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.

Here’s a great story about learning to trust Dad

Posted on by

There are many forums I’ve seen over here where questions come up to the effect of, “should I tell my husband?” The assumption behind that question is that perhaps the husband/father might not react too well when learning what his son or daughter has been caught doing. This may be a perfectly correct assumption, based on one’s knowledge of the man. But it does set up a kind of potential culture of fear in the household, where parents and children feel the need to hide things. I assure you I understand this, being a private, secretive person by nature. These … Continue reading →

New Series: Living In TV Land

Posted on by

Thanks to our senior popular culture bloggers for letting me guest-post. I had to write about this “thing” I saw on TV Land Sunday night, during the flight home from Florida. It’s a new reality series, Living in TV Land, and it purports to “get behind the hype and hyperbole and into the real lives of some of television’s most popular icons.” That’s because the series will show the stars “playing themselves.” Among the first profiled: Barry “Greg Brady” Williams; former Monkee Davy Jones; Sherman “George Jefferson” Helmsley’; Fred Willard; and Dick Van Patten. I could, if I wanted to, … Continue reading →

Travel Memories Part 2

Posted on by

In my previous post, I was recounting our travels to my in-laws’ “winter palace” in Florida. The first two trips we took were with our oldest only, as our youngest was not yet arrived. When our little one was born, our family travel dynamic, er, multiplied. At about seven months, our youngest made her first trip to Florida. We decided to take the Auto Train, Amtrak’s famous vacation locomotive that runs from just south of Washington, D.C., to just outside of Orlando, Florida. The gimmick about the Auto Train, for those living outside the States, is that you get to … Continue reading →

Travel Memories

Posted on by

Travel memories We all know that traveling with children – especially very young children – can be a very challenging experience, even as it is rewarding. We’ve tried all kinds of ways so far in our nearly six years of parenting, and I’m not sure if we’ve figured it out, but there’s one basic principle that seems to help us get through: The more you plan, the better the trip will be. My in-laws participate in the annual migration of senior citizens who fly south for the winter. (Actually, since they are there for two or three months they usually … Continue reading →

In Case You Were Wondering….

Posted on by

I’ve been away since Wednesday on a quick, long weekend getaway to Florida, taking the girls to see Grandma and Grandpa. We had a great trip; at one point my oldest was dancing in front of the bathroom mirror and shouting, “this is the best time of my life!!” There was much to enjoy on this short weekend away — the home-cooking from Grandma, fishing on the pier with Grandpa, the walks around the lake by their condo complex, the beach, the pool, the ride on my wife’s uncle’s boat, and for the girls, tv, tv, and more tv, from … Continue reading →

When Does the Mind Shut Off? A Father and an Educator Wants to Know

Posted on by

I’ve mentioned before that my oldest daughter, who is in kindergarten, was working with her class on a project concerning ancient Egypt. We saw the finished product of their work. It was incredible, what these 5- and 6-year olds did. The teacher does not plan something in advance. She says she looks for a spark from the kids to see what they are interested in, and then starts to work on it with them. The students came up with a set of questions they wanted to know. They went on a trip to the museum. They “read” books and learned … Continue reading →

We’ve Got Two, They’ve Got Three! Who’s Crazier???

Posted on by

Okay, so we know it’s not a competition. Our parents are not bribing us to give them more grandchildren; they’re at the point where the announcement of more arrivals becomes just gravy (my parents have only two grandchildren, and my in-laws have three). But all this has not stopped many of our FRIENDS from having more! What are they, crazy? I don’t know how they do it. Two other moms we are close to now, from play groups and pre-school, have had a third child. Our oldest children are the same age, and our second children are also pretty much … Continue reading →

Bathroom Matters

Posted on by

Since I take my girls to many places on my own, I am regularly confronted with the matter of the bathroom. For obvious reasons, I take them to the men’s restroom, and I’m sure many women cringe at the very word “urinal,” let alone at the sight of one. While I’m not exactly sticking up for the quality and general cleanliness of most men’s rooms, I can say that, having worked cleaning bathrooms in a department store in my youth, that I found the women’s rest rooms much more disgusting. So taking them into the men’s room does not necessarily … Continue reading →

My kids are too young to read Brokeback Mountain – but they are!

Posted on by

My sister-in-law went to the library and borrowed a special tie-in edition of the Annie Proulx story that became the Oscar-winning film (note: it did not win Best Picture but it did win several Oscars, including Best Adapted Screenplay). And my wife borrowed it from her, and both of us read it, and since it’s been sitting in our pile of library books, which we keep from our own stuff, both our girls love to “read it,” especially the little one. No, of course they are not reading it. And, no, there are no pictures of tents or hotel rooms … Continue reading →

Bowling is not a contact sport!

Posted on by

Well, I’ve been to my second bowling birthday party in less than a month with my oldest, and it’s been quite an experience. The most recent one was earlier today, at the local bowling alley (which might be closing to make room for the ever-expanding department store of the area, but that’s another story). Since this was a classmate of my girl’s, many of her friends from school were there, and I was amazed at what happens when you put about fifteen or twenty six-year-olds in a bowling alley with loud indecipherable dance music playing. Apparently, bowling is a contact … Continue reading →