You know a writer is running out of ideas when he decides to write about his own family; unless his family is really unique, it violates an unspoken rule about how other people's kid are boring.
For two  1) When the writer stoops to cover his own family, you can bet he's stuck for ideas; 2) Unless one's family is terribly unusual, such efforts violate a great unspoken but true  Other Peoples' Kids Are Boring.