2009

You are browsing the site archives for 2009.

I put this video together yesterday to share with my friend and family. As the Dad-O-matic dads are quickly becoming part of my online family I wanted to share it here too. Merry Christmas.

Continue reading Merry Christmas

This holiday season, my daughter asked for a plush kitty. My boy asked for anything Thomas. That’s it. Know why? The picture is pretty much the reason. My kids don’t get a steady input of toy ads so as such, they don’t really seem to have as many interests in such. Now, I used to …

Continue reading The Best Thing I Ever Did

WOW! I’m so excited to join the Dad-O-Matic community. I just wanted to introduce myself in my first blog over here. I guess I share two things in common with everyone on this blog. I’m a Dad and I’m a bit of geek. I guess I’ll start with the Dad stuff and then cover the …

Continue reading Introduction

The “Cast of Dads” is back for our last recording before the Christmas Holiday, and it’s a doozy.  Somehow our Holiday chatter leads us from the manly to the metro-sexual.   In this episode we discuss: Snow Days Holiday Gifts We Want Mustaches Massages and Massage Envy Guys like the spa too Pedicures? Really? Daddy Spa …

Continue reading Cast of Dads Podcast Episode 3: Mustaches, Massages & Man Purses!

Are you guilty of buying your spouse or significant other a bad gift?  Over the years I have purchased my wife a salad spinner, stuffed her stocking with Listerine Breath Strips (what the heck was I thinking?) and purchased concert tickets for a show I was much more interested in than she was. What are …

Continue reading Bad gifts

Have you ever paid close attention to the classic Christmas television program Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer? Rudolph and Hermey are misfits and the misfit toys are marooned on an Arctic island. It seems people with differences are sort of dismissed. But what’s interesting is that the North Pole is actually quite similar to our …

Continue reading We could learn a lesson from Rudolph

Thanks to technology, our kids are growing up in an amazing time. Homework assignments that I would have had to use construction paper, crayons and Elmer’s Glue to complete are now being accomplished with laptops and PowerPoint.  Stacks of papers and notebooks have been replaced by files on key chain sized USB drives.  Those are just …

Continue reading How A Social Media Guru Helped My Son With His Homework

I’m in the middle of one of those periods where I look at my daughter, about to turn six, and am amazed. I guess I shouldn’t be. When I was five, I started reading Dr. Seuss books to my grandfather. When Trish was very young, she was reading and speaking two languages. Katie will turn …

Continue reading Daddy, Can I Read to You?

want to be a full time dad through the thick and thin, through the love and hate, the good times and bad. Don’t mistake me: there will probably be times where I truly will hate my children and question what demon-spawn I have birthed. Sure as I am writing this I have felt that same way for my parents at times. I know that regardless of what issue lies in front of us I will love and adore my children always and hold them above anyone else. That is what my parents do and have done.

Continue reading Thoughts From A Future Dad

Preface: As a believer in Christ and one who celebrates a traditional American Christmas, this commentary is for readers who also celebrate the traditional American Christmas. My comments may not resonate with you other wise, and you may even find yourself disagreeing with me on certain points. This is what I believe, and would like …

Continue reading Setting Christmas Expectations

Movies, bowling, pizza, arcades, museums, concerts, shows, Ice Capades, circuses, Chucky Cheese, Dave & Busters, ice skating, rollerskating, sporting events, shopping, pottery, fairs, carnivals, planetariums, aquariums, theme parks, amusement parks, skiing, go-carts…  There are no shortage of ways to spend money to entertain our kids, and spend we do.  As much as they have fun …

Continue reading The Best Things About Fatherhood Are Free

The movie City Slickers (1991) was a successful comedy starring Billy Crystal but what I loved most about the movie is its many tender moments like the clips I’m sharing here. There are some great life lessons here such as the one thing lesson from Jack Palance or the Best/Worst day stories from Billy and …

Continue reading Life Lessons from City Slickers

“I am the product of long corridors, empty sunlit rooms, upstairs indoor silences, attics explored in solitude, distant noises of gurgling cisterns and pipes, and the noise of the wind under the tiles. Also, of endless books” C.S. Lewis

Continue reading None of the right books

I recently attended a session at PodCamp New Hampshire on “Digital Natives” and realized halfway through the discussion that my children represent the first generation of “Social Natives.” My son Jackson and I thought it would be nice to share an episode of our show “Two Dudes and One Camera” with the Dad-O-Matic community and …

Continue reading Rise of the Social Natives

My job requires a lot of travel. It’s a fact of life; in a way the balance of our marriage teeters on it. I have overheard my wife assert on many occasions that I am required to spend at least one night a week on the road so she can get the house fully clean. …

Continue reading Nesting Danger Signs

Craig Valentine gives an inspirational 7-minute speech here that I just stumbled across. I have to say that I really liked what he had to say when it comes to going for your dream in life. He shares a great story about a monumental decision he had to make in his career between money and …

Continue reading Your Dream is NOT for Sale

It’s that time of year. The holidays, Christmas, Chanukah and more are celebrated. Bright lights, holy symbols, and wintery decorations galore. It’s also become the season where folks no longer greet people with naming the holiday. Parenting is tough. There are tons of things you want to teach your children. Tolerance should be at the …

Continue reading Happy What?

Phil Vassar’s wonderful song “Just Another Day in Paradise” captures the feeling most of us dads have but more than likely never express so eloquently. Its message is so pure and so simple, yet so profound. Even when things appear messy and chaotic and things don’t go the way we planned them (they rarely do), …

Continue reading Just Another Day in Paradise

Today’s post is really a beginning. I’m a neurohacker at heart and by profession. I design behavioral software. That means I create media designed to “install” beliefs and behaviors into people just like you would install a new app onto your computer. I enjoy it. I’m good at it. And I believe that one day …

Continue reading The Journey Begins

We are in that awkward time between Thanksgiving, and New Year’s, when the various “Holy Days” (a.k.a. Holidays) kick in.  Whether you celebrate Christmas, Hanukkah, Kwanzaa, Festivus, or some other seasonal ritual, one thing is certain, you will be inundated with the commercialism of the season.  Black Friday, Cyber Monday, mauling at the mall, the …

Continue reading Happy Melancholy-days! Five Reasons NOT To Be A Scrooge This Year!

We had a wonderful Thanksgiving and the whole family settled down to watch The Hannah Montana movie. While I’ll admit that I think her show is actually funny and entertaining, I have to say that I was not thrilled with this movie selection. So I tried to make the best of it by making my …

Continue reading Caterpillars and Butterflies

The day after Thanksgiving, my wife Anne and I took my kids to Disney’s High School Musical on Ice. What could be more patriotic than ice dancers simulating basketball to a syrupy Disney soundtrack? The kids were mesmerized, and I dropped cash at the souvenir stand as if I was competing for their attention with Thanksgiving itself…

Continue reading Thanks and Misgivings: A Remarried Dad Looks Back and Ahead

As a dad of four beautiful girls (and a lovely wife – seen below 4-5 months pregnant with our son) affection, and the subsequent display, has never been a question inour household. There’s lots of “loves” (as we call them) to go around for everybody. Snuggles, hugs, and kisses abound.  But now I suddenly find myself …

Continue reading A Question of Affection

As an astronaut of consciousness I had to raise my son Miles as a lucid dreamer. I started with no particular agenda or expectations when he was about three and a half. That was three years ago. Today Miles is a natural. He thinks about and experiences dreaming in a way I’ve never experienced before. …

Continue reading Teaching My Son to Lucid Dream

[podcast]http://www.kimandjason.dreamhosters.com/clubkj_stuff/audio_articles/13_Things_To_Be_Thankful_For.mp3[/podcast] In a few weeks, my daughter Lucy will celebrate her first birthday. Last Thanksgiving, we had to skip the traditional two-hour drive home because my wife looked like she was hiding the Great Pumpkin under her shirt. At the risk of sounding like every other dad who’s ever lived, I can’t believe how fast …

Continue reading A First-Year Father’s 13 Things to Be Thankful For (Podcast)

It is November 15.  Two weeks ago I introduced you to my hairy situation, having decided to grow a moustache this month in support of Movember and the goal of raising awareness and funds for prostate and testicular cancer research.  While overall the Movember movement is doing an awesome job raising funds around he world, …

Continue reading Mid-Movember (Upper) Lip Service

Dad, King of Comedy… Growing up in a highly opinionated, and comedic laden, Latin household you would think that new jokes would present themselves often and we would all, in a sense, “TEST” our new material out on each other in the house but then sometimes you get caught up with your “big hit.” My …

Continue reading Stale Daddy Jokes

Today is November 1, and I just had a close shave.  No, I didn’t avoid an accident.  I actually had a close shave… with a razor and some shaving cream, and at least for my upper lip, that will be my last close shave this month.  November is “Movember,” with the “Mo” standing for “Moustache.” …

Continue reading The Gang’s All Hair! Grow A ‘Stache For Charity Cash!

Since tomorrow is Halloween, and it’s a Saturday, a lot of you will be carving your pumpkins.  Please, don’t carve a boring one.  We’re Dad-o-matic dads.  We don’t carve boring pumpkins.  You may think it is difficult to carve a cool pumpkin, but it’s not.  Like most things, all you need are the right set …

Continue reading Stop Carving Boring Pumpkins

Kids’ costumes in modern times have gone from sickly sweet to just plain sick. A walk down the dripping, splattered, fake-blood-soaked Halloween aisle of your favorite drugstore proves a point last heard in 2000: Gore wins the popular vote.

When I went online to find my kids costumes, I found life-like swords and machetes, clear masks that filled up with blood, and a variety of disembodied heads and severed limbs. I saw a “zombie doctor” costume with “PVC rotting chest, pants with rotted knee, zombie mask, surgical mask, surgical cap and latex gloves” that came in size 4-6!

Continue reading Why Are So Many Kids Halloween Costumes So Inappropriate?

I’ve been traveling a lot. It’s not easy on my family, but they all know that the goal is good enough to support. Today, I had 20 minutes with my boy before jumping in the car to go to yet another event. Here’s what I did with the time: If you can’t see the video …

Continue reading Finding Daddy Time

Times have certainly changed.  My wife and I struggle with how to give our kids the same kind of Halloween we experienced as kids.  The Halloween of our childhood has sadly passed us by.  Instead,  the mall offers trick or treating, we cart the kids around to relatives houses, and we keep some candy in …

Continue reading Trick or Trunk?

photo credit: mahalie via flickr Hi, my name is Buck and I don’t have parent guilt.  I probably should start from the beginning.  I travel for my work rarely.  I have started going to conferences for blogging and social media.  I want to be a better blogger.  I have attended a couple locally.  I have …

Continue reading Traveling Dad Doesn’t Have Guilt

I shot a 5 and a half minute video of my family vacation at Disneyland in California, or rather, just a bit of the vacation. Here’s the clip: My thought when I did this was, “video should be fun, simple, and not exactly a complete capture of every moment of the vacation.” We had two …

Continue reading Making Media on Vacation

Image via Wikipedia (NOTE: The following article first appeared last September on my personal blog, Sassholes! It was this post about my daughter’s 17th birthday that led to Chris Brogan asking me if I’d like to contribute to Dad-O-Matic.  Ever since, I have been honored to share my thoughts and experiences with you here each …

Continue reading From BARBIE to BLACKBERRY!

We went to the doctor the other day for my daughter Lucy’s nine-month checkup. It included a smorgasbord of shots. And I got to hold her down. I was pretty nervous on the ride there, and I wasn’t even the one getting the shots. As we were driving, I told Kim that I would rather …

Continue reading Shots and Superheroes

When most people think of Dolly Parton they think of her flash Country persona, her anatomy (sorry, but it’s true), her starring in Nine to Five (if you’re as old as me) or her Islands In The Stream song with Kenny Rogers (ah ah!). In Nashville, TN. we often associate Dolly with her Disney-esque theme …

Continue reading Dolly Parton the BOOK LADY!

Sunday was National GrandParents Day. It was started in 1978 so this little known holiday has been around for over 30 years. Even though we’re called Dad-O-Matic and focus primarily on dad stuff but we all understand and appreciate the priceless contributions that grandparents make to our families. We also know that, God willing, we …

Continue reading National GrandParents Day!

I have never written about my experiences on September 11th.  At the time I was working for the Federal Emergency Management Agency in the Urban Search and Rescue Division.   That morning we were watching the events unfold in New York City when we heard the Pentagon was attacked.  We could see the thick acrid smoke …

Continue reading Explaining 9/11 to my son

Nature and nurture are in a never ending battle to claim the disposition of our children. While it’s true that the apple rarely tumbles too far from the tree, it is also true that there are a multitude of things we as parents can do to safeguard the childhoods of our children, limit their exposure …

Continue reading 7 Secrets to Raising a Happy Child

[podcast]http://www.kimandjason.dreamhosters.com/clubkj_stuff/audio_articles/7_Ways_Fantasy_Football.mp3[/podcast] Summer is winding down, the kids are back in school, and the long, bleak, football hiatus is almost over. If you’re a fantasy football nut, you already know that this is one of the most exciting times of the year. You know the thrill of channeling your inner Jerry Jones in order to take …

Continue reading 7 Ways Fantasy Football Can Make You a Better Dad

I’ve always held onto my boyhood dreams of rocket jet packs and flying cars.  I read the old pulp magazines when I could, devoured paperbacks and hardcovers that spoke of journeys to the stars and little green men from mars.  I loved the feeling I got when I read the tales that brought dreams and …

Continue reading My Little Girl Builds Rockets…

As parents, one of our jobs is to prepare our children for the future so we do our best to teach them how to be self-reliant and independent. Unfortunately, we sometimes get so focused on that one particular mission so much that we tend to lose sight of the fact that they are just kids. …

Continue reading Let Them Be Little

The other day, my wife took the kids to the New England Aquarium. Supposedly, they had fun. They told me about penguins pooping on the rocks, and about the sharks. Officially, the sharks never eat the other fish in the tank. (Here, the woman saying this wiggled her eyebrows.) But what my kids will remember …

Continue reading The Simplest Of Pleasures

The Green Mountain Flyer, a creeper train that putts from St. Johnsbury Vermont into Newport, and back, once a week, was off in the distance about a mile or so.  I couldn’t see it yet, but it fired its whistle a few times and, although not really close, it was certainly headed our way.  A …

Continue reading Good Girl Shaka

Before I publicly announced on my website that I had attempted suicide at the age of ten, very few people had any idea. Of the people who I told, some met my admission with disbelief, a couple with anger and skepticism and there were one or two who refused to hear me. Granted, they didn’t …

Continue reading Listen To Your Kids

We want the shirt off your back, well actually we want the story about the shirt on your back. In particular we want the story of your favorite t-shirt, sweatshirt, hoodie… Were you wearing it when your first child was born? Is it an old college favorite that your partner has adopted as sleepwear ? …

Continue reading The Shirt Off Your Back..

***Featured on Good Morning America*** Here’s the segment with Chris Cuomo & Alexis Neely Becoming a dad is the ultimate step into adulthood.  It simply doesn’t get more real than that, does it?  That little face looking up at you makes you realize that life isn’t just about you anymore.  Suddenly, you are responsible for …

Continue reading 5 Legal Documents Every Dad Must Know About & How to Make Sure They Don’t Fail

[podcast]http://www.kimandjason.dreamhosters.com/clubkj_stuff/audio_articles/Adultitis_Are_Kids_the_Cause_or_the_Cure.mp3[/podcast] Adultitis is a chronic condition that plunders laughter, burns people out, and turns them into zombie-like doo-doo heads. It causes stress — lots of it. Sometimes it seems like stress and parenthood go hand in hand. When my wife and I were expecting our first child, I was amazed at how many people came …

Continue reading Adultitis: Are Kids the Cause or the Cure? (PodCast)

For as long as I can remember, Sony has been a premiere consumer electronics brand.  I can clearly remember getting my hands on the original, ground-breaking “Sony Walkman” personal cassette player.  I can remember my first “color TV’ being a 13” Sony Trinitron, because my grandfather insisted it would last forever… and it practically did.  …

Continue reading Sony’s DigiDad Project… Cool Gadgets, No Baloney!

Yes, I am writing yet another “5 Tips” post. This is unintentionally becoming a series (coming soon: “5 Posts About 5 Tips….”) but let’s face it, “5 Tips” are at least half the work of a “Top 10” list, and almost as satisfying. So, without any further fatherly preamble, here are my… 5 Tips For …

Continue reading 5 Tips For Back To School Basics!

Remember Patty Hearst? She was a socialite heiress, captured by the Symbionese Liberation Army, and rapidly brainwashed into becoming a bank robber. What was rarely, if ever, mentioned, is that the techniques used to affect that radical transformation began with her captors establishing themselves in parental roles. The most important question any of us can …

Continue reading What Do You Want – The Most Important Question When Brainwashing Your Children

In the wake of Eunice Shriver’s death I thought I would share a recent debate that has been evolving within the Down syndrome support group my wife and I belong to.   The question is about inclusive sports for children with special needs.   Some people believe organizations like Special Olympics and Challenger Division Little …

Continue reading Your Special Child and Sports

Our youngest daughter turned 20 months old a couple days ago.  That’s right, parents of babies celebrate birthdays every month.  Not balloons, ponies and clowns celebrating, more  a self-congratulatory rejoicing that we dodged another month without a domestic accident or ingesting one of daddy’s golf balls. For most parents, this is a day marked by …

Continue reading 600 Days Without Solid Sleep

Life in our little world is about to take major shifts. In only two weeks, Stephanie will be off to college, and Katie will be starting kindergarten. The family dynamic shifts, and every couple of years more kids will hop out of nests and disrupt it further.  There was only one answer.  We planned a …

Continue reading Those Lazy Hazy Days of Summer

It’s that time of year again. It’s time to sort the CDs. Oh, I’m sure you’re thinking “Why don’t you just keep them in order as you use them?” and normally I would agree with you. After all, that’s how I use them. But I live with children. Four of them to be exact. And …

Continue reading Daddy’s Music Helpers

Our children are growing up in an amazing, incredible, awe inspiring age.  It is easy to take for granted the phenomenal, science fiction-esque, fantasy world they (and we) now live in.  A world where they can instantly communicate with any of their family or friends anywhere on the planet, any time they want, for pennies, …

Continue reading A “Spoof” Is Not Always Funny: Teaching Kids The POWER of Technology

My family enjoys many children’s performers such as the Wiggles, Dan Zanes, and Raffi. Recently we were introduced to Buck Howdy.  My wife was working so I decided to load the boys up and take them to our local zoo for the day.  The zoo’s barnyard area is contained and I can let all three …

Continue reading A Kiddie Roundup with Buck Howdy

My wife and I are preparing our oldest son for kindergarten.  This is a huge step for him.  Our oldest has Down syndrome and we decided to hold him back a year in preschool.  Now, however, he is ready for kindergarten.  While I am excited about the new things my son will be exposed to …

Continue reading Words Can Hurt

It’s summertime!  (Duh!)  For many families that means it is time for lots of “Rays and Zees” spending time outdoors with activities and relaxing in the sun.  For all of us that also means thinking about protection from those burning rays, and for parents it is yet one more thing for us to worry about. …

Continue reading Protective Wear For Fun In The Sun!

It has been awhile since I have done a That’s What She Said.  The reason for that is I have been super busy at work.  The last 6 months has been one big push towards June 28th.  My team accomplished what we set out to do and then I took a break but I am …

Continue reading That's What She Said: Colors

There is one thing that every child has, no matter how young or how old they are — A BIRTHDAY! Celebrating your kid’s birthday is always special and often a special challenge for us parents. After all, we want to create a memorable, age appropriate celebration and we want it to be fun and full …

Continue reading It Takes The Cake!

Lots of parents worry about their legacy. The legacy they leave through their children is often the way we worry about it most. Gone are the days many adults worry if they’ll be remembered as famous for something, but all but a few parents don’t want to be known as a good father or mother. …

Continue reading Passing something on

The other day I heard my middle son say to my wife, “Mommy, I love you as fast as an airplane and as high as the moon.” We should all love that hard. Photo credit: Originally uploaded to Flickr by Wilson17(newly remarried!) Benjamin Strong is the Director of Marketing for the United States Coast Guard …

Continue reading Random Thoughts On Love

Ever think ‘I should write that down’ when your child says something funny? Joe Hage uses Twitter for that. Click here for his third installment.

I use Twitter for that. Here’re some Tweet-worthy comments from my boys.

Continue reading Tweet Your Kids #3

The waiter poured the glass of wine for my son and we raised our glasses to toast…   Despite my instinctive fatherly discomfort and concerns, it was a ritual we could not avoid. After all, we were celebrating his 21st birthday… IT’S MORE THAN I CAN BEER… Yesterday, my son Zach turned 21. It is nerve …

Continue reading Drinking With Your Children

My wife and I work somewhat separate schedules.  I work a typical 9-5 schedule while she works part time at a hospital.  That means I spend some time watching our three boys by myself.  When the kids get all spun up and I start to get frustrated we need to find something to calm us …

Continue reading I am a rock star!

My daughter Katie and I recently discovered a website I thought worth sharing.  Heck, you don’t even NEED kids for this site, it’s cute and guaranteed to make you smile.  ZOOBORNS is a site where they post pictures of baby animals born in zoos and wildlife preserves around the world.  There are some oddball critters …

Continue reading Nothing Bonds Like Baby Animals

All of us dads at Dad-O-matic (over 80 strong and growing!) want to wish everyone a Happy Father’s Day! Obviously, this is an important day for us because we strive to be the ultimate voice for dads and their families. This day always makes me think of my dad who passed away rather young while …

Continue reading The Living Years

As advertisers climb over one another to suggest Father’s Day gifts, it is wise to consider Emily Dickenson’s poem, A Book. There is no frigate like a book To take us lands away, Nor any coursers like a page Of prancing poetry. This traverse may the poorest take Without oppress of toll; How frugal is …

Continue reading The gift of a Book

Getting Distracted Earlier tonight, I set out to write a blog here for Dad-O-Matic with a suggestion for how to handle a crying child and found myself writing about distractions in the context of life. Ironic how that happened, being distracted by my own inspiration to write! Anyway, upon finishing that up and posting on …

Continue reading A Technique To Quell Crying

Over at my primary online home, I have the tagline that “Life’s better when you have the right words.” I truly believe this. I think the right syllables strung together can stick with us for our own personal eternity. In celebration of Father’s Day tomorrow, I thought it would be nice to list a small …

Continue reading A Handful of Father's Day Quotes

Sunday is Father’s Day. It may seem a bit rude for me, a mommy, to ask you guys to self-reflect (god forbid), but I know you can handle it. Dad-o-Matic Dads aren’t afraid of a little reality check now-and-then, right? Don’t worry, the self-reflection homework doesn’t come until the end.  Painless, I promise!  😉 First …

Continue reading Father's Day Homework

I travel a lot lately, and one thing I’m asked quite often is how I recharge or how I maintain my life balance. Let me start by saying that I haven’t really figured out a great balance for my life, but I can say that I am doing lots to keep it all juggled. I …

Continue reading Recharging and Life Balance

This post is for all those parents still swimming through the tar of toilet training. Here are 5 quick tips to help your hurdle the pitfalls of potty training. 1) Make toilet training as comfortable for your toddler as possible. Getting them their own potty chair can be a messy, scary experience for them. Try …

Continue reading 5 Quick Tips for Potty Training

Smile!  You’re on not-so-candid camera!  As parents it is our god given right to document the lives of our children. It is more than a right, it is an obligation.  Actually, for many it is more than a obligation, it is an obsession!  From the moment of our child’s birth we are compelled to capture …

Continue reading Parents or Paparazzi???

My son’s eyebrows met in the middle as his upper lip disappeared beneath the lower.  “The library?” he asked.  His tiny nose scrunched the way it always does when he knows the answer is no. I shook my head. My boy is now on his 264th guess, give or take. “Nope,” I said, “try again.” …

Continue reading Great Guesses and Remarkable Memory

I just watched the last hour of Invincible, the story of Vince Papali, who is played by Mark (y) Wahlberg. That was a good simple story. The entire movie built up to the first win of the season for the Eagles that year. And it ended without the usual montage of “fast-forwarding through all the …

Continue reading Where Is Our Inspiration?

The good folks at Griffin Technology have partnered with Dad-o-matic for a special Father’s Day series of giveaways featuring some of their best products. For the next four weeks, starting on May 24, 2009, someone will win a Griffin Prize Package that includes all of these cool prizes. Simplifi Powerjolt SE SmartShare USB AirCurve NuForm …

Continue reading Father's Day Giveaway from Griffin

Spring has sprung, and dads everywhere are dusting seats, tightening bolts, lubricating chains and pumping air into the tires of the family bicycles. Riding a bike is something I love to do, and something I cannot help but equate to fond memories of both childhood and fatherhood. As a kid, there were few things as …

Continue reading Go Ride A Bike!

Got a question? Ask BloggerDad! Welcome to the second edition of Ask Blogger Dad, your one stop spot for bad advice! Thanks for the warm response to my debut column last week. If there’s one thing I’ve learned from the reaction, it’s that I should REALLY be charging you people for access to my wisdom. …

Continue reading Ask Blogger Dad – May 16, 2009 Ignored wives, bad movies and why men don't clean

I’m all for positive nuclear family images in kid films, even the “hit-you-over-the head-with-a-mallet” kind (see: Spy Kids). What makes me uncomfortable is when divorce is superfluously depicted to kids as the end of the world. The obvious inference to real-life children of divorce (of which there are roughly one million a year): Your family is broken. Happy ending for us; stinks to be you.

Continue reading Why Must Kid Films Demonize Divorce?

It’s the age-old problem.  Your wife’s libido doesn’t match yours.  You’ve heard “I’m tired” so many times you can’t tell if your wife is speaking for herself or her Honda. I’m going to be kicked out of the girls’ club for this, but I’m going to break it down for you gentlemen.  Man up now, …

Continue reading 5 Ways to Get More Sex from Your Wife

Got a question? Ask BloggerDad! When the good folks at Dad-O-Matic asked me to write for them, I had to a) make sure they didn’t mean to send the email to somebody else and b) think up something to write about. So I figured, why not write an advice column? First, a bit of an …

Continue reading Ask BloggerDad

I bet many of you moms and dads had collections when you were children. Some of you collected dolls, some trading cards. Did you realize at the time though how much that activity added to your life? As parents today, one of the best activities we can encourage in our children is hobby collecting. Collecting …

Continue reading Children, Collections, and You

We are always looking for ways to do new things with the kids that will also serve as learning experiences.  When I was young, we gardened.  I had a huge strawberry patch, some tomatoes and beans, and a lot of fun working with my mom to plant, care for, and harvest them.  The other day …

Continue reading In Search of the Great Pumpkin

Ziggy Marley‘s new “FAMILY TIME” CD hits stores on May 5th! In honor of his first album featuring songs for children and the family, we are announcing an exciting little contest with several prizes. All you have to do is: 1. Subscribe to Dad-O-Matic 2. Share this post on Twitter 3. Leave your contact info …

Continue reading New Ziggy Marley CD Give-Away

You don’t have to deserve your mother’s love.  You have to deserve your father’s.  He is more particular…. The father is always a Republican towards his son, and his mother’s always a Democrat. ~Robert Frost The Mystery My husband, “Jay”, had this crazy idea that my children obey my every command, that my toddler doesn’t …

Continue reading "The Mommy" Mystery

Traveling for work I often find my kids a bit unruly when I return.  They are always excited to see me and can turn an already hectic time (dinner) into something even more chaotic.  If my wife is working when I come home I am often left to fend for myself while three hungry boys …

Continue reading Breakfast + Supper = Bupper!

Last week, my son and twin daughters each received either first place or runner-up awards for their fourth and first grade read-a-thons. Sure, they’ve won ribbons and certificates before, but those “awards” were simply for showing up and following directions. These read-a-thon awards were my kids’ first wins for concerted effort in competition. When I heard the news, I was excited, and pressed the kids for details…

Continue reading Why Am I More Competitive Than My Kids?

This month marked a milestone for us. My oldest daughter, Brin, received her driving learner permit. It was also memorable for another reason: We tried seven times to get it. You might think that the poor dear had difficulty passing the test, but that wasn’t where the problem lied. She passed the test with one …

Continue reading Seventh Time's the Charm?

Open the trunk of my car and in about three seconds you’ll know. Inside are a gigantic mesh bag of soccer balls, boxes of spare uniforms, and scads of orange cones, air pumps, roster sheets, and all the other impedimenta of youth soccer.   Yes, I am a soccer coach. Twice over, actually, as I …

Continue reading Lessons learned on the pitch

Hi, I’m Hugh from Dude to Dad, and I need your help on the greatest Mother’s Day project I’ve ever been a part of. Now I’ve been a part of some epic Mother’s Day projects, but what I’m about to share with you leaves all of them in the dust. Check it out to see what I mean (and see how you can help a fanstastic cause).

Continue reading Mrs Dude's Boob Fund – The Ultimate Mother's Day Project

Even though I’m sure Martina McBride’s wonderful “In My Daughter’s Eyes” is really meant to be a song for moms and daughters, I think dads can totally appreciate the beautiful sentiment behind it. I know I sure do. I love this song and totally understand what it’s all about. It can just as easily be …

Continue reading My Daughter’s Eyes

Family Traditions come in all shapes and sizes.  Some traditions involve special places.  Some traditions involve special foods.  Many traditions involve special people.  My family traditions involve jokes.  I come from a long line of practical jokers. My grandfather was famous (well, infamous) for placing a rubber rat in the oven, on top of a …

Continue reading An April Foolish Tradition

As parents, we have to make big decisions on our children’s behalf and sometimes we have to make those decisions in moments of crisis, with incomplete information, and contradictory or ambiguous advice from experienced professionals. This post is about making the decision to give a troubled child powerful drugs when no one can assure you …

Continue reading Giving Your Kid Drugs

Steven Curtis Chapman’s “Cinderella” is a strong contender for record of the year at this year’s Dove Awards on 4/23/2009 which is the Christian world’s equivalent to the Grammy Awards. It’s a poignant and extremely touching reminder for all us dads on how quickly our precious little cinderellas grow up. In the blink of an …

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Welcome to my (semi) regular Friday feature, Worst of the Week. As a white, suburbanite husband and dad of two kids, there’s a lot that can go wrong and this entry is all about how to fix it. I hope you enjoy it! It’s a minor miracle of sorts at the Marshall household – the …

Continue reading Worst of the Week: Spring Cleaning

I found myself staring at my six kids as they milled around the breakfast table yesterday. It brought a smile to my face. So I said, “I love you guys.” They each turned their heads and smiled. It was a nice moment. Then my 8-year-old son said, “Where are you going?” Where am I going? …

Continue reading Hit And Run Affection

Curses!  It is clear that our society has become more and more accepting of what was once considered “foul language” (not to be confused with “gobble, gobble” or “tweet, tweet” which is a different kind of “fowl language”).  Words that were strictly verboten when I was a kid are now regularly spoken (and thus heard) …

Continue reading Curses! Soap Tastes Like $#*%!

Last night I came across my daughter’s swaddle blanket as I was cleaning up. It brought back some great memories, especially because my friend Brad and his wife are expecting their first born any minute. I remembered that my son’s blanket was identical, and it got me thinking. I was inspired enough to put a …

Continue reading Swaddle Blanket Conspiracy?

I just returned from a family vacation that included two days at Disney World.  Our oldest daughter Carly, turned six in February, and this was our present to her.  Like most parents of six-year-olds, we are trying to teach her the value of a dollar, and appreciation for the things people do for her and …

Continue reading The Place "Where Dreams Come True"

No, I am NOT talking about Kentucky Fried Chicken!  Instead of poultry I am here to talk about dentistry!  At South By Southwest last week (SXSW for those who prefer acronyms) I was talking with Dad-O-Matic founder Chris Brogan and he mentioned that he was having trouble getting his young son to embrace the concept …

Continue reading Finger Licking Good!

My eldest daughter has Shirley Temple golden curls and a winsome smile. She’s the kind that often garners comments from strangers like, “You have such a beautiful daughter.” And of course, as a father, I glow with delight. But that glowing has gotten me thinking. What do I want most for my daughter? And what …

Continue reading What matters most?

I had a blast tonight showing my two sons some of the old toys and games me and my brothers played with when we were kids. They included G.I. Joe, Matt Mason astronauts and The Thing Maker which let you create creepy crawlers, bugs and other fun things. I was startled when my oldest asked, …

Continue reading Boys and their Toys

I just came across a post from LifeHacker a couple of days ago on a YouTube player for children called Kideo. I always cringe when I play a video to my 2 and 3 year olds. You never know when something terrible might appear in a video. I’m really impressed with the ones I’ve seen …

Continue reading YouTube Safe For Kids

Thanks to the annual wonders of Daylight Savings Time it is still dark out when I wake up at 5:30 in the morning.  The start of day routines take on a quiet and almost eerie feeling with the misty morning moonlight casting it’s glare as I walk the dogs, rub my eyes and text my …

Continue reading When The Bus Stop Stops…

Transparency is a hot topic among investors, whether talking about the financial well-being of public companies, investment funds, or executive compensation.  But have you thought about how transparency factors into your personal financial life? Most of us have suffered significant financial setbacks, ranging from investment holdings to the equity in our homes.  There’s not much …

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Rick Springfield is best known for hits like “Jesse’s Girl” but one of my favorite songs that he did was his tribute to his dad called “My Father’s Chair”. It’s such a personal song about the painful impact the family experienced when Rick’s father passed away just as Rick was about to explode with massive …

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The alternate title for this piece could have been, “Be Careful What You Wish For” because it’s all about how we shouldn’t ever look forward to a future when we’ll have time for ourselves again once the kids grow up and leave the nest. If we do that we’ll learn the harsh and painful truth …

Continue reading Then They Do

Sunday is traditionally the day of rest, but it’s usually spent catching up on all those projects we promised to get to over the weekend. The kids can’t stay up late, so there’s a tighter Sunday night bedtime for most folks, and you can’t stay up late because you probably have work to get to …

Continue reading Making Time Is Not Wasting Time

If you have been reading the articles I have written for Dad-O-Matic over the past 5 months or so you may have gleaned that I am divorced and that my three kids, who are now 20, 18 and 17, live with me.  I am not sure I have ever directly stated that in my writing, …

Continue reading Divorce Is Funny…

“Dad, I was in an accident…”  As I listened to my son’s voice cracking, holding back tears, a thousand thoughts shot through my mind, none of them very encouraging… many of them more like prayers than thoughts.  It was 6:15 am, and Zach had just left the house to drive to school a few minutes …

Continue reading The Dreaded Phone Call

I drive carpool most mornings lately. I do it because it gets me out of the house and on my way to the gym. It works. And we have a very specific routine in the mornings. That routine includes what streets we take to get to the school. It’s all very predictable. We never deviate …

Continue reading Don't Be Afraid Of Change!

In my first article for Dadomatic I talked about recognizing the signs of autism, and in my second I talked about dealing with the diagnosis.  Well, this is my third in, shall we call it a trilogy (sounds both pretentious and cool, not unlike myself….) about the disorder my son has, autism. We are very …

Continue reading Autism: Advocating For Your Kid

Welcome to my regular Friday feature, Worst of the Week. As a white, suburbanite husband and dad of two kids, there’s a lot that can go wrong and this entry is all about how to fix it. I hope you enjoy it! Regular readers will know that I’ve been blogging about the school consolidation the …

Continue reading Worst of the Week: Bloomfield Hills Schools – The Final Exam

I travel. Lots. I will travel more in 2009 than I have in my life to date. And yet, I have to maintain a relationship with my wife, my daughter, and my son. It requires every bit as much planning as it would for your business meetings. Here’s what I do for re-entry. Make it …

Continue reading Re-Entry After a Long Trip

Welcome to the world of Freakatars, a place designed to inspire your imagination and expand your creativity. Whether you’re three or thirty, creating and collecting Freakatars is freakishly fun! Read more about Freakatars Kid’s love to create. It’s built into us, and when we are young, it’s clear. We draw, paint, play. We make up …

Continue reading Freakatars Review: Dr. Frankenstein Meets Henson

Ever parent has special moments, sayings, or routines that they do with their child.  I have several in place with my daughter, Danni.  These instances are fun and make you smile internally and externally.  Then one day you turn around and the little baby is a toddler and your turn around again and she is …

Continue reading TWSS: Proper Grammar

Thanks to everyone that entered the first Dad-o-matic giveaway which featured Flowers from ProFlowers. All of the entries were dropped into a hat and the following five names were pulled out randomly. The winners will need to contact me before midnight Tuesday night to claim their prize (Paisano@Dadomatic.com). In the event that a winner fails …

Continue reading Winners of the ProFlowers Giveaway!

Quite a bit has been written about the risks of our children being a bit too transparent with their lives online.  Horror stories abound about the perils of kids posting embarrassing or incriminating pictures on their MySpace and Facebook pages.  Primetime news shows are giving significant air time to controversial trends such as tweens and …

Continue reading TransPARENTcy!

In Dad’s Life Lessons On The Wall, I shared an easy and loving way to teach your child important life lessons. Perhaps one of my lessons is one of yours? Rule #2: Negative thoughts eat away at your brain. Don’t let this happen. On seven-year-old Zachary’s wall is a picture of an acidifying apple. A …

Continue reading Dad's Life Lessons: Rule #2

Health isn’t a goal, it’s an ongoing work. You can’t just eat healthy once. Running a few laps won’t put muscles on your legs. It’s just not that easy. Oh if only it were. Lots of dads and moms out there are all about getting healthy these days. They forget those few simple truths above. …

Continue reading Work in progress

As I walked out of the gym this morning, I passed a woman walking 15-20 feet in front of her toddler. He was young, probably 2 1/2 at most. He had a pacifier in his mouth and he was happily distracted by some flowers. The Mother turned and said: “Hurry up! Your going to make …

Continue reading I'm Talking To Myself

It seems every father of a daughter, when she is born, has some joke about never letting her date until she’s 30 years old. Whether it involves standing on the front porch with a shotgun to keep boys away or sending our little girl to a convent when she turns 13, the urge to protect our …

Continue reading The Dating Game

Gordon Ramsay, watch out!  Zachary Sass is going to win HELL’S KITCHEN one day.  I mean it!  He is already my favorite chef in Hollywood (ok, Hollywood, Florida…). ITS THEIR DREAM, NOT YOURS Last night I had the pleasure of dining at the Terra Bite Cafe, in Hollywood, Florida where my 20 year old son, …

Continue reading Cooking Up A Dream!

A couple of weeks ago, we had to buy some shoes for Danni.  Danni is now old enough that she wants to pick her own shoes.  She is HUGE fan of the Disney Princesses and Tinkerbell.  Target had some Disney Princess and Dora shoes in her size on clearance.  She went with the Disney Princess …

Continue reading TWSS: Disney would be proud

Ahhh, technology!  As a geek dad I am proud to be totally on top of the tech toys my kids are growing up with as their default accessories.  In fact, what us older gadget guys consider “toys” are hardly noticed as anything special by our kids.  They don’t know of anything but a world filled …

Continue reading Txting Words Of Encouragement

I was scanning Twitter last night as I often do when there is nothing much to watch on the idiot box.  As I was scrolling through the main stream of all the people I follow I came across an absolute gem. Robb Vaules – @infobahn, shared a quote from his son – “Quote of the …

Continue reading A Hero To Squirrels

OK, my brothers. When you was solo and needed to get some, you knew the drill. High rep light curls at the gym. New shirt and shave. Slap on some smellgood. Aaawwwww, yeeeaaa. Wassat? Things have changed? The old tricks don’t inspire business time the way they used to, you say? Well pull up a …

Continue reading The Married Man's Aphrodisiac

The Bush twins wrote a beautiful letter for the Obama girls filled with wonderful advice on how to make the most of their childhood in the Whitehouse and most of all to always remember who their dad really is. Right now everything is incredibly positive and everyone loves their daddy but there will be rough …

Continue reading Still Just a Dad