How Bananas Evolve For Our Kids

How do bananas evolve for our kids? If you are a parent, I’m sure you’ve become a master banana preparer by now. If you haven’t yet, you’ll be there soon. Bananas evolve in several ways. Typically, we start by presenting our kids with banana-mush and we work up to the goal of having them eat […]

How Do You Explain Rob Ford’s Behaviour To Your Kids?

I must say, I’m happy my kids are not old enough to be asking what crack cocaine is and why our mayor, Rob Ford, is smoking it. I can’t imagine this is an easy explanation for parents. Do you answer with brute honesty? Do you deflect to another topic? Do you make something up? If […]

Taking Your Children On An Airplane

I’ve heard a lot of great advice for taking your children on an airplane: “Have a sippy cup ready for the way up.” “Wrap a few small presents and let your children open them on the plane.” “Have your wife jam her breast into your baby’s mouth on takeoff and landing.” “Make sure to bring […]

Teaching Manners To Children

I don’t know about you, but I eventually want well mannered children. Teaching manners to a 2 year old, however, is a difficult task. It’s a lot like teaching a triangle to roll. My wife and I have been working on “please” and “thank you” with our son since he learned to speak. We’ve used […]

How To Help Your Toddler Welcome A New Sibling:

There are lots of funny stories about toddlers accepting or rejecting a new sibling. Thus far the stories I have heard fall into 1 of 2 categories: 1. That’s a neat new toy. Let’s throw it out now. 2. That’s a neat new toy. Let’s take good care of it. Several articles suggest ways to prepare […]

Going Digital

Let me start by saying that there is nothing wrong with drawing on paper, taking a picture of your drawing with your digital camera, sending it to your computer, cropping and lightening the drawing on a photo program, then finally inserting it in your blog-post. It’s a bit of a process, but the end product […]

Motivating Boys to Read

There is growing data showing a difference in academic motivation and achievement between school-age boys and girls. Gender appears to matter. Dr. Leonard Sax in his book, Boys Adrift, hypothesizes that boys lack motivation for several reasons including a decline in experiential learning at school and a focus on learning from books. He also talks […]

How to Use a Storm as a Catalyst in the Bedroom

I recently participated in a “Twitter Chat” on #DadsRT about keeping your relationship alive when you have children. The chat was inspired by articles written by various dads on the website Dads Round Table (which, by the way, is a great online community for dads). A lot of intelligent comments were made that night. If […]

How to Remove Your Child’s Stains From Your Clothes Like a Man

So you’re a dad. You have children. They have orifices. They have bodily fluids. These fluids have a unique ability to attach themselves to your clothing at inopportune times. At a restaurant. At a birthday party. On your way out the door to work. What do you do? You’re a dad. You’re a thinking dad. […]

How to Take Your Parents to the Movies

The following recommendations are based on my past experience going to movies with my wonderful 70-year-old+ mother (ClassicMom) and amazing 80-year-old+ father (ClassicDad). Needless to say, they don’t go often: 1) Let your parents choose where to sit: 2) Expect deafeningly loud comments about anything and everything: 3) Expect mass confusion over the movie’s official […]