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Things I’m Loving, Reading, Watching or Doing
The End of Reading Is Here — Rose Horowitch, The Atlantic
This widely-shared cover story argues we’re entering a “post-literate” world, where books and long-form reading are steadily losing ground to video and audio. The stats are sobering. Fewer than half of Americans read a single book last year. Yo, what?! I don’t think reading is going anywhere anytime soon, but it did make me wonder what happens when fewer people are willing to wrestle with a hard idea for a few hundred pages or simply get lost in a great story. Worth the long read.
The Hidden Cost of Youth Sports
The World Cup reignited the usual debate about youth soccer. It’s too expensive, too much travel, too pay-to-play. Those are real problems. But I think we’re also too focused on developing the top 1% of athletes while overlooking the other 99%. What if the goal wasn’t just producing more pros, but helping more kids enjoy sports for life? I shared a few thoughts on Instagram about a hidden cost of these never-ending seasons: Training them to become adults who don’t know how to rest.
The Rebirth of Barnes & Noble
A Barnes & Noble reopened in my neighborhood last week, and I couldn’t be happier. I know some people see it as the enemy of independent bookstores, but I think there’s room for both. Twenty years ago, I spent countless afternoons there reading business books, drinking coffee, and dreaming about the company I wanted to build. We need big places where people can gather around books. We also need small, independent shops where you discover something unexpected and chat with someone who actually knows what’s on the shelves.
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Quotes Worth Pondering
“The most extraordinary thing in the world is an ordinary man and an ordinary woman and their ordinary children.” – G.K. Chesterton
“The time to relax is when you don’t have time for it.” — Sydney J. Harris
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Big Dad Idea
Health, Parenting, or Personal Growth
Proof of life
On any given day, at any given moment, there are roughly 16,000 shoes scattered across our living room.
Walk through the front door and you’ll probably find a couple of socks, a rogue spoon that escaped the dishwasher, a soccer ball, a basketball, two backpacks, and at least one dog toy that’s seen better days.
A few years ago, I stopped apologizing for it. I quit saying, “Excuse the mess.”
Not because I don’t want a cleaner house, but because I realized what we’re actually looking at.
This is what it looks like when seven people are living in a home. The kitchen island is almost always one meal away from being clean again. And I’m okay with that.
My wife, for the record, is mostly not okay with that. Given our opposite personalities and the mental load of most moms, I understand why. But she’s not writing this piece. 😉
So, I’ll occasionally throw out a line I heard once: “We’re not raising grass. We’re raising kids.”
One day, grass will grow back.
The shoes will be gone. The backpacks will disappear. The house will be cleaner.
It’ll also be quieter.
And while I’m looking forward to that next season with my wife, I’m also not in a rush to get there.
So for now, I’ll gladly keep stepping over sneakers if it means there’s proof of life. Busy, loud, messy, real life.
As long as I’m still allowed to yell:
“Dude… can you pleeeeease put your shoes away?”
Thanks for reading, dads.
Let’s make this time count!
