“Who is your son’s teacher?” one of the moms at the bus stop asked me this morning.

While my wife has been busy being the PTA president, buying school supplies and clothes, and meeting the teachers, I have been working to pay for my kid’s food, clothing, shelter and future college tuition.

So I tell her, “I don’t know.  You’ll have to ask my wife.”

But I feel guilty about this.  It reminds me of the infamous Woody Allen deposition.  Woody couldn’t name his children’s teachers, favorite pajamas, shoe sizes or best friends.  In giving custody to Mia Farrow, the judge found that Woody was an uninterested parent.

Next time someone asks me, I’m going to know the answer to questions like these.

Georgia East had a good back-to-school idea which she posted on Florida’s SunSentinal.Com.

On all those school forms we have to fill out, there are blanks for mom and dad’s name, address and phone number. That works fine if there is no divorce in the family.

But in this day and age it is frequently a step-parent that picks up or drops off the child at school.  And in case of an emergency, the step-parent may be the one that has to take care of the child.

Make some room on those school forms for step-parents.

Having to pay for my kid’s braces, I particularly enjoyed Peter Erhlich’s blog at SingleDadLife.com called, Kids Deserve Straight Teeth and Success at School.

“No matter where you and your ex are at this moment, there are non-negotiable child-related issues that you must immediately come to terms with, regardless of your relationship, politics or court agreement,” Erhlich says.

Chief among these, after love, are straight teeth and success at school.  To me, this is a metaphor for saying that it doesn’t matter what your differences with your spouse are.  It doesn’t matter what the order or agreement says.  If they need braces, you have to do what it takes to get them braces.  When your kids need you to be their dad, you have to do it.  Because you’re the dad.