It always takes me a while to get back into the swing of things after being gone for a while. So, I thought I’d ease back into normal blog-mode by starting with a few quick comments on this great Parade Magazine interview with comedian Jerry Seinfeld. It’s from back in February, but for some reason I just found it recently in my car.

On family, Seinfeld, now a married father of three, told Parade:

“If I was younger, I’d have six kids by now…I love it. I love having a family and kids and all the madness. There is no aspect of it I don’t like. Even when it’s horrible, I love it. I didn’t realize how tired of single life I was and how ready I was for married life.”

Interesting, considering the comedian is best known for his role as a perpetual bachelor who spends his days hanging out with his other perpetually single and child-free friends.

Of course, the message of our modern culture is that kids are a drain on individual freedom and prosperity and even on relationships and should be avoided at all cost…or at least put off for as long as possible. And then, the fewer the better. A related post worth revisiting: How Can There Be Too Many Children?

Seinfeld also had interesting thoughts on why some parents go overboard giving their children everything and letting them do whatever they want. He says that kids today aren’t as innocent as they used to be and:

“We feel so guilty for destroying that innocence—which is what we did—so we’re now trying to repair that by creating perfect childhoods for our children…The reason we overdo it so much is because we feel so bad about it.”

Talk about lost innocence and overdoing it. I couldn’t believe it when on my recent trip I learned that my 11-year-old step cousin, the night before we all went to Islands of Adventure, was up until 2:30 a.m. texting…a boy! Setting aside for a second the fact that this child is talking to boys at 2 in the morning (with no punishment that I’m aware of), what is an 11 year old doing with a cell phone in the first place?!

Kids have it bad enough already with peer pressure and, as they get older, their own raging hormones. The last thing they need is to constantly be betrayed by the adults who should be protecting them.

Speaking of family and parenting, Jen has a good thread going on her blog on how parents can help children stay strong in their faith