YONDER BREAKS

I've heard about a thousand times that your kids grow up "too fast." This comes mostly from seasoned parents, with kids in high school or even out of the house, grandkids to follow who are also growing more quickly than their parents wish. And I'm sure they're right! However, in my tenured two years as a parent, I haven't really felt that way. I chalk it up to my status as a stay-at-home dad. I've been able to spend about every waking moment of the first two years of my daughter's life with her, and so when people have told me, "They grow up so fast," I just thought: E h, feels about right to me.   I think that's actually one of the great benefits to staying home with your kids -- time seems to travel more slowly -- and until they invent time machines, those are moments you just can't get back. But then today, it happened -- I had my first "they grow up so fast" moment. I was feeding Ellie and asked her if she remem...

...killing yourself? This commercial premiered during the Olympics, and I just can't get behind the message... He says we don't work hard for stuff, but because we're "crazy driven." I'm all for drive, accomplishing goals, devotion and discipline; but you always have to count the cost. Here are some statistics from  Washington Post : The Bureau of Labor Statistics reports that Americans work extreme hours, averaging 50 or more hours per week. Compared to 1976, the average American works about one month more a year...leisure and sleep time have fallen steeply for those with college degrees...Gallup estimates that 70% of all workers are disengaged from their jobs, costing between $450-$550 billion each year in productivity. Most employers voluntarily grant American workers two weeks of vacation, and in a telling annual report called the "Vacation Deprivation" study, travel company Expedia found that Americans didn't use 577 m...