Mom is magical. As I write this, my wife, Rocky, is in Kenya. But she uses magic to be with us each day. She will be there for nine more days working at Saint Monica’s Childrens Home. I know this number, not because I’m good with math or because I am so lost without her …

Continue reading Dad Should Be Magical Too

The topic of bullying has always been important to me. I’ve seen the pain and anguish caused by bullying my whole life. Fortunately for me, I grew tall early in life so I avoided the torture of being the victim of most bullies but I still witnessed too many friends get picked on for years. …

Continue reading Protecting Our Precious Angels

Friday and Saturday is the kickoff of the second annual BlogHer Food 2010 in San Francisco. In all, more than 300 food bloggers are expected to gather to share recipes, swap culinary creation photography tips and of course, eat and meet with some of their favorite food brands. Though I’m attending for work (disclosure: several …

Continue reading BlogHer Food 2010: Dads Cook Too!

I’m watching the recent movie adaptation of Astro Boy, a year or so after my daughter watched it. There are so many emotional upheavals and elements I probably didn’t want my daughter to see without some conversation. She’s a smart kid, but this movie is all about rejection. There’s tons and tons of situations of …

Continue reading Parental Guidance

Unless you’re a die-hard Green Bay Packers fan, the end of Monday night’s Bears/Packers game was a gem to watch.  With :04 to go, and the score tied at 17, Robbie Gould kicked a field goal to put the Bears up 20-17, en route to a 3-0 start. But that of course left the Packers …

Continue reading So how do you score that play?

Over the summer, in particular, I bring my kids down to my office with me fairly regularly. This past summer, my college student daughter, Stephanie, worked here as an intern, so I always had family close at hand, but the real fun is when my younger daughter, Katie, crashes the party. I’m smiling and remembering …

Continue reading When the Kid’s Come To Work

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)

Harold (my 4-ish year old) wanted to shoot a video: The fun of doing this is that he knows how to open Photobooth (on a Mac). He knows how to switch it to video and hit record, and he knows how to speak to the camera (kind of). When I think about what our kids …

Continue reading Sharing Tech With Kids

(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!

A while back, I wrote 600 Days Without Solid Sleep.  Well after yet another night marked by a 2AM wake-up call, I thought I would run the numbers, and what do you know? A nice round 1000 days!  How could I not mark such an auspicious occasion? Pardon me if I appear a bit snarky, …

Continue reading 1000 Sleepless Nights

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

I’ve long been a fan of homemade ice cream.  Not homemade in the store…homemade in my home.  It’s really one of the easiest recipes to make…as long as you keep the ice cream maker in your freezer, you’re always ready to go. But what about something a bit lower in fat?  Say a popsicle?  Every …

Continue reading Instant Popsicles

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)

I wonder how many runners there are out here? I wonder how many would be offended if I called myself a runner? Let me tell you my story and you can decide for yourself. Me I know the answer. I’ve never been a runner. I’ve never thought of myself as a runner and I never …

Continue reading Running

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

I’m going to admit that I’m on the fence. With this ad for Huggies Diapers (click through if you can’t see it in your reader), the ad itself is a bit awkward (adult women making “oh he’s HOT” faces at toddlers – yes, it’s tongue in cheek), but I dunno. Diapers that look like jeans? …

Continue reading Huggies Jeans Diapers

Have 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, God

As Father’s Day 2010 approaches and my daughter nears her 7th birthday, I’ve been thinking about the story of Abby Sunderland, the 16-year-old California teenager who recently tried to become the youngest person to sail solo around the world. She didn’t make it (a storm broke her mast and she had to be rescued in …

Continue reading How Old is Old Enough?

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

As I sit at home reflecting on Memorial Day I can’t help but wonder what happened to the guys I went to basic training with. Did anyone see combat? Did any of my buddies die? I’ll never know.  But what I do know, as I listen to the Army helicopters fly over my house towards …

Continue reading Reflections on Memorial Day

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!

Here’s another wonderfully touching song from Trace Adkins. Much like “All I Ask For Anymore“, and “Then They Do“, this one, “You’re Gonna Miss This“, is another tribute to families. This one is a reminder for us all to try to stop and appreciate these magical times–even when things seem like utter chaos and mayhem. …

Continue reading You’re Gonna Miss This

I’ve been reading Robert Kiyosaki’s books lately. You’d know Rich Dad Poor Dad. I’ve read another six of them. In so doing, the topic of teaching your kids about money and even business came up. Now, most of us, when faced with thinking about teaching our kid about business, think about chores, or maybe a …

Continue reading Teaching Kids About Business

Here’s a wonderful Trace Adkins song about a man who has changed his priorities in life. He shares all the things he used to pray for like cars and money but now understands that the only thing that truly matters is his family. All he ever asks for anymore is for the health and safety …

Continue reading All I Ask for Anymore

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

Ever find yourself saying, “Life will be easier when…”? 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…

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

Before becoming a dad I had no idea how many forms of hugs there are. I think perhaps we need to do something like what the Eskimos do in Alaska with all the words for snow.
I thought I might take a little time today to talk about all the types of hugs there are.

NOTE: I write all these descriptions from the dad’s perspective but they also apply to moms.

Children:
Daddy’s Home – This is a personal favorite of dads. It only occurs at the end of a long day or when you return from a trip. The excitement and joy embraced in this hug often “quite literally” knocks one off there feet.

I’m sad daddy – There are times that nothing can cure the “sad” but a hug sure comes close. Sad hugs are generally full hugs with constant pressure but don’t contain the excitement that might be experienced in other hugs. The sad hug is honestly as much for the daddy as it is for the child because it gives the daddy something he can “do” to help in the situation.

Continue reading Where is my Hug?

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

I have a confession to make: my name is Adam and I photograph my food. All the time.  At home and in restaurants, whether I cooked it myself or paid for a team of others to labor over a hot stove. I photograph the simple (pasta with pesto) and the complex (recipes with 14 ingredients, …

Continue reading I Photograph Food

My daughter and I wanted to go out and do something special together. I suggested a nature walk. To make it really fun, I gave her a Sony Bloggie camera (disclosure: SONY gave me the camera to try out, but I’m not obligated to use it for any particular projects) so she could capture some …

Continue reading Amping Up Special Time

This weekend was awesome. I got to spend a lot of time with the kids and on Saturday I was mainly with my oldest. We went to Horseback early in the morning. The ride to horseback is almost an hour and we talk and sing songs and sometime record a video we call “Saturday’s with …

Continue reading Hold Hands or Push?

Readeo has unveiled something they called BookChat that uses webcams to allow people to read books via the web in real-time. The idea will not be received well by some folks who will complain that the best part of the reading experience is being together. However, this solution is not positioning itself as a replacement …

Continue reading Readeo Introduces BookChat

A tragic accident in a High School baseball game that sent a pitcher into a coma after being hit in the head from a batted ball has created quite a stir against the use of aluminum bats. The school and its opponent have agreed to use wooden bats in their next game. The use of …

Continue reading Good Wood

It’s a rough life. You need to relax. Massage therapy turns out to be the perfect thing. Now how do you explain it to the children before they overhear about it, talk to their friends, and think you’re doing something dirty. Farfetched? No. My own late teens son didn’t understand what massage therapy was. My …

Continue reading Massage and your children

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!

It’s hard for me to believe but I just went back through my posts on DAD-o-Matic and saw that I hadn’t talked much about my number one topic and how and why I got into blogging consistently. My oldest daughter. My oldest daughter Haley has CP, Cerebral Palsy. When I finally decided to start my …

Continue reading I Am Not Weird

My youngest’s bio on Facebook. Why I love him. I’m a pretty laid back person. Unfortunately, I’m a person who wears their heart on their sleeves. I’m the son of an awesome father, Todd Jordan, who really cares for me. Also, an awesome loving mother, Sharon Jordan, who cares for me just the same. Without …

Continue reading Love, Anger, Kids

Here’s a news item about a tragedy that has a silver lining thanks to the University of Clemson and its football coach Dabo Swinney. High School football star Jake Nicolopulos had a dream to play college football for the Clemson Tigers and it was all set to become a reality until he had a stroke …

Continue reading Class Act

Here’s an excerpt from Katrina Kenison’s wonderful book “The Gift of an Ordinary Day” that totally captures the beauty and power of being a parent, for both moms and dads. I loved what she shared here because it’s something that I realized a long time ago. It isn’t really all the big important events in …

Continue reading The Gift of an Ordinary Day

“…You can’t be too careful.” These were the words of a somewhat strident middle-aged lady at Dungeekin Minor’s ‘football’ training session on Saturday, as she vocally and agressively demanded to see the (female) coaches ‘paperwork’. The trouble is – I rather think you can be too careful. When you’re not the parent, and you turn …

Continue reading “In Today’s Climate . . . “

(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?

On Thursday my middle child Abby decided she was ready to wear panties. She had a hard time on Thursday but when I put her to bed Thursday night she said “Daddy can I wear panties to school again tomorrow?” So on Friday she did better and then yesterday when we were all home she …

Continue reading Panties and Business

Here’s an amazing project from Pepsi called the PEPSI REFRESH PROJECT where they will spend millions of dollars to fund ideas that we submit that have a positive impact on the world and planet. It’s such a wonderful concept and makes a great deal of sense because not only can we submit our ideas but …

Continue reading Refresh Project

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 Jams

We men took more than our usual bashing during the 60 or so commercials played during SuperBowl Sunday. We deserved some of the mocking but come on already, Madison Avenue. It’s time to give us men a little more credit, don’t you think? Still, I enjoyed the funny ones as much as the next guy. …

Continue reading Favorite SuperBowl Ads

Shortly after the iPad was released Jeff Sass wrote a great blog about iDad. iDad is a great parody on the value of a dad over an iPad and a fun little read. There is another great DAD moment that was captured in a post last night Who Dad published by Doriano “Paisano” Carta. Last …

Continue reading What is a DADvocate?

Congratulations go out to the New Orleans Saints for beating the Indianapolis Colts tonight in the SuperBowl 31-17 behind the MVP arm of Drew Brees. I was happy to see them win mostly because of everything the people of New Orleans went through a few years ago with Hurricane Katrina. It’s such an amazing story. …

Continue reading WhoDad

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I don’t talk about my dad too often, actually this is my first post where I’m acknowledging him. Unfortunately he has had sever depression for the last 10 -15 years and he hasn’t dealt with it. Three months ago after my son was born it finally got in the way of our relationship and we are not currently speaking. This hurts me and is not really by my choice but it is what it is and it does not take away from the fact the my father was a great dad while we were growing up. He was a doctor and he was busy, but he was there for us and present when he was with us. I never felt neglected and I loved, and love him very much.

Continue reading I’m a dork just like my dad

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…

This is my first post as a new dad contributor to Dad-O-Matic and it is about giving back. Where do kids learn to be so compassionate for others? Usually from their parents in most cases but not in this particular situation.  I have three kids and my oldest child Sabreena is very into one particular …

Continue reading Children Giving Back

I just watched this 88-second spot and it really got thru to me loud and clear. Thanks to Zane Aveton (aka @zaneology on Twitter) for sharing this tonight. I hope it impacts all of you the same way it has for me. What a powerful reminder. Find more videos like this on AdGabber

Continue reading Family Ties

Lemonade is a documentary short that delivers a powerful message. It focuses on several advertising professionals and how they dealt with the shocking impact of being laid off. Many of them looked at this sometimes devastating blow as a wake up call and chose to go for their dreams and do what they’ve always wanted …

Continue reading When Life Gives You Lemons

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!

Nesting behavior has always baffled me. So I was more than a little frightened when I returned home from a business trip to find my wife had recovered her car seats and the den furniture in blue fleece and installed matching carpet in both. “Honey,” I asked cautiously, “do you know something I don’t?” “We’re …

Continue reading A father’s guide to safety devices

My favorite show on TV these days is without question MAD MEN which has won best drama Emmy for its first two seasons. I love the era they cover, the early 1960s and the look back at American families from that period of time. The thing that comes to mind right away is just how …

Continue reading Dad Men

We dads know that we’re teaching our children by what we do, not just by what we say. This video brings home that message loud and clear. Even if our children aren’t around, we should try to stay true to our code of conduct and behave in a way that would make them proud. Remember …

Continue reading Leading by Example

Joe Hage writes, “Parents and children, don’t worry if Junior’s grades aren’t up to snuff. His or her success in life won’t depend on them.”

Continue reading Dermott

Over the holidays I was watching ESPN while helping my wife clean the house and two stories came on back to back the first was about Tiger Woods and the second was about Tim Tebow. Listening to these stories and the contrast of hero vs. fallen hero got me to thinking. I wasn’t raised to …

Continue reading Heroes?

“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…

Another year is over and a new one is beginning. This is often a time for setting goals and many people sit down to do it for themselves. I’m wondering how may of you sit down and set family goals and goals for each of your children? Initially my wife and I did not start …

Continue reading Goal Setting

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

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. …

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[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, …

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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 …

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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!

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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 …

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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 …

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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 …

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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 …

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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 …

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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 ? …

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***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 …

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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 …

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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