I wrote this for a friend whose Mom-friendly blog can be found at http://momtrends.blogspot.com: As the father of two little girls, 4½ and 2, stories are a big part of our lives. Here are a few that help me do a better job parenting and have convinced me that I was born too early... I Am Happy Just the Way I Am (Luster) tells the story of 11 school-aged kids who are as different from one another as can be.

During a recent "daddy dinner" the topic of homework reared its ugly head. Given that we all had children in the very same school (the reason for this gathering) this was not a surprise. What was surprising, however, was the prevailing opinion toward homework and the depth of emotion that accompanied it.

Growing up in a small town in Connecticut, Memorial Day was a very, very big deal. Not only was it a day off from school (which in and of itself was cause for celebration) but this holiday, unlike any other, brought us face-to-face with a living, breathing pack of real-life heroes. What I remember most vividly was how much larger than life each of the marchers seemed to be. They were all giants having served our country and having been fortunate enough to make it back in one piece.

Is TV really all that bad?  

One of America's best authors said that had a certain teacher NOT praised his early work he "would not have become a writer." He never considered himself, he claims, "particularly talented."To think of a world without "Everything Is Illuminated" is sad; to think that other great talents don't ever become public works because their 'authors' are not fostered at the right time is downright depressing.Positive feedback is an extraordinarily powerful currency - and it's free, too. The key, however, is to use it correctly for it's an easy one to use incorrectly...

It's no secret that today's parents (including this one) push their kids to acheive from the get-go. What used to be a relative honeymoon, ages 0-5, are nowadays too often interrupted by serious activies such as taking Chinese and/or piano lessons. What lies behind this is a well-intended desire to see our children get off to a great start, acquiring critical skills and a work/study discipline that will, we hope, help them out well into the future. The benefits (parental ego gratification notwithstanding) are short-lived say several recent studies.

In the beginning, everything was black and/or white. Your family, for example, consisted of you, those who sired you, their relations, plus all the others sired along the way before/after you. This made categorization easy - and easy is a great and timeless selling point. Imagination didn’t count for much back then; that old adage “You can pick your friends but you cannot pick your family” was quite right. Nowadays your family might not so simply consist of a super-structure of folks in your life with one thing in common: you love them and they love you.

I'm a planner by nature and these days I'm stymied by the number of ways to connect with consumers.Having grown-up professionally in the 1990's I'm still at home with analog media such as TV, print, radio and outdoor. With a start-up, however, there's not a lot I can do to promote myself throught these traditional channels (because I don't have much in the way of a marketing budget). All I can do is creatively push for a mention in family-friendly TV shows, magazine and radio stations. And trust me, I will do this...

As an entrepreneur - especially as one with global ambitions - I've been told I need a platform. At 5'8" I am by no means "tall" but platforms - come on!Turns out a platform is (not so) simply that for which I (or you, or any of us) wish to become known. This implies control which I personally find humorous as control is the one thing I've been trying to give up upon. Trying to control my two lovely but wild children doesn't seem to work nor does my lovely wife come when I call. So...

I grew up taking inter-family familiarity for granted. I had no choice: I was an only child and told my parents almost everything. While by all accounts a "handful" (hyper-active, overly out-spoken, prone to biting/mooning, etc.) I did manage to get good grades and cultivate some very solid friendships.They, in turn, were forthright with me although they somehow knew when/where to draw the line. As a result, we knew each other extraordinarily well and while we didn't always agree, we almost always got on.