shapely, stylish women strutting alongside me on the sidewalk. Sure, I was now the mom of two beautiful little people whose presence in my life made me

When Nursing Is a Nightmare

To all you supermoms out there who had absolutely no problems breastfeeding, I say congratulations and go to hell. (Of course, I mean that in the most affectionate way.) But if your nursing endeavors resembled, like mine did, a Stanley Kubrick flick, I say, pull up a chair, sista, and let’s commiserate. Nursing did not come easy to me. For starters, none of the women in my family had done it, so there was no maternal experience trickling down through the generations. Second, I gave birth in a N