I Didn't Sign Up For This!

My latest column, from the heart, it begins:

My parenting has evolved considerably over the last two years. Where I'm at now is not where I thought I would be. When my wife and I decided to have kids, I figured that raising them would require a reasonable level of physical discipline, administered in the proper proportions based on their behavioral needs, as well as 5 years of having them with us all day followed by 13 years of dumping them off at school for 8 hours, most of the week, most of the year. In other words, what I signed up for was the type of life I had had, but for my kids. Yes, I wanted their life to be "better," but with the right combination of new gadgets and vacation destinations, sure, their lives could be considered "better." Instead, logical consistency and conscience have compelled me to scrapping all of that in lieu of a truly "better" experience. So I can honestly say that, "No, I did not sign up for this!"