"Come on. We've got to go. We're going to be late," I stress to my son as I'm trying to get out the door, drop off at pre-school and get to work by 8:45 a.m. Fatherhood has transformed me from a crawl-out-of-bed-thirty-minutes-before-I-need-to-leave kind of guy to the father who loves to be the first one … Continue reading Teaching Worry & Hurry
Despite all effort to stray, I found myself naturally mirroring my dad's reactions, words and wrestling moves once I became a dad. This isn't a bad thing. My dad was a good father, a provider who worked hard to give his family with three kids a good life. And for that I'm thankful. But there … Continue reading That Little Chap Who Follows Me
I started my spiritual journey to build a relationship with God when my wife was about to enter her second trimester. I had to. Nothing else was satisfying. I had a good job, a beautiful wife, house and the whole bid, even a baby on the way. From the outside, things looked put together, but I … Continue reading How Do You Want Your Children to See You?
Things can be going along exactly to my plan, and then boom. A fresh cool glass of milk is spilled at the table. The kind of spill that reaches the center leaf and drips through the cracks of the wood. Boom. And we were just sitting down to the just plated dinner. The spill isn't my fault. … Continue reading Spilled Milk and Bike Accidents
Ah, the decision to breast or bottle feed your new baby. A quick online search, your child birthing class or a hospital tour will place the benefits of breast feeding directly in your face, to the point where the mother (and even the father) may feel shunned if they were to feed the baby formula. … Continue reading By The Bottle
Your children are designed for you. Not by you. Beyond putting a seed and egg together, you really don't have much to do with it. Sorry if this bursts your ego. There is something bigger than you that put your son and/or daughter together for you. And He has been doing this for 200,000 years, … Continue reading Your Children are Designed for You
The end of paternity leave is a double-sided coin. Today, the Friday before I go back to work, I see the past week and a half as a blessing. Talk to me tonight and I feel that feeling of time as sand slipping through my fingers. Time off to get to know my newborn daughter and … Continue reading The Ending of Paternity Leave
Transitions can be difficult for anyone, but they can be catastrophic to the world of my pre-school aged son. He will be four May 1, and my wife and I can never anticipate how dinner will go. There is no signal to help us anticipate. My wife and I have instilled the dinner ritual at … Continue reading You Don’t Have to Eat
Where does your energy come from? Whether you're nursing a newborn or wrangling through homework with your middle-school student, how do you manage to be there for your child or children? My daughter was scheduled to be delivered Thursday, March 24 at 8 a.m. by C-section. She decided to suprize us early by sending my … Continue reading Strength from A Daughter’s Face
I'm proud of my four-year-old son's library. He has about 200 books on his shelf plus a rotating allotment of 15-30 library books at a time. These range from board to picture books. So I was livid when every volume was piled into a stew of toys and art supplies. The topping was his full-sized … Continue reading Bedtime Book Stew
