The Cast of Dads could not resist getting together to record one last podcast for 2009.  Certainly one of our highlights of the year was getting together because of the Sony DigiDad Project, and we have been having a lot of fun sharing our stories and just “shooting the breeze” together ever since in …
Continue reading Cast of Dads 4: Happy New Year (and Making it to Midnight!)December 2009
You are browsing the site archives for December 2009.
Here’s a list of the most popular posts for 2009. Ironically, even though we’re the number one Daddy Blog with over 80 fathers writing for us, our top two posts were from women! This only proves that our new feature called The Better Half has been a total success. It gives the women in our …
Continue reading Most Popular Posts of 2009 on Dad-O-MaticMy son wants to be a movie director…among other things. He asked for a green screen setup this year for Christmas, and we got it for him (not cheap). One of the things we’ve been trying to do, since our family grew by two boys, is to get them all to do things together, to …
Continue reading The Princess & The Dragon – Christmas MagicAs parents we are many things. At times we are the masters, at times we are the mentors. We have to be both teacher and preacher. We have to lead and feed and seed our children so that they grow into happy and productive adults. We live in stressful and complicated times and now, more …
Continue reading Opening Doors To Your Children’s DreamsI 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 ChristmasMy son Zane got a tripod for his birthday. His birthday is actually on Christmas day, but wae celebrate early to keep them separate. Anyway…he filmed me reading “How the Grinch Stole Christmas” …and we thought we’d share. Enjoy: ÂÂ
Continue reading How the Grinch Stole Christmas … From MeContinuing on my first post here at Dad-O-Matic, I’ve created a blog that will be used for my family to stay in touch with my in-laws during Christmas.
Continue reading Creating a Virtual ChristmasThis 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 DidWOW! 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 IntroductionThe “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!Distance makes the holidays difficult but technology can help shrink that distance and bring families together.
Continue reading Shrink the Distance with Family During the Holidays.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 giftsHave 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 RudolphDisney sent me the above email. I opened it up and decided to try it out. I already had registered with their site before (for what I have no idea) then it was just a matter of uploading a recent pic of my daughter and typing in her name. After you make your own video, …
Continue reading Put Your Child On Santa’s Nice ListThanks 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 HomeworkAs Christmas draws near, I thought I’d share some cool, geeky things you might like to share with your children this holiday season. My 4 year old especially likes these. For him as a child that is growing up with on-demand video and the internet, it seems only natural to incorporate some of what Santa does online.
Continue reading Fun Online Christmas Activities with SantaThe Cast of Dads got together for our second Podcast and covered a wide range of geeky, fatherly topics. Daddy Brad was out sick which got us off and running comparing notes on the Flu (regular and the H1N1 variety). In this episode we talk about: Sick Kids H1N1 vaccines Spring Break Holiday travel with …
Continue reading “Cast of Dads” Podcast Episode 2: Vaccines to Vacations…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 DadYou probably have already wondered how a title like this makes any sense. In today’s world it probably doesn’t. Of those five words, there is one that seems to get the most attention this time of year, though not for the reasons that it used to. For some odd reason our culture has decided that, …
Continue reading Have a Politically Correct ChristmasI am convinced that all the child development books written by so-called “experts†are designed for the sole purpose of driving you insane. Even though most of the books tell you there will be variances between children at different stages, and that every kid is different, they still group the chapters in such a way …
Continue reading The REAL Expertise of the Child Development ExpertsFor many years, I’ve seen my two sons only on alternate weekends. I’ve hated the separation, but somehow that’s the hand life deals; you do what you can. About a week ago, the world changed. The boys’ mother passed on suddenly, and my household grew by two very smart, very polite teenage boys. There are …
Continue reading Families, Apparently, Can Grow SuddenlyPreface: 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 ExpectationsMovies, 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 FreeThe 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 SlickersNo baloney, it was a lot of fun participating in the Sony DigiDad Project and I hope you enjoyed the posts here at Dad-O-Matic that were inspired by the Sony gear I was able to borrow and play with. My kids and I particularly enjoyed our re-creating The Picture of Dorian Gray and creating a …
Continue reading Announcing The “Cast of Dads” Podcast…“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 booksI 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 NativesHere’s the next post in my journey – it is in part a response to Jeff Sass’ post Upfront disclaimer: In this post I compare child raising to dog training. Also, there is an appearance by the star of the show, Miles! Here’s the video: For those parents too busy to watch, here’s the summary: …
Continue reading The Journey Episode 2: Attention To DetailMy 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 SignsCraig 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 SaleTiger Woods is just the latest example of a sports star gone astray. Their face is peppered across all media outlets and the publicity is nothing but negative. As adults we know how to deal with this sort of disappointment. It doesn’t bother us much and after a few weeks or months we forget about …
Continue reading When Your Child’s Hero FallsUnlike FIGHT CLUB, when it comes to the rules of Fatherhood, it is ok to talk about them freely, especially here at Dad-O-Matic.  But are there really any rules of Fatherhood, or Parenthood for that matter?  I’d argue that there are no rules except for one: Never do anything that could harm or endanger your …
Continue reading The First Rule of Fatherhood: There Are No Rules!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 ParadiseThis is funny stuff. Andy Andrews shares 50 things that his dad said to him as a kid in blazing speed! It reminds me of the amazing Mom Song that we featured on here before. Here they are: You’d better change your tune pretty quick or you’re out of here. I mean it. Is that …
Continue reading Andy Andrews Says 50 Things Dads Say in 60 Seconds!I was recently given a review copy of Ripley’s Believe It or Not! Seeing Is Believing. The problem is, I’ve never done an official review of anything before. I guess the first thing to determine is my unit of measurement. That seems to be the thing that really brands you and makes you popular, ensuring …
Continue reading Believe It Or Not: A Review of Ripley’s Latest Book