Les Amours Enfantines, acrylic and antique book on paper, 7″x6″, 2004, Stuart Sheldon The 8-year-old daughter of a friend once paid me an enormous compliment. She told me I was the second least boring adult present at dinner. Her mother was least boring and her father, with his steady stream of old jokes, won the dubious honor of most boring. This brutally honest “if-it’s-tedious-I’m-outta-here” attitude makes kids highly credible arbiters of how to communicate in our short-f

“I arranged for Kai and me to fly over the Golden Gate Bridge in a seaplane. Can you believe how cool that’s gonna be!!” I told my wife recently. Kai is five. That was her cue to say, “Wow … he’s gonna be BLOWN AWAY! I wish my dad did that. You’re one AMAZING FATHER.” Instead, I got a sour look of disapproving concern. I understand that her job as mommy is to be wary of danger, yet this irked me, because the boy in me knew that this would make a father-son moment for the reco