I was never a fan of giving the kids timeouts when they were little. I didn’t think putting them in a room by themselves taught them anything about their bad behavior. Instead, I reserved the timeouts for myself. And I still do. I remember the days when I’d spend a fair amount of time cooking…
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Kids & Family
Mixed & Matched
Is it reasonable to expect to marry my Orthodox boyfriend?
Dear Dawn: Can I first say how impactful and helpful I have found your writing? I am a non-Jew in a relationship with a Jewish man. I love him, and his…
Parenting
Parenting through this pandemic Thanksgiving
There will be four people at my Thanksgiving table: my husband, my two children and me. They’re the same people I sit down to dinner with every night. And…
Parenting
It all turned out fine, so it looks like my worrying worked
When our kids were younger, there were a lot of things that I used to worry about. I called the pediatrician in a panic many times — would our daughter…
Mixed & Matched
How do I tell my Catholic parents that I don’t plan to have Christmas?
Dear Dawn: I was raised Catholic and left the church many years ago. When I married my Jewish wife, we had a Jewish wedding. My very Catholic parents came…
Parenting
Even my 4-year-old knows more than our leaders
We have a family tradition of doing tashlich on the afternoon of Rosh Hashanah, and then taking a family photograph near whatever natural body of water we…
Mixed & Matched
My wife and kids are Jewish. Is it OK to pray in Jesus’ name?
Dear Dawn: I am a Christian man married to a Jewish woman. We are raising our children Jewish, and I am very comfortable with that decision. However,…
Parenting
The new normal is not normal, but the kids seem all right
In some ways, the start of school this fall and the preparation leading up to it were similar to most other years: We did some school shopping, cleaned…
Parenting
First day of school — a new state, new anxieties
From the moment I woke up, this morning was different. My alarm went off at 6:45 a.m., one of the only times I’d set it since the pandemic hit. I got up…