I received this list today in a press release, and I thought it was pretty neat. It came from a company called Priceless Legacy that sells “life story” books. I’m not advocating the company by any means, but I thought this list of questions to ask your dad at Father’s Day was worth sharing.

The fathers reading this just might want to answer these questions for their own youngsters. They are written in the past tense because I think the idea is for adult children to pose them to their dads, but I think they can just as well be answered by fathers of young children. (I’m talking to you, Michael.)

1. What did you enjoy most about being a dad? Least?

2. Are there things you wish you had done differently as a father?

3. In what ways are we alike and in what ways are we different?

4. Why did you marry my mother?

5. Is there anything you every wanted to tell us (me) but have not?

6. What is the secret to raising good kids?

7. Is there anything you regret not having asked your parents (my grandparents)?

8. Do you think today’s fathers have it harder, easier or just different?

9. What do you want to make sure that my children and grandchildren will remember about you?

Well, I did it: I kept my son out of school on Friday even though he had two tests and a project due. And I hope I’m not getting him in trouble by posting on it.

Okay, so the truth is I arranged with his teachers to have him take both tests on Thursday, and hand in his portion of a team alegebra project the same day. So, the damage was minimal, if there was any at all.

But in the end I reasoned that he wouldn’t remember that day at school in years to come. He will, however, always remember our day: We went to the free Green Day concert at Central Park for the Good Morning American summer concert series.

Needless to say, it’s his favorite band, and pretty high on my list as well. And I can’t ask for a better day, nor a more fun outing for him (above). No, that’s not me on the right. I took the photo. (I still have a tad more “coverage” on my head—no offense to the man in the photo.)

Anyway, this has been a periodic judgement call for me, as it is for many parents, I suspect. I had the day off, so it was no issue on my end. But education is important, and occasionally parents may opt to keep the kid home. I handle it on a case-by-case basis, but it’s something I take seriously.

I spoke to a couple of other parents at the show who had done the same thing, and they had all made the same decision: That it was a treat worth cutting school for the day.

Is it something that can be abused? Certainly. I have friends who were periodically kept home from school for a “mental health day,” which I think is of limited value for most kids, depending on age and circumstances.

But the question is when do you think it’s okay to have your kid play hooky?

One final note on the show, it really was a treat. I’ve blogged on the music element of it on The Listening Room, our music blog. But for those that didn’t see it, here’s a clip from GMA:

I remember one of my son’s first trips to the Museum of Natural History years ago. He was at the height of his interest in astronomy — one of those rites of passage evey kid seems to go through. It’s like the interest all kids develop at one time or another in dinosaurs.

So there we were in the parking garage entrance area, where the ticket booths are. Along the far wall are models of the planets, and we followed them from the start: Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, and so on. We followed the line down until we hit Neptune, then kept walking and wound up inside an adjacent gift shop.

“May I help you?” the woman asked.

“Yes, we’re looking for Pluto,” I said.

“It’s not a planet,” she said.

My son and I were greatly disappointed, to say the least.

Little did I realize at the time that we were at the height of controversy surrounding Pluto, which has since been officially demoted from planet status.

I’m actually in the midst of finishing a book about it all, titled the Pluto Files by Neil deGrasse Tyson, head man at the museum’s Haydn Planetarium. Turns out the museum started an uproar when it refurbished the planetarium without Pluto among the planets.

Anyway, it’s a story that, as they say in my business, has legs. Just last week, our neighbors had a dinner party which they dubbed “astronomy night” for all the kids, and we pulled out a couple of telescopes to see Saturn in the southern sky.

In the middle of it all, my son decided to poll everyone at the party on whether Pluto really was a planet. Needless to say, the results were inconclusive. But I couldn’t help but sense that a lot of the kids really miss Pluto as a full-fledged planet. My son certainly does.

The experience heightened my realization that our kids are growing up with some different realities than we had as kids.

These aren’t necessarily life-changing situations or ideals. It’s just different. When I was a kid T. Rex was supposed to have been a slow, lumbering creature that walked like Godzilla in the Japanese monster flicks, and there were a few less elements in the periodic table that I had to memorize.

But I’ve come to see it as a positive thing. Parents are traditionally supposed to help educate kids on the world around them. Now it seems my son and I are learning a thing or two together. And that’s kinda cool.

Even if I had one more planet than him.

Here’s a built-in problem in blended families: You never have the whole family together for Mother’s Day or Father’s Day.

There’s a simple reason for it. Namely, my son will always be with his mom on Mother’s Day (as he was earlier this month) and my girlfriend’s son will be with his dad on Father’s Day. So, we’re inevitably incomplete when celebrating our respective parenting days.

Kinda makes it hard to have the ideal family day.

Or does it?

Bethany Grey, editor at eHow.com, offered a list of suggestions for dads and stepdads to celebrate Father’s Day in a blog titled “How to Celebrate Father’s Day in a Blended Family.” I don’t agree with all of it, but some of Grey’s suggestions make sense, including the idea to shop for Father’s Day cards with the child. It’s a good stepdad experience to share.

Mostly, I like the idea of doing something the day before, something Grey didn’t hit on. This year, we grilled hot dogs and steak the day before Mother’s Day and had a picnic outside. It was fun and we did the family thing. I’m thinking we’ll do the same with my girlfriend’s son the day before Father’s Day next month.

One thing I’ve never wanted to do is give my girlfriend’s son the notion that I’m replacing his dad, at least not that way. This makes for something of a juggling act at times. But that’s a blog for another day.

My son is not a great sharer. Who is at 17 months?

But he has high expectations of other little folks – in his mind they should all welcome the opportunity to share their scooters, and balls and water bottles, or whatever else he sets his sights on.

Walking through Central Park yesterday and Saturday no toy was safe. If the speed at which he goes after a loose ball indicates how good an athlete he’ll be, I am very excited.

In one case Saturday afternoon, he spotted a small red soccer ball and made a beeline for it. The 2- or 3-year-old boy to whom it belonged – we’ll call him JoJo, that’s what his mother did — wasn’t having any of it. He grabbed it away with a ‘No, mine’ shriek.

My son was not dissuaded. He moved over 10 feet to where Jojo’s larger, plastic playground ball (you know, the kind you’d get out of those supermarket cages). Jojo reclaimed that one too. The same act repeated when my son found Jojo’s whiffle ball. 

Finally I remembered that we had a tennis ball in the bottom of the stroller. I retrieved it, handed it to my son. He threw it several feet. Of course Jojo reached it first and picked it up.

Jojo’s parents must be communists. Ownership is a nebulous concept.

When my son tried to get his tennis ball back, Jojo just pulled it away and yelled ‘No,mine’.

I spent most of my single 20s and 30s wandering around Central Park on summer weekends. And there was a small hill next to the lake on the west side just south of 77th Street where people would gather to listen to Dave Ippolito, better known as That Guitar Man (or That Shirtless Guitar Man when the weather was warm enough).

I wasn’t a regular — I only know his name because he showed up as a contestant once on Who Wants to Be a Millionaire. The music is folksy, ok a bit sappy sometimes, and his leftist, lonely heart spiel is the same most weekends. But it was a great place to sit and relax, people-watch and wonder what drew them all there. 

I hadn’t gone the past few years but what will draw me there every chance I get for now on is that my son loves music and seemed to have a ball when we stopped by Saturday afternoon.

He got out of his stroller and danced, and rolled around the grass, and mostly clapped when he heard the crowd clapping.

So we’ll be back. There just won’t be much of a chance for people-watching because I have to keep my eye on my son and keep him from running into the lake.

In four years, the nation’s kindergarten classrooms will be filled with Emmas and Isabellas, Jacobs and Michaels.

Those were the most popular names for babies born in 2008, according to the “Social Security Administration”:http://www.ssa.gov/pressoffice/pr/baby-names2008-pr.htm.

Here’s the list:

Boys:
1)   Jacob        Girls:      1)   Emma
2)   Michael                  2)   Isabella
3)   Ethan                     3)   Emily
4)   Joshua                   4)   Madison
5)   Daniel                    5)   Ava
6)   Alexander              6)   Olivia
7)   Anthony                7)   Sophia
8)   William                   8)   Abigail
9)   Christopher            9)   Elizabeth
10) Matthew                10) Chloe