One of the best bits of fatherhood advice I received was from a friend, a more experienced father, who applauded me for taking a couple of quiet minutes to run recycling to the garage. The praise wasn’t actually framed […]
Jon Willing
The allowance debate: Con
“Teaching a child to be a contributing member of the family is more valuable at a young age than offering lessons on financial planning” — Jon Willing I have developed a contractual relationship with my five-year-old son. The terms of […]
Winter chic
Outdoor family fun has Jon Willing rethinking his cold-weather wardrobe I might get a second pair of snow pants this winter. Oh, I’m sorry. Are snow pants uncool? Somewhere around middle school, snow pants became a fashion faux […]
The kindergarten field journal
If someone in your home is starting school this fall, worry not My gosh, the sand. It will be everywhere. And just when you think every clump has been shaken out of your kid’s sneakers, an avalanche of tiny grains […]
Summer squeeze
Getting every last drop out of a fleeting season requires a complex formula There are few reasons why our son’s bedtime would be extended, even in the stretched sunny days of summer. Once the elusive bedtime routine is finally nailed […]
Dad bod
Fatherhood has both inspired and encouraged this dad’s very practical, very strategic fitness routine It was around Elgin Street when I gleefully realized my knees weren’t going to buckle after all. I had trudged three long downtown blocks on the […]
A ‘wheelie’ good time
His son now at bike-riding age, our columnist considers the pros and cons of outsourcing this rite of passage I was walking with my wife and our son through the Glebe one morning when a small kid zipped past us […]
New beginnings
Columnist Jon Willing recently traded a high-profile reporting career for one in academia. The biggest winners? His family A middle-age, late-career job change can be a gamble. You have built years of seniority and achieved a level of expertise […]
Calendar guy
Hello, junior kindergarten: As his son Miles begins school, Jon Willing enters a new scheduling nightmare The first year of school — and possibly the ensuing 13 — requires a proper hardcopy calendar. That was the first […]
Sharing is caring
The last page of a Sesame Street book shows Cookie Monster and Elmo splitting a snack and telling us, “Sharing is caring.” It has become a line often repeated in our home as we teach our three-year-old son, […]