Most of my grandmother’s children – there were seven of them – lived out their lives within walking distance of their mother’s white frame house in Scottville, Michigan. Not my father. He moved away. So did I. So has my son. Read more.
My Ever-Changing Family
Our family shrinks and grows. People die. People get born. People get mad and won't talk to you for a while. Kids grow up and find partners of their own, and pretty soon there are brand-new in-laws. And a grandchild or two.
A Case of the Human Condition: I’ve Got a Dirty Little Secret — I (Still) Can’t Say No to Toys
Some people can’t resist chocolate. For others, it’s clothes. Some folks, oddly enough, will spend $110,000 on a Ferrari with no back seat and hardly any trunk. Imagine that . . . For me as the mother of young children, toys were my weakness. Read more.
Scrubbing the Floor With My Daughter Cinderella
There was no getting around it. Christina, who is 51/2, intended to wash our kitchen floor. She had been studying her “Cinderella” videotape for weeks, and now she wanted nothing more than to scrub. Read more
A Generation of Preschoolers Trapped in Their Yards
Jon and I loved our new house in the hills with the curving, no-sidewalks streets. But all that privacy and rural ambiance weren’t so great for raising kids. Read more.
Mad Men Exposes the ’60s Girdle — But Will She Get It Off in Time?
You can’t fool me. I know a girdle when I see one. A stewardess on Mad Men did a strip tease — but how was she going to get that girdle off without turning hot sex into farce? Read more.
Why Can’t a Dad Be More Like a Mom? . . . Do We Really Want Them To Be?
My friend Carol calls them “the little inequities.” She is talking about the small, countless ways that men fail to notice what needs to be done for their children. Read more.
The Scottville, Michigan, High School Football Team — 1929
A photo of the Scottville, Michigan, High School Football Team — 1929