Mill Creek Beacon - Your Hometown News Source

My father-in-law was visiting one summer when my kids were little, and he came across one of those parenting magazines that were always hanging around the coffee table.

He laughed, and I got the feeling he thought it was ludicrous, someone trying to tell someone else how to be a parent. I think the idea of a child-rearing expert seemed as useful to him as an expert in chewing.

We were happy for the help. My wife and I had been exposed to a few babies before, and we liked them fine, but we always handed them back to their parents. This time, someone would be handing one to us.

So we had g...