Being a dad is rad!

Fatherhood isn't a chore; it's the best thing that's ever happened to you!

Tag Archives: family


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My Son’s Advice: Renting is Better Than Owning

For some reason, my son and I keep having discussions about renting a home versus owning home, which we finally do.  Though his understanding of the concepts is obviously limited, I’m continually amazed at his determination and the lucidity of his arguments with his limited debating ammunition.

stomperThe crux of all these discussions is pretty simple: he wants to thrash the place, and since we now own our home we’ve become a lot stricter about keeping things clean.  He has trouble understanding why he can’t now put his dirty feet on the walls whenever he chooses (somehow his feet seem to end up on the wall more often than his hands do, but the hands contribute as well).  He is unhappy that he can’t bring his muddy shoes in the kitchen anymore.  He’s upset that we don’t allow him to hang his ever expanding body off the cabinet doors anymore or do “swingies” from our new refrigerator.

In his mind, this all comes down the fact that we own now instead of rent, and he’s right.  But obviously my wife and I get a little irked when we saved our whole lives for this and he says things like, “I HATE THIS HOUSE!!  I JUST WANT TO RENT OUR OLD HOUSE AGAIN!” continue…


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Document the Radness

This is a page I wish I had started much sooner, and it will be one I’ll add to as time goes on and as we remember past radnesses. Pretty much every parent will tell you to take as many photos and videos as possible, which is of course good advice. But there are even more moments of radness that happen when the camera is nowhere near. I recommend keeping a journal or a blog such as this to document such moments, particularly the amazing things your child says at such a young age. If you don’t, you’re likely to forget, and that’s a shame because your child is going to say some doozies:

“Calah is the best. In fact, I’ve fallen in love with her.”(age 5, when asked what he thinks of our new housecleaner) continue…


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Don’t Listen to Me

As I say in my About page, I’m not any kind of professional when it comes to parenting. There’s no real way to measure this, but I’m not even sure if I’m even what’s considered a “good” dad. All I know is that I really love my son and I have a lot of fun being a dad, and I’m pretty sure my son loves me a ton and is having fun, too.

So, I don’t intend to make this blog an advice column or anything. With that said, I have some experiences, techniques, tips, insights, etc. that have worked for me that I’ll occasionally share. There is no official manual to parenting, and there is no right or wrong way to do it. Well, I can think of some really WRONG ways to do it, but my point is there are thousands of different ways to raise a kid and only the parents can decide for themselves what’s best for them and best for their child. continue…


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The Imaginary Big Screen

Our family recently moved from a major city that’s sort of known for its smugness and elitism.  In this city, one of the ways you can improve your hipster status is to boycott watching TV.  You’re soooooo cool if you don’t watch TV, and even cooler if you talk about how you’ve used all your extra free time to travel extensively and experience so many different cultures.  I can’t tell you how relieved I was when, in the early stages of dating, my wife asked, “Do you watch The Sopranos?”  I was like “Oh thank god; she watches TV.”

cowbellSo, if it was uncool for an individual to watch TV in this city, you can imagine how infinitely uncool it was for a parent to let their child watch TV.  Though many parents seemed to think it was perfectly acceptable to give their 18-month-old an iPhone to stare at the dizzying array of kids apps so they don’t have to talk to them at the dinner table, it was decidedly frowned upon to let your child watch TV. Going out to movies?  Yes, perfectly cool.  Letting them watch TV or a movie at home?  No, definitely poopooed. continue…


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Breakfast Radness

I am NOT a morning person.  I trip out that after 5 years my son STILL wakes up like a light bulb, fresh and ready to go.  Always happy, always ready to play.  He definitely did not get that from me.  As a child, I remember just drrrraaaaggggging myself out of bed every morning before school.  Then as an adult, it really hit me how much of a night owl I am when my job essentially forced me to be.  My company is based overseas, so it actually behooves me to stay up late because that matches their office hours better.  I love the quiet of the night, and I love sleeping in. continue…


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Oh well…

As I’ve probably mentioned before, I sort of began this site at the urging of many people who told me I was a good writer/storyteller. A lot of my friends are long distance, so when they ask me what’s going on I go into these long, detailed stories about all the adventures my son and I have together. They seem to get a kick out of it and tell me things like, “You should write a book!”, or “You should be writing this down!” Or, when I talk to my friends face to face, it’s hard for me to control my enthusiasm for all things being a dad, both good and bad, so echo similar sentiments.

So, I guess I was thinking I was all hot sh*t in this writing thing (despite having no direct experience in this field), because a while back I submitted a story to a company that’s creating interactive adventures for parents and their children. Well, apparently my ego needed a nice knock down to reality, because they didn’t accept the story. I guess I suck after all, but I’m still going to keep writing on this sucker! continue…


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Don’t Be a Cool Guy

I’m a bit different. I get that. I get sensitive, and I can’t always hide it. I express myself, and not always in the smoothest of ways. I can be a spazz, even when not in the presence of my son. I’m not Fonzie. I’m not one of those quiet, brooding guys who stands stoically off to the side that makes you go, “I wonder what he’s thinking?” I have a propensity to do things outside of the realm of what might be considered “cool”.

I get that. While I get along with pretty much everyone, I do a lot of things that most guys wouldn’t do because it would jeopardize their Coolness Quotient. But if I could give a bit of advice it would be this: don’t be a Cool Guy at the expense of your child. continue…


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Don’t Focus on What You’ve Sacrificed; Focus on What You’ve GAINED

I’m trying to stay away from providing too many personal details on this site, but let’s just say my life before fatherhood was good. I was really, really content. After struggling for several years in office jobs trying to figure out my path, an opportunity to have a career that focused on one of my passions was presented to me. It was kind of sketchy and scary at first, but after a while I realized I could do this as a career, from home, with a flexible schedule. It was/is still a lot of work, but I found that I get so much more work done when I’m motivated to do it, and I quickly excelled in this position. I don’t make a ton of money, but who cares as long as it’s enough and you love what you’re doing, right? continue…