Author Archives: T.B. White

About T.B. White

lives in the New York City area with his wife and two daughters, 6 and 3. He is a college professor who has written essays about Media and the O.J. Simpson case, Woody Allen, and other areas of popular culture. He brings a unique perspective about parenting to families.com as the "fathers" blogger. Calling himself "Working Dad" is his way of turning a common phrase on its head. Most dads work, of course, but like many working moms, he finds himself constantly balancing his career and his family, oftentimes doing both on his couch.

Babysitting at Six?????

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Apparently there have been some problems in the lunch room at my daughter’s school. Bullying, her teacher told us. So now, there are assigned seats in the cafeteria. That seems reasonable. But then our daughter told us that she has to “babysit” one of her classmates, reporting whatever he does that he’s not supposed to do. Excuse me? How old is she? She just turned six. Now, my daughter is a very good student and pretty responsible, as six-year-olds come, but to ask her to report on one of her classmates’ activities is simply absurd. Children do learn to police … Continue reading →

FRIDAY FUNNY: Dads and PMS: The INSIDE STORY!

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Many years ago, the popular sitcom Roseanne did an episode that comically dramatized the experience of Roseanne’s PMS on the rest of the Conner family: the mood swings from loving-to-angry-to-insecure, the selective memory, the wild outbursts of emotions. Of course, I’m talking about Dan, who had the misfortune of having is thirty-ninth birthday on the same day as his wife’s PMS. The poor man was left blubbering; the next day Roseanne finds him moody and withdrawn, and wondering what’s got into him. The episode was widely praised for bringing to light a topic that perhaps most others would rather not … Continue reading →

Who sells white pants for boys???? At this hour???!!!

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This week, my oldest was part of her elementary school’s annual dance festival. Each grade was given lots of lessons from dance instructors funded by a special state grant. The children did dances from several places around the world. Our girl was learning a dance from Africa, and a song called “The Traveling Song.” We’d catch her practicing the dance steps, but she would not tell us too much about it, wanting to show all the moves off at the festival. A few days before the event, we received a notice that the children should be wearing white pants. Each … Continue reading →

Birthday Party Meltdowns

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I don’t really know how these kids do it – so many parties! Seems like every kid in the class was born between April and June 2000. And my oldest is invited to all of these! (That’s an important difference between us and the other parents, I suppose: we felt we could not invite every single child from her kindergarten class, while it seems that most of these parties are like little K-203 reunions!) The stress that’s out there: all the energy, the activities, the sugar! It’s no wonder there aren’t more meltdowns at these parties like the one the … Continue reading →

A Mother’s Day Present

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Six years ago, on a Thursday morning, my wife and I went to have a sonogram, and to see if our first-born would be able to be turned. Her head was up and we tried everything to get her to turn around: special exercises, movement, and one “remedy” which involved my wife lying on an ironing board at a 45-degree angle and putting a boom box with loud, drum-based music blaring right on her belly. None of these worked, of course. The main problem was that there was very little amniotic fluid. The sonogram doctor recommended that we go head … Continue reading →

How Love and Ingenuity Saved a Bundle on Tuition

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A friend of ours has a teenaged daughter. She’s bright, creative, and incredibly confident. She wanted to meet her favorite teen idol, to tell her how much of an inspiration the idol was to her, and eventually the young lady got to go on Oprah, tell her story (she lost a lot of weight), and meet this popular TV and movie actress. Her mother and father are divorced, but the couple continued to share an apartment together to help save money – another friend also lives there, and our friend’s almost-thirty daughter from her first husband has a back room … Continue reading →

But They Couldn’t Save the Bowling Alley

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Well, the politicians managed to find a buyer to preserve the last movie theater in the community, but another unofficial landmark of the neighborhood is history: the bowling alley. My brother used to take me there all the time; it’s where I learned how to bowl and keep score. Despite being right-handed, I bowled better with my left; I have no idea why. Was I imitating my lefty brother? Maybe. As I got older, I used to go with my friends from school; I’d meet them at their house, hang a while, then we’d walk over. They had their own … Continue reading →

We Saved the Movie House, but…

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When I was a lad, there were dozens of movie theaters in my neighborhood, in the days just before the multiplex killed the screens. By the time my eldest was born, there were three left, and the local sports bars had bigger screens than most of the ones you could find at the movies. The closest theater to my old house closed last summer. It was hard to take; I’d seen so many movies there, and in fact it was one of the first places I went to with just my friends, in about the fourth or fifth grade. (We … Continue reading →

On the Subject of Breasts

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In the forums, you’ll find a question on breastfeeding in public. http://forums.families.com/what-is-your-opinion-on-breastfeeding-in-public,t3087&highlight=breastfeeding+public And you’ll find a number of opinions and observations. And I had a few other thoughts come to me after I’d posted mine. One of them was, should a GUY really comment on this? After all, I’m not the one who’s breastfeeding his children anywhere, private or public, so should I really comment on this? Probably not. But we nursed our children for a long while, and living where we live, I saw a lot of nursing mothers in parks, restaurants, malls. Women who were very much matter-of-fact … Continue reading →

Another Party Success at Home

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Remember all that advice you got and read that told you to keep the birthday parties short and small in time and numbers? Good advice. We’ve managed now with about half a dozen birthday parties in our own house, and we always have lots of fun. The grown-ups know that a party at our house is going to be unique – or should I say, Uniqua? Yes, this year we had a Backyardigans party, the first of two. Our eldest turns six, and we decided on a “Superheros/Supervillains” party theme, after the episode Race to the Tower of Power. Something … Continue reading →