5 Ways a Bad Date With Your Children Is Worse Than a Bad Romantic Date

My children and Me hours after bad dateIt’s vacation week for my children. My wife, however, is working. So, I’m the parent in charge. Not wanting to rely completely on screen time and with only so many playdates possible, I’m taking my children out. You could say we’re going on a date.

Ever had a bad date with your children? Of course you have because we all have. Maybe it involved throwing-up, or crying, or whining… Whatever it was, the date sucked, and you wanted it over.

Ever had a bad romantic date before? Of course you have because we all have. Maybe it involved boring conversation, arguments, or whining… The reasons are endless and you want it over.

Clearly, there are a lot of similarities between bad dates with your children and bad dates with a romantic interest.

But there are differences as well. And those differences can be rough.

1. Only One Person to Please

A date involves two people. When you are planning a date, you have one person to please. While I planned to enjoy my dates, my main concern was the woman. So if she didn’t like something, no problem. We could just do something else. One person, one set of quirks, one set of needs, one set of weirdities. Planning was rather simple.

Children is plural. I personally have two. So, in theory the quirks, needs, and weirdities should not have quadrupled. Yet somehow they do. It can take hours to find something both boys will enjoy. Sometimes one will wait to hear what the other one wants to do before deciding he does NOT want to do the same thing. Planning for a nuclear meltdown would be easier.

2. Getting Ready

When you get to your date’s house, you expect her/him to be ready. You honk the horn or knock on the door and she/he appears and the two of you are off. You might have to give an opinion on clothes/appearance but (if handled properly), this is brief. Okay, it might be a few minutes. Reasonable. Even the worst dates don’t usually go awry at this point.

Children need you to do EVERYTHING. They don’t do preparing. So, you have to do everything. Wash them, get their clothes out, remind them to go to the bathroom, zip their coats… If your children are of a certain age, preparations take longer than the date. When you finally do get out of the house, if you’ve forgotten something, you’re screwed. No drink is fixable, but low charge on the electronic device can lead to an eruption. Prepare poorly and the date has no chance. Continue reading

Why I Had to Stop Being A Complete Slacker

A nice place to slack

No beach time: Can’t Slack Now!

The week between Christmas and New Year’s Day is the ultimate in-between week. When I was employed by the New York City Department of Education, I appreciated this week off, courtesy of them. It was wonderful. Sleep late – or as late as my boys would allow. Catch up with friends. Quality time with the family. Best of all it meant no work. I was a slacker.

But now I’m a solopreneur, and no one is giving me one paid day off, let alone a week.

To read more, go to: https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/why-i-cant-complete-slacker-larry-bernstein

How this Other Feels on Christmas Day

An other who does not celebrate ChristmasI love Christmas lights.  Always have.

Kind of ironic, right?  After all, I’m Jewish and therefore, I don’t celebrate Christmas. Yet, it’s hard to avoid Christmas and all that goes with it. Between the advertisements, television shows, music, etc, Christmas is everywhere. However, for me, Christmas is just another day.

And that is why at this time of the year, I feel very much like a minority, an other, and an outsider. These days that fact does not bother me, but that was not always true.

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Good Reasons for You to be Happy

Good to be happy!I’m not sure what I’m going to write about on my blog today. Any suggestions?
What are you going to write about?
I said I’m not sure. I want to write about you guys. What do you think?
I don’t know. Just write about something good.

This was a conversation I had with BR.

Pretty good suggestion by him, I’d say. After all, have you read the newspaper lately? Seriously.

Between riots and wars and mass murders, it’s damn depressing out there.  After catching up on the news, it’s hard not to be upset. In fact, you should be upset after reading the news. If you aren’t upset after watching the news, I’d be worried about you.

BR does not worry about the news. In fact, he barely follows it. His big interests are Minecraft, You Tube, and baseball. Yet, his suggestion to focus on something good is wise beyond his recognition.

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