One of my favorite topics in my blogs has been family dinners. My usual purpose in writing about them is to talk about the research that shows how important and effective they are for the health and development of children. Being a father of three and grandfather of eight, however,...

A few months ago I wrote a blog called "Prime Time for Families." This was just before Thanksgiving and we were about to embark on the easiest time of the year for paying attention to the research that says that the more families eat together, the stronger they and...

There have been several terms applied to the Net generation -- one being of course the Net generation, but others being Generation Z, the Dreamer Generation, Generation Wisdom, or Generation I. All of these are either neutral/descriptive or mildly complimentary. However, there is one more that has not achieved the...

We Americans often pride ourselves on not being ritualistic. However, as anyone with even partly open eyes saw on this fourth Thursday in November, we are intensely ritualistic. Thanksgiving is arguably the most universally observed of all American rituals. It transcends region, religion, age, race, ethnicity, socioeconomic status and any...

Last week, I heard Judith Martin -- Miss Manners -- speak at a conference on the future of the American Family held at Emory University in Atlanta. She is a delightful speaker and dispenses nuggets of humor and wisdom warmly and affably. The one nugget that stopped me cold, however,...