Family Life

TORONTO, Nov. 19 (UPI) -- While the term "helicopter mom" is increasingly used to designate hovering mothers, I am of "The Old and the Nestless" ilk -- a middle-age man and childless by choice.

LOS ANGELES, Nov. 18 (UPI) -- It's fun playing music and it feels pretty good when people sit still for it -- even better when they applaud and tell you they like one song or another, or the way you sing -- but when my kids tell me they like my music it's a thrill that's awfully hard to beat.

When I make my fortune someday, it's going to be on the backs of some very amusing, very adventurous, very unlikely earthworms.

Field day at my son's elementary school last spring proved to be an excellent test for whether a hovering helicopter mom should interfere if her son is doing something disgusting, but not life-threatening or illegal.

Identifying open mic opportunities is just another of the many things made easier by using the Internet.

Are we overprogramming our children? I thought of it, although certainly not for the first time, after reading an article last week in the Times of London about a schoolmistress' plea to parents to let their children just be children.

My younger daughter turned 13 during a nadir of tourism in Israel when many people were too afraid of suicide bombers to visit. When she learned there would be an organization's all-but-free mission to Israel in celebration of Israel Independence Day, she pleaded her case daily until Dad and I agreed she and I could go.

The decision to try out new songs at open mics seemed simple enough at the time: I was curious to see how total strangers would react to the music and the open mic format specifically serves that purpose.

One of the blades of a mom's helicopter is that of telling her kids the facts of family life -- those kernels of family history that makes them who they are.

No matter how hard I try, I can't help blaming Indiana Jones and Latin for my youngest daughter's decision to pursue a career in archaeology instead of medicine.

It is axiomatic, here in the entertainment capital of the world, that many of the people who wait tables in restaurants, drive limos, tend bar, park cars -- pretty much any line of work you want to mention -- are just waiting for their big break in the entertainment business.

SKOKIE, Ill. (Oct. 27) -- Perhaps the most hovering of helicopter moms is my mother.

Joseph reaches up to touch the fireman's helmet, and I tell him about heroes who have gone to heaven.

Someone ought to tell parents that sometimes those pearls of wisdom they try to impart to their children will come back to bite them one day.

My son is a very theatrical fellow. Life with him is interesting always. He lives out of town right now, so my life is less interesting than usual.