Stranger Anxiety

March 2, 2010

It was interesting to me that on the day I posted about “red flags” and Andy added in details about my older son’s feelings of frustration and destructive anger at preschool, he was preparing for an exam on Albert Camus’ The Stranger. We got to talking about the book, and about what it might say […]

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In like a lamb

March 1, 2010

Welcome to March—a great time for new beginnings, new thinking and renewed hope. March is the third month of the Gregorian Calendar, but it was the first month of the ancient Roman Calendar, named after the god of war—a great time to start a military campaign… because spring was in the air. England considered March […]

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Narcissism Misunderstood

February 28, 2010

A recent New York Times Op Ed piece by Roger Cohen, “The Narcissus Society,” makes some good points about health care and the importance of working together as a society. In lamenting how community has eroded, Cohen says, “In its place have come a frenzied individualism, solipsistic screen-gazing, the disembodied pleasures of social networking and […]

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Touching

February 27, 2010

A good, and widely traveled, friend emailed me in response to “Where are my dudes?” to concur that in other cultures affection amongst friends, men as well as women, is more accepted and widespread—and really important for us humans to feel connected, loved and less alienated.  While kids are more huggy these days than when […]

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The Politics of Normal

February 26, 2010

In a recent NY Times article, “Revising the Book on Disorders of the Mind”, the fact that so-called mental disorders are decided by people, rather than being self-evident “facts,” is readily apparent. As a psychologist, this is old news, but for many parents who may come into contact with “experts” who have been using jargon […]

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Red Flags

February 25, 2010

Years ago, when Andy and I had a meeting with our child’s preschool teachers, I remember sitting around the little table meant for Playdough and snack-time and the preschool director saying something about certain behaviors being “red flags.” I had walked in expecting to hear something like, “his crayon scribbles are really creative” or “he […]

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Scorsese: The Wisest Guy in the Room

February 24, 2010

Readers of this blog are probably aware that I’m not a big horror film fan, while my son is; in the service of striving to be my best Self as a parent I’ve cringed, shuddered and jumped out of my seat through I am Legend, Zombie Land, The Book of Eli, Paranormal Activity and this […]

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Happiness is subversive

February 23, 2010

If one is happy, one is present to the moment.  In some sense happiness marks moments we wish not to end.  But as we get more acclimated to happiness, even our melancholy about the fleeting of time calms down.  In these moments the eternal opens up in the here and now. In such moments… when […]

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When the wolf at the door is bringing sugar

February 22, 2010

BigLittleWolf has given me a prize.  Thank you Wolf.  Another word for prize, if we elevate it up to something “big,” is a “boon.”  This is the treasure that the hero seeks in the hero’s journey. Given my interest in micro-parenting (an ethic of each of us making little differences rather than big, grandiose, change-the-world […]

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Do therapists mess up their kids?

February 21, 2010

My younger son said something to a friend of his recently that cracked me up.  He said, “The good thing about having a dad who’s a psychologist is that you can talk about your feelings any time you want; the bad thing is that you end up talking about feelings even when you don’t want.” […]

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