When you were a child playing house, what sort of mommy or daddy did you look like in your head?

Were you June and Ward, all pearls and suits and "Wash up, boys!", while your little scamps got in to all sorts of hilarious and innocent high jinks that would unravel before their eyes, but come together within the alloted 22 minutes, usually about the time Father returned home?

Or the Nelson version of the same, where Harriet held down the tidy, calm, ultimately reasonable fort during the days as Ozzie vanished into a fog of... more

Still writing about my birthday for a moment or two longer, and wanted to add that thanks to Sam and Cj I am now able to jettison fifty-some years of unwrapping caution that was drilled into me by my mother. Ever the frugal and practical woman, in her world wrapping paper is not some disposable frippery meant for magical moments of mad mayhem in frenzied ripping. No way! It's a durable, reusable product meant to last for years, so to be handled not with kid hands, but with kid gloves.

Granted, shrinkage... more

So, I'm now fifty-six-years old, and although it is still my birthday in California where I was born, it's all over but the wrinkling here in Seychelles.

I had a pleasant enough day, although it was little like the imagined happenings that came with the numerous ... and very welcome -- thanks to all who conveyed lovely greetings! ... birthday wishes that came my way. Those all assumed that the kids and I would be passing the day beach-side, basking in the sun, lolling in the sea, and generally doing all the stuff... more

It's once again time to gather together all the bits I've been collecting over the past couple of days and put them into a catch-all post of hopefully interesting or helpful hints.

Starting with Dr. Joyce Brothers on older parents. She's in favor, and adds that: "Age has always been relative, but this is especially true today, when people often look and feel half their age, thanks to better health. If you look much older than other parents, that's not... more

My fifty-sixth birthday is coming up in ten days ... eeek!!! ... and evidence has been presented to me this afternoon that this fact of my life makes me just a shade under four years younger than Camilla, Duchess of Cornwall. Oh my!

In my far younger days, back when I was a small-ish child of eight or so, my mother mentioned in passing that I was about the right age to marry Prince Charles when he grew up to be King of England. That actually sounded good for a while, although any such plan fell quickly by the wayside... more

There's been some follow up to a story I posted about last month on eighty-something grandparents losing custody of their grandson to foster care.

The grandparents, Morris (88) and Mildred (85) Brasovankin, are fighting to bring their hyperactive grandson home, and the question they are facing from all quarters is, of course: How old... more

Does the act of dropping to the floor cause a racket of clacking, pops and creaks not unlike a fierce game of mahjong on a three-legged table?

Is every dip of the hips accompanied by an exhale that sounds way too much like old Uncle Merv lowering himself into his Baralounger?

If once you've actually placed yourself on floor level, does the chance of remaining there for the rest of your days seem a definite possibility?

Yeah ... I know ... me, too.

One of the great things about being an older adoptive parent is the fact... more

One of the signs of passing youth is the birth of a sense of fellowship with other human beings as we take our place among them. Virginia Woolf

(Well, that and the realization that Mick Jagger will be sixty-four later this month ... and looks more like Barney Fife in spandex every year ... when it's so easy to recall him, and Keith Richards, being cute young things.)

Brian May, the 59-year-old composer and founder of ... more

"Do you know how old you'll be when that kid is a teen?"

Heard that? Yeah ... I'll be you have.

Does it scare you? No?

What? Are you simple, or something? Because it certainly should!

Not that your status as an older adoptive parent should be the root of all fear. No. Any parent of any age should tremble at the thought of sharing space with raging hormones, perceptions of wisdom far beyond what years would indicate, and the potential for mistakes with dire and life-long consequences.

Teens are scary,... more

The warm fuzzies that bubbled up while reading about the stretching mega-givers starting popping pretty darned fast when this came along soon after the article on benvolence.

Starting out by detailing the latest in fashions for kids ... $88 for a pair of the cutest red shorts, and a pair of jeans... more