One of the most significant passages into parenthood is when your child innocently asks you the BIG question—the one Jewish parents plotz over because they fear that if they don’t answer it perfectly, their child will wind up in therapy.

For many of us, the question, “Is there a God?,” raises more anxiety than the birds-and-the-bees conversation. For me, these significant bonding moments usually occur when I least expect it, like while I drive my mini van down I-64 with Jack and Sari in tow and try to search for a Neil Diamond CD and hand sanitizer all at the same time. (more…)

The Fifth Commandment—“Honor Your Father and Your Mother”—must be key to raising Jewish kids or else God wouldn’t have put it in the Top 10. Not until I had children of my own, however, did I truly appreciate this logic. In fact, I swore I would never say things like “because I said so” when they ask me why they can’t stay up 30 minutes past their bedtime. Sometimes I give such lengthy explanations that my kids even forget their question.

For example, I might ramble, “You need to go to bed right now because you had a sleepover the other night, and you were up really late, and you need to be well rested for your spelling test tomorrow, and besides if you don’t get enough sleep you will be sick, and you don’t want to miss your best friend’s birthday party at Bounce U.” (more…)

When I was in journalism school in the mid 80s and learned how to squeeze who-what-when-where-why-and how into one lead sentence, I had the privilege of meeting the late Erma Bombeck. Actually, I didn’t meet the best humorist writer personally, but I yelled a question to her from the back row of a packed lecture hall. I raised my hand high in the air and yelled out, “How do you deal with writer’s block?” Obviously, she had been asked this question many times before. Right on cue, she says, “Writer’s block is like North Dakota. It doesn’t exist.” Then she breaks up the burst of laughter with: “Well, has anyone ever seen North Dakota?”

Now I get what she means. As a Jewish parent of two young children (my son Jack just turned 11 and my daughter Sari is 7 going on 17), I always have something to write about, and I always have a prayer to turn to. (more…)