Rules that don't exist are all around us. In honor of the upcoming release of Penguins Can't Fly, we are posting a different rule every day on our various social media accounts, using the hashtag #notarule. Some are rules we've uncovered, others have been shared with us from people like you. Follow along on Instagram, Tumblr, or Facebook or share your own rule here! Took this one on a warm pre-spring day in Madison, where students were enjoying the sunshine even though the lake was still stuck in winter mode... Once you reach a certain age, you're allowed to take liberties with …
Rules That Don't Exist
We are constantly bombarded with rules that don't exist. This collection of “rules” comes from everywhere: parents, grandparents, politicians, first grade teachers, old dead white guys, and young celebrity trendsetters. We follow them (often subconsciously) for reasons that range from irrelevant to superstitious to downright stupid. Sadly, they often limit us from living better stories. Below are some we've identified so far. Did we miss one?
#Notarule Caption Contest
Contest time! Pretty sure there's a few "rules that don't exist" being broken here...name one and we'll reward our favorite with an 8x10 print of your choice! Leave a comment below - winner announced right here. Update: Winner is Joie Booth! Joie posted this over on Facebook and it made us laugh: "Goggles are only worn at breakfast. #notarule" …
Thou Shalt Not Blow Bubbles in Thy Milk
Kim and I had a big test early on in our parenting adventure. At dinner one evening when she was about two, Lucy got to drink out of a “big girl cup” with a straw. And for the first time ever, she discovered how to blow bubbles in her milk. In our household, this is on par with first words, first steps, and learning how to dunk cookies in milk. It’s kind of a big deal. …
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Late Night Hosts Shalt Be Cynical
Kim and I love Jimmy Fallon. There's something so childlike about him. Every time I see him on the Tonight Show it's as if he's a little kid whose dad is letting him use a power tool for the first time. "This is so awesome! I can't believe I'm getting to do this!" I recently came across a great post by Zach Hoag that expresses it perfectly. Here's my favorite passage: What makes Fallon different from the others is the kind of childlike, optimistic, inclusive comedy he creates. While he can certainly engage in thick sarcasm, he is decidedly anti-cynicism. And rather than make guests …
Thou Shalt Get a Job With Benefits
[ This is an excerpt from "Penguins Can’t Fly +39 Other Rules That Don’t Exist." Order it now and read about 39 more rules that might be holding you back from living the story you deserve. ] Many well-intentioned parents, grandparents, and teachers urge kids to get a job with good benefits. I couldn’t agree more. Except. …
Thou Shalt Not Let Them See You Car Dancing
[ My book, Penguins Can’t Fly +39 Other Rules That Don’t Exist, is now available for pre-order! Here is one of my wife’s favorite chapters. ] It’s an incontrovertible fact: It is impossible to hear Journey’s “Don’t Stop Believin’” while driving and not transform into a head-banging, lyric-belting, steering wheel-pounding god or goddess of rock ’n’ roll. In the cozy cocoon of your humble car, you are the Alpha and Omega of Awesome. Your inner child is running naked in the rain and you don’t care who knows it. That is until Adultitis reminds you that you are at a stoplight and there …
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Thou Shalt Not Color On Thine Arms
Almost exactly one year ago, I drew a purple mustache on my son Ben. It was a dark day for Adultitis, my friends, and a great personal reminder about how big an impact a small rebellion can make. Especially small rebellions involving washable markers. Not long ago, an Escape Artist named Angel emailed me about one such adventure. While in the process of cleaning, she discovered her two-year-old coloring on his arms. Adultitis was at the ready, encouraging Angel to flip out. But she decided not to. She wrote, "As Adultitus was SCREAMING, 'We don't color on our arms' somehow turned into, …
Thou Shalt Listen to Critics
With three kids six and under, it's rare that Kim and I have the time to watch an actual feature-length movie. So when the stars align and I'm in charge of finding something to see, I pay quite a bit of attention to the reviews. I don’t want to waste our time, so if the Rotten Tomatoes rating is less than 60, I'm likely to move on. But sometimes I stumble across a movie I've seen before, one I really loved, and it has a Rotten Tomatoes rating of 21. Humpf. Sometimes it makes me wonder if something's wrong with me, and sometimes I wonder if I'm spending too much time considering what …
I am not a natural born rule breaker
Remember senior pictures? After reading my post about princes dresses, a reader told me that her niece got some neat ones of her in her prom dress. In a lake. The settling sun glistened off the water as the skirt of her dress floated around her. The first thing I thought of was how cool that sounded. My next thought was about how I never would have had the courage to do something like that in high school. (Although once I got to college, I did go to one of Kim's high school dances dressed as The Crow, so that's something.) I suspect that many people would presume that the guy writing a …
Thou Shalt Not Doodle on Thy Car
In his book The Last Lecture, Randy Pausch talks about our attachment to material things. He writes that if our wheelbarrow or trash can gets a big ding in it, we don't give it another thought, but a small scratch in our new car causes us to freak out. I was reminded of that passage when I saw a story about this dude who let his artist wife draw all over his sports car with a Sharpie. Even if the style is not your cup of tea, you gotta admit that the end result is pretty cool. Now, every once in a while you'll see someone who has blinged out their beater jalopy with streaks of paint …