Without kids, what would we do for laughs?

Mark Kennedy: My older son is 8 years old, and he still seems to be firmly in the I-believe-in-Santa camp.

Our 3-year-old son is suddenly afraid of fire. Last month he backed away from his birthday cake, wide-eyed and trembling, terrified by a 1-inch flame on a candle.

We have only one formal dinner party a year at my house, but it’s a doozy.

Garrison Keillor is onto something. He says in Lake Wobegon, Minn., "the women are strong, all the men are good-looking and all the children are above average."

My late great-aunt Ida Lou taught me the virtues of guilt-free naps and cheating at cards.

Researchers say half of the babies born today will live to be 100 years old. Astounding. Don't feel bad if you missed the headline. Good news runs out of oxygen in about 24 hours. As the father of two boys, ages 2 and 7, I can't stop thinking about thi

They handed out new desk calendars in the newsroom last week.

The Saturn car brand died last month of natural causes. It was 19.

My family has many bedtime rituals.

I'm a big fan of "Candid Camera."

Coaching your own child is hard -- especially if you have expertise in the task at hand.

SEE KILE DODGE, CHRYSLER, JEEP SALES REPRESENTATIVE STEVE LINER DEMONSTRATE THE FEATURES OF THE DODGE RAM 1500 LARAMIE.

MARK KENNEDY: Karen, I need some advice. My two sons, ages 7 and 2, seemingly never stop eating.

On Tuesday, I found myself sitting in a second-grade classroom at Battle Academy.

Daniel Walker wears wool in August.

Out of my face, Facebook. Meet your maker, MySpace. Prepare to be trampled by Twitter.

My 7-year-old son has decided the honeymoon is over with his 2-year-old brother.

When it comes to television, drama is not normally my bag. To me, shows such as "Law & Order" and "CSI" -- which seem to run in a continuous loop on cable -- are comically melodramatic. That's why it perplexes me that I have become such a fan of AMC'

Children today think video games are a birthright.

I collect malapropisms. It tickles me when people mix up words.

My mother was a banker. Growing up, we always had a lockbox. It was inside the big safe at the main office of First Farmers and Merchants Bank of Columbia, Tenn. My mom, now deceased, stored the lockbox key in a little cardboard pouch she kept hidden in a

MARK KENNEDY: One of the most frustrating things about being a parent is time management. I've literally had sons pulling me in two directions at once.

In China, little girls have it tough. Because of the country's one-child policy to control population, infant girls are often abandoned. By some estimates, millions of girls may be stuck in Chinese orphanages.

Anna Lockhart is 22 years old. When we talked last week, she was worried about, of all things, honey mustard. It seems that one of Anna's customers at a local deli pitched a fit when a Waldorf salad arrived without the proper dressing.

On summer mornings, my 7-year-old son slips on his Crocs and shoots out the back door. Seconds later, he returns and breathlessly peels apart the morning newspaper.

On summer mornings, my 7-year-old son slips on his Crocs and shoots out the back door. Seconds later, he returns and breathlessly peels apart the morning newspaper.

I recently witnessed a car accident. I heard the wreck happening before I saw it -- a mad squeal of tires followed by a sickening metallic smack.

I am both fascinated and intimidated by these new $3 car washes popping up around Chattanooga.

I had cars on my mind last week.

On a recent Saturday afternoon, my wife attended two high-school graduations. Meanwhile, I got to entertain our two little boys. Finding activities that appeal to brothers ages 7 and 2 is a challenge. To her credit, my wife, given the same baby-sitting task, would have engaged the boys in constructive pursuits such as watering the rhododendron, naming the continents and making life-like reptiles out of Play-Doh.

Mary Grace Coffman, age 8, may be the world’s youngest librarian. The Signal Mountain thirdgrader and her father, pediatrician Allen Coffman, have resolved to help provide a library for a school in Nigeria. “I was amazed that they didn’t have a library,” said Mary Grace, who attends Nolan Elementary and enjoys mystery books. “I told my dad, ‘It’s not a school without a library.’”

MARK KENNEDY: I go back and forth on using money to reward my children for work. My 7-year-old son now expects to be paid for yard work.

A college intern who sits near my desk was musing about technology this week. “When was the last time I used a stamp?” she said, mumbling to herself as she read an article on a 2-cent increase in postal rates.

Charlie Steinhice is on his way to Germany. Mr. Steinhice is a research scientist at BlueCross BlueShield of Tennessee. He is off to Berlin to represent his family at an Allied Museum exhibit honoring his maternal grandmother, Marion Peck.

We have a rule at my house: A toddler can attend his first Chattanooga Lookouts baseball game once he can sing “Take Me Out to the Ballgame.” This has been a problem for my younger son, who always tripped up on the line: “... So it’s one, two, three strikes you’re out at the old ballgame.” He loves the counting and arm pumping so much that he would get up to, like, 14, 15, 16 strikes.

If you’ve ever lost a class ring, cheer up. There’s a chance your ring might track you down. I wrote a column once about a man who had a class ring found by fisherman who plucked it from a paper cup he had hooked in Chickamauga Lake. Amazing. I thought nothing could top that story.

My first-grader is beginning to have enough homework to make study time an issue at my house.

My 2-year-old son has started singing “Itsy-Bitsy Spider” with a deep, gravelly voice like Froggy on “The Little Rascals.”

I was listening to NPR on my drive to work one morning. A high-school senior was lamenting that his parents couldn’t afford his pricey, first-choice college.

Families have their own languages.

I walked into our kitchen one day last week and noticed that my wife’s eyes were moist.

In my Sunday school class, talk often turns to cancer.

My 2-year-old son has decided to become a nudist.

Jeff Mendenhall, 39, has biceps the size of frozen turkeys.

When I was 7 years old, my favorite television shows were “Batman,” “The Rifleman” and “Gilligan’s Island.”

Though I have been a parent for more than three decades, I still cannot stand to see a child in pain.

I saw Ben Stein on television the other day talking about America’s spoiled corporate leaders.

I have a new favorite television show: “Lie to Me.”