For 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 SuddenlyDivorce
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 AheadThe ten most important things divorced fathers should realize as they transition parentally from “Husband and Father” to “One-and-Only Dad”…
Continue reading Top Ten Things Divorced Dads Need to KnowI’m all for positive nuclear family images in kid films, even the “hit-you-over-the head-with-a-mallet” kind (see: Spy Kids). What makes me uncomfortable is when divorce is superfluously depicted to kids as the end of the world. The obvious inference to real-life children of divorce (of which there are roughly one million a year): Your family is broken. Happy ending for us; stinks to be you.
Continue reading Why Must Kid Films Demonize Divorce?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…By Danny Guspie This is my personal story and journey. The first year that that my wife and I were separated was by far the most difficult Christmas ever. At the time, I was a working dad as well as full-time single dad, and my olive branch gesture was to send the kids to my …
Continue reading Divorce and Kids during Christmas, Holidays can be GREAT!The holidays can be bittersweet for Dads on the backside of any divorce, even a “good one.” I’ve been doing it for a while, and thought I’d use a post to reflect on what I’ve learned about how to manage the bad, and maximize the good. 1. Never make your kids choose between their two …
Continue reading Ten Holiday Tips For Divorced Dads