Thoughts on parenting, aging gracefully, baseball life lessons, and living without regrets.
Subscribe via RSSLast week my co-author, Ken Davidoff, and I had the pleasure of appearing on Elizabeth Hamilton-Guarino’s “Best Ever You” podcast. Elizabeth is one of the world’s leading voices in personal development and peaceful leadership, inspiring…
Our new book, “101 Lessons from the Dugout – What Baseball and Softball Can Teach Us About the Game of Life” has become a phenomenon, with appearances on Morning Joe, ESPN.com, NPR, MLB.com, and dozens of other broadcasts and podcasts.…
When I was younger, I was okay with most loud noises, at least for short periods of time. I didn’t love or crave noise, but I accepted it for what came with it. I happily endured the roar of a packed stadium at a major sporting event –…
Last week my co-author, Ken Davidoff, and I had the pleasure of appearing on Elizabeth Hamilton-Guarino’s “Best Ever You” podcast. Elizabeth is one of the world’s leading voices in personal development and peaceful leadership, inspiring…
Our new book, “101 Lessons from the Dugout – What Baseball and Softball Can Teach Us About the Game of Life” has become a phenomenon, with appearances on Morning Joe, ESPN.com, NPR, MLB.com, and dozens of other broadcasts and podcasts.…
When I was younger, I was okay with most loud noises, at least for short periods of time. I didn’t love or crave noise, but I accepted it for what came with it. I happily endured the roar of a packed stadium at a major sporting event –…
I vividly remember the first time a colleague asked for my email address – I didn’t have one yet, and I wasn’t alone. Email was new, and with it came a host of new issues. Was an email note an okay substitute for a handwritten letter?…
TYFRT (Thank You For Reading This) My 80-ish-year-old friend Marv recently received a text from his granddaughter that ended with four little letters: “TY, LU.” Marv, puzzled, stared at his phone for a while, wondering if he had missed…
As I was taking my low dose, heart-protective (hopefully), aspirin dose last night, I had a flashback and remembered when today’s “low dose aspirin regimen” was called something else – “baby aspirin!!”. There are many markers for how…
It’s always a letdown when the World Series ends, because it means we have to wait many long, cold months before the “boys of spring” return to the diamond. For those like me who were glued to the screen for this year’s amazingly…
It’s just another sign of aging, I guess, but among all the other mysteries of modernity I can’t solve, now I can’t figure out how to work my thermostat. I never had a problem with our old thermostat – flip a toggle to “heat,” push the…
Pete Rose died last week. Pete was one of my heroes and I mourn baseball’s loss, and my personal loss. As you probably have gathered from my other posts and writings, I’m a baseball fanatic and somewhat knowledgeable about the game I…
We’ve recently traveled a bit by cruise ship, another concession to waning vim and vigor, and to sore knees and hips. Cruise ships are like aquariums of aging, complete with a clear blue water setting. Every variety of aging human fauna…
Last week I ran into a former colleague with whom I worked for more than 30 years. I hadn’t seen him in more than 10 years. He looked awful. Gray straggly beard, unkempt hair, too thin. His gait was unsteady and his handshake weak. I…
HAPPY JULY 4! THESE ARE YOUR KIDS’ INDEPENDENCE DAYS As we celebrate July 4, our nation’s Independence Day, this is a good time to reflect on a different kind of “independence day.” Each day of a child’s life brings new growth and…
Bill Walton and I have little in common. He was an athlete’s athlete, People have kindly called me a doctor’s doctor. He had a second career as a beloved broadcaster, heard by millions of basketball fans around the world. I have a…
It started out like any other ride-share to the airport. Steve (not his real name) picked me up on time, we exchanged confirmatory identities, and off we went. That’s where it got weird,,, and wonderful. Steve is an immigrant to the…
Ruminating on (il)luminating I’ve been away from light bulb shopping for a while. The little storage cabinet in our house had a nice supply of normal light bulbs which, like everything we buy at Costco, came in generous quantities.…
I’ve written a book called “No Regrets Living – Seven Keys to a Life of Wonder and Contentment” which outlines the critical steps toward living a life with fewer regrets. But here’s a confession: I haven’t succeeded in totally…
They’re back! The magical sounds heralding Spring. This past warm weekend brought out those sounds in Denver, and the kids who make those sounds. At the park down the block, on the little baseball diamond with the short backstop, the…
When friends of a certain age, my age, for example, get together, a novel discourse takes place. Before talking about the kids, grandkids, work or retirement, and even before talking about sports, we typically have The Organ Recital.…
When shown family pictures on my iPhone 5 a few years ago, and watching me text message my wife, or take pictures, or listen to music, or watch videos…my then 90-year old mother asked, but can you still call people on it? Yes, mom, you…
We’re a baseball family and Major League Baseball’s Spring Training was one of our rituals. Every March, whenever we could get away, we packed everyone up and headed to Arizona where there was no snow, no ice, no sleet. There was green.…
With the coming of Spring Training, I’m reflecting on the changes in the game of professional baseball over the years. I’m a big baseball fan, and our family is a big baseball family. Our kids played, I coached, and we all critique the…
I’m a parent of three adult kids. I was there for all the big, and most of the small, moments of their childhoods. I think about parenting a lot, and I write about parenting. I am now blessed to often be asked to “help out” with our…
I collect old books and learn a lot from them. At a recent visit to my favorite used bookstore, a 1918 book by Richard Haigh caught my eye, both because of the subject matter (World War I) and the title: “Life in a Tank.” I have often…
I enjoy writing. After more than 3 decades writing the results of my medical and scientific research, with more than 200 publications in those fields, I made the transition to writing for a general readership. For you. And I’m proud of…
Our neighbor of many years passed away recently, a few months before her 101st birthday. She had lived a full and productive life as an artist, wife, and mother. A Covid widow, she lost her husband just weeks before vaccines became…
If you haven’t read “A Dog’s Purpose” by W. Bruce Cameron, or seen the movie based on the book, or read the sequel books, or seen the sequel movies…well, you should do all of those things. Bailey the dog has touched the hearts of…
Writing about Mother’s Day is a little like writing about “America” or “money” or “religion” or “the environment.” So much has been written about some topics, every angle covered and covered again, there’s little left to add. What more…
When our kids were little, we would pack up a rental RV every spring and fall break from school and head to the national parks. We covered all the ones we could drive to, and even flew to rent an RV for a remote park that was too far to…
In my last post, I posited that, like other “indisputable” theories in the history of science, the Big Bang Theory may have to be rethought. I recently received a note from a new friend and thoughtful reader of my book No Regrets Living…
In my book, NO REGRETS LIVING (HCI Books, 2021), I discuss the relative “credibility” of the Big Bang versus religious theory about the beginnings of the universe. I wrote this: “On May 20, 1964, two scientists listening to noises of…
New Year’s resolutions are a nice concept but risky business – if we don’t live up to those bold promises we feel like failures. For parents, this can be particularly tough, as we often make resolutions not only for ourselves but for…
Giving Thanks for Heat In my new book, No Regrets Living – 7 Keys to a Life of Wonder and Contentment, one of the “keys” I suggest is to take a few dedicated moments each day to reflect on what you are grateful for in your life. I…
THIS THANKSGIVING, I WAS THANKFUL FOR THAT OLD BASKETBALL HOOP A little rusty, a little droopy, and a little too high for our grandchildren, our old basketball hoop was resuscitated on Thanksgiving. Or maybe reincarnated is the better…
As we approach the meaningful and memorable family traditions surrounding Thanksgiving, I hope you’ll take this excerpt from the UPDATED AND EXPANDED edition of No Regrets Parenting to heart: Russian scientist Ivan Pavlov became famous…
The UPDATED AND EXPANDED Edition of “No Regrets Parenting – Turning Long Days and Short Years into Cherished Moments with Your Kids” is written in 4 parts. Part 1 lays out the basic principles of No Regrets Parenting, and Part 2…
THE FOUR CORNERS OF OUR HOUSE With the release of the first edition of “No Regrets Parenting” nearly 10 years ago, interviewers, readers of the book, and attendees at my seminars asked how the “No Regrets Parenting” concept developed. I…
As your high school grads move on this fall to college campuses or work lives, you deserve a celebration of your own. And if your kids are still young and in the nest, I want to help you look ahead to that day when your kids enter the…
NO REGRETS GRANDPARENTING??? Why, you might ask, is there a brand new section in the Updated and Expanded Edition of “No Regrets Parenting” on GRANDparenting? Well…since publication of the first edition of “No Regrets Parenting,”…
The days are long but the years are short. Make the memories everlasting. For every family with kids, the updated and expanded edition of No Regrets Parenting is the essential, open-to-all, parenting guidebook, guaranteed to help…
Friends: The timing of my “No Regrets Living” book’s preparation and release has allowed me to weave my observations on the pandemic into the book’s foundational 7 Keys to a Life of Wonder and Contentment. My reflections on the…
The timing of my “No Regrets Living” book’s preparation and release has allowed me to weave my observations on the pandemic into the book’s foundational 7 Keys to a Life of Wonder and Contentment. My reflections on the pandemic,…
The timing of the preparation and release of my “No Regrets Living” book, as well as my 4 decades as an infectious diseases physician, allowed me to weave my observations on the COVID-19 pandemic into the book’s foundational “7 Keys to…
HAPPY JULY 4! THESE ARE YOUR KIDS’ INDEPENDENCE DAYS As we celebrate July 4, our nation’s Independence Day, this is a good time to reflect on a different kind of “independence day.” Each day of a child’s life brings new growth and…
It’s been nearly three years since my wife and I both lost our moms, exactly 7 weeks apart. Those were very sad days and the memories of our final months and years with our moms are powerful ones, never more so than on Mother’s Day. So……
Adapted from “No Regrets Living: 7 Keys to a Life of Wonder and Contentment.” “There are only two ways to live your life. One is as though nothing is a miracle. The other is as though everything is.” —Albert Einstein I am firmly in…
One of the fears brought about by the COVID-19 pandemic has been that children, infected in school, will bring the virus home to adults who are more susceptible to severe disease. For that reason, schools across the country and across…
“There are only two ways to live your life. One is as though nothing is a miracle. The other is as though everything is.” —Albert Einstein Over a very brief period of time the world has watched as an outbreak of a flu-like illness has…
Adapted from my new book, “No Regrets Living.” Hope you’ll read and share. https://forward.com/opinion/467345/how-hiv-aids-saved-lives-during-covid-19/
Adapted from Dr. Harley Rotbart’s new book, No Regrets Living – 7 Keys to a Life of Wonder and Contentment (HCI Books, March, 2021). Tomorrow is Holocaust Remembrance Day (Yom Hashoah). On this Yom Hashoah, as on every Yom Hashoah, I…
As we are concluding the holidays of Passover and Easter, it’s fitting to address the issue of miracles. This is an excerpt from my new book, “No Regrets Living – 7 Keys to a Life of Wonder and Contentment.” The book deals extensively…
The past week has seen two more tragic mass shootings. The most recent one was just yesterday in Boulder, the home of my alma mater, the University of Colorado, and just a short drive from our home in Denver. Colorado has seen so much…
AN EXCERPT FROM MY NEW BOOK, “NO REGRETS LIVING” ABOUT DAD, MOM, AND WHAT IT MEANS TO BE TRULY RICH. I’m the child of a Holocaust survivor. I grew up in a home under the shadow of the most unspeakable evil the modern world has ever…
Zadie, my grandfather, always paid his bills in cash; he never had a checking account or credit card. When he went to the supermarket, he safety-pinned his “billfold” into the “bosom pocket” of his coat and took it out when it was time…
Paul Cary was a true hero. Mr. Cary was a sixty-six-year-old paramedic in Colorado who volunteered, despite his age putting him in a high-risk category, to go to New York during the height of the pandemic to help in whatever way he…
When one of our kids was a toddler, he had a habit I feared would become a problem as he got older. There is a history of obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) in my family and I worried that his habit was a forerunner of it. I called the…
I remember when I first held you in my arms and instantly knew how deeply I loved you. You were so tiny and helpless. You knew nothing and depended on me for everything. I was nervous because there was so much to learn and so much to…
Labor Day is coming soon. Just another 3-day weekend, right? Not really. Three-day weekends are unique parenting opportunities, especially now during the pandemic. Unlike the usual overbooked experiences of a 2-day weekend, with soccer…
There are so many reasons this pandemic has been traumatic and depressing. People are ill and dying. Some are panicking, others disregarding and even defaming. But one of the subtler traumas has been caused by an unintended consequence…
On a walk through the park the other day, I heard a sound I hadn’t heard in months, and realized it’s one of the things I miss most during this pandemic – the sound of a kid’s bat hitting a ball. There was, for the first time since…
OUR KIDS’ INDEPENDENCE DAYS As we approach July 4, our nation’s Independence Day, this is a good time to reflect on a different kind of “independence day.” Each day of a child’s life brings new growth and development, sometimes subtle,…
Well, graduation season is here and sadly the venue for most ceremonies is Zoom. But the accomplishments of your kids aren’t diminished by the pandemic. So, to all the graduates, from preschool through grad school, Congratulations! And…
With the pandemic shutting down youth sports across the country, I thought I’d tell you about: OUR BACKYARD DIAMOND The grass is almost fully grown in now, where the base paths used to be. Our yard was the field of dreams when our kids…
I get letters. Lots of letters. This one from a mom in Horsham, Pennsylvania and really touched me – both for her kind words about “No Regrets Parenting” and for her creative applications of its principles (excerpted with her…
Parents obsess about their kids’ milestones. They shouldn’t. My recent post for Parents Magazine explains why – click here!
The American Academy of Pediatrics has changed its mind – it says it’s now okay for even the youngest infants to FaceTime or Skype. As a new grandparent, I couldn’t agree more (which is also a change of mind). Click here to read my…
Well, for anyone who hasn’t been on Mars for the past few months, you may have heard that the White House will have new residents beginning next month. Before the transition, I reflected for Parents Magazine on the lessons we as parents…
We are entering a time of joy and celebration – holiday season is upon us and with it comes new challenges for parents. How do we raise our kids to appreciate what they have, to be grateful for their many blessings, and not to have a…
Parents Magazine did a wonderful feature on “Miracles We Have Seen,” and nailed it with their title – “Why Doctors Believe in Miracles.” Indeed, the 75 leading physicians who wrote beautiful and moving essays for this book believe, and…
My recent post for Parents Magazine told the story of a remarkable dinner with a group of teenagers who showed maturity beyond their years. Their responses to a provocative discussion question give us some useful lessons in how to get…
On Father’s Day this year, I posted some advice in Parents Magazine for young dads. I was one myself, once, but now I see the world a little differently as a new grandfather. Click here for my post from Parents Magazine:
This Mother’s Day, as we welcome our daughter-in-law to motherhood with our first grandchild, we pay tribute to our own moms and ask only one thing of them – let us begin to repay the many, many blessings you gave to us when we were…
It’s hard to remember sometimes, when your parents are getting on your nerves about your parenting style and choices, but becoming new grandparents can be almost as disorienting and challenging as becoming new parents. Here’s my 7 tips…
The big news of 2016 (drum roll, please) my wife and I have become grandparents (!!!!) More about the grandparent thing coming in a future post soon, but for now, this is for our kids who have just become new parents, and for parents of…
Peyton Manning’s announcement of his retirement brought back a lot of nice Super Bowl memories for those of us in Colorado. Here’s my post for Parents Magazine for this past Super Bowl. Yes the game is over, but the lessons for how to…
In my post this month for Parents Magazine, I make the case for being a little less efficient this coming year. In exchange, you’ll enjoy your parenting experience a whole lot more. Try these 6 easy steps towards inefficiency and…
In this month’s post for Parents Magazine, I ask the question: How will you feel when your kids are grown up? It’s an important question, as you’ll see – and it happens faster than you can imagine. When you walk by their empty bedrooms,…
Our niece was the flower girl at our wedding 29 years ago grew up, and is now a beautiful bride. But in the generation since our wedding, is the world a better place for our little flower girl? And will it be a better place a generation…
Grandma’s Wisdom Wins Again! When it comes to protecting kids from back-to-school colds, flu, and other germy annoyances, Grandma had it right – sleep, exercise, bundling up in the cold weather and…chicken soup? See my post this month…
As the water cascaded down our basement walls during the summer’s worst storm, out from the drawers and closets and storage bins came our kids’ childhood heroes racing to the rescue. Faded and tattered as they may have been, their…
Happy July 4! Independence means lots of different things to lots of different people. But for parents, there are 4 milestone moments during kids’ childhoods that stand out for the independence they represent for kids – and for you!…
Time in the car with your kids is precious quality time. It’s much more than just getting somewhere – this is time to treasure with a captive audience buckled into their car seats or seat belts. Don’t waste with your kids plugged into…
What do empty bedrooms, a clean minivan, and Mother’s Day have in common? Well, for parents of a certain age, like me, each brings back noisy, messy, and very happy memories. But if you are lucky, like we were, you’ll have no regrets…
The day our youngest led us to Delicate Arch in Arches National Park was a coming of age for all of us. After watching his big brother and big sister in the lead on other hikes, he knew just what to do. Here’s the story, my post this…
Many thanks to Victoria Winterhalter, Parenting by the Book, and Richmond Family Magazine for their wonderful review of “NO REGRETS PARENTING.” Last month we marked the 3rd anniversary since release of the book, which continues to top…
My generation, the Baby Boomers, brought a sea change to society. Not everything we changed, however, was for the better. For example, our definition of Quality Time with our kids. My post for Parents Magazine this month will show you…
We put our beloved 15 year old Springer Spaniel to sleep last week. It was a great loss for us. Lizzy was our “4th child,” our 3 kids’ best friend, and the Queen of Fetch. We’d had her since she was a freckle-faced puppy. The breeder…
January is an optimistic and ambitious time of year. We all make New Year’s resolutions, some of which we keep, most of which we forget about by February. My January post for Parents Magazine reminds you of the most important New Year’s…
Remember the Polar Vortex? That was the cold, cold, cold spell that froze much of the nation a few weeks ago. So, what do you do when it’s cold outside and your kids are inside and they want to play ball? Here’s what we did. Click here…
There were some bedtime stories we read to our kids hundreds of times. So many times, in fact, that we would often zone out in the middle and forget to turn the pages while reciting the stories by heart. Alexander and the Horrible….(you…
Finally, the World Series is here! Featuring MY Kansas City Royals (I’ve adopted them since MY Colorado Rockies are so, so bad, and because the SF Giants, the other team in the WS, is the Rockies arch enemy.) Here, in honor of tonight,…
It was really a thrill for me when Parents Magazine asked me to write their Thanksgiving cover story for the November, 2014 issue. Titled “More Gratitude, Less Attitude,” the Thanksgiving issue is now on sale at newsstands everywhere.…
If you’re a parent, you definitely know “the look” I’m talking about. Here’s my post today for Jill Smokler’s wildly popular “Scary Mommy” blog. It’s already been shared more than 4000 times on FB since it went up this morning:…
When “No Regrets Parenting” was published a couple years ago, the book became a bestseller, but one concept in particular in the book went “viral” : Between your child’s birth and her leaving for college, there are only 940 Saturdays.…
Do you miss the days when Big Chief Tablets were all the rage and iPad tablets hadn’t been invented yet? You and your kids might have Back-To-School Disorder (BTSD) and not even know it. My new post for Parents Magazine will help you…
Money didn’t come easily for our family when we were kids, and mom watched every penny to make sure we had enough for the essentials. So when she “invested” a whole dollar to buy a “life-like” play fort, she was understandably upset…
There are certain days in a young family’s life that leave lasting memories. It was that kind of day in our house about 24 years ago. That was the day Ernie went missing…My post this month for Parents Magazine:…
In all my years of writing for and reading parenting magazines, I’ve never seen THIS before! http://www.parents.com/blogs/parents-perspective/2014/06/03/the-parents-perspective/a-jackie-robinson-moment-for-dads/
May and June are graduation months, whether your kids are leaving preschool for kindergarten, kindergarten for grade school, grade school for middle school, middle school for high school, or high school for college. I think I covered…
SNEAK PEEK! SNEAK PEEK! SNEAK PEEK! SNEAK PEEK! Here’s the first look at my follow-up to the bestselling “No Regrets Parenting”: Due out September 2, 2014 from Random House: There are 940 Saturdays between a baby’s birth and his or her…
Before they utter their first words, infants and toddlers are storing up lots to say. Our youngest surprised us with what he was really thinking on those long car rides… My post this month for Parents Magazine…
March is spring break month, so I thought it timely to share my kids’ favorite spring break activity: watching Daddy empty the RV septic tank. First, a brief history. I did not grow up in a camping family. My Eastern European father and…
It’s finally warming up outside (unless you live in the half of the country where it’s still frigid!) which means it’s once again time for Pajama Walks. Pajama Walks, in case you haven’t memorized “No Regrets Parenting,” are the miracle…
The generation gap being as wide as it is, young adults are more likely to turn to their peers than to their parents for comfort during difficult times. It can seem presumptuous and patronizing for a parent to tell his adult kids he…
WHAT ARE YOU DOING WITH YOUR KIDS THIS 3 DAY WEEKEND? Think carefully before you answer. If you’re planning on dropping your kids at friends or with a babysitter so you can squeeze in a round of golf with friends or a day at the mall,…
Have you ever thought about the secrets of compatibility? Why do some people click forever with their significant other, and why do some people never find the magic. What about with your kids? Are you and your kids compatible? My New…
The NYT invited me to write their Christmas Eve parenting post this year. It’s all about why this Christmas Eve will be very different for us than in the past. Hope you’ll take a look. Happy Holidays, and Happy 2014, to all.…
There was nothing typical about the way we played charades in our home when the kids were little…but that’s what made it special. For a holiday chuckle, see my post this month for Parents Magazine:…
The rare alignment of Thanksgiving and Hanukkah this year gives parents a unique chance to teach about “giving” to others while their kids are happily “getting” the unavoidable seasonal gifts. My post for Parents Magazine this month:…
This is very cool. Amazon.com just announced a time-limited sale of my “No Regrets Parenting” book for pre-holiday gift-buying at $6/copy. This is the lowest price ever for online purchase, and it doesn’t appear there is a limit on the…
The 18th Annual At-Home Dads Convention was recently held in Denver, Colorado. I was honored to be their Keynote speaker, but more importantly I was privileged to be witness to the extraordinary commitment these men have made to their…
Hope you’ll experience some very special goosebumps from these backyard memories; we still do. My new post for Parents Magazine:…
Being a football fan in Colorado means being a quarterback authority. From John Elway to Tim Tebow to Peyton Manning, we have had some of the most compelling quarterback sagas play out in our own backyard. This past week ESPN aired a…
We are very fortunate parents. Our three kids are 2 years apart from each other in age, and have always been each others’ best friends. To this day, now in their 20’s, they continue to rely on and support each other, and together keep…
My love affair with baseball is deep and long-standing. I love all baseball, from T-ball through the Major Leagues. What I love about baseball is the sport itself, the strategy, and the skills players must master to succeed. But what…
Ready or not, it’s that time again. Your kids are trying on fall clothes, cleaning out backpacks from last year (Ewww, those moldy cookies!!), and shopping for school supplies. Another exciting year of growth and development on the…
Parents know most of the important developmental milestones of childhood – when babies roll over, sit, walk, talk, ride a tricycle, etc. You’ve probably looked them up to make sure your kids are “on track,” or compared your child’s…
If you haven’t been following my friend Lauren Warner’s wonderful blog, “3 Things for Mom,” you should. It’s a very special daily collection of bite-sized truths, tips, and finds for moms. This week, Lauren is featuring DAD writers in…
I hope you will take a look at a very personal essay I wrote for the New York Times last week about my dad and my medical school graduation 34 years ago. In addition to the post itself, please take a few minutes to read through the…
What a lovely review of No Regrets Parenting in the 5/7/13 blog post from Shannon at mightymessymama.com. Thanks for all the kind words. On this coming Mother’s Day, I wish Shannon and all the moms in the blogosphere a fulfilling and…
There isn’t much that hasn’t been written or thought of for Mother’s Day over the past century. Not many new ideas. My post for Parents Magazine this month is something new. Let me know what you think:…
I just saw the first newspaper ad of the year for a “Real Colorado Rodeo,” which jolted this malodorous memory: Our kids were 3, 5, and 7 years old, wide-eyed wrangler wannabes, eating corn dogs and cotton candy on the bleachers at the…
I have the great pleasure of writing a monthly column for Parents magazine. This month, as many of you may be thinking ahead to summer vacation with the kids, my post is about the incredible impact the National Parks had on our family…
How much personal fame and prestige do you need? How important is Premier Status with your airline? This is how I answered those questions – my post today for Parents magazine’s GoodyBlog, part of my regular monthly series for Parents…
Here’s the next in my series of No Regrets Parenting Questions and Answers. These are again excerpted and modified from “Ask the Experts” live media chats I regularly do for Parents magazine, Children’s Hospital of Colorado, 9News, and…
Today begins a regular series of No Regrets Parenting Questions and Answers. These are excerpted and modified from “Ask the Experts” live media chats I regularly do for Parents magazine, Children’s Hospital of Colorado, 9News, and other…
Rachel Pomerance of US News and World Report interviewed me about sibling rivalry for her story today on the Super Bowl and opposing sibling coaches Jim and John Harbaugh. The link to the story is here:…
We tell our kids we love them, and everything we do for them every day should remind them of how much we love them. But, sometimes, on special days like Valentine’s Day, it’s nice to write it down. Here’s a love letter for your kids for…
Once again, the debate about vaccinating kids has emerged in the news, this time because the American Academy of Pediatrics has issued its new recommendations for childhood immunizations. The discussion in the New York Times Motherlode…
Sara, my wife, said something the other day that made me laugh and think. She noticed something around the house that needed fixing or cleaning or throwing out (I can’t remember what it was exactly, for the reasons you’ll read in a…
As most of you know, this is one of the worst influenza (“flu”) seasons in many years. As you may not know, before No Regrets Parenting, I wrote a book called Germ Proof Your Kids – The Complete Guide to Protecting Your Family from…
New Year’s resolutions are passé this year. Instead, here are New Year’s ABSOLUTIONS for No Regrets Parents, my New Year’s post for Parents magazine. Happy New Year Everyone:…
From generation to generation, we try to protect those we love. This often means telling little (and sometimes bigger) white lies. Here’s our generational story, as it appeared in the New York Times:
Tis’ the season for holiday tips. Everyone has tips for you: eating healthy over the holidays; gift-giving for the holidays; gift-wrapping tips; coping with the crowds; tips for last-minute shopping; tips for baking edible fruit cake;…
This past summer, after the unthinkable tragedy of the Aurora, Colorado movie theater shootings, I wrote a piece for Parents Magazine titled, “Is Bad Parenting to Blame for the Aurora Shootings?” Were the actions of the accused shooter,…
My December post for Parents Magazine’s GoodyBlog tells the story of the garage sale discovery that became the hit gift of the decade for our kids – and for us!!…
As part of my ongoing national seminar series based on the No Regrets Parenting book, I spoke on behalf of Children’s Hospital Colorado to a community parents’ group program this week. As usual, the questions at the end of the program…
Thanksgiving is for families, and multi-generational gatherings are blessings. My post today in the New York Times celebrates the opportunity to parent our kids and, when necessary, parent our parents.…
We found it at a garage sale when our kids were 10, 12, and 14, and for $55 we took a chance. The kids weren’t with us that day, so we didn’t know exactly how they would react when they saw it in the basement, but what the heck? If it…
Our kids were 3, 5, and 7 years old, wide-eyed wrangler wannabes, eating corn dogs and cotton candy on the bleachers at the rodeo. Johnny Cash and Willie Nelson ballads blared from the loudspeakers. A bright blue Saturday afternoon,…
The tragic death of Colorado 10 year old Jessica Ridgeway following an abduction has heightened everyone’s awareness about the risks of predators and the need to protect our kids. Our local NBC affiliate (9News) recently hosted an…
The Presidential debate last week surprisingly brought Big Bird into the political limelight. But in our home, Ernie was the much more troublesome Sesame Street character – at least for one very memorable day. Our oldest may have been a…
Thanks to Children’s Hospital Colorado and Parents Magazine for reminding us, on this eve of the first Presidential debate, that as parents we should cast our votes for the sake of children. Watch this beautiful video from Children’s…
Thanks to the Estes Valley Investment in Childhood Success for hosting my No Regrets Parenting seminar last evening, and the Rotary Club of Cherry Creek for hosting my No Regrets Work-Life Balance seminar this morning. I mention these…
When we were nearly at term with our second child, we put our 2 year old in the stroller and went for a walk at the zoo. He loved the zoo, but we were there for more than the animals this time – we needed to pick a name for our…
Although I live in Denver, I’m going to try not to sound too sad or bitter when I add my 2 cents about Tim Tebow to the national (international !) mystique that has followed this young man from the Broncos to the Jets. For those of you…
Before No Regrets Parenting, I wrote a book called Germ Proof Your Kids (www.germproofyourkids.com) which continues to be a widely-read home reference book for parents and a resource for school administrators and school nurses. This…
For many of you, this is a 3-day weekend in observance of Labor Day. Three-day weekends are unique No Regrets Parenting opportunities. Unlike the usual overbooked experience of a 2-day weekend, with soccer games, play dates, church and…
Today was back-to-school for our 24 year old. But this was different – his LAST back-to-school. His final year of law school, after which the real world starts. Just like all his back-to-school days of the past 19 years, he didn’t sleep…
The blogosphere is buzzing, the web is whirring, and TV and radio commercials are in overdrive about back-to-school. Every fall you’d think parents had never done this before. Surely there can’t be that much controversy about what to…
My love affair with baseball is deep and long-standing. I love all baseball, from T-ball through the Major Leagues. What I love about baseball is the sport itself, the strategy, and the skills players must master to succeed. But what…
This will be a little different blog post than what you’re used to seeing here. Everyone is writing back-to-school pieces this week. Everyone. My kids are also back to school – college and graduate school, actually, so advice on what to…
Watching the Olympics gymnastics finals with our adult kids last week brought back a wonderful memory of our daughter’s not-quite-Olympic-sized conquest of her own. My guest post in Parents Magazine today tells the now legendary (at…
To those of you who have followed my No Regrets blog, or read the No Regrets Parenting book, it will not come as a surprise to you that our kids have had a, shall we say, mixed reaction to hiking over the years. We were a National…
There is a surprisingly contentious discussion that has been running in the NYT Motherlode column the past few days. If you aren’t sure where you stand on this issue, or are sure and curious to read where others stand (I guarantee…
One of the important tenets of No Regrets Parenting is the daily family dinner – in the book, I call it the most important meeting of your day. And it is – this is the time when, for most families, everyone’s biorhythms are in sync and,…
The Epilogue of NO REGRETS PARENTING is all about the college parenting experience, so I felt uniquely qualified to comment on the recent NYT Motherlode piece on letting go when kids leave for college. A timely topic as 18-year olds…
The tragedy in Aurora, CO last week brings the question of parenting to the forefront as we think of the parents of the victims, of the survivors, and, yes, of the shooter. When do the responsibility and guilt of parents end? Please…
I spoke to a group of Montessori school parents last evening. Afterwards, one of the moms told me she is a psychologist who teaches meditation in her practice. She said she found particular relevance in my advice that parents should…
Whatever ages your kids are now, I believe strongly that it helps to look into the future and picture them older, almost grown, ready to leave home. That’s why I wrote No Regrets Parenting, which asks you to do just that – to make your…
Friday morning we awoke early to texts, emails and calls from family and friends around the country checking to see if our kids were ok. The night before, the unthinkable happened in a movie theater in Aurora, CO, part of “metro Denver”…
My career was taking off, and so was I – figuratively, and literally. As my star rose in the very, very small firmament that is my specialty, the invitations for the honor of my presence increased. Keynote speeches, advisory boards, and…
In what is probably the biggest emotional tsunami of our lives, our oldest son just got married. On the morning of his wedding, while mom and sister were getting their hair done, our groom, his brother, and I went into the backyard to…
No Regrets Parenting is about creating a lasting legacy from your kids’ childhoods and, even more importantly, from your parenthood. No Regrets Parenting is, in that sense, selfish – the goal is to make parenting so fulfilling, so…
It’s summertime and the kids have started settling into their summer slowdown, summer slide, or summer brain freeze, depending on how you choose to phrase it – but whatever you call it, you’re a little worried about it. Well, here’s…
There are days where it seems that all you do is get frustrated with your kids and fail to find your parental equilibrium. Of course you know what you’re supposed to do. You’re supposed to be a role model of reason and patience. Wise…
Hope you’ll read this tribute to a friend, in the NYT this weekend for Father’s Day: http://parenting.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/06/15/remembering-a-dad-and-the-little-things/
June is wedding month, and my family just proved the point – our son was married this past weekend. MARRIED!!! The emotional tsunami that engulfed all of us as we watched this age-old ritual unfold for the first of our kids is beyond…
We are giving away 50 free signed family health books between now and Father’s Day. Don’t miss this great chance to give and to receive. Father’s Day is around the corner. Be prepared, and be rewarded with a free signed family health…
As the buzz has spread about No Regrets Parenting, more and more parents are jumping on board this new and exciting concept for making more of the time we already have with our kids, and finding more time along the way. The New York…
Our kids always seemed to remember their biggest crises as soon as we pulled into the school parking lot in the morning. As other kids were bounding out of cars all around us, inevitably there was something really, really important that…
Writing about Mother’s Day is a little like writing about “America” or “money” or “religion” or “the environment.” So much has been written about some topics, every angle covered and covered again, there’s little left to add. What more…
The New York Times “Motherlode” parenting blog is a go-to resource for topical and controversial issues faced by today’s parents. I have had the privilege of posting guest pieces for Motherlode, and have personally felt the impact of…
**Important disclaimer: For those of you lifelong summer sleepaway camp families, please skip this blog post, or be forewarned and forgive me in advance for what I’m about to tell you. My goal in writing the No Regrets Parenting Blog is…
When’s the last time you noticed your kids? No, I don’t mean when’s the last time you passed your kids in the playroom, buckled them into their car seats, bundled them off to school, fed them dinner, hurried them through their homework,…
I’ll be giving away 100 free signed books between now and Mother’s Day. Don’t miss this great chance to give and to receive. Mother’s Day is around the corner. Be prepared, and be rewarded with free signed books! Read the reviews below…
Among the many joys of speaking to PTAs, PTOs, and other parent groups around the country is the chance to hear YOUR ideas for No Regrets Parenting. Yesterday I was honored to present my No Regrets Parenting Workshop to the Annual State…
I was taping a No Regrets Parenting radio interview for Joanne Wilson’s The Parent Report (http://www.theparentreport.com/) yesterday. The producer/sound engineer running “the board” in the studio was a nice young man named David (name…
Mother’s Day is around the corner. Be prepared, and be rewarded with free signed books! Read the Scary Mommy and NYT reviews linked below to see why No Regrets Parenting is the perfect Mother’s Day gift for yourself and all the moms on…
Over spring break, our college sophomore son took advantage of having his parents and grandparents at the dinner table to show us something he learned this semester in school and was very proud of. A No Regrets Parenting moment, we…
Here are two beautiful posts about the importance of time with our kids. Although they focus on Saturdays, they apply to every day (and every moment) of our parenting lives: From the NYT, by KJ Dell’Antonia:…
When we were kids, there was nothing more fun than pulling all the sofa cushions onto the floor, stacking them, and covering them with sheets to build a fort. Hours upon hours spent in our forts, with flashlights, crayons, toys. In the…
Tonight we went to the annual dinner sponsored by our kids’ K-12 school. It’s been 2, 4, and 6 years since our kids graduated from high school, but we are very grateful to the place and continue to support it however we can. But, going…
For many years, spring break meant RV trips for our family (here’s a sample of our RV experience if you’d like a chuckle: http://www.scarymommy.com/spring-break-at-the-dump-site/). But, as the kids got older and harder to squeeze into…
Decompressing the stressful moments in a young family’s day is one of the goals and benefits of No Regrets Parenting. Perhaps no time is more stressful than the minutes leading up to bedtime; these can be chaotic and tense with young…
Thanks to all of you for the wonderful suggestions you have made for No Regrets Parenting time with your kids – you are proving true what I have said all along: if I help you find the time, and help you focus on making the most of your…
The truly gratifying and overwhelming response from parents around the world to No Regrets Parenting has brought with it an outpouring of personal stories and vignettes. I have had the privilege of hearing many, many happy and grateful…
I’m no Roger Ebert, but I have a really fun movie recommendation for you. As usual, I’m late to see a new movie because, well, you know why. But, eventually, thanks to the miracle of Netflix, we get around to movies sooner or later.…
As you know by now, No Regrets Parenting is a time management blueprint for parents who struggle under the weight of each day’s responsibilities with their kids, yet shudder at the thought of their kids growing up too fast. So much of…
Like the sandy cliffs overlooking a breezy ocean cove, the gently rounded Appalachian hills that once were jagged peaks, and the rocky banks along the once mighty Colorado River, I have been worn down by the gentle flow of time and the…
One of the dubious joys of writing a new book is getting the word about the book out via promotion and marketing. In the 8 days since No Regrets Parenting was released, the response has been truly gratifying – with the book finding its…
Each stage of parenting presents its own challenges. There’s the “waking in the middle of the night to feed the baby” stage, and the “what can we do about colic” stage, and the “separation anxiety” stage and the “middle school girls are…
There’s something that’s always bothered me about former First Lady Hillary Clinton’s famously titled book It Takes a Village. 1 The title paraphrases an African proverb about the many cooperative efforts required to raise children.…
Baseball is like church. Many attend, few understand. Leo Durocher (1906-1991), Hall of Fame baseball manager Spring training starts this week. For families with baseball fans, this is a huge event. A huge family event, and the start…
Work-life balance is all the buzz in the business and professional worlds. As moms and dads increasingly try to design their work schedules to accommodate their family lives, employers are struggling to come up with ever-more innovative…
The grass is almost fully grown in now, where the base paths used to be. Our yard was the field of dreams when our kids were small. They wore the base paths raw, so the diamond shape of the infield was the first thing people noticed…
I’m really thrilled about the coverage that No Regrets Parenting got in the March issue of Parents Magazine. The cover story (“Be and In-the-Moment Mom”), editor’s note (p 12), and 6 page book excerpt are all about No Regrets Parenting.…
Jeff was my friend, although we had never met face-to-face. I first got to “know” him through The Last Lecture, his beautiful tribute to life, written with Randy Pausch. I got to know him better through The Girls from Ames and Highest…
Now that we have digested Chinese-style parenting for more than a year since the release of “The Battle Hymn of the Tiger Mother” by Amy Chua, enter the French perspective on child-raising via “Bringing Up Bébé” by Pamela Druckerman. If…
I’m the son of a peddler, and I grew up impoverished. I didn’t know I was poor, though, because my mom managed to make due on dad’s meager earnings and provide us with everything we needed as kids. My own income as a pediatrician and…
Today we hosted a half-day retreat on mentoring at the University of Colorado School of Medicine. The program was directed at both mentors and “mentees” (those who are mentored), and at all levels of seniority. As we outlined the…
There’s a lot you can learn about your kids during today’s game, and most of it has nothing to do with football. Yes, it will be interesting to see how your kids feel about Manning and Brady, especially if you don’t live on the East…
Breakfast may be the “most important meal of the day” but dinner is the most important meal in the life of most families. At breakfast, everyone’s in a rush to get where they have to be that day. Lunch? Fuggetaboutit. Nobody’s home at…
I’m headed over to give my annual talk on career development to the new faculty at the School of Medicine. In it, I lay out the “Golden Rules” for young faculty members eyeing promotion and career advancement. It got me thinking about…
When the No Regrets Parenting book comes out later this month, you’ll see me pull no punches in recommending occasional sweet treats for kids to celebrate special events or to help create family traditions. Ice cream sundaes on hot…
No, I don’t mean your hybrid, I mean the inside of your car. The passengers. Next time you’re at a stoplight, take a peek inside the minivan stopped next to you. The driver (parent) is talking on the phone; the kids (they’re the ones…
My post today should prove to you that no task is too mundane or too pedestrian that it can’t become a magical, No Regrets Parenting event for you and your kids. In the No Regrets Parenting book, I write that every child should start…
Parenting is among the greatest sources of human joy; it is also the single greatest cause of guilt. Not only do we feel guilty about the things we’ve done or not done for our kids from the time they were born, but we even feel guilty…
Twenty-two years ago today, our little girl was born, gorgeous with a little jaundice. A wondrous baby, smiley, giggly, huggy, and ticklish. Except during the three hours immediately after I got home from work, during which she had…
Car rides. Have you ever thought about how many hours, days, weeks, and months of your kids’ childhoods you spend driving them places? Of course you’ve thought about it – and complained about it! Well, here are the hard numbers just in…
Parenting today takes on many profiles. Two-parent families and single parent families. One mommy, one daddy homes, and two-mommy or two-daddy homes. Stay-at-home parents and working parents and work-at-home parents. Parents with and…
Many statewide PTA (Parent Teacher Association) organizations around the country are gearing up for their annual conventions and conferences, which makes it very timely to remind you about how PTA can directly impact your own family.…
For many of you, today is a day off in celebration of Martin Luther King’s birthday. Three-day weekends are unique No Regrets Parenting opportunities. Unlike the usual overbooked experience of a 2-day weekend, with soccer games, play…
Looking back at the evolution of parenting advice over the centuries, it seems to me that Adam and Eve may have been the only parents in history without the benefit of an “advice du jour book” on how to raise children. True, considering…
On the way to Denver International Airport this morning to send our kids back to college after winter break, I remembered a great No Regrets Parenting example from my own childhood. The #64 bus ran from west Denver at one end to…
When our kids were little, we took them to the rodeo a few times – fun, but not really our thing and we haven’t been back to see the horsies and lambies for many years. Now our kids are in college and graduate school, home for…
NYT reporter Jodi Kantor’s new book, “The Obamas,” has generated lots of buzz – mostly political. This is a parenting blog, not a political blog. So, I want to focus on the parts of the book that I thought were the most interesting –…
Although I live in Denver, I’m going to try not to sound too much like a “homey” when I add my 2 cents about Tim Tebow to the national (international !) dialog that has erupted about this young man. For those of you who are just…
Parents do lots of planning – how big should their family be, where should they live, what kind of car should they drive. Financial planning, school planning, vacation planning. But many parents neglect to make the most important plan…
As you and I are getting to know each other on this No Regrets Parenting blog, I thought I’d share a few words about why and how I developed the No Regrets Parenting approach. As our kids, one-by-one, left for college, we looked back at…
What is No Regrets Parenting? No Regrets Parenting is a fresh, commonsense approach to parenting for those of you who shudder at the thought of your kids growing up too fast, leaving for college, becoming young adults. No Regrets…