Parenting | Page 29 of 34

What Pee Wee’s Playhouse can teach Parents

Growing up in the 80’s had certain peaks and valleys. For me one of those peaks was watching Pee Wee’s Playhouse, the kids’ show that adults could love starring Paul Reubens. Children could enjoy the visuals and the simple jokes while adults (see: college students) enjoyed the sublime humor or played it later as a drinking game. Continue reading What Pee Wee’s Playhouse can teach Parents

Should you let your children play with your Tonka toys?

This dad is a pack rat. Like most kids growing up I had a couple Tonka toys to crash around in the back yard. We had a sand box that the Tonka’s would build sand castles, carry logs (sticks) and do all sorts of things to simulate a boy’s active imagination. I was especially lucky growing up because we had a creek behind the house.

I was lucky; my parents had to deal with a dirty, muddy, wet child tromping up the back hill towards the house where mom hopefully made a peanut butter and banana sandwich. Continue reading Should you let your children play with your Tonka toys?

A Dad gets Mommyitis

The other week my wife went to the chiropractor and was told that she has a case of “mommyitis”. A quick search of our friend the internet will tell you that it’s defined as having a child with separation anxiety. Alas, our doctor must not have gotten that memo because their definition was a pain in the elbow or triceps, caused by picking up a baby.

The doctor told my wife to stretch her arm, which she promptly told me to do to her. I gladly agreed because I knew that my larger and stronger man arms could lift our child without any worries. One week after her stretching routine my right tricep starts to burn. Then the next week my left tricep starts to ache, burn and feel like I had gone through a brutal workout. Continue reading A Dad gets Mommyitis

What Indiana Jones and television dogs taught this Dad about Parenting

I love the opening sequence in Raiders of the Lost Ark. When Indy finally gets to the large room where the golden idol is he pulls out a bag of sand, shifts some of it out and then switches it out for the treasure. It’s a clever trick and an accurate premise. The treasure is on a pressure sensitive platform that triggers a huge boulder if something heavier or lighter is on it.

Prior to being a stay at home dad I used to do PR for an animal shelter. As part of my job I would take cats or dogs to local television stations and tell the audience why they needed to adopt this pet. Dirty little secret: when I took cats, I always took kittens and when I took dogs I always had bacon in my pocket.

What could that sequence from Raiders and the experience with pets on live television possibly have taught me about parenting? Continue reading What Indiana Jones and television dogs taught this Dad about Parenting

The pros and con of using vinegar to clean

Prior to being a stay at home dad I had a wide variety of cleaning chemicals in my house. I even had two pints of acid that was kept in a thick black bottle, triple layered zip sealed bag. The acid didn’t make the move with us to our new home and is back at the old house, probably being surrounded by the EPA right now.

I was the single mans Breaking Bad, except I didn’t do anything with the chemicals, especially clean. Continue reading The pros and con of using vinegar to clean

A dad and mom play “did somebody step on a duck”?

As a stay at home dad I encounter lots of funny situations with my child. Toilet jokes are the low hanging fruit in the blog world. I made a pact with myself to avoid stories about the toilet, a moratorium if you will, for as long as possible. I’m sure that when Baby Mojo gets to the potty training phase of life we’ll have more stories, some of which may actually be funny.

Speaking in a very technical sense, it’s not a story of the toilet, more accurately it’s a case of “did somebody step on a duck”? Continue reading A dad and mom play “did somebody step on a duck”?

My marriage is not like an 8 track: New families and the stay at home dad

This past week a study came out on marriage from The Pew Research center. You may have heard the highlights, mainly the fact that MARRIAGE IS ON THE DECLINE. Well make me watch television infomercials, I thought my marriage was great and if the masses are getting out of this mom and dad racket then I’m not going to let the violin player beat me off this sinking ship. Continue reading My marriage is not like an 8 track: New families and the stay at home dad

A parenting tip for maintaining the baby’s library

Both mom and I have been reading to Baby Mojo since he could open his eyes. It started out with Brown Bear, Brown Bear, Ten Little Ladybugs and an assortment of other hardback books. We have many more non hardback books, but quickly discovered that he would either eat them or destroy the pages. Continue reading A parenting tip for maintaining the baby’s library