Recent Columns

Friends can be funny. Just when you think you know the sort of friend that is best for your kids, along comes someone unexpected in a clown outfit. I’m thinking of Moses, the sort of character I’ll have to help you imagine. Think leaning back, way back, on his hot-rod chopper, so far back that […]

It was late and I was at Liz’s bedside. It was dark. A quiet moment. Her eyes were more closed than open, but she noticed me. ‘Why did you come back?’ she asked. ‘To give you the blessing,’ I said. And I did, the one that I say most nights to the three kids, one […]

‘Daddy, Daddy!’ It’s Jon. He’s really excited. He’s harvested his potatoes. ‘Look at this one. It’s as big as the ones you see on the shelves in the store!’ He stands at the edge of his garden and holds up a potato. I wouldn’t say it’s huge. But it’s not small either. Not like the […]

It was early morning and you were crying. We were all in a mad rash heading out the door for school. ‘What’s the matter?’ I asked. ‘I’m not telling you,’ you said. And I thought that was fine, either way, telling me or not. Some things aren’t always meant to be shared at moment’s notice. But my dear Liz, just […]

The pressure is on for me to tell Hannah, our youngest, about the Birds and the Bees. It all started with Sexy Lady. No, Justin Bieber. Okay, all I can remember is Jon, in his eloquence and wisdom, was talking about the difference between women and ladies. This is how the discussion goes on the drive home […]

It’s bedtime. The issue of Catholics and Protestants comes up, like we just dropped into the 16th century. That moves to Mennonites. The kids want to know what Mennonites are all about. We have a Mennonite name and heritage. (You know Friese, Frieselandt, Froese etc.) I figure it’s a good time to share some family pride (in […]

Jon: Where’s the cat? Me: I don’t know. He’s on one of his long absences. Jon: At his girlfriend’s? Me: Probably Jon: Why doesn’t his girlfriend ever come here? Enough said. +++ The rabbits, meanwhile, have deliverd seven. Liz sold one to her friend at school; another is being taken by a colleague of My […]

The other time that we almost lost Jon, (see https://thomasfroese.com/the-day-we-almost-lost-jon/ for the first time), he was running from a girl at school. As fast as possible. (This is not unusual for my son, a young man who tends to be pursued by the girls. https://thomasfroese.com/too-young-to-marry/  and https://thomasfroese.com/jons-pre-marital-woes-continue/ ) But during this partiuclar chase he crashed head-first into […]

We lose things in our family. Swimming goggles. Socks. Our patience with each other. We’ve almost lost Jon twice. The first time was at our Ugandan university home, which is generally safe except for the snakes and wild monkeys and irritating birds that tend to hang around such institutions of higher learning. ‘So, where is […]

So, apparently 90 per cent of 18-29-year-olds sleep with their smartphones. This, one more reason why having a phone with a low IQ isn’t the worse thing. And one more reason why it’s not a great idea to get a kid a phone. Being active in bed too young has its consequences. One is you go crazy. […]

We’re at the park that I built across from our house https://thomasfroese.com/find-the-unexpected-playgrounds-in-your-life/ She approaches me slowly and notices that I’m having a quiet moment. I’m at the picnic table under the canopy, beside the jungle gym, over from the trampoline. It’s a moment of calm that I like to have in the mornings. She has […]

Sometimes I’m asked, ‘Hey, Daily Dad, where do you get your incredibly fantastic ideas from?’ I say, ‘Well, the best ideas, the ones that will put me on the front of the supermarket tabloids, find me.’ Take right now. I’m having lunch and the tunes here include Chicago. I mean Chicago, the band, right in […]

We have no television in our African home, by choice as much as anything. But there are plenty of DVDs on the living room shelves, including The Waltons, something we watch as a matter of routine on Sunday evenings. Liz and Jon are especially eager to find what happens to their namesakes – Elizabeth and […]

It was Sunday morning. ‘What are you doing?’ I asked. Not very conversant in English, he said something that I eventually understood – he was clearing bush to make room to park a car. ‘Oh,’ I said. The space was across from our house here at the university in Uganda. The house itself, built on […]

On the other side of this blog, there’s a new post about Obama, the Prez. of the United States — thomasfroese.com/2013/will-barack-obama-come-to-africa/ It’s a piece about Obama’s relationship, or lack of, with Africa. Which is interesting, I think, because he’s a half-child of this continent, as his father — his absent father, that is — was […]