10. The camp motto was: Parents must pay up front.

9. His archery instructor’s hero was William Tell.

8. “Movie Night” consisted of slides of the owner’s vacation in Detroit.

7. The cook’s dishes all began with the word ‘Blackened’ — and he isn’t Cajun.

6. Lacking proper wood, during Arts & Crafts the kids were encouraged to whittle on each other.

5. For some reason, instead of campfire songs, the only songs the counselors knew were show tunes.

4. He sent you a note that he was making a break for it, and to meet him at the north gate at midnight.

3. His cabin mate’s favorite pastime: Tying him to the bedpost and covering him with honey.

2. Inspired by Slumdog Millionaire, every other night the counselors drove the kids into town and made them beg for money.

1. Recreational activities included waterboarding.
 

Bob Sullivan’s Top Ten Everything appears every Monday.

Tags: Bob Sullivan's top ten everything, family & parenting, travel & foreign lands by Bob Sullivan
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Let me set the scene… you are in Walmart and your 2-year-old is tired and crying but you are trying to squeeze in a last minute shop. A guy in your aisle tells you that “if you don’t shut the baby up, I will shut her up for you.” You ignore him because although he may be an ass you don’t expect him to actually do anything. Then, when your little girl continues to cry into the next aisle, this strange man grabs your baby and slaps her across the face four or five times. That’s what 61-year-old Roger Stephens did in a Georgia Walmart. [Read more →]

Tags: family & parenting, on the law by Amy Boshnack
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Now that the moms of the world are in back-to-school mode, I’ve been thinking about my son’s education. As he turns one, I’ve discovered a sad truth. We aren’t getting into Harvard. And by “we” I mean his dad and I, because now that we are parents, we’ve forgotten about our own miserable lives and only live vicariously through him. Isn’t that what all parents do? [Read more →]

Tags: education, family & parenting by Nancy DeGregorio
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I received a ton of feedback on last week’s blog about music, your car and your kids. As a result, I thought I’d approach the topic from a different perspective. I am all about exposing my daughter to all kinds of music. I think music is instrumental in a child’s development. [Read more →]

Tags: family & parenting, going parental by Jaclyn Roth
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Music has always been a very big part of my life. I grew up in a house where music was on in every room. Standards like The Beatles, The Bee Gees, The Carpenters, Simon and Garfunkel, and yeah there was some Neil Diamond in the mix too were a part of our daily routine. I’m not gonna lie, I knew all the words to America. Go ahead and laugh. [Read more →]

Tags: family & parenting, going parental by Jaclyn Roth
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OK. I’m back. Crude, obnoxious, hating you, your kids and the way you parent. Happy? Fantastic. Clearly you weren’t digging my serious blog last week as I only received two comments. TWO comments. That’s a record low for me. Pathetic. Just goes to show you guys don’t want to hear about the ugly scary truths of life, but rather the senseless judgemental rants I have to offer. I am here to happily oblige. [Read more →]

Tags: family & parenting, going parental by Jaclyn Roth
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This week I’ve put my scheduled column aside and have decided to write about the crash on the Taconic State Parkway. I’ll give a very brief synopsis as I’m sure most of you know by now. A woman went the wrong way on the Taconic State Parkway in New York while driving a mini-van full of young kids (two kids of her own and three nieces) and crashed into another car carrying three people. Everyone died except the woman’s son, who was hospitalized. Turns out she had a belly full of alcohol and was stoned. They’re calling it Westchester’s worst accident in 75 years. [Read more →]

Tags: family & parenting, going parental by Jaclyn Roth
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This morning I woke up to find my daughter sitting at the kitchen table in her bikini, dipping mini marshmallows in maple syrup. No, she wasn’t alone. She didn’t get up and do something cute like fix herself breakfast. Grandma did! [Read more →]

Tags: family & parenting, going parental by Jaclyn Roth
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The other day my husband took our 3-year-old son to a water park. Most people, when they go to water parks, leave their electronic devices in some kind of locker. My husband decided to take his with him as they walked through the park. At one of the “rides” where the little kids run around in the water my husband tried to get in front of our son to take a picture with his cell phone and he fell. He was fine; his phone submerged. [Read more →]

Tags: family & parenting, health & medical by Amy Boshnack
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In keeping with tradition, here’s a nugget of information about me: I don’t wanna have a play date. I am formally announcing my withdrawal from this hideous tradition. Now it’s one thing to get together with my friends and let our kids kill each other while we suck down Bellini’s and talk about college and all the dumb shit we did. [Read more →]

Tags: family & parenting, going parental by Jaclyn Roth
9 Comments »

I grew up in a house where TV was a non-issue.  If we wanted to watch TV, we watched. If we wanted to go outside and try to light ants on fire with a magnifying glass, then we did that instead. [Read more →]

Tags: family & parenting, going parental by Jaclyn Roth
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Even though I am a parent, I try to avoid parenting advice. When I was pregnant, reading What to Expect When You’re Expecting made me too nervous, so I stopped before I got to the third month. After that, I found parenting information in books and magazines to be overwhelming, so I made it a policy not to read them, and stuck to studying more informative publications like Us Weekly. Given my dislike for all parenting rules, I’ve uncharacteristically taken to reading the New York Times blog called “Motherlode“. Surprisingly, it sparks some good conversation among readers about motherhood. [Read more →]

Tags: diatribes, family & parenting by Nancy DeGregorio
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Here’s the gist: I have a potty mouth. No denying it. I drop F-bombs and A-bombs like they’re going out of style. Most of the time I manage to earmuff my daughter or at the very least, wait for her to leave the room. I’m an adult, I can say what I want. But I don’t want my daughter running around cursing or even worse, teaching her friends to curse. [Read more →]

Tags: family & parenting, going parental by Jaclyn Roth
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I’m going to try to keep today’s post light, but it is with a somewhat heavy heart that I write today. My grandmother (Baba, as she is known to us) fell down the stairs the other night and is in the hospital with broken ribs, bruises from head to toe and the looming fear of pneumonia. She suffers from dementia and so she often goes in and out of lucidity. The fact that she mainly speaks Yiddish makes for an interesting dynamic between her, the doctors and the nurses. [Read more →]

Tags: family & parenting, going parental by Jaclyn Roth
5 Comments »

As promised in an earlier post I’m going to start each blog with a random personal fact about myself. Here goes: I hate taking my daughter to parks; public parks, private parks, hell even your backyard swing-set makes me mental. You know why? [Read more →]

Tags: family & parenting, going parental by Jaclyn Roth
4 Comments »

I’m packing my bags for a vacation. This trip is different from others I’ve taken in recent years because this time, I’m vacationing with my entire family. That’s right, the whole clan: the parents, the siblings, and their families. Ten personalities trying to peacefully coexist under one roof, for one week. My father has decided that the theme of the week is “tolerance.” I’ve decided that the theme of the week is “homicide.” [Read more →]

Tags: family & parenting, travel & foreign lands by Nancy DeGregorio
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But why, mommy? How many times do you get that question — about any number of topics? Maybe it’s three times a day or maybe it’s three times an hour. To make your life a little easier I’ve given you ten answers to the simple question: Mommy, why is the sky blue?

1) It’s not. You’re drunk. Oh no, wait, I’m drunk.

2) Its blue because of molecules and stuff, I think. I don’t know. I cut science class a lot. Go watch TV.

3) Because God’s favorite color is blue. When he’s mad his favorite color is grey. He’s been mad lately at the Northeast.

4) Google it.

[Read more →]

Tags: family & parenting, science by Amy Boshnack
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I love my parents, but I draw the line at having them as internet buddies.

A few months back, my mother asked me what Facebook was and if she could join. I told her that the social networking website would be of little use to her because she doesn’t even own a computer. Then recently I was talking with my father on the phone and he asked me if I would accept his friend requests on Facebook and Myspace. My answer was a resounding no [Read more →]

Tags: family & parenting, technology by Glenn Giangrande
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As everyone knows and fears, our final days resemble our first, in their helplessness, in their inadvertent comedy, and in their nearness to an unknowable existence. I am reminded of these patiently waiting realities every time I visit my father, now 95 years old, at the nursing home, and slowly convey to his mouth quarter-teaspoons of pureed rye bread, carrots, ham, and vanilla pudding. [Read more →]

Tags: family & parenting, getting older, recipes & food by Michael Antman
7 Comments »

When it comes to “Going Parental,” I will spend most of my time ranting about parenting, my kids, your kids, the way you parent and how much I hate it, and the inevitable damage we are doing to our children. Those are the obvious things. However, every once in a while, I would be remiss if I didn’t comment on the little things… those small and almost transparent moments that make it all worth it in the end. [Read more →]

Tags: family & parenting, going parental by Jaclyn Roth
5 Comments »