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I need to get more sleep. This morning marked the end of the first full week of school. As in, this is not a drill, all systems were a go. I was up late making tweaks to my Fantasy Football league, so I got up a little slowly today. The Mrs. was cracking the whip on the boy to get dressed, but somewhere along the line my sleepy ass dropped the ball.

When I got downstairs he was perched in front of the TV watching Ratatouille for the 11-jillionth time, and I asked him if he was hungry. Most parents will tell you that the worst time to ask a kid if they’re hungry is while they are engaged in something they enjoy, especially if it involves a large, blinking screen. So his answer was a definitive “no.” I followed up with a “no chocolate milk? no pancakes?” He shook his head without even looking at me. This is where the “real” daddy was supposed to say, “Boy, get in the kitchen and eat something.” But Rip Van Winkle decided that if he was really hungry, he’d have said it. This is the same kid who asked me for Doritos for breakfast. So I packed his lunch and got us on our way.

Halfway to school he takes a break from telling me knock-knock jokes to say…wait for it…that he’s hungry. By now the “real” daddy was in full effect and promptly said, “I asked you twice if you wanted something to eat and you said no. Now you have to wait until lunch to eat.” His face fell and he wined, “but Daddy, I’m staaarving.” The plea by itself was not enough to sway me; I was going to “teach him a lesson.” But when I turned around to look at him he had this look like he was about to cry. And while I am a stern disciplinarian, I cannot stand to see my son cry (unless I spanked him – then, I don’t care. He had it coming.). But if he’s hurt or, in this case, hungry, watching him cry just isn’t acceptable. So I told him to pass me his book bag, pulled out his lunch box and asked if he wanted to eat half of his peanut butter and jelly sandwich. He nodded his head and I passed it to him in the backseat. Note: the next sentence has not been added for dramatic effect. It is the truth. My son took ONE BITE of the sandwich and handed it back to me saying, “I’ll save the rest for later.” I looked at him like he was crazy and asked, “I thought you were hungry??” He just grinned and chewed on his one bite of pb&j. I was too through. He played me. I gripped the wheel, hit the gas and told myself the same lie every parent tells them self in this situation: “Next time he’s getting nothin’!” Yeah, right. I am the weakest link. Good-bye.

For 2024’s iteration of MadameNoire and HelloBeautiful’s annual series Women to Know, we knew we wanted to celebrate the people who help make the joys of film and television possible. To create art is to create magic. This year, we spotlight Hollywood Executive’s changing the face of cinema.