Jedidiah Gant

My daughter, Nora, has yet to turn 2, but she already knows three words for television: Elmo, Mickey and, lately, soccer. I began my fifth year as a stay-at-home dad not long ago, meaning that the FIFA World Cup has occurred twice during my domestic shift. In the summer of 2010, my son, Oliver, was […]

I liked Disney World as a kid, but by my second trip, I was over it. Grunge had taken over my childhood and augmented attitude. I didn’t care about those animated characters. The film-based adventures such as Indiana Jones and Jurassic Park were interesting enough, but my mom was pregnant, it was hot and the […]

Inevitably, on Sundays, we would go to church in the morning and eat my grandmother’s pot roast at lunch. We would go home and maybe watch some football. But I would watch the clock, only waiting for 1:45 p.m. When the magic moment struck, I would fling the shoestrings of my black SP 204 speed […]

My mom never pushed me to be perfect in school. She was a single parent, after all, so it was an accomplishment simply to get me to school and back, with breakfast, lunch and dinner sandwiched among those ends. Still, Mom found time to sit with me each night to help me with homework. She […]

Like a lot of American kids, I was a childhood baseball fan. I sat in front of our massive wood-encased television, watching the Atlanta Braves games. Baseball is America’s pastime, and I was an American boy; the diamond shape felt magnetic and natural. My mother enrolled me in Tee Ball. Every Tuesday and Thursday, I […]

Four years ago, when my son, Oliver, was barely 3 months old, I quit my job as an architect to stay at home with him. Since that decision, Oliver has won a yearlong battle with cancer, I have finished two years of graduate school, I’ve worked a handful of freelance jobs, and my family has […]

My mother styled my hair when I was a child, meticulously cutting a combed side-part. I didn’t care too much about my style at the time, so I let her have her fun. When I pilfered my grandfather’s bathroom cabinet, I sometimes found his Dippity-do gel. I’d borrow a fingerling or two to grease my […]

One of the most difficult but most meaningful experiences I’ve had as a parent has been selecting the names of my children. Before Stacy and I had our first child three years ago, we tossed names around at the dinner table, on hikes in the woods and at loud concerts, when we’d shout them to […]

With a new baby comes new cleaning. On a recent winter Saturday, I stayed in, sorting through storage closets to make room for the inevitable deluge of infant supplies that will arrive when my wife, Stacy, soon has our second child. When I stumbled across our stash of board games, I had to laugh: I […]