Brain to Mouth: Disengage

It’s a slow day when all I have to do is read about Alex Baldwin’s angry voicemail to his daughter. Now that’s real YouTube fodder. Contemplating the Baldwin backlash, I detect hints of a sympathy vote in the blogosphere for the volatile but beleaguered dad. Who hasn’t been tempted to lose one’s temper with an uncommunicative child? Oh, and leaking a private telephone message to the press? He gets extra points for coming up against some dirty fighting. I was actually enjoying the articles and talk show segments that popped up in the wake of the Alex attacks, offering parenting tips like how to talk to a tween. See, some good can come from this long-running and ugly saga of bitterness. I’d suggest another life lesson here: always erase the draft voicemail or e-mail you’ve written in anger. The first words that come into your head when you’re ticked off are the last ones you want to send.

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