In the days before there were children in this house and Cheerios in every corner of every room, I would watch other parents. As most of my friends were parents before I was, this task was quite easy. We would hang out together after services in synagogue, we would shmooze about this and that and the conversation would invariably turn to children. And that's when things got competitive.

Who's child is sitting up? Which child is talking? Already? No, wait, my kid is already reading at a third grade level at the age of five. Oh - but you didn't hear what my daughter did the other day....

Everyone seemed to want to 'one-up' the other in terms of which kid was more advanced.... more

I doubt I could honestly say that my parents were bad at taking pictures of us as kids. Back at my parents' house, there are albums upon albums of photos of my sister and I - baby pictures, pictures of us at school plays or family trips to the zoo.

And although I cherish looking at pictures of times gone by, and do indeed remember many events pictured in the photos, it's the memories that were not photographed that come to mind when I think back on my childhood.

My strongest memories of growing up cannot be found in the... more

So, how superstitious are you? Historically, Jews were stereotypically superstitious (say that three times fast), but then again so was the rest of the world. Nowadays, I think it's safe to say that the majority of the modern world has moved away from getting worried about black cats or bad dreams or what-not.

And yet. And yet I am superstitious about some things. I will not buy someone a baby present before they have actually had the baby. I will not wish someone a "mazel tov" (congratulations) before something has actually happened. And as much as we treat Adam as our own kid, I have a hard time referring to him as 'our son' when, at the moment, he is not ours.

The other... more

I don't talk about Israel much on this blog. Maybe I should, maybe I shouldn't. I'm a very political person in my real life - I used to work in politics, I have very strong opinions on issues, and I enjoy a good debate on any topic. But here on the blog, I try to stay apolitical. Israel tends to be a hot button issue for a variety of reasons, and most people tend to have opinions as far as what Israel should be doing about this or that. So I try not to get into it.

However, I do think that wherever you stand on issues relating to politics, all American Jews - all Jews worldwide for that matter, should develop a strong connection to Israel. We should all make the effort to visit Israel,... more

Anna, our daughter, is four years old going on fourteen and is adopted. Adam, who turned one year old today is our foster baby and we may or may not be able to adopt him depending on how the situation unfolds. Our four year old has recently been reminding him (not that he cares) that he's not adopted and not part of our family, but he's just living here with us for now. As much as I don't like her attitude with him on this issue (and that's a separate topic altogether which I will entitle "Help! A teenager has taken over my pre-schooler's body!") I know that it is very important for her to know the difference between being a biological, adopted or foster child. There is a very real chance... more

Apparently, there are several books out there that explain why we are who we are based on what number sibling we are in our family. Perhaps I should read one or two. But how much is really controlled by our place in the pecking order? And how much would we change if our place was somehow changed?

Personally, I think that the answer really depends on the individual. For some people, their place among their siblings may not have had a large influence on who they became as a person. Perhaps if they were moved from second oldest to youngest among the children, their personalities would have remained very much the same. For me, I know that I am the typical type 'A' personality of the oldest... more

Something that I have overlooked talking about is the fact that the Passover story is perhaps one of the earliest records of an adoption taking place. Moses, as an infant, was placed in the Nile River in a basket (because Pharoh had decreed that all male infants should be killed, Moses' mother was trying to save him) and he was retrieved by the daughter of Pharoh himself and raised in his household. The name Moses, as the Bible states, comes from "because I drew him out of the waters." Although one could say that there is an earlier adoption story in the Bible with Abraham and Lot, I think that was more of a case of Lot being taken under Abraham's wing and helped out in life. Besides, Lot... more

How much of our thought process is governed by where we live and what time and place we are living in? I was thinking about this recently when visiting with a relative of mine. She's in her late sixties and never had any children, though she was married at one time and was pregnant. Unfortunately, she lost the pregnancy in her third trimester and she and her husband were unable to console each other and unable to agree to move forward with looking into adoption, divorced. It took her a long time to be able to move on with her life from that point.

But I wondered recently - if she were living that part of her life in 2007, would she have gone on to adopt as a single woman - something... more

I ran across this article today on CNN.com which describes toys and gadgets that are geared toward getting the 2 - 11 age group on the Internet.

According to Nielsen/Net Ratings Inc., an Internet research company, the number of online users in the 2-to-11 age group rose 19 percent to 15.1 million in December 2006, from 12.6 million in December 2002. The latest strategy comes as the nation's toy industry has been under pressure to bring back children bombarded with other entertainment options from iPods, cell phones and online community sites.

Is there such a thing... more

Journeywoman has been talking about that recent case on the news where a family was asked to leave a flight because their three year old wouldn't sit in her seat for takeoff. Today, she has a great post about when to bend, and her own story of enforcing what she felt was the correct thing to do in a situation. After I posted a comment to her site today, I realized how lengthy it was (sorry! that's kinda when someone says, get your own blog!, right?) and since she brings up a great topic, I'm posting my comment here. At what point do you as parents bend the rules, or acquiesce... more