The Parent Trap: worrying never ends

recently featured posts we've got 2414 articles so far

The Parent trap: better living through dentistry 0

Apr21

neast-parenttrap3

My daughter’s dentist has three vehicles parked in his examining room. True, there is a wall of clear Plexiglas that separates the brightly colored ambulances from the rows of examining chairs, which all seem to be inhabited with young, cheerful technicians. I understand that the proprietor of this pediatric dental factory in Bustleton regularly takes one of the ambulances to local schools, promoting dental care.

Oh, and did I mention that they have neon? Bright neon signs adorn the entire room, sometimes advertising food products that, if eaten too much, could have an adverse effect on your teeth.

Before going any further, I want to reassure the dental community that this is not an anti-dentist story. Far from it – if my childhood dentist had anything like this place, I probably wouldn’t have avoided making an appointment for, oh, 15 years. Back then, the children went to the same dentist as their parents. Ours was an elderly gentleman with an office down the street from Our Lady of Calvary Church. He was a competent dentist – he fixed all four of my cavities – but he did not believe in any anesthesia or Novocain. continue reading »

The man is gone, the voice remains 0

Apr14

Remembering Harry Kalas

Courtesy of the Phillies

By Patrick P. McNally

He was the voice of our springs and summers. Sometimes, on those very special years, he became the voice of our autumns.

His was the voice that crackled in the thousands of radios on the beaches in South Jersey, as familiar as the Fudgy-Wudgy man or the boys who hawked the Daily News. For almost four decades, we watched the Phillies. But we listened to Harry.

Harry Kalas, fittingly, died while preparing to broadcast another baseball game. That day, he was in our Nation’s capital. But it could have been any of the cities that Kalas traveled to during his time announcing the Phillies, and before that, the Houston Astros. For as much as he will be remembered for the home games at Veteran’s Stadium and Citizen’s Bank Park, Harry Kalas spent half of his seasons as America’s guest.

But his descriptions of the games through the airwaves made it seem like he was still here, in our living rooms. Like many Phillies fans, I have my memories of Harry Kalas. Not surprisingly, most of those are remembered from the other side of a radio speaker.

The Parent Trap: the view is sweet from the front seat 7

Apr14

neast-parenttrap3

It would be nice if our children had the same likes and dislikes as we do. But as we all know, that is not the case. Parents have to cross over to their side, and are often surprised by the result.

I made a deal with my son during spring break – if he could keep his cool, he would earn a trip. My son loves trains and public transportation, particularly SEPTA’s Market-Frankford line. Once, we spent an afternoon at the Frankford Terminal, he with his trusty digital video camera in hand, shooting footage of the elevated train and various buses leaving the station (he also loves taking the bus).

The prospect of spending the day on public transportation without even having a destination has never held an allure for me. I have nothing against the system. In fact I was once one of the many kids from Northeast Philadelphia who commuted daily to Temple University. If you were lucky, you either had a car or a friend to drive you to school. But most kids were like me, taking the bus to the El and transferring again to another bus or the subway. On a good day, that took about 90 minutes. It wasn’t horrible, and was always a good time to catch up on studying. But I never considered it to be enjoyable.

Continue reading to see the videos Pat and his son took of their ride on the El.