July 25th, 2008, 15 Comments »
I’m not a parent, nor have I been a child for quite a few years. When I was a kid, though, I remember that my brother and I sat in the back seat, even when there was nobody sitting beside my parent up-front. This was even true if it was just me in the back seat and only my mother or father up-front. In my recollection, we sat in the back seat until I was, I don’t know, eight or ten years old.
I’m not sure, but I think this behaviour is quite commonplace. I know, in recent years, there’s been a concern about the minimum size of the child and air bags and so forth, but that wasn’t the case back in the 80’s.
This feels like a very naive question, but why does this happen? And if you’re a parent, when did you give your kids permission to ride up front?
15 Comments »
June 21st, 2008, 50 Comments »
Jen recently created a thorough how-to guide to changing your name in BC, and it reminded me of a topic I’d wanted to write about.
It’s been interesting to see how many of my female friends and colleagues have chosen to change their name. I’d say the name-change rate is at 80-85%.
This kind of surprised me. For no particular reason, as a young man I had assumed that more women would keep their maiden name in my generation. I guess I was making a vague, incorrect association between feminism and keeping one’s name, but clearly I was off the mark. I’m also surprised how few female friends and colleagues choose the double-barreled approach.
In any case, I’m curious to hear from people on both sides of the equation: why did you change your name, or why didn’t you? Or, if you aren’t married, do you plan to change your name?
This is mostly a question for women, though I do know a couple of men who changed their name when they got married. I knew one couple who devised an entirely new last name (’Steel’, if I recall correctly) for themselves when they wedded.
The most common reason I hear for the decision is that “I wanted to have the same name as my children”. I’m always a little confused by this, because it kind of assumes that the kids will get their father’s name, doesn’t it?
50 Comments »
September 14th, 2007, 8 Comments »
Caterina wrote a nice little essay about her failed soccer career, and ended with this charming anecdote:
They don’t let little kids compete these days, because it might ruin their self esteem. I see it all the time. A friend of mine at work said her 8 year old son played soccer, and one day he came home from playing and she asked him how many goals he’d scored. “There are no goals,” he said.
I don’t have much exposure to children’s sports. Parents, is this anti-competition streak common these days?
8 Comments »
