This is TL;DR (Too Long, Didn’t Read) Tuesdays, where I summarize two interesting articles from the InterWebs.  Slightly different than roundups on other blogs, I’ll tell you what you need to know about the article and discuss its significance.

This concept is inspired by my father, who sends everyone in the family articles links by email, by my older brother, who sends articles so long I never read them, and my wife, who became tired of me sending her articles, and has been telling me “TL;DR” for years.

The first article will be from other bloggers, to highlight the writings of interesting people you otherwise may not discover.  I’ll also provide a link to another article of theirs, because I want you to visit their site to find the rest of their great content.

The second summary will be from “traditional” news outlets.  I read news voraciously — I have online subscriptions to 3 major newspapers (conservative and liberal — WSJ, NYTimes, WaPo) and most non-news junkies will not regularly read all three.  I’ll also sneak in articles from other “traditional” news outlets.

I plan to do this 1-4x/month. If no one reads these or cares for it then I’ll scrap it.  Click here to read all of them over time.

#1

Source: My Son’s Father (follow him on Twitter)

Title: Five Lessons I Learned From My Father’s Death

Summary: The author’s father died when he was 19, and that loss has partly inspired his own blog, which is dedicated to his children.  As a parent, the relatively early loss of his father is driving his perspective of his marriage and relationship with children.  He’s grateful for his strong relationships, and continually reminds himself not to let little irritants disrupt a wonderful thing.  He’s living the life he wants now, not waiting for it, because he knows that later may not come.  We don’t get to choose the events that happen to us, but we can control many things that ultimately dictate how happy we are.

Conclusion: A short but inspiring post from someone who has had a loss I have not gone through.  I have close friends who lost a parent at a young age, but my parents (and my wife’s parents) are still a part of our lives.  With two working parents and 3 rambunctious kids in our house, there are plenty of opportunities for stress and irritation.  So when Rogue Two clogs up the sink, turns on the faucet, closes the bathroom door and walks away (for the 7th time), I’ll remember to focus on how lucky he is that he is alive, because he cheats death every day.  I mean, I’ll remember how lucky I am to be his father and have the opportunity to appreciate first-hand his joie de vivre.

Read This Also: Letting Go (a post about minimalism); My Son’s Father also works with his kids to do great things with legos; his lego dioramas alone are worth looking at his blog and his Twitter page.

Dave Denniston interviewed me on his Physician Fireside Chat podcast a few months ago, and the podcast is now online.   I’ve been told I did not embarrass myself.

Click here for the direct link to the podcast on his site, and click here to download it on iTunes (Season 3, episode 40).

#2

Source: The Washington Post

Title: Jimmy Kimmel’s Halloween prank can scar children. Why are we laughing?

Summary: Kimmel has a recurring feature around Halloween that drives this author mad.  Parents send in videos of them telling their kids that their Halloween candy is gone (eaten, trash, whatever).  Parents record their kids having mental breakdowns and send in the videos to air on national television.  Some of these kids cry, some (even more sadly) seem used to this type of anguish from their parents.  The author says we should not take pleasure in watching kids be put through mental anguish, and has asked Kimmel to stop showing these videos.

Conclusion: As a pediatrician, I support the Geneva Convention, and believe that our children should be subject to the same protections as prisoners of war, i.e., they should not be tortured.  I once made Rogue One cry by telling him he had school on a Saturday — he didn’t believe me at first, but I kept up with the joke until he lost it.  Truthfully, I did feel bad and have never pushed those jokes that far again.  Let’s be honest though — sometimes kids deserve some form of anguish.  We all know we’re the real prisoners in the house.  If you are going to torture them, try not to go too far.  If you do push it too far, for heaven’s sake don’t record it and air it on national television.

I should have published this on Halloween, but I wasn’t ready to release the first iteration of this series.  So for those of you that already put your child’s misery on YouTube — hell hath no fury like a child whose candy was hidden.

Share your thoughts in the comment section below.  If you find value in these TL;DR posts, please let me know — comment, share, email me, or otherwise let me know you want to see more of them!