We went whale watching today and saw dozens of dolphins. It was an amazing sight to see up close. We didn’t see any whales and when we got back to shore, my 5-year-old son was looking at photos on the tour shop’s door in amazement at what others had seen on other tours on other …
Author Archives: Mitch
Stop in the middle of a…
We were watching a show (Jurassic World Camp Cretaceous) recently and in between episodes, they would stop in a very critical moment, one that left you wanting to watch more, to finish that part of the story. This tactic can be used to keep people wanting more and you can also use it on yourself, …
Scratching an itch with a cast on
My grandfather was a doctor and when he put casts on people, he placed a piece of string on the inside of the cast so that the patient could scratch any itches using the string. It was a good idea and is a good reminder to: Think one step ahead. Problems you will have later …
Lowest common denominator
The other day my 2-year-old stood up while having a bath and then slipped and fell. The tub had some thin strips of non-slip material to stand on but the gaps in between them were big enough for a 2-year-old’s feet to fit in between, so she slipped and fell. Whoever laid those non-slip strips …
The moment of ice cream
Today we were at the beach when an ice cream vendor rolled by with his cart. It was exciting because we weren’t expecting that and my kids love ice cream. As he rolled by and we asked him to stop, it struck me that there was a moment that arrived and we had only a …
The water temperature
Today I went for a swim and the water felt warm, until I went into the hot tub and then returned to the pool. Then the pool felt quite chilly. The same temperature of water will feel different depending on where you just came from. That’s true of a lot of other things too. Free …
Too many choices
Sometimes I catch myself giving my kids too many choices, which invites them to want chocolate instead of vanilla, when if they were not given a choice, vanilla or even nothing would have been just fine. I think what I want to teach them is that sometimes it’s good not to be too picky.
Her battle
An inch a month wouldn’t be much for almost anything to move or grow but when I measured my 2-year-old daughter at her request, I was surprised to see that she grew an inch in the past month. From the outside looking in, it looks like it takes a lot of energy to grow so …
Raise your hand first
My uncle was in World War II and he told me that one day his sergeant asked the group, “Do any of you know how to type?” My uncle shot up his hand, he told me, because he knew that if the sergeant was asking that, then that person would be typing, not having bullets …
An inconceivable gap
Second born children can develop more quickly because they see what their older sibling can do and are inspired to catch up and do what the first born child can do. What happens less often, I think, is that first born children look at what their parents can do and then they try to do …