Tag: parenthood

WWF in Fatherhood? Differences in Raising Boys and Girls.

As a father of two girls there is a perceived notion that you must raise your daughters in a certain way (or at least I sometimes get this impression form the people that I interact with). At the same time, when I talk to fathers of boys, I hear differing things about their impressions and the ways in which they feel that they can and should raise their boys as well. For girls, there is the impression that society Read More...

Being Stuck in Dad Purgatory

It’s an afternoon in the Divadom and my wife is working, that means that I am the head honcho, the one and only guy in charge, or am I? Living in a home full of glitz and sequins  I find that there are days when I think I am in control and in fact I find myself stuck somewhere in between, or in a place that sometimes feels like Dad purgatory.  Have you ever been in this same place? Where you make rules an Read More...

Why Do They Like Me?

There are times when I honestly can’t figure out why my kids like me. Sometimes, when I reflect back on the day, it seems like all I did was tell them what to do and then punish them if it wasn’t done. When I try to look at myself through their eyes, all I see is a 15 foot tall, yelling monster. When I think about that, it’s impossible to like myself, much less see how anyone else could. I hate pu Read More...

Know When to Hold ‘Em, Know When To Fold ‘Em

As a father there are times when I just want to freeze time and not let my girls get any older. I want to capture their innocence and bottle it up so that they will always know what it was like to be free of inhibition, doubt, and the other cares of the world. In speaking to other parents, I know that they feel similar, and as you child gets ready to go to school for the first time, the reality hits you that this Read More...

Being Engaged With Your Kids

When I talk about being engaged, I am referring to doing things directly with the kids that are important to them and that they find enjoyable and fun. This could be something such as cooking with them, playing sports or games or other such activity that brings a smile on your and your child’s face (as hopefully you are having fun as well). Our children crave our attention and don’t care what else is on our mi Read More...

Always Use Words, Not Violence

Children are exposed to violence everyday as they turn on the television, look on the computer, read magazines or stories. They see it in front of them and yet do not always know how to process this. If they also see and feel violence within their own home in how their families deal and react to them, this begins to teach them other things that may not be as healthy (not to say that the former list of items are Read More...

I’m not your friend!

My son has recently started alternating calling me “Daddy” and using my first name. Uh, excuse me?! I’m not your friend. I’m your father! Maybe when you are in your thirties we can share a beer while grilling and laugh about some of the crazy stunts you pulled on me and your mother, but I still expect you to call me “Dad” or “Pops” or something along the lines of R Read More...

Being a Great Role Model To Your Child

Being a good role model encompasses not only what you say but rather what you do in your everyday life. Your children are watching you everyday to learn the things that are not only expected by you, but also what is right and expected as a contributing member of society today. Thus, the things you do or do not do say volumes to your children whether you know it or not, and whether you like it or not. For me, I Read More...

Visit The YMCA, It’s Not Just A Song

Today’s children have more and more opportunities to remain sedimentary. They have every type of technology at their fingertips and whether it be television, video games, the computer or other such activities, they can sit for hours inside instead of being outside remaining active. The challenge with this is that many of our children are beginning to have problems with their health and being overweight due t Read More...

Be Your Child’s Biggest Fan

Children are looking for your approval at all times. They want to feel that they are wanted, needed, and accepted for who they are. As they begin to grow and learn about their passions as we talked about in yesterday’s post, it will be important for you as their parent to do whatever you can to become your child’s biggest fan. What does it mean to be your child’s biggest fan you may as Read More...

Teaching My Daughters to Love The Game

As the new year starts and football season amps up with bowl games, the superbowl this weekend and other such great sporting events like this, I have been reflecting about what I have done to allow my girls to enjoy the sports that I like as well. Ever since that have been with us I have shared with them certain sports. For me, it is usually Football or Basketball. I would have them sit and watch the games with me Read More...

Set Up Rituals With Your Kids

Kids are creatures of habit, they expect things to be the same as they have been in the past. For me, this was specifically important as we moved in the past year. Both of our girls were at an age where they knew the rituals that we had been doing at our old house. Thus J-Mom and I knew that we would have to find a routine very soon in the new home to make our lives much happier all around. Rituals can surround an Read More...

Teaching Perseverance

Having your children know how to stick to the things that they start is one of the most important things that you can teach as a parent. The skills that you teach them regarding this will be ones that will continue to show up as your children get older and older. Hopefully, once your child reaches adulthood they are ready to be able to take the world on with full force and understand what they must do to be able to Read More...

Haloween and Parenthood

Parenthood is a fairly new show on NBC, that my wife and I have taken to this season. We like the show for a number of reasons including the fact that they do an excellent job of portraying a family dealing with special needs. On the show one of the families has a child with Autism. They show some of the dynamics between the parents and how they deal with issues raising their child. This past episode they dealt w Read More...

The Value of Friendships & Identifying True Friends

My oldest started school this year and on her first day she came home excited and stated “I made a new friend.” As all of us remember, friends were those people who truly carried us through good and bad times. Unfortunately, there also were those pseudo friends that you thought were your friends, but really had other motives. Since we have moved to our new home we have had to deal with these pseudo friends, Read More...

A Penny Saved is a Penny Earned

What is the value of teaching your child the value of money and the value of entrepreneurship at an early age? The picture you see here was a few years ago when my daughter (then at age 3 and ¾) took her first venture into being a saleswoman. At a two-day rummage sale she wanted to sell cookies and kool-aid so we put up the money for the supplies and let her have her shot at making some money. During the first d Read More...

What’s the secret to single parenthood?

The cursor keeps blinking at me. The rest of this clichéd image includes a half eaten bag of Snyder’s pretzels – the stick kind (gotta love market research). I would get the original shape if deli’s still had them, but I guess I’ll just have to wait for retro pretzel shapes to become fashionable again. On the floor next to me – safe and sound on a coaster – is a room temperature Boylan Seltzer (lemon f Read More...