Dad Reckoning

Shouldn’t Children Be the Center of Our Concerns?

The way we center our lives now is different from what it was when I was growing up in Oklahoma.

I like The Big Bang Theory. In particular, I like Sheldon’s mom. Whatever the other faults of the show, it got East Texas right. I know this because East Texas is just a warmer and more humid version of eastern Oklahoma.

On Young Sheldon, which is a spin-off of the series, the characters have to deal with one of my dad’s favorite parenting issues: Sheldon’s elder brother got a young woman pregnant. The series spent several episodes exploring the familial and social ramifications of this. It was true to the culture. By culture I mean the standard ways that have been developed to deal...