Cleveland's Michael Symon Writes Love Letter to Hometown

Read the letter and tell us what you love about Cleveland

Chef Michael Symon, owner of Eton Plaza's B-Spot and other area restaurants, showed a little emotion and a lot of Cleveland pride in a touching love letter to Cleveland for The Huffington Post today. Raised in North Olmsted and a graduate of Lakewood's St. Edward High School, he reminisces about places all over the area: I remember when I was young and I would spend my entire weekends with you and my grandfather: heading to the Eastside and staying with my grandparents; taking the rapid Downtown; shopping at the Westside Market with all its fabulous aromas of smoked meats and baked breads. It is here I found my true love for food, for going to the historic Terminal Tower to pick up my Grandma at Higbees and heading back east to cook split …

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The Growth Chart: Growing Kids, Growing Parents

Fathering the Fatherless: Part I

When a mother blazes a trail through hardship, there are miles to go before she sleeps ...

It was Christmas morning, 1978. She watched as her children opened their presents. The grandparents were there enjoying the kids — as much as they could — under the circumstances. Did the children sense their grief? About what was missing that morning, but more than that, about what had been forever changed? About the thing the children had yet to know? When the last present had been opened, she asked the children to sit on the sofa. It was time. Time to do what she did not know how to do, the hardest thing her 43 years on earth had ever required of her (even though she knew it would now get harder). Time to do the thing no mother ever wants to have to do. Certainly not on Christmas morning. Time to do that which she could not do on her …

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If You Don’t Have Kids, What’s Mother’s Day Like For You?

Whether you deliberately chose a childfree life or wanted children and never had them, Mother's Day can be your least favorite holiday.

The Growth Chart: Growing Kids, Growing Parents

Dads and Mentors, Part VI: A Word for Real Men

A final word to dads...

Prisons are full of men who did not feel affirmed by their fathers. Houses of prostitution are filled with men and women who had the same problem. Porn sites are easily accessible to our teenage sons and daughters who are curious about sexuality. Dads—for their sake, be MORE accessible. Approachable. Willing to answer and talk. Fight FOR your kids!   You know what you were hungry for, where you went seeking fulfillment and why you “went there” in the past. Maybe you can save your son from choking down some of the rotten food you ate. An ancient quote goes like this: “What man is there among you, who, when his son asks for bread, will give him a stone?” Our sons and daughters are crying out for bread, the kind only a father can give. If …

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The Growth Chart: Growing Kids, Growing Parents

Dads and Mentors, Part V: Trustworthy Mentors

How do we determine who is worthy to help raise our children?

Judging from the reaction (here at Patch and on Facebook) regarding my story last week, my teacher impacted many lives! When someone invests in us, we remember. Forever.   If it takes a community to raise a child (even if it is the parents’ primary responsibility) then mentors are invaluable. We need to help our kids discern whom to trust. What criteria do we have? No list is exhaustive or “foolproof," but here’s a start:    Trustworthy Mentors Lead Kids Toward, not away from, Parents The male teacher whom I came to trust led me toward my parents. A trustworthy leader will never try to lead a child away from her parents. He respects the parents’ role in the child’s life and willingly takes a back seat. Even in cases where a child comes …

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Start With Heights High And 'Show Us What You've Got': Letter To The Editor

The phasing of the proposed CH-UH master facilities plan should change so that work on the high school starts first.

To the Editor: I am a strong supporter of the overall goals of the (Cleveland Heights-University Heights City) school system: making sure that each child in the district has the opportunity to receive an excellent education, which provides adequate preparation for future success as a contributing member of our society. I recognize the need for major renovations of our aging facilities to reshape them into sustainable structures that will enable and enhance these goals. Rather, like the poor old joke whose punch line was “The operation was a success, although the patient died,” Plan C, the most recent iteration of the administration’s vision, fails a crucial political and economic viability test in removing University Heights’ only …

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'Bully' Is a Film Parents, Teachers, Teens, Administrators Should See

"We should not be afraid to hold parents, teachers and school administrators accountable," a Cleveland Heights parent wrote in The Plain Dealer. What do you think?

Cleveland Heights resident Debbie Ungemach wrote a column that appeared on The Plain Dealer's website Saturday urging parents, teachers, administrators, teens and more to see Bully, a documentary about bullying from the perspective of five families from around the country.  Ungemach saw the film at Cedar Lee Theatre, and was concerned that only about 50 people were there. "This is a film that every mature preteen, teenager, parent, teacher and administrator should see. And not just 'see' but watch, digest, get angry and talk about with everyone they know. I spent most of the movie alternating between teary-eyed, upset, disgusted and appalled," she wrote. "... We should not be afraid to hold parents, teachers and school administrators …

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Local Doctor and Blogger Comments On Feeding Tube Diet Trend Among Brides

"Increasingly extreme approaches toward weight loss reflect the amount of misinformation that surrounds diet and permanent weight change," she writes.

Dads and Mentors, Part III: Teaching Kids to Fish

If a kid asks for a fish, you should give him a fish!

A Patch Parent (agreeing that fathers’ involvement is crucial to children’s healthy emotional development) posed this question: “with all the absent fathers, where do these kids go for that missing piece?” Her question inspired this series.   It’s a concern for all of us, because fatherless kids lead to an unstable society. We all feel the repercussions. A famous saying asks: “What father among you, if his son asks for bread, would give him a stone, or if he asks for a fish would give him a snake instead?” Unfortunately, there are parents who (perhaps unknowingly) hand their kids “snakes” every day. It could be because their parents gave them "snakes" (even disguised as fish — no one in their family knew the difference).   The question …

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