Blog

Confessions of Regret from a “No Regrets” Writer

I’ve written a book called “No Regrets Living – Seven Keys to a Life of Wonder and Contentment” which outlines the critical steps toward living a life with fewer regrets. But here’s a confession: I haven’t succeeded in totally preventing regrets or purging the regrets I already have. As I [...]

Read More
The Magical Sounds of Baseball

They’re back! The magical sounds heralding Spring. This past warm weekend brought out those sounds in Denver, and the kids who make those sounds. At the park down the block, on the little baseball diamond with the short backstop, the sound of baseballs hitting gloves. It’s a pop like no [...]

Read More
The Organ Recital

When friends of a certain age, my age, for example, get together, a novel discourse takes place. Before talking about the kids, grandkids, work or retirement, and even before talking about sports, we typically have The Organ Recital. What hurts, what’s failing, when’s surgery, who’s your doctor, why were you [...]

Read More
Who (or What) is Aging Faster, Me or My iPhone?

When shown family pictures on my iPhone 5 a few years ago, and watching me text message my wife, or take pictures, or listen to music, or watch videos…my then 90-year old mother asked, but can you still call people on it? Yes, mom, you can. It just isn’t as [...]

Read More
SPRING TRAINING, BUT THE KIDS ARE TOO BUSY

We’re a baseball family and Major League Baseball’s Spring Training was one of our rituals. Every March, whenever we could get away, we packed everyone up and headed to Arizona where there was no snow, no ice, no sleet. There was green. Green everywhere, defying the desert, on baseball fields [...]

Read More
Age as Seen Through the Eyes of Baseball

With the coming of Spring Training, I’m reflecting on the changes in the game of professional baseball over the years. I’m a big baseball fan, and our family is a big baseball family. Our kids played, I coached, and we all critique the game, the teams, and the players. I’ve [...]

Read More
Strollers, Car Seats, and Other Exasperating Baby Gear

I’m a parent of three adult kids. I was there for all the big, and most of the small, moments of their childhoods. I think about parenting a lot, and I write about parenting. I am now blessed to often be asked to “help out” with our grandkids. Young kids [...]

Read More
Life in a Tank

I collect old books and learn a lot from them. At a recent visit to my favorite used bookstore, a 1918 book by Richard Haigh caught my eye, both because of the subject matter (World War I) and the title: “Life in a Tank.” I have often thought of our [...]

Read More
My First (and Last?) ChatGPT Parenting Blog Post

I enjoy writing. After more than 3 decades writing the results of my medical and scientific research, with more than 200 publications in those fields, I made the transition to writing for a general readership.  For you. And I’m proud of the books, blogs, magazine and newspaper columns I’ve written [...]

Read More
STUFF

Our neighbor of many years passed away recently, a few months before her 101st birthday. She had lived a full and productive life as an artist, wife, and mother. A Covid widow, she lost her husband just weeks before vaccines became available. Because of her unique art and gracious community [...]

Read More
The King of Consumption – Our Dog’s Purpose

If you haven’t read “A Dog’s Purpose” by W. Bruce Cameron, or seen the movie based on the book, or read the sequel books, or seen the sequel movies…well, you should do all of those things. Bailey the dog has touched the hearts of millions of readers and moviegoers since [...]

Read More
A NEW MOTHER’S DAY (AND FATHER’S DAY) IDEA

Writing about Mother’s Day is a little like writing about “America” or “money” or “religion” or “the environment.” So much has been written about some topics, every angle covered and covered again, there’s little left to add. What more can anyone say about Mother’s Day that hasn’t been said? Rather than repeat, [...]

Read More
ON THE ROAD AGAIN

When our kids were little, we would pack up a rental RV every spring and fall break from school and head to the national parks. We covered all the ones we could drive to, and even flew to rent an RV for a remote park that was too far to [...]

Read More
They May Need to Rename the TV Series

In my last post, I posited that, like other “indisputable” theories in the history of science, the Big Bang Theory may have to be rethought. I recently received a note from a new friend and thoughtful reader of my book No Regrets Living in which he shared yet another reason [...]

Read More
UNTIL AND UNLESS PROVEN OTHERWISE

In my book, NO REGRETS LIVING (HCI Books, 2021), I discuss the relative “credibility” of the Big Bang versus religious theory about the beginnings of the universe. I wrote this: “On May 20, 1964, two scientists listening to noises of the universe through a powerful audio telescope accidently stumbled onto [...]

Read More
NEW YEAR’S ABSOLUTIONS FOR PARENTS

New Year’s resolutions are a nice concept but risky business – if we don’t live up to those bold promises we feel like failures. For parents, this can be particularly tough, as we often make resolutions not only for ourselves but for our families, and this magnifies the chances of [...]

Read More
GIVING THANKS FOR HEAT

Giving Thanks for Heat In my new book, No Regrets Living – 7 Keys to a Life of Wonder and Contentment, one of the “keys” I suggest is to take a few dedicated moments each day to reflect on what you are grateful for in your life. I guarantee you [...]

Read More
THANKFUL FOR THAT OLD BASKETBALL HOOP

THIS THANKSGIVING, I WAS THANKFUL FOR THAT OLD BASKETBALL HOOP A little rusty, a little droopy, and a little too high for our grandchildren, our old basketball hoop was resuscitated on Thanksgiving. Or maybe reincarnated is the better term. It’s been 12 years since our three kids shot baskets on [...]

Read More
DON’T STOP WITH THANKSGIVING AND THE DECEMBER HOLIDAYS!

As we approach the meaningful and memorable family traditions surrounding Thanksgiving, I hope you’ll take this excerpt from the UPDATED AND EXPANDED edition of No Regrets Parenting to heart: Russian scientist Ivan Pavlov became famous at the turn of the twentieth century for discovering and characterizing what he called the “conditioned [...]

Read More
FOUR ESSENTIAL PARTS OF NEW EDITION OF “NO REGRETS PARENTING”

The UPDATED AND EXPANDED Edition of “No Regrets Parenting – Turning Long Days and Short Years into Cherished Moments with Your Kids” is written in 4 parts. Part 1 lays out the basic principles of No Regrets Parenting, and Part 2 provides specific strategies in the practice of No Regrets [...]

Read More
The Four Corners of Our House

THE FOUR CORNERS OF OUR HOUSE With the release of the first edition of “No Regrets Parenting” nearly 10 years ago, interviewers, readers of the book, and attendees at my seminars asked how the “No Regrets Parenting” concept developed. I answer by describing our house. It’s a simple two-story with [...]

Read More
A GRADUATION SPEECH – FOR PARENTS

As your high school grads move on this fall to college campuses or work lives, you deserve a celebration of your own. And if your kids are still young and in the nest, I want to help you look ahead to that day when your kids enter the next phase [...]

Read More
NO REGRETS GRANDPARENTING???

NO REGRETS GRANDPARENTING??? Why, you might ask, is there a brand new section in the Updated and Expanded Edition of “No Regrets Parenting” on GRANDparenting? Well…since publication of the first edition of “No Regrets Parenting,” hundreds of grandparents have written to me (you can too, at www.harleyrotbart.com.) Some have asked [...]

Read More
The ULTIMATE Parenting Book

The days are long but the years are short. Make the memories everlasting. For every family with kids, the updated and expanded edition of No Regrets Parenting is the essential, open-to-all, parenting guidebook, guaranteed to help parents find more—and better—time with their kids. No Regrets Parenting focuses on the simple truth that the long [...]

Read More
THE PANDEMIC AND OUR INNER SPARKS

Friends: The timing of my “No Regrets Living” book’s preparation and release has allowed me to weave my observations on the pandemic into the book’s foundational 7 Keys to a Life of Wonder and Contentment. My reflections on the pandemic, including coping mechanisms and paths for going forward, are offset [...]

Read More