It was after an uncivilized routine emerged at our family dinner table that I realized I could use some help. Night after night, I was trying to enjoy conversation laced with talk of bodily functions, or even more hilarious, actual ones. I was forever reminding one son to bring the fork up to his mouth ...

I am embarrassed to admit it, but I have started to watch a series ostensibly for my 9 and 11 year-old-boys when really it’s for me: The Adventures of Horatio Hornblower. Have you seen these BBC productions? It kind of quenches the Downton Abbey thirst when you are looking to watch something with the pre-teens. ...

My mother used to turn off my Saturday morning cartoons and make me listen to 40s radio cartoons, very unsuccessfully as you might guess. But she did introduce me to something different, and knowing a bit about that genre later let me impress the coolest guy in my college English class, who had actually wanted ...