My greatest day as a dad recently eclipsed my previous greatest day as a dad. The first one was about a month ago. I was wearing a Stormtrooper t-shirt I had gotten for Christmas. My daughter Lucy was sitting across from me at the table, and said, “I like your shirt, Dad.” I thanked her, …
Continue reading My Greatest Day as a Dad (So Far)Jason of Kim & Jason
Does having more kids increase your chances of Adultitis? If so, how many kids can you have before it takes over your life completely? This sums up a question I recently received through our website. Here it is in its entirety: “Hi guys, if it’s not too personal of a topic, I was wondering if …
Continue reading How Many Kids Can You Have Before Adultitis Takes Over?One of the goals of any good parent, I think, is to have your kids grow up to be awesome. And by awesome, I don’t necessarily mean popular. Or rich. Or having a job with a fancy title. When my daughter Lucy grows up, I hope she turns out awesome. I do hope she has …
Continue reading How to Make Sure Your Kid Grows Up to Be AwesomeMy wife Kim and I had a big parenting test the other night. At dinner, my daughter Lucy got to drink out of a “big girl cup†with a straw. And for the first time ever, she discovered how to blow bubbles in her milk. In our household, this is on par with first words, …
Continue reading Blowing Bubbles In Her MilkA few years ago, my sister-in-law took her pre-teen daughter to the midnight opening of the first Twilight movie. On a school night. I always thought that was the coolest thing ever. Granted, part of the reason I thought it was so cool is because it was a break from the norm. My brother and …
Continue reading Breaking the Rules: The Best Part of Parenting?Having kids does weird things to you. The gravity of being the one responsible for the care and development of another human being can be overwhelming. The role of responsible “grown-up†can make you terribly paranoid, overly strict, and endlessly stressed-out. In other words, completely Adultitis-ridden. A woman named Johanna recently described this transformation on …
Continue reading Mud is Too Dirty: Have You Become Your Parents?A while back, I ran across this dad who draws on paper bags for his kids during his lunch break. Pretty neat stuff. But he’s also used his creativity (and a box cutter) to elevate the humble cardboard box into an even more awesome structure of play. Even neater. Which leads me to think about …
Continue reading The Best Christmas Present Is…With the 1977 release of Star Wars, audiences were introduced to Darth Vader, the baddest bad guy in the entire galaxy. As the story unfolded and the prequels arrived on the scene, many people were surprised to learn that Darth Vader was not always such a bad dude. It may be equally surprising to learn …
Continue reading Darth Vader’s Dos and Don’ts for DadsHave you heard the story about the married couple photographed together at Disney World 15 years before they met? (I found out about it from a link Chris Brogan shared via Twitter.) The couple didn’t know each other, and they didn’t even live in the same country at the time the photograph was taken: That …
Continue reading Happy Father’s Day, GodEver find yourself saying, “Life will be easier when…â€? If you’re a parent, you can fill in the blank mighty easily. Life will be easier when… …he can sleep through the night. …she can feed herself. …he can tell us where it hurts. …she goes to school. …he makes it to the NBA and buys …
Continue reading Life will be easier when…We bought our daughter one of those little primary-colored push car toys for her first birthday. It gets great gas mileage and holds up amazingly well in crashes, of which there have been many so far. The other day, she got herself caught in a traffic jam. The legs of our counter-height kitchen table and …
Continue reading Life’s Little Traffic JamsWell, we did it. My wife and I made it to the one-year mark. (Oh, and so did Lucy.) The first two weeks seemed like a millennium, the last fifty seemed like a millisecond. So, what have I learned, if anything? • It sounds so dang cliché to say, “It’s harder than I imagined, but …
Continue reading The First Year of Fatherhood: One Dad’s ReviewI 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 ExpertsI 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[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)One of the best perks of being a parent is raiding your kids’ Halloween candy when they are asleep. Of course, my daughter is only eleven months old, so I am still in the unenviable position of actually having to buy candy. What a drag. The only thing worse than having to buy your own …
Continue reading The Top 5 Worst Halloween Treats EverHalloween is one of the greatest holidays. Like most holidays, it has its share of commercialism, but it doesn’t come with the obligations, guilt, and travel headaches of Christmas. Dressing up. Getting candy. Having fun. What more could a kid ask for? Unfortunately, a small segment of Adultitis-ridden do-gooders continue their assault on Halloween. It’s …
Continue reading The Scariest Part of Halloween: The Grown-Ups!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[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[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)Let me begin by saying I am not Ansel Adams. Most of what I know about photography came from an introductory class I took in college. However, that class was part of a bachelor’s degree in the fine arts, which gave me me an extensive knowledge of graphic design. Of course, an in-depth familiarity of …
Continue reading Five Tips for Phenomenal Photos of Your KidsSometimes I long for the days B.L. Before Lucy. Lucy is my seven-month-old daughter and first child. As an entrepreneur, I mistakenly thought my life resembled a roller coaster before this adventure into fatherhood. I realize now that I was only riding the wimpy kiddie coaster — the one without the big drops, corkscrews, and …
Continue reading The Weird Thing About the Grass on the Other Side