Sunday, June 17, 2012
We always saw dad crunching numbers growing up. Now, we throw the numbers back at dad.
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Sunday, June 17, 2012
Today is Father's Day and let Patch be the first to say how much we appreciate all the hard-work and care they put into everything they do. Here are a few fun Father's Day facts to throw at your dad: 70.1 million: Estimated number of fathers across the nation. 25.3 million: The number of fathers that are part of married-couple families with children younger than 18 in 2010. Of those: 1.8 million: Number of single fathers in 2010; and 15 percent of single parents were men. Of those: 8,111: The number of men's clothing stores around the country (as of 2008), a good place to buy dad a tie or shirt. 16,010: The number of hardware stores (as of 2008), a place to buy hammers, wrenches, screwdrivers and other items high on the list of Father's …
Last week, we asked when you learned your father was fallible. Now, tell us the advice you got that you'll always remember.
I remember the advice. I don't always remember to use it. My father was teaching me to drive. Now that I'm teaching my son, I can't imagine how he must have felt to get me behind the wheel those first few times. But one particular piece of advice stuck with me. As I paused at the entrance to a busy street for seemingly an eternity, he just reminded me, quietly: Be patient. There will be an opening. It will come. Don't rush it. I've shared that advice with my son because, of course, it's topical right now. But when he gets older, he, like me, will realize that advice isn't just meant for the driver's seat. Be patient. Now, if I can just remember to use it... Last week, we tried to be a little tongue-in-cheek and ask when you realized your …
Sunday, June 10, 2012
With Father's Day approaching, can you share a story of the day you realized even Father doesn't always know best?
I was in my mid-teens the year my family set up for dinner at an old wooden beach house. My father was rigging a small 12-inch charcoal grill so we could use it to make hotdogs out on the wooden deck, even though he couldn't find the legs for the grill. He pulled a pot out of the kitchen as a base, set the grill on the pot, put the whole contraption on the wooden deck, and commenced lighting the coals. I looked cockeyed at the contraption, wondering why the heat of the coals wouldn't flow through the grill, through the pot and onto the wooden deck. But he was my father! Surely he must know something I didn't know. He didn't. Within a few minutes, a scorch mark appeared on the deck—a mark on the rented beach house deck that ultimately took …
Monday, June 13, 2011
Mom columnist Holly Hunt shares an open letter to her Dad as an early Father's Day gift.
Thank you, Dad, for spending many, many patient evenings rocking a colicky baby when she would not stop crying for hours on end. If it is any consolation, you rocked that afro and the 70s bathrobe that you probably stole from the production of “Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat.” Thank you for holding on to the back of my bike so I wouldn’t fall and thank you for knowing when to let go. Thank you for spending countless hours in the backyard teaching me to “not throw like a girl.” That skill has come in handy more than you know. Thanks for showing me how to shoot a basketball. I bet you had no idea that someday I would use those tips to kick my husband’s butt in 21, two-bounce, and horse. Thank you for teaching me how to drive …
Mike Smith
7:41 pm on Monday, June 18, 2012
My father took me to a wh0re house when I turned 16. We double teamed two hookers together. I will never forget that experience. more ›