Happy Mother's Day! As my gift to you this year, Dena, I am using this valuable DadZone real estate to publish an open letter of appreciation for the wonderful wife…
A writer and photographer, Chris Moore lives in the West End with his wife and their two sons. A regular contributor to RFM, he writes features, contributes photo essays, and for six years, chronicled true stories of parenting in the DadZone.
If you are reading this column, there is a good chance that you are a dad. Or, maybe you are pondering fatherhood and have landed here hoping for insight. Maybe…
The English romantic poet John Keats described autumn as the “Season of mists and mellow fruitfulness.” Keats was twenty-four when he wrote “To Autumn,” and then, adhering to the romantic…
Once upon a time, back-to-school was strictly interpreted to refer to school-aged children. When children went back to school, parents went straight to happy hour. But, in yet another sign…
Sally Schmidt knows six words guaranteed to get first-graders to eat asparagus. “It makes your pee smell funny.” The first-graders in question, students in Thomas DeVaughn’s class at Linwood Holton…
June is here! The end of school is nigh! Run for your lives! OK, maybe that’s my take on summer break. Maybe you actually look forward to mosquito-bitten days of…
Wisdom comes in the shape of my son’s size eleven running shoe. Several weeks ago I had foolishly challenged him to a hundred-yard dash. Now, as he runs easily away…
For the first few minutes he was onstage, he seemed to have a hard time finding his groove. The audience from Open High School was restive. Richmond's celebrity storyteller stuttered…
It is the day after a beautiful snowfall. The skies are clearing. The wind in the high pines unspools snow like tulle. I am supervising the outfitting of my two…
Tonya is in seventh grade. Her report cards indicate that she is making satisfactory progress in school. Ditto, her SOL scores. But when compared to students across the country, Tonya…
