Jeff Sass

My experience as a Dad has definitely hit the next level with the birth of my first grandchild in April.  As much joy as my three kids have brought me (and that’s a BIG number if we were to measure), I could never have imagined the love, joy, emotion and pure wonderment I would have …

Continue reading My Grandson Ate My GoPro!

My first reaction was denial. A grandfather? Me? In my head I am still 19 years old, and that’s certainly too young to be a grandfather. Of course it is also too young to have children who are now in their 20’s. In the world outside my head I indeed have three adult kids (Adult …

Continue reading Bootie Call

This post is inspired by Shot@Life, an initiative of the United Nations Foundation. During the month of August–Blogust–31 bloggers are writing about moments that matter. For every comment on this post and the 30 other posts, Walgreens will donate a vaccine (up to 50,000 vaccines). A child dies every 20 seconds from a vaccine-preventable disease. We can change this …

Continue reading “23 Skidoo” (and Comment for a Cause)

It was merely a coincidence that I got the email from Shot@Life the same day I saw “WORLD WAR Z.”  In the movie (slight spoiler?) Brad Pitt plays an uber slick dude who works for the United Nations, and thus made me think the United Nations was cool again for the first time since I …

Continue reading Give A Shot (@life…)

Sure, today’s the day the kids bring us breakfast in bed and us dads get to act like it’s all about us for a day (as if we don’t always do that…) It’s great to get the cards and the gifts and the hugs, and act all lazy and full of ourselves, but who are …

Continue reading Why Today?

In my business life I spend a lot of time thinking about and talking with people about purpose.  In business, finding and being able to articulate purpose is (or should be) an essential piece of the complicated puzzle that leads to a successful company.  We hear a lot about “culture” in business talk, but what …

Continue reading Parenting Is Purpose

Saturday night.  I am in Houston, Texas.  At dinner with friends following the conclusion of the Dad2Summit. My phone rings.  It is a number I don’t recognize, but the smarts in my smartphone tell me the call is from North Carolina.  My oldest son, Zach, lives in North Carolina.  It is midnight there. I immediately …

Continue reading Trucks, Trees and a Father’s Fear

Growing up I never had “real” pets. Sure, I had turtles and goldfish and even a snake and a chameleon (not all at the same time…), but I never had dogs or cats. The excuse was that I, as a chubby asthmatic kid, was allergic… but I always suspected that the real truth was that …

Continue reading Of Kids And Dogs…

We are broken. There is no other way to explain it.  As parents it is our innate need, our deepest mission in life, to provide for our children.  To keep them safe.  To raise them in a better world than we were raised in… But it is not a better world. When I went to …

Continue reading We Are Broken…

We’ve talked about a lot of awesome dads here at Dadomatic.  It’s what we do, right?  So it is with great pleasure and tons of awe and admiration that I mention another frickin’ awesome dad (and a hat-tip to Mashable for bringing it to my attention…). Uber creative dad, David Engledow, has been documenting his …

Continue reading A KickA$$ Dad on Kickstarter

For a year and a half now I have been living in an empty nest… a house that once was riddled with the noise and disruption of three kids, now silenced, save for the rustlings of myself and a few dogs. While I am happy to have the canine company, it is not the same …

Continue reading The Less Empty Nest

Who says costumes are just for Halloween? Kids have always loved to dress up, and frankly, so have a lot of adults.  For many kids and adults one Halloween day a year is hardly enough to satisfy one’s urge to hide behind makeup or a mask and take on the attributes of another person (or …

Continue reading Cos-Play for Kids?

The Cast of Dads (minus Max, who was at sea) whipped together a short video about our Mother’s Day experience with the Motorola Droid Razr.  All the footage was shot with the Razr, and thanks to Danny Cameron and the DadLabs team for the great job editing.  Enjoy!  Disclosure: The Video above was sponsored by …

Continue reading A Not So Brady Bunch of Dads…

I’m back from New Orleans and a whirlwind few days with fellow Cast of  Dads hosts C.C. Chapman and Brad Powell (we sorely missed our other two hosts Michael Sheehan and Max Kalehoff.)  We had a great time with the LG team, who were gracious hosts and made sure we had a fantastic experience both …

Continue reading Three Dads At The Final Four

I love basketball.  To be more specific, I love playing basketball.  I’m not tall, not light, and I’ve never actually been that good at it, but that never stopped me from loving the game.  That probably comes from growing up in a part of Queens N.Y. where asphalt was everywhere and thus so were rims. …

Continue reading Help Me Get My March Madness On!

  I originally wrote this post entitled “Be The Entrepreneur of Yourself” on my personal blog.  Upon further reflection, I think it also may be appropriate here on Dadomatic.  After all, I think instilling the entrepreneurial spirit in our kids is more important than ever.  What do you think? Be The Entrepreneur of Yourself. The world has changed. …

Continue reading Are You Raising Entrepreneurs?

It was the limo that put the word “stretch” in Stretch Limo.  It was a long, luxurious, glistening and gaudy white limousine worthy of any superstar celebrity in need of a ride.  It was a head-turner, and it had just turned and pulled up in my driveway.  The driver sheepishly knocked on my door.  I looked at …

Continue reading Treat Your Kids Like Rock Stars!

When I lived in New York and was just starting my family, we moved to a house in Rockland County.  As someone who grew up in an apartment, and whose parents both grew up in apartments, it was my first experience with living in a house (and becoming a homeowner) and it was a bit …

Continue reading My Son, The Mowerman, and the Toxic Crusaders (Or, How a 2-Year Old Helped Create a TV Villain)

At the 2012 Consumer Electronics Show (CES) there were literally acres of costly Las Vegas Convention Center booth space dedicated to a seemingly endless array of iPhone, iPad and iPod accessories.  From cases to keyboards to biometric monitors, dozens of manufacturers were baring their wares and showing off both ingenious and incredulous ways to accessorize your …

Continue reading Who Is Woogie? (Hint: An iPhone Creature For Your Kids)

Today’s the day.  Another year slips into our memories as the clock ticks forward into 2012.  As parents, nothing should be more cherished than time, for it is a resource that can never be replenished.  A moment past is just that… a moment that has moved from now to then.  A moment that can no …

Continue reading Father Time and Fatherhood

(Note: this is a sponsored post, but the words and opinions are all mine.) It is fitting that Asus calls their new Ultrabook line “Zenbooks.”  Just one look and you can see that it is a device that exudes a sense of calm and balance, purity and power.   An early entrant in the Intel …

Continue reading Zen and the Art of Ultrabooks

November is Movember and thus there is an abundance of facial hair around the Cast of Dads.  Please consider supporting the cause and donating to Max, Brad, Michael or C.C.‘s efforts to raise money and awareness to fight cancer in men. As the holidays are already approaching it is exciting to see that we are fast approaching our 50th episode of …

Continue reading A Hair Raising Month: Cast of Dads #46

I am still trying to figure out what my kids are thinking (and they are all in their 20’s!)  Even so, I clearly remember the wonder of discovery on each of their faces as they grew from infancy to toddlerhood and explored the small, but fascinating world around them.  Witnessing the rapid pace they grow, …

Continue reading What Do Babies Think?

The Cast of Dads were cooking with gas in this week’s show as we stir the pot around the discussion of dads as the family cook.  There has been some heated discussion about this topic on the Interwebs, prompted by an ill-fated attempt by a well known spaghetti sauce brand to reach out to “daddy bloggers.”  While …

Continue reading What’s Cooking? Cast of Dads #45

I am pretty sure I am in the minority here (here being Dadomatic).  I am likely one of the few dads with grown children and an empty nest.  In the three years I have been writing for Dadomatic I’ve gone through both High School and College graduations and have seen my three kids go forth …

Continue reading Giving Your Kids The Business

Our Children's World Is Magical

(This post was inspired by my recent trip to Intel’s Santa Clara Headquarters for their annual “Upgrade Your Life” Experience…) “Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic…” – Arthur C. Clarke Of all the wonderful words that Clarke wrote, few have been as powerful and prescient as his frequently cited statement above. He was …

Continue reading Our Children’s World Is Magical

Of Tattoos and Determination

The arm in the picture above belongs to my 23 year-old son, Zach.  The tattoo belongs to him as well.  It is his first.  Personally, I am not at all the “tattoo type” and while I have come to appreciate and admire them (in many, but certainly not all, instances) I don’t see much “ink” …

Continue reading Of Tattoos and Determination

As part of the “Intel Advisors” program, my fellow Cast of Dads co-host Michael Sheehan (@hightechdad) and I were the lone males at the recent “Upgrade Your Life” experience at Intel‘s Santa Clara headquarters.  Surrounded by a bevy of talented women entrepreneurs and bloggers we were treated to an inspiring peek inside Intel and in particular, a deeper …

Continue reading Getting An Upgrade From Intel

It is June. Notable for the official start of summer, hurricane season (for those of us, like me, based in South Florida) and of course, Father’s Day. Like many dads, I am both a father and a son, roles that are intimately intertwined. We are all someone’s children, and as such we assume that who …

Continue reading The Real Father’s Day Gift

Last week 3/5ths of the Cast of Dads had the chance to get together for a road trip from Boston to NY thanks to the the teams at Ford and Sony who tried to be the first brands to get all of us together.  Unfortunately, crazy dad schedules (that is – crazy schedules, not crazy dads… well…) prevented …

Continue reading On The Road… Again

One dad clearly #Winning in the news these days is Charlie Sheen, and the Cast of Dads took a few sips of Tiger Blood while recording our 40th episode.  As usual, we cover a cornucopia of topics, from Charile’s angels -er, goddesses, to Dr. Seuss.  As a true sign of a dedicated dadcaster, our own Max Kalefhoff …

Continue reading Whining and #Winning!

  I am currently suffering from a bout of empty nest syndrome and one of the symptoms is recalling all sorts of memories of my kids at various stages and ages.  My oldest, now 22, recently ran a half marathon – his first – and afterwards he threw up.  Watching him barf as a young …

Continue reading An Ode To Parenting and Puking

The other day I found myself compelled to take a ride west to the Everglades and take pictures of the Sunset.  When I thought about why I was there, I realized that it was a place I often go to think and clear my head when things in my life are changing.  Years ago, when …

Continue reading Sunrise, Sunset

With the hype and hoopla over, there will be plenty of talk around the water cooler tomorrow about “the game,” and of course, about the commercials.  One of the standout commercials was the “The Force” by Volkswagen for the 2012 Passat.  More than just Star Wars fans will love this humbling homage to the power …

Continue reading Super Bowl, Super Ad, Super Dad!

(Sunday, January 30, 2011) I am writing this after a four mile run. Actually, I am working my way up with interval training, having started a month or so ago by walking two minutes and running one minute, then, a week or so later upping it to two and two, then a week or so …

Continue reading (Half) Marathon Man

There is no doubt that gadgets have truly gone mainstream.  Look around your home and what do you see?  Smartphones, Tablets, E-book readers, Computers, Game Consoles.  Gadgets galore.  Never before have kids grown up in households that so avidly consume consumer electronics.  Even two year old toddlers are playing with “toys” with processors inside.  Instead …

Continue reading CES Bound: Gadgets, Dadgets, and A Remote Control Give Away!

‘Tis the season when red and green are the new black, and the “holiday spirit” permeates all things commercial and otherwise.  If you are politically correct, then almost all salutations, spoken, written, or otherwise are readily sprinkled with “HAPPY HOLIDAYS.”  If you are politically direct, then, at least this week, it is “MERRY CHRISTMAS.”  I …

Continue reading Will The Real Santa Please Stand Up?

The Turkey bones are bare, the stuffing has left your guests stuffed and the stuffed guests have left your house.  The television is free to be tuned to programming other than football and you are free to go back to the old grind…  Work. School. Life. Why Does Thanks Need A Day? The family focus of …

Continue reading Don’t Stop…

Lately I have been reflecting on reflections, literally and figuratively.  Perhaps it is the melancholy that I normally associate with the fast approaching Holiday Season, or maybe it is symptomatic of simply aging, and watching my kids grow.  It seems I notice mirrors and reflections at every turn these days, from the literal mirror mirror …

Continue reading The Man (Dad) In The Mirror

Last month I wrote about a very different type of Digital Reader from Intel.  The Intel Reader is designed to help people with dyslexia and other visual impairments by easily scanning and then “reading” (via text-to-speech technology) virtually any written words that can be photographed by the portable device.  I had the chance to play …

Continue reading Test Driving The Intel Reader

I have always been fascinated by language and how just a few letters, rearranged, can dramatically change the meaning of a word…how just a few words, rearranged, can dramatically change the meaning of a sentence…how just a few sentences, rearranged, can dramatically change the meaning of a paragraph…how just a few paragraphs… You get the …

Continue reading Encouragement VS. Discouragement

In this, the “Silent But Deadly” edition of Cast of Dads we dish about everything from decapitation to divorce (and no, there is no discernible connection between the two).  In true Cast of Dads form, even though we touch on some serious parenting issues, from safety helmets to adolescent desires, we still end up flabbergasted by flatulence in the …

Continue reading Fart Is A Four Letter “F” Word… (Cast of Dads #31)

(Note: If you and/or anyone in your family is dyslexic or suffers from any vision impairment, please read on for a chance to test an Intel Reader in your home for one month…  Disclaimer: Product links below are Amazon Affiliate links.  I am part of the “Intel Insider” program and am compensated and/or receive other value …

Continue reading Get Your Hands On A Digital Reader That Says It All: The Intel Reader

Trust me, it’s hopeless.  Do you dread walking into your kid’s room?  Are you tired of picking up socks, clothes and toys off of the floor?  Do you beg and bribe your kids to clean their rooms?  Well, you might as well stop right now and save yourself years of stress and anxiety.  You can reduce your future botox bills …

Continue reading Stop Picking Up Their Clothes!

Thanks to sites like Dad-O-Matic and loyal readers like you, the blogosphere is emerging as a terrific outlet for Dads to get out front and take a more vocal stance on parenting and fatherhood issues and experiences.  There are hundreds of caring and sharing “daddy bloggers” spreading their unique perspectives on “the world according to …

Continue reading Social Media Club Takes Dads On Tour – Atlanta This Week!

A member of the Dad-O-Matic extended family has recently gone public with details of a situation that would be any parent’s worst nightmare – having your children suddenly taken away from you, and not being able to see or communicate with them for more than a year.  This has been the terrible situation Colin Bower …

Continue reading A Father’s Nightmare

It is back to school time, and today my youngest child, my daughter, started at a new school.  This time, however, I didn’t have to pack her lunch, or walk her to the bus stop. I won’t be looking forward to any more parent teacher conferences or notes sent home about missed homework assignments. Nope. …

Continue reading Degrees Of Fatherhood

Here’s the scoop:  As you know, for the past few years I have been active as a so-called “Daddy Blogger,” sharing my dad point of view and stories here at Dadomatic.com and in the weekly Cast of Dads podcast.  With three awesome kids now ages 22, 20 and 18, I have no shortage of experiences and opinions on …

Continue reading A Man Inside (Intel)

This has been floating around Cyberspace a while I think, but it just landed on my radar and it is too good not to share with Team Dadomatic. Enjoy! Dad Life from Church on the Move on Vimeo. Kudos to the super creative team that wrote and produced the Dad Life song and video!  Go …

Continue reading Hip Hop By Pop: Dad Life

In this episode the Cast of Dads memorialize our Memorial Days, and as usual, we jump through more topics than a circus dog through hoops!  Most importantly, we pay our respects and thanks to all those who have served and continue to serve in the Military, and we are forever grateful for the sacrifices made …

Continue reading Cast of Dads #21: Memorial Dazed

Last week I wrote about my son’s graduation from college.  The night of his graduation ceremony his girlfriend and her family threw a party for him at their home.  There were the expected balloons and banners clearly declaring the graduation theme, but there were also two really clever additions that gave the party a special graduation flavor.  I …

Continue reading Cheese & Chocolate: Two Tips For An Awesome Graduation Party!

The Cast of Dads gathered this weekend at 5pm instead of our usual morning date, which led to a little more giddiness and a lot more “adult” talk.  In fact, the original title of the episode is “From Douche-bags to Dish-washing!  To find out how we managed to align such disparate “D” words, you’ll have to just listen to the show! Topics discussed …

Continue reading Cast of Dads #20: Does The Bag Make The Man?

It is graduation season, and the air is filled with the aroma’s of diplomas!  From Grade School to Graduate School students everywhere and their families and friends are celebrating “Commencement.”  I have always marveled at how clever it is to honor the completion of school with a word that means “beginning.”  While we celebrate our …

Continue reading Graduation: A Commence-meant To Be!

Once again the Cast of Dads go off on several tangents, from lawn-mowing wives to touch screen computing, and hand-written thank you notes, we leave few stones unturned in this week’s Podcast. Topics discussed in this episode include: Wives mowing the lawn Thank You Notes Resurrection of hand written letters Teaching writing in school Dragon …

Continue reading Cast of Dads #19: U CAN Touch This!

The Cast of Dads celebrated Spring by jumping from the Cub Scouts, to Crying,  to Candy Cigarettes and our greatest fears.  We had fun talking and we hope that you have as much fun listening. Topics discussed in this episode: Video Game badge from the Boy Scouts Brownie Try-It badges The softening of our children …

Continue reading Cast of Dads #17: Tears For Fears

Last week I had the pleasure of attending and speaking at Jeff Pulver‘s 140 Characters Conference: Exploring The State of Now!  There were nearly 170 speakers and panelists at this two day event, including celebrities, musicians, technologists, media personalities, educators, and more.  Without question, one of the most popular and inspiring presentations was that of …

Continue reading An Education on Education: Chris Lehmann Talks “School 2.0” At #140Conf

Yes, you read correctly.  The title of this post is “Fatherhood One On One,” not to be confused with “Fatherhood 101.”  For Fatherhood “101,” just dive in and and read ALL the posts on Dadomatic from ALL our great Dads.  You will get a complete primer on being a Dad from just about every imaginable …

Continue reading Fatherhood One On One

Next??. ?Next. Next. Whoa! NEXT! Next. Hey now! Next. Next. Next…  If you have been clicking on “next” a lot lately, perhaps it is because you have been one of the millions of Internet users checking out the latest on-line fetish fad, Chatroulette.  If you live in a cave and haven’t yet heard of Chatroulette Jon …

Continue reading From Chatroulette To Dadroulette!

(NOTE: usually my posts here are written originally for Dad-o-matic.  That said, I recently wrote on my personal blog about Chef Jamie Oliver’s impassioned and impactful speech about childhood obesity at the recent TED conference.  I realize that Chef Oliver’s speech would likely be of great interest to the Dad-o-matic crowd, so with permission from …

Continue reading Food, Glorious Food??? Are We Feeding Our Kids To Death?

This week the Cast of Dads took a step back from tech talk and focused our discussion on more fatherly pursuits, thanks to some feedback and suggestions from our listeners.  We appreciate getting your feedback on the show and if there are specific topics you would like for us to tackle let us know in …

Continue reading Cast of Dads 7: More On Morons…

An apple a day… gives the media lots to talk about.  This week both the tech news and so called “mainstream media” was all abuzz about the long rumored, finally revealed, “tablet” device from Steve Jobs and his team at Apple.  When all the dust settled, as expected, everyone’s attention turned to the “core” of …

Continue reading The iPad vs. The iDad!

Screaming, shrieking, whining, crying, banging, bumping, laughing, sneezing, coughing, belching. farting, yelling, slapping, hitting, pushing, shoving, snapping, breaking, kicking, throwing up, falling down, dancing, running, skipping, jumping, bouncing, trouncing, wrestling, fighting, snoring.  Never boring.  These are just some of the sounds and actions in a house full of kids, sounds you may find annoying or …

Continue reading Noise Is Good!

“It’s ten o’clock… do you know where your children are?”  In the days before mobile phones and text messaging, that was a line in a frequently broadcast Public Service Announcement.  Even in our connected world today, as parents we still DO want to know where our children are… all the time.  Now we have the …

Continue reading Foursquare And Seven Days Ago…

As one year winds down and another begins it is always a time to look back and look forward, to reflect on the year that has passed and to plan for the year ahead. 2009 was both a challenging and rewarding year as we battened down the hatches both at work and at home to …

Continue reading Reflection and Affection

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!

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

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

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!

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

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!

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!

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!

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

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!

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!

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

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???

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!

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

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 $#*%!

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!

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…

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

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!

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!

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 don’t know about you, but the older I get the harder it is for me to keep my mouth shut.  It seems I have an opinion about everything and I almost always feel compelled to share it.  I may be able to chalk it up to being older and wiser, but it still doesn’t …

Continue reading Learning To Bite Your Tongue

If you are a parent, you have probably experienced some variation of “take your child to work day” – you know, the one where your son or daughter tags along to the office and you plop them down in front of a computer and hope and pray they will be able to occupy themselves with …

Continue reading Bring Your Work To Kids Day!

Great entertainers like Art Linkletter and Bill Cosby recognized the attraction of the pure innocence and good humor of kids being kids.  When he was younger, my middle son Ethan (now 18)  seemed to be constantly auditioning for his own regular slot on “KIDS SAY THE DARNDEST THINGS.”  Some of my all time favorites were …

Continue reading George Washingmachine And The New Year’s Revolution!

When thinking about what to get my kids for the holidays I always try to put myself in their shoes and remember the gifts I received and how I felt about them when I was their age.  As kids grow up, the things that constitute a good gift may change dramatically, and as parents we …

Continue reading How To Give Good Gift!

Tis the season to be… inundated with religious debate.  I’d like to lighten things up a bit and focus on how the Holidays can be Holy days for everyone, regardless of your particular beliefs.  As someone who is Jewish that married someone who is not, my kids were raised with exposure to both the Jewish …

Continue reading Holy Days vs. Holidays

Phone Home! In this age of email, text and instant messages, it is easy to forget the power of your voice. It is easy to forget the simplicity and impact of a phone call. We are spoiled by the instant connections we make online. Spoiled by the ability to tell the world what we are …

Continue reading ET Had It Right: Phone Home!

There is lots of talk about Rockstars here and here, but I am going to talk about the Rockstar under your roof… the Rockstar you are raising.  I have three Rockstars in my house, and only one of them is a musician.  The musician, my middle son Ethan, is an accomplished guitarist and studies music …

Continue reading How To Raise A Rockstar!

It is the morning after Halloween and the house is quiet, save the occasional whine or bark of one of the dogs. In the kitchen there are no plastic pumpkin pails or bright orange bags filled with candy.  There are no empty wrappers for me to pick up off the floor, left strewn about by …

Continue reading Bitter Sweets

The picture of my “Vampire Weekend” above was taken on Halloween probably 16 years ago. The two little bloodsuckers with me in the photo are now 20 and 18 years old. Time flies when you are having fun, and we were definitely having fun! Halloween may be a scary time, but I think that as …

Continue reading Fangs For The Memories!

I have three kids.  The two oldest are boys.  The third, and youngest, is my daughter, Olivia.  From the moment of birth, boys and girls are different.  At least that has been my experience.  As infants and toddlers, the boys were into everything, climbing on furniture even before they could walk.  Bumps, bruises, burns and …

Continue reading When Did Daddy’s Little Girl Become a Woman?

If you have kids over the age of 10 it is highly likely they already have their own mobile phones.  If you have kids with their own mobile phones, it is highly likely that they use their phones for a great deal of “texting” (sending text messages).  How about you? According to a new consumer …

Continue reading where r u dad? dnr is rdy!

Calm down fellas, this is not going to be an expose about your favorite Showtime series.  This is going to be a quick look at a four letter word that parents and kids should make themselves comfortable with and use much more frequently. NOT ALL FOUR LETTER WORDS ARE BAD The late, great George Carlin …

Continue reading The Real “L” Word

In this age of financial crisis and mega billion banking bailouts, it hardly seems worthwhile to be concerned with $ 5,  $10 or $20 a week.  However, if you are a kid, and that 5, 10 or 20 bucks is your allowance, you are allowed to be concerned.  More importantly, if you are the proud …

Continue reading The BUXX Stops Here!