My Dog is Gone

Newsletter 2021-03-22

My kids do just fine in confined spaces—as long as they're not confined with each other. Unfortunately, their definition of “confined” varies greatly. In the same park, they get along great. In the same school building, they grudgingly tolerate each other. And in the same house, it’s open war. On Friday, my ten-year-old, Betsy, and eight-year-old, Mae, started squabbling within seconds of getting home. I sent them to separate rooms. Somehow, they were still fighting, so I banished them to separate floors of the house. If that hadn’t worked, the next step would have been to send them to separate zip codes. No distance is too great if it will restore some level of quiet. It’s the only reason my kids have passports. The worst part is all that fighting happened on a relatively good day. At least Betsy and Mae made it in the front door. On a bad day, they start fighting on the ride home. Minivans just aren’t up to the challenge of modern parenting. They should come standard with those plex…