The Battle of the Babysitter, Cont’d.

Okay, Theodore, it’s on. My Dadwagon colleague is telling me that he doesn’t buy my anti-sitter stance, and (because I am a weenie liberal) I figure that if I just EXPLAIN myself, peevishly, all will be settled. a) I fully acknowledge that I speak from a position of luck and advantages: principally, four healthy grandparents …

Where’s Mommy? No, Seriously, Where Is She?

It’s no surprise that little kids (and even bigger kids) tend to prefer one parent to the other. Maybe they hang on Mom or run to Dad, but given a choice, they inevitably pick one. Which is why, every morning when I get Sasha up from her crib, Jean hides. Not because she’s shirking her …

The Subway Encounter: A Drama in One Act

The place: A Brooklyn-bound F train at the West 4th Street station. The time: 5 p.m. on a typical Thursday. The players: A young couple, possibly from Spain, the woman carrying an adorable 2-year-old girl in a sling. With them, the woman’s mother, or probably mother-in-law. They get on the train and cluster around one …