A photo posted by Charlie Capen (@charliecapen) on Sep 5, 2016 at 8:38pm PDT

There are some days when I feel like I have no idea how to parent. You encounter a lot of imponderable stuff when you’re dealing with the formation of a human being. There are so many outcomes based on how strict, lenient, compassionate, firm, playful, sage, or artful you are. There’s always a lingering sense that it could go either way. The man you see and hear before you does not, despite my claim to the otherwise, know everything, my sons. He is piecing it together and doing the best he can. Which is sometimes not enough. Like tonight.