OK, well, technically, it was a Thursday.  And it wasn’t night-time, since the 7th and 8th graders normally play their games after school.  So no lights, because at 4 in the afternoon, the sun is still shining nicely.   Um, shouldn’t there be some other boys lined up with him here?  Maybe on either side of [...]

My son enjoys football, but he is not particularly gifted at it.   He has had a few decent catches this year, and even made a touchdown or two.  But he is not amazingly skilled; scouts have not come looking; the NFL is not beating a path to our door. There is most certainly no reason [...]

I do not, for the record, consider myself a helicopter parent. I keep close tabs on my kids, sure. I like to think of myself as attentive, involved, and caring. But I don’t particularly hover, and I don’t freak out when my kids aren’t within immediate eyesight or earsight. I’ve gone away on overnight trips, [...]