Saturday Stoic: How to Act (Part 4)
The next bit of advice from Marcus Aurelius on how to act addresses how to carry yourself and what kind of attitude to approach life with. Let the spirit in you represent a man, an adult, a citizen, a Roman, a ruler. Not a specific take how to frame your thoughts, actions you should take,…
My Daughter and the Feelings Doctor
The decision to take out 7 year-old daughter to see a therapist was a lot easier than I guess I thought I would be. Several months ago, my wife brought up the idea and I questioned whether she really needed it or not. She got a recommendation but we didn’t do anything about it. A…
Fighting Dad Stereotypes: Dad Will Eat It
As I stood over the the ruined pan of brownies, picking the chewy bits of the overly cooked edges from my teeth, I thought to myself, “Is this what I’ve become?” As much as I’ve tried not to conform to the stereotypes of how a dad dresses, takes care of his yard, or fixes things…
Stoic Saturday: How to Act (Part 3)
Taking a look at the third bit of advice from Meditations on how to act, a look at less being more. No surplus words or unnecessary actions. I would say to a certain extent this one comes a little naturally to me. If I’ve got something to say, I’ll say it. If I don’t, I…
Stoic Saturday: How to Act (Part 1)
In my most recent pass through Meditations, this section caught my eye in a way it didn’t before. When I first read it, I didn’t so much as underline it. This time I circled it in bright orange highlighter. A clear, concise guide on how to to act. A more practical application of philosophy you…
K-12 Enrichment Company Brains & Motion Education (BAM!) Offers Better Summer Activities Than My Streaming Services
With the launch of enrichment provider Brains & Motion Education (BAM!), I now have a great idea on how to keep my kids entertained this summer. BAM! is a tech-enabled company unlocking the potential of students year-round, through not only after-school and structured recess, but summer camps too. With STEM, arts, and sports programs, they…
A Dad at Disney World: Lessons and Observations
Ever since our kids took an interest in Disney movies, my wife and I have been excited to take them to Disney World. In between an easy drive there and a painful drive back, we spent a week at The Happiest Place on Earth. I had gone as a kid myself, and as a kid-less…
A Road Trip to Disney World
When my wife and I told people we were taking the kids to Disney World, they all said “They are going to have so much fun!” When we told them we were driving, they said, “Oh….Good luck.” Luck? Who needs luck on a 1,200 mile drive when you’ve got a rubbermaid bin full of snacks…
Stoic Saturday: How to Act (Part 2)
Continuting to breakdown Marcus Aurelius’s thoughts on how one should act, the next part is a quick bit of advice – and also uses a great word. Don’t gussy up your thoughts. First off, let’s all agree that “gussy up” is a tragically underused phrase. Now that we’ve established that, my first thought is how…
What Does Dad Smell Like?
If scent is the sense with the strongest connect to memory, what will your kids remember about you? I don’t think I have a signature scent, but there is no time like the present to imbedding some olfactory fatherly memories. But what should that be? What do I want my kids to remember dad smelling…
Dad Has a Football Face
Life is a neverending journey of self-discovery. Some lessons we learn for ourselves, and some are taught to us. Yesterday I learned something new about myself. I have a “football face.” Not that I’ve got a football shaped dome like Hey Arnold or anything. My face and the noggin its attached are normal sized and…
2023: The Album (Live)
If you’re reading this, you know us well enough to be included in our annual Christmas/New Year’s letter. Congratulations! This year, we’re going audio. Please enjoy this playlist summing up the highlights of 2023. And yes, most of the songs are at least 25 years old, so you know they’re good. Track 1: Brooks Gets…
How Do I Explain Michael Jackson?
My five year-old daughter wasn’t feeling well. In the middle of the night she came into bed with my wife and I. She climbed in, got under the covers and said “Daddy, are Michael Jackson’s brothers alive?” Naturally. Michael Jackson, and his family, have been a frequent topic of questions from my kids for the…
My Daughter Hates Gym Class
She was in tears. She was on the verge of a full out meltdown. Refusing to get off the couch. Refusing to get her shoes on and get ready for school. I thought she must not be feeling well, but between her sobs she was able to let me know that wasn’t the case. Then…
My Son Won’t Stop Biting
There comes a time in every father’s life when he must sink his teeth into the fleshy pudge of of his three-year old’s arm. No? Is that just me? I know it is a very common thing for a child to go through a biting phase, but it is my understanding that it is also…
The Stuff Nightmares Are Made Of
Over the years, my kids rarely get up in the middle of the night because they’ve had a bad dream. When it does happen, it seems to come in waves. We’ll go months without somebody crying out for mommy or daddy (usually daddy), and then get three or four in a week. Some of them…
I Wish I Could Tell My Kids to Shut Up
I won a raffle at a local coffee shop this week (shout out to Sparrows!) and my prize was a gift basket of stuff. It was sitting out on the counter when my wife got home from work, and upon seeing it she joyfully exclaimed “Shut up! We won!?” While my kids were not that…
My Kids Are Always Singing
Even before my kids were born, we always had music in the house. Records, radio, streaming, whatever, just something playing in the background. After my kids were born, we introduced them to music pretty much from the time we brought them home from the hospital. Music is supposed to be good for their little developing…
Will Scoring a Goal Go to My Kid’s Head Or Mine?
Since they were born, I’ve used many words to describe my daughters. Athletic has never been one of them. I’d like to think they have always been averagely coordinated for kids their age, but their abilities, behavior, and general interests so far don’t paint them as athletes. My five-year old daughter, Evie, has fallen down…
My Son is a Very Pretty Boy
My three-year old son has a lot of stereotypical little boy tendencies. He likes looking at big trucks. He likes to play with cars. He’ll walk up to you and randomly punch you in the leg. Not to be pigeon holed into traditionally assigned gender-based interests, he also enjoys the aesthetic of having freshly painted…
A Dad Makes Fire
I recently took my three kids camping for the first time. My big fear was that they would hate it. They wouldn’t want to sleep in a tent, they wouldn’t understand that there is no TV, they wouldn’t be OK with a shared toilet. But they all did really well. Sure, they need to work…
It’s Official: I’m a Cool Dad
I never really wondered what my kids thoughts of me. Then again, I never had to. They are open about telling me I’m the best dad ever after I perform such incredible feats as blowing on their hot oatmeal or being done with work for the day. Low as the bar to impress them might…
Do My Daughters Love Me Too Much?
I had always heard there was a special bond between dads and daughters. Of course I’ve never been a daughter, but I did watch a lot of Full House growing up so I’m pretty sure I got it. Now that I am on the daddy side of the daddy-daughter relationship, I can affirm that there…
But Where Is the Real Mickey Mouse?
An important part of creating fun experiences for your children is lying to them. Some of them little – “We’ll only be in the store for a minute.” Some of them big – “Be good or Santa won’t bring you anything.” A major reason is because it benefits us, we do it to get our…
Movie Lawyers: A Source of Parental Inspiration
For most people, their own parents are the primary model for how to be a parent – good or bad. After that, we are greatly influenced by the characters we see in TV and movies. As I’ve mentioned before, the current gold-standard for TV dads is Bandit Heeler, but sitcoms and movies have forever been…
Have I Created a Middle Child?
As soon as we had our third kid there was nothing we could do about – we’d have a middle child. Stupid math. In my mind I tried to tell myself that we would fall into the traps of creating the stereotypical middle child. Having two older girls and a baby boy, my second daughter,…
Can a Dad Cry? Yes, But I Probably Won’t
While playing a game of “Would You Rather”, my daughter asked me – would you rather cry glue or sweat maple syrup? My initial response was sweat maple syrup. While it would make exercise more challenging, It’d be delicious. However, when I thought about it for a few seconds I changed my answer to cry…
Stoic Saturday: How Do You See Your Kids?
There is, without a doubt, a gap between how we see our children and how they really are. We may see the smartest kid in class, a teacher may see a kid who won’t listen. We may see an athlete, a coach may see a kid who sure does try. We may see kids playing…
Waiting for Medical Results and Momento Mori
A few weeks ago I had something of a medical concern. I am usually one to take a wait and see if it goes away approach, but this caught my attention in a way that I thought would be best not to wait and see. I’m sure you’re curious what it was. Don’t worry, it…
Stoic Saturday: Don’t Wait for Another Instant
When you have kids it becomes easy to fall into the trap of planning ahead. It is easy to think of the next milestone or how much easier life will be once they are out of diapers. While planning can be wise and often necessary, the future should not be your focus – this moment…
Working From Home When Kids Go Back to School
Like many people in the modern workforce, I can work from home. Going into the summer, I knew I’d be working from home with at least one of my kids three days a week. My wife’s schedule allowed for her to be home with the kids the other two. Having two “normal” workdays in the…
Stoic Saturday: Be The Good You Want to See In Your Kids
Parenting essentially comes down to two things: keeping your kids alive, and making sure they grow up to be good people. There is plenty of help available for the keeping them alive part – car seats, baby gates, child-proof everything. Little kids are even designed to so bendy and squishy they are hard to break.…
Why Parents Can’t Go to the Bathroom
Kids can go from having a great time to having a terrible time in a split second. Usually it is their own fault. When it’s not their own fault, it is probably their brother or sister’s fault. Sometimes it’s the fault of the color of the cup you gave them. One of the more frustrating…
Picking Up My Son for the Last Time
When you think of memorable parenting moments, what comes to mind are the firsts. You save first pairs of shoes, sometimes people save locks of hair from first haircuts, the real weirdos save the first teeth kids lose. Baby books are filled with pictures and dates of first steps, smiles, solid foods. First days of…
Kids In an Airport: Worse Than Kids In an Airplane
A fun part of being a parent is experiencing the first things with your kids – first steps, first words, first time they can get up and get themselves a drink of water. A bad part about being a parent is experiencing the first things with your kids – first teeth, first trip to urgent…
My Daughter’s Favorite Princess is Herself
As much as I’ve tried to avoid it, my four year-old daughter has gravitated to princesses. I made it a point with both of my daughters to never call them “princess.” I didn’t want them to growing up with any kind of sense of entitlement, and I really didn’t want them to grow up to…
Can a Kid Hold a Grudge? Yes, They Can.
I (and I assume most other parents as well) choose to be selective in what I believe my kids will remember later on. When it comes to any kind of trauma – getting hurt, getting in trouble, getting dropped – I think, “oh they are little, they won’t even remember this later.” But when it…
How Many Dead Kids Is Enough?
We’ve all heard the cliche “freedom isn’t free,” and that is true. Every freedom we enjoy in America comes at a price. Freedom of speech comes with the price of having to hear people say things that you disagree with, that are flat out wrong, or that are said on Fox News. Freedoms provided by…
Dad’s Guilty Pleasure: Golf
Golf is an interesting hobby. It is technically a physical activity, but to spare yourself from something as physically demanding as walking, you drive yourself from shot to shot. Speaking of shots, unless it is being played at a legitimate competitive level, it is often nothing more than an excuse to drink in the middle…
What Motivates A Younger Sibling? The Spotlight.
Despite my belief that I really don’t care if my kids learn to ride a bike, we’ve succumbed to social pressures and gotten our daughters bikes. It really did get embarrassing watching a 4 year-old cram herself onto a tricycle built for a toddler. We got Lucy, our oldest daughter, a bike over a year…
Is Patience a Problem?
Patience is a virtue, but can it also be a hindrance to effective parenting? I’ve always tried to be as patient as I can with my kids, and for the most part I think I have been. Sure, sometimes when a kid throws a block at your face point blank you end up giving them…
A Great Compatibility Test: Vomiting Children
Kids will test many things about you. Your patience. Your ability to function without sleep. Your knowledge of dinosaurs. Your ability (or lack thereof) to braid hair. Your knowledge of basic math. These are things you have to expect going into parenthood. To a certain extent, you’ll also expect that kids will test your marriage.…
Teaching My Kids About Being White
We recently had a diversity and inclusion seminar at my office. At first, I thought the idea was kind of silly. Having a diversity seminar at my office would be like having a scuba seminar in the desert. Not that we discriminate in our hiring practices in any way, but we are in Grand Rapids,…
Kids in the Backseat: What the Hell Is Going On Back There?
What is it about the backseat of a car that seems to instigate bad behavior? Most parents would agree that they would prefer their kids to be on their best behavior in public and act out at home rather than the opposite. But what about the car? It is neither home nor out. They feel…
Preschool Boyfriends, Girlfriends, and Marriage
Having two girls, I know that boyfriends would some day come into the picture. Part of me completely dreads it, but part of me really looks forward to intimidating the young suitors that they bring home. I completely understand that it is probably not the most mature thing, but I really think I’ll get way…
Now My Kid Knows What War Is
While sitting at dinner, my 5 year-old informed me that, “Dad, there is a war today.” I cringed on the inside. She now lives in a world where war is real and not just a scary scene from Mulan, and a generation of kids has been failed by those that came before them. Armed conflicts,…
Dad Takes It Away
Before you have kids you really have no idea what kind of a parent you’ll actually be. You’ll have an idea of the kind of parent you’ll want to be, but until it’s your job to stop a tiny baby from crying there is absolutely no way of knowing for sure. Over time you develop…
A Child’s Laughter: From Adorable to Annoying
There is no sweeter sounds to a parent’s ears that the first time they hear their baby laugh. A tiny little coo or a bubbly little giggle, these are great. The first time they give you a solid belly laugh, the stuff dreams are made of. A kid’s genuine laughter is almost magical. Emphasis on…
Turning the Volume Up: A Parenting Strategy
As Garth Algar pointed out, parents hate any music played at the appropriate level. Perhaps it is generational, but to me certain music just sounds better loud. It is a scientific fact (probably) that you can’t play Welcome to the Jungle loud enough. There are certain songs that as soon as they come on the…
Dad Food: Leftover Chicken Nuggets
As Chris Rock pointed out, the least you can give a Dad to eat is the big piece of chicken. While mostly true, the actual least you can give Dad to eat is a half-eaten chicken nugget. Oddly enough, this is mostly what Dad eats. Like any other kid, I ate my fair share of…
This Is What Parental Failure Looks Like
Even before you have kids you wonder if you’ll be a good parent. After you have kids, you wonder even more. It can be pretty easy to be hard yourself. You really need to remember that nobody is perfect, and there is no such thing as a perfect parent. Even though we know this, there…
A Kid’s Concept of Money
My daughter is five and getting to the point where she knows that things exist because she has heard about out them or seen them in a movie, but doesn’t quite understand what it is. Money falls into this category. I know this because she thinks we have “so much” of it. For the last…
The Little Red Caboose Book: Why It Is Obsolete
Last night my daughter picked The Little Red Caboose for her story before bed. I had never read it to her before, and I was surprised she picked it. When I told her to pick a book, I think she panicked and picked the first book she saw on the shelf. I do the same…
Dropping Off Kids: This Is My Life Now
Being a parent is not a job. It is your life. A life that you sometimes need to remind yourself that you chose on purpose. Certain aspects of parenthood can absolutely feel like jobs – chef, maid, warden. Of course, if those were your actual job they would pay you money, and filling those roles…
Including Kids In a Wedding: Adorably Stressful
When my sister-in-law first came to my wife and I with the proposition that our kids participate in her wedding, we were thrilled. Visions of our tiny people dressed like fancy adults flashed before our eyes. A little man in a tie and suspenders? Little ladies in poofy dresses? I am holding back an “Aawwwwww”…
Baseball With Dad: A Perfect Manipulation
One of the biggest differences between having no kids and having three kids, is having lots of time to watch sports and almost no time to watch sports. I still watch when I can, which for the most part is games that are on after my kids are in bed. My kids know I like…
An Ice Cream Anti-Social
My daughter started Kindergarten this year, and like any parent I was a little concerend if she would easily make new friends. She had gone to pre-school for the last two years at a different school, and I think she was a little sad that she wouldn’t see her same friends from before at her…
The PGA Tour Is Easier Than Putt-Putt
Golf is a challenging, frustrating, and humbling game. More difficult mentally than physically, it can flummox even the most experienced player. Of course, I am talking about putt-putt with small children. Compared to a round of mini golf with a five, three, and one-year old, the Masters is a walk in the exceptionally landscaped park.…
Can You Describe a Kid in Three Words?
How would you describe your kid in three words? This was a question on a form from my daughter’s pre-school. My first thought was “Does sweetest-little-lady-in-the-world count as one word?” My next thought was that it is an almost impossible task. If I could narrow down just three words to describe any of my kids,…
Stoic Saturday: Don’t Worry About It
At what point in our lives do we start to become so aware of what other people think? Little kids don’t care. My daughter will break out into full song in the middle of the produce section and not give a second thought as to what the stranger buying avocados thinks about it. But somewhere…
Kids Ruin Their Own Good Time
More than ants at a picnic, rain at a parade, or Tom Brady at a Super Bowl, nothing ruins a good time like a kid who’s having a good time. Actually, I take that back. Parades aren’t fun in the first place, so there is no good time to be ruined. Attending a parade at…
Bathroom Humor: A Parent’s Conundrum
Kids are funny. Though almost never on purpose – their jokes are terrible and they have essentially no sense of comedic timing. But they say and do all kind of ridiculous things thant make you laugh. On one hand, this makes parenting very entertaining. On the other, there are many times when you can’t laugh…
An Important Lesson for Kids: Life Isn’t Fair
My kids are getting to the age where they are questioning why other kids have something they don’t have or get to do something they can’t do. Part of it is the age. They are still too young to do things they see other people doing, like stay up late or get a big piece…
Stoic Saturday: Achieve Your Freedom
Parents laugh at the the idea of free time. Yes, kids cost money, but the resource they use the most of is time. And that is fine. Spending time with your kids is why you become a parent. However, you still must use time for yourself – to improve yourself, to grow yourself, and, as…
Fighting Dad Stereotypes: Dad Can Fix It
In my ongoing effort to address Dad stereotypes, I want to remind you that not all stereotypes are necessarily negative. I know we’ve all heard them – certain groups of people are good at math, certain groups of people are good at sports, guys who write blogs about being a dad are handsome. Heard them…
I Don’t Care If My Kids Learn To Ride a Bike
One of the iconic Dad moments is teaching your kid to ride a bike. You can all picture it clear as day – little kid all wobbly on their little bike, dad running next to them holding on, kid telling dad not to let go, and dad lying to them telling them that he won’t.…
Stoic Saturday: Your Happiness Is Different Than Your Child’s
Once you are a parent, to a certain extent your life is not your own. So many of your actions and thoughts are dictated by the actions of a your kids. Yes, you should focus on your kids. Yes, you should take pride in being a good parent. But know where the dividing line is…
An Effective Parenting Technique: Throwing Socks
There are parts of parenting that I am better at that others. One thing I make an effort, and I think I do pretty well at, is not to lose my temper with my kids. I can probably count on one hand the times I’ve actually yelled at them. And my “them” I pretty much…
Telling Your Kids About Your Will: Exciting Stuff
After we had kids, my wife and I made the responsible decision to make a will and decide what should happen to our kids if we die. Fun stuff. I don’t know how it would have came up in a conversation with a 4 year-old, but apparently my daughter knows that should we die, she…
Stoic Saturday: Focus On The Task at Hand
It is possible to become a parent without intending to, but you shouldn’t parent your kids without intention. Even if you stumbled into the role, felt unprepared and overwhelmed (what parent hasn’t?), once the responsibility of the position is yours – act accordingly. Marcus Aurelius says this: Concentrate like a Roman – like a man…
I Can’t Protect My Kids From Stairs
A significant portion of being a parent to little kids is trying to stop them from hurting themselves. I make sure they don’t pinch their fingers in drawers or bang their heads on tables. What feels like a hundred times a day I tell them to be careful. I remind them of what happened to…
Welcome to Stoic Saturday
Welcome to the first in a series of discussions on philosophy! Exactly what you expect in a fatherhood blog, right? Well, I didn’t pick the name for this blog because it was catchy. My intention with this series is take some time to step back from the day to day of being a Dad, and…
The Greatest Heroes in American History – Parents of the Oregon Trail
There is perhaps no more dreaded part of a parent’s life than spending an extended period of time in a car with your kids. Even if you tailor the entire experience around their enjoyment, the best you can hope for is that it isn’t terrible. Don’t you dare hope for actual enjoyment. If you plan…
What My Daughter Hears Me Say
My little girl was sitting at the table eating her lunch, when she looked at me and said, “Dad, do you know what you say all the time?” I was curious and nervous. In the mind of the three year-old, what it is that I say that sticks in her mind? Best case would be…
Is My Kid a Bad Influence? Yeah, Probably.
Try as we might, we cannot completely shelter our kids from negative outside influence. They will learn bad words, they will pick up bad habids, and God help us they might even listen to Cardi B. It is clear that my daugher has picked things up at pre-school and brought them home. For the most…
Dad Isn’t Pretty
Evie, my two year-old daughter, dropped some truth on me the other day. She was looking at us the bathroom mirror as we were washing her hands, and she said to me, “Dad, you’re not pretty.” At first I was insulted. I’ve been called a lot of things, but but “not pretty” has never been…
Kids and Cups: A Match Made In Hell
Before you had kids, advice is everywhere. Some of it you search out, and some of it is thrust upon you. Everybody has thoughts on things like breast feeding, the safest car seat, using a pacifier, if/when/how often you should hit your kid. However, there is one area of parenting on which nobody offered me…
The Luigi Complex: A Younger Sibling’s Struggle
Listening to my daughters play pretend, there is an obvious trend – the older one dictates the action. She decides what will be played, who says what, and how they will say it. When roles are handed out, she’s always the lead. Playing school – she’s the teacher. Playing family – she’s the Mom. Which…
The Scariest Thing for Children Is The Truth
“Daddy, scare me!” My daughter said and she laid face down on the kitchen floor, already balled up in anticipation of the terror to come. She had just “snuck” up on a fully suspecting me and shouted “ROAR” directly in my ear, so now it was my turn to return the favor. But in that…
Bluey’s Dad Is The Best Dad On TV
I try to exercise some level of control over what my kids watch. I’m not so much worried about them watching something wildly inappropriate as I am something wildly crappy. After sitting through a few episodes of The Wiggles, I was determined to never let something like that infiltrate my house again. I first heard…
The Three Phases of Shoveling Snow With Kids
No other type of weather produces such mixed emotions as snow. Its beautiful when we watch it fall from the warmth of our homes, but quite terrible to be out in it. I personally feel that outdoor winter sports are for crazy people and Norwegians. If you’re a crazy Norwegian you’re a shoe in to…
Daddy Gets the Boogers
One thing nobody tells you about being a parent before you have kids is how much of the job can be categorized as “removal” – either things from your kids or your kids from things. The idea that I had to intentionally go into my kid’s nose and remove a booger seemed odd at first,…
I Don’t Want to Teach My Kids. I Want to Educate Them
One of the thoughts I’ve consistently had over the last few years has been “at least my kid’s too little to realize what’s going on.” During the pandemic stay at home orders, they knew they weren’t going to school or daycare anymore but didn’t really ask why, or really even care. The reason for the…
Puffy the Farting Unicorn: A Christmas Miracle
My two year-old daughter is just at the age where she kind of understands the concept of Christmas, is as much as she knows the players involved – Santa, Jesus, Rudolph, Frosty. She also kind of understood that you can ask for something you want, and if you are good you might get it. Naturally,…
Harry Chapin Makes Me Feel Bad
As I have mentioned before, balancing work life and home life when you work from home poses challenges that didn’t exist when I was working from an office. Last Friday all three of our kids were home – no pre-school and no daycare – and I was home with them for half of the day…
My Kids Are Better Than Me At Something
Throughout the course of a parent’s life, their children surpass them at various things. I knew this was coming. I know at some point my kids will run faster than I can, or play a game better than I can. I am sure that I, like any parent who is not also a teacher, will…
Cowboys and Muppets: Lullabies of Choice
When my oldest daughter was a baby, we tried all the things to see what worked to calm her down and get her to fall asleep. Some of them to our own detriment. Though video clips on YouTube calm them down, they are the toddler equivilent of crack. We seriously had to ween her off…
An Awareness of Genitals
After our first two kids were girls, my wife and I agreed that when it came to anything related to their anatomy “ask your Mom” would be a totally acceptable answer on my part. I would take the kids when they throw up, she would take them when they had questions about their lady parts.…
Boss Is a Four Letter Word
I like to think my kids don’t have the capacity for hate. Surely these sweet little people can’t have a mean still-developing bone in their bodies. I know there are things they dislike – spicy food, baths, sitting still long enough to play a game – but I didn’t think they could hate. However, there…
Official Ranking of Holidays for Parents
The holiday season is just around the corner, and as I start looking forward to the things I’ll do with and for my kids, it got me thinking about how you approach the holidays differently with kids. Mostly there is less, or at least more discreet, drinking involved. (All manner of booze can be enjoyed…
Reintroducing My Kids Shopping
Back when I took my kids places, I think my kids were pretty well behaved. At least as well behaved as toddlers can be. Did I have to walk back into a restaurant to retrieve a shoe? Yes. Did I ever have to drag a screaming kid out of a store? No. Did childless people…
Hot Dogs Are To Be Bitten
A great thing about kids is their innocense and goofyness. They say and do pretty much whatever without much awareness of what they are doing, and therefore have not yet developed a sence of what should be embarassing. In a way, it is wonderful. They do their thing in their own world and don’t care…
Fighting Dad Stereotypes: Dad Clothes
In my ongoing attempt to address harmful Dad stereotypes head on, I next take on the issue of dressing like a Dad. Close your eyes and picture what a Dad wears. What do you see? The Sterotypical Dad Outfit A t-shirt – it’s probably from a vacation destination. Could be from a civil war battlefield,…
Summer is Officially Over. Good.
However you choose to mark the end of summer, mark it. Kids are back in school (virtual or otherwise), Labor Day weekend has past, and the weather is cooling off. For some this change of the season comes with a sense of melancholy. They are closing their pools, packing up their cottages, and already longing…
I Must Protect This House. And These Garbage Cans.
So there I was working from home, sitting in my basement on a Slack call when I hear a sustained car horn – at least a solid four seconds of honk – followed by three or four muffled sounding booms. I’m intrigued. My house is on a corner, so my first thought is car accident.…
Time Is a Traveler
Maybe it is part of being older, or maybe it is part of being a parent, but the value of my time is something I think about more now than I did a few years ago. Actually, I don’t think value is the right word – you can’t put a price tag on time, and…
The Best Disney Dad Is Not Mufasa
Previously, I shared my thoughts on the who the worst father in Disney movies was, and I was asked who I thought the best Disney dad was. (Personally, I think I’m the best Disney Dad. So let’s be clear this is limited to dads from Disney movies, not Dads who take their kids to Disney…
Balancing Work and Home Life When You Work From Home
Opinions and politics aside, nothing is normal about living through this pandemic. What used to be a typical day at the office has been replaced by an atypical day at home. I have been able to continue working without a layoff or hours reduction, and I know I am lucky because of that. However, this…
Babies Are Full of Spit
A baby’s body is made up of 47% undigested milk. That is a science fact. Probably. It boggles my mind how a baby can can spit up what seems like more than they ate. Babies spit, I get that, but I also understand basic math. It really ought to be impossible for a baby to…
Raising Kids as a Detroit Sports Fan
It’s baseball season (or at least something resembling baseball season), and I can do something that feels like a right of passage – watch baseball with my kids. So far my kids exposure to me watching sports has been last year’s March Madness and football season. I don’t watch hardly as much sports as I…
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I Think Therefore I Dad 