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 AffectionMarch 2009
You are browsing the site archives for March 2009.
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 $#*%!I still get chills when I hear the theme from Finding Nemo (2003). Thomas Newman always does that to me with his scores but this one touches me deeply as a dad. I think it’s because it reminds me of the opening scene when the father discovers his Nemo as the lone surviving fish egg …
Continue reading Lessons Learned from Finding NemoLast 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?By Bryan Person Looking for an easy way to capture and chronicle moments in your children’s lives, even when, like me, you don’t have the discipline to either round up those stories regularly on a blog or jot down thoughts in a baby book? Consider creating a parent-controlled Twitter feed for each of your kids, …
Continue reading Creating and archiving tweets about your kidsI 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 ToysIt occurred to me that these are Zachary’s Wonder Years. How will he remember them?
Continue reading The Wonder YearsI 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 KidsThanks 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…As I was dropping my son off at school (about two hours late – he has a variety of special needs which I’ll discuss later), I said, “I’ll probably be home when you get home.” His immediate response, as he moved on down the hall with his tardy slip, was, “Why?” “Why,” indeed. I’m not …
Continue reading Hard Times Are Coming to Your DadAhhh, the ubiquitous mobile phone… the blessing and curse of our modern society.  As a parent, it is a blessing since we can always have the comfort of knowing we are just a phone call away from an instant connection with our children.  As a parent, it is a curse because now that we have …
Continue reading It’s Your Kid Calling… Now What???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 …
Continue reading Personal Finance TransparencyJoe Hage uses Twitter to record the funny things his kids say. Give it a try.
Continue reading Tweet Your Kids #2Welcome 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! 2009 isn’t going as well for me as I had hoped. You see, …
Continue reading Worst of the Week: OpportunitiesRick 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 …
Continue reading My Father’s ChairThe 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 DoSunday 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 TimeIf 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…