Tag: parenting

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...

Why This is the Year of the Dad Blogger…

There has been a lot of talk this year about the fact that this is the year of the dad blogger. .I have had a a lot of time to think about this, being a dad myself, for me when starting my Dad of Divas blog, I started this for myself. I did it to share my thoughts and concerns about being a father. When I started blogging three years ago, there were dads out there, but most dads were focused primarily on the topic Read More...

My boring life as a dad

Dear Diary, Today was more of the same old things. I fear that boredom has started to spread its tentacles across my subconscious making it difficult to focus on anything worthy of causing synapses to fire. The mornings are the worst. Dull to the point of seeking ways to physically stimulate my brain using blunt force trauma. I remember the days when each morning brought new challenges and invigorating scenarios. M Read More...

Respect Must Be Earned

My wife had unexpectedly returned from her commute to work last week one morning. An overturned tractor trailer had made the road impassable prompting her to work from home rather than sit in unbearable traffic for several hours. Understandably, her stress laden experience had caused her to be irritable which was quite obvious from the tone of her voice. I listened to her vent, helped her get settled, and she be Read More...

Looking Closely at the World Around Us

In March of 2005, I got a macro lens for my digital camera and was introduced to the wonderful world of macro photography. Since then, I’ve used flowers, toys, insects (both alive and dead – hey, at least the dead ones don’t move!) and many other items as macro photography subjects. I even made a poster using a macro photograph I had taken of a flower. When I took the photo, I liked it, but upon ex Read More...

How To Be “The Rock” In Tough Times

I really don’t quite know where to start this post as it’s about a pretty tough time in my marriage. I married young and wasn’t much of a husband when my wife and I got our start. This, ultimately, led to a long time of her having to deal with a boy trying to learn to be a man “on the job.” A few years of resentment built up as my wife felt at times like she was raising more than one Read More...

Time to Revolutionize… Supersizing Fatherhood

Ok Dads, in thinking about the idea beyond Dad Revolution, we are trying to help you think about fatherhood in a different way. As many of you who have followed us in the past have found, all of us from Dad Revolution are passionate about our families and our children and we are doing what we can to share our experiences, thoughts and ideas on how you can be a Revolutionary Dad. I was on my way to work today and I Read More...

Ill-vaders From The Other Room

The start of the school year means new friends, new teachers, new things to learn and, all too often, new germs to bring home.  Unfortunately, JSL seems to have found a shiny new germ to bring home.  Specifically, he has a cold.  No fever (thank goodness, given his history of febrile seizures), but his nose has been stuffed up and he’s now begun coughing. I don’t think I need to tell you that colds a Read More...

Becomming a Disciplinarian

It is not easy to discipline your own child. You can read as many books as you want but depending on the temperament of your child, not every discipline/punishment trick will work. Depending on the temperament of the child you have to be creative and try new things – one size definitely does not fit all. In our family Diva-J is a good example of this. We have read many books on parenting a strong willed ch Read More...

Fears/Issues of Fatherhood

Have you ever really thought about what you are afraid of in being a father, or what issues really trouble you in fatherhood? For me, when thinking trying to think of eight main fears/issues that are difficult for me to cope with, I came up with the following: 1) Bringing home the bacon – I am the sole income maker for my family. What would happen if for some reason I would lose my job, or become unable to wo Read More...

A little whining from the token SAHD

Juggling three kids is not an easy task and I want some respect for it damit. Now this isn’t going to be one of those “nobody respects the stay at home dad” whining sessions but I’m getting a little cranky with the judgements. Last night we were at the library for story time. They have this time where kids can come in their jammies and have a story, sing some songs, and play a game or two. I Read More...

Yoda and Heartburn

I cannot for the life of me remember the last time I felt in complete control of my life. Actually, it has been a little over two years that I fall asleep with the uneasy sensation that I have forgotten to do something very important each and every night. Given that parenting years feel much longer than dog years that’s quite a bit of worrying. Maybe after years of practice I will have perfected some sort of brea Read More...

Happy Birthday to Me

Happy Birthday to me. Another year officially logged into the history of my existence on planet earth. I awoke to a sense of disbelief that I’ve completed yet another full 365 day journey around the Sun. My sense of time, you see, became disjointed once I became a parent. Since that fateful day, I’ve lived each moment without concern for any regimented adherence to the calendar. Instead, I became aw Read More...

Protecting My Son From Myself

Every father wants to protect his children.  You teach them not to run into the street.  You warn them about strangers.  You deny their request for a blowtorch.  (Ok, maybe that was just Calvin’s dad.)  The one thing you don’t expect to have to protect them against is yourself. NHL is, in many ways, a mini-me.  This can be wonderful when my love of computers, superheroes, etc are mirrored in him.� Read More...

A Father as a Beacon to his children

I like lighthouses! The pictures that you will see through this article are a few that I have taken through the years. Recently I have been thinking of lighthouses in relation to fatherhood. Lighthouses have played and still play an important part in nautical safety as many are still in working order doing the job that they were made to do – safeguard vessels from a watery grave. (If you are interested in learni Read More...

Sparking a Superhero Fantasy in Our Children

I admit it, I like comic books. When I was a kid I was obsessed with comic books. Give me a great old Spiderman or X-Men comic and I would be ecstatic. I have even kept the comic books that I collected when I was a child. Do I know what I will do with them in the future, no, not really, but I am pleased that they were not thrown out or given away as I have heard that some parents did once their child left the house Read More...

Sons Of Our Fathers

My father has always been larger than life for me. He is a WWII veteran. He speaks five languages fluently. He was the editor of Hollywood’s leading industry rag. He won a ping pong tournament on the Andrea Doria while crossing the Atlantic. He taught me to throw a spiral and to use both hands to scoop up a ground ball. I will never be able to thank him enough for giving me the carefree childhood that not everyon Read More...

Romancing the stone

Sure its the title of a movie directed by Robert Zemeckis starring Michael Douglas, Kathleen Turner,  and Danny DeVito. It is also a similar feeling to how romance goes once you have kids. I’m real in the fact that once we had a child it was a nose dive – we didnt sleep (heck, we still dont sleep) and sometimes we have different viewpoints on how we’re raising our son. None the less the the acti Read More...

Life Lessons Learned From Sharing Childhood Favorites

Of all of the ways to connect with your children, one of the most rewarding has got to be introducing your children to things that you were interested in as a child.  Not only do you wind up reliving some of your favorite moments from your childhood, but you build on them. You wind up not only seeing them with adult eyes, but seeing through your kids’ new slightly different perspective. Now, I’m unde Read More...

Flowers, Notes and Gifts… Is This Even Still Possible after Kids

We all get busy in our lives once we get married and when we add kids to the mix, our lives and our creativity sometimes takes a back burner. As parents we put all (or at least most) of our energy into our kids’ lives and sometimes our partner in the family dynamic gets left behind. Have any of you felt this way? I know that for me this definitely has occurred on and off within my wife and my 12 years of marriage Read More...