| Relationship with father can be complicated
It's my job. It's what I do for a living so it can't be avoided. But my father, a two-time Vietnam veteran nearly forbade it the last time we talked."You have been to that war zone twice and I was in Vietnam twice. That is the Van Horn average so you need to stay home now," he said, in a rather convincing tone.Things with me and my dad were not always good. Like most father-daughter relationships and for that matter — relationships with anyone, there were my expectations and then there were the realities.On Father's Day, I think a lot of lying goes on during a day that could be used to say something more real than Hallmark has been able to express. But much of the time it, just as Mother's Day, is given a nod. A card that doesn't really say anything is sent and maybe we go to lunch.Parenting is hard business and there really is no school for it.
Still lives
The photograph of the Falling Man came to symbolise the unspeakable horrors of 9/11. While written testimony has the capacity to shock, a single iconic image has the power to pack an emotional punch that lingers on in the mind. Graeme Green examines the impact of some of the most shocking and memorable images of recent times .
Turn down pressure for kids
Q: I am a teacher in a nice part of town and I have seen many of the problems with very involved parent situations you described in last week's column (especially the parent as personal assistant). However, I also see situations in which the children of those very involved parents seem not spoiled, but very stressed and worried all the time. Whatever these children are involved in, they seem much more concerned about how their parents will feel about their achievement, than about their own interest in and enjoyment of the activity. Also, sometimes I have children who are both stressed and spoiled from this style of parenting. Occasionally, I tactfully share these concerns with parents, but most of the time they are just offended and little changes. Would you please share these concerns with your readers? Additionally, do you have any suggestions for how I can help in these situations? A: As we have shared previously, this high level of parent involvement seems to be necessary in some modern communities for children to be successful in their social and extracurricular activities.
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