As I was settling down into my hammock, book in hand but eyelids heavy, the thought drifted across my mind that napping would be a good blog topic for the day.

I've always been fond of the mid-day snooze, so it's not a geezer-inspired activity ... activity? ... in my case. I recall coming home from high school and stretching out for half and hour or so, happily dropping off and waking refreshed and ready for whatever teen festivities might present.

All these years later, and a daily dip into... more

Although there are many aspects of mothering that vary widely from place to place and from time to time, I would guess there are at least as many more that are as common to moms ... older, younger, richer, poorer, here or there or everywhere ... as the rhythm of breath going in, then out, and repeating round the clock for as long as it can.

The sudden acceptance of poop as an obvious factor in our lives,... more

A couple of stories in the news about older parents need talking about today. The first, this one that asks the question, "How old is too old?".

It's grandparents raising a child this time, and they must not have been spring chicken-ish when the son who is dad to the little one was little, as they're now 89 and 86, and have been parenting the child off and on almost since birth a... more

Although the title of this post does make it sound like I'm about to take off on the hilarious thread going on over on the geezer adoptive parent group, GAARP, about adoption from other planets ... I'm asking permission now to post some of the amazingly creative comments here as a testament to the brilliance of older adoptive parents ... this will be a rather down-to-earth composition.

(If you are looking for writing from me on interplanetary adoption,... more

When my husband, Mark, was a child, his father was in the British army. The family was often separated, with Dad spending months at a time away from their home near whichever base in England or Ireland they had been pointed toward while he served in Malaysia, British Guyana, Germany and Northern Ireland.

For most of Mark's early years, paternal companionship came in short spurts followed by long periods where it was Mom or no one. When Mark was nine-years-old, John, my father-in-law, retired from the army... more

I do hate to break it to all you dad's out there, especially so close to Fathers Day and all, but in addition to having statistically shorter life spans ... although the divide there is shrinking as your habits get healthier ... your slope to mental decline is just ever so much more slippery and slick than that of us moms. Well, not just moms, but women in general tend to keep their grip better and longer than men do.

A new study ... a huge new... more

A new study out of the University of Michigan's Institute for Social Research is indicating that older moms are the happiest group of women in the country.

After examining nearly 6, 000 women, the result appears to be that, " ... it's not so much whether you have children as when you have them", as the next happiest group consisted of older women without kids, with young mothers... more

Thanks to suggestions from readers I've started posting some questions and answers on older parents. The introduction is here, followed by embarrassment and negatives here. SHB: Adopted by older parents as you were,... more

Thanks to suggestions from readers I've started posting some questions and answers on older parents. The introduction is here. SHB: Many older adoptive parents worry that their age will be an embarrassment to their kids when those kids hit the teen years. Any comment?

Kris: All parents are an embarrassment... more

I asked a while back for suggestions for topics for this Older Parent blog, as I was feeling idea-depleted. Some great thoughts came in, including a couple about seeking the perspective of adoptees who have parents that were up there in age when their kids came home. I put the word around in a few places I frequent that I had a few questions and was looking for people who'd be interested in answering. Here are brief descriptions:

Kris is 37-years-old... more