So I’m considering an alternative to the we-are-so-into-our-kids-that-we-do-anything-for-them theory. I call it the Parental Guilt Hypothesis. Why does little Jimmy have baseball camp and rock-climbing lessons and his own personal tutor? Because Jimmy’s mom and dad feel, deep down, guilty for not giving him enough of themselves. Overparenting, in my theory, is frequently an outward [...]

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My children believe in heroes. I want heroes too, but real life gets in the way. How can I watch China’s Olympic divers without recalling the reports that some are competing with injuries, sacrificing themselves for national pride, and a chance at an apartment? How can I watch the runners’ rippling bodies without remembering Marion [...]

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Ironically, I have accepted Jesus into my life – along with Buddha, Gandhi, and other great teachers – as a metaphor for peace, love, compassion, and reverence for life. That’s not what our smiling preacher was talking about, though. It’s the Bible’s way, or the highway . . . to hell. But as I looked [...]

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Are people typically hypocritical and if so, why?
To examine this issue, we designed a simple experiment in which we confronted people with one of two scenarios. In the first, they were told that there were two tasks — one short and fun, the other long and onerous. Their job was to assign the tasks to [...]

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