City Dads Group

Navigating Fatherhood Together

How to Prep Your Child for Career Success

by Leave a Comment

Unless your kids already show an aptitude for working with wind power or healing the sick, you would do well to prep your child for career success now by helping them develop  skills that will serve them no matter how their careers unfold.

+  +  +

I was going to be in newspapers until the day I died. And then I wasn’t. I was going to live my life in press boxes and newsrooms. I was going to keel over well into my 80s while on assignment, probably waiting to interview some prima-donna ballplayer in a major-league clubhouse. I would have died grumpy, which … [Read more...]

Filed Under: education Tagged With: ,

Home is Not for Homework – Ban It!

by 18 Comments

Editor's Note: A recent American Journal of Family Therapy concluded that schools may be demanding children do far more homework than is generally recommended. L.A. Dads Group member Whit Honea weighs in on whether school should ban homework. I must admit, I am not a fan of homework. My wife isn’t either, and our kids love that about us. It’s not that we have issue with the needs of education, far from it. We have devoted our lives to a constant quest for knowledge and the science that is wonderment. But childhood is short and the days are shorter still, what with kids in school for … [Read more...]

Filed Under: education Tagged With: , ,

School Pick-up Line Parents: Read this Now, You Jerks

by Leave a Comment

I know classes just started. I know it’s an exciting time for you and for your small child. But please, please, pretty fucking please, stay in your line. I know it’s tough … I’m sympathetic to your pain. I’m in the school pick-up line, too. Thing is, we’re all in line. So get your ass where it needs to be and inch forward like everyone else. Thumbs up emoji. Here’s a suggestion: Tonight, talk to your family about which line you’re in and how you get into it. We were all supplied a diagram of the two lines: the drop-off and the pick-up lines. People love diagrams. Draw a new diagram for … [Read more...]

Filed Under: education Tagged With: ,

National Geographic Teaches Kids to Take Photos Like a Pro

by 1 Comment

People are sharing photos more than ever. With cameras on our cellphones, and a multitude of sites where we can share our images, people of all ages are looking to create compelling photos that tell their story. And since children are learning to shoot photos as well, they need a kid-friendly resource that will get them thinking like a photographer without intimidating them. National Geographic created an engaging book for kids with that in mind. National Geographic Kids Guide to Photography brings kids pro tips from National Geographic photographer Annie Griffiths in a visual style that is … [Read more...]

Filed Under: education, play Tagged With: , ,

How to Succeed at the Business of Being a Working Dad

by Leave a Comment

As a father of two and a self-proclaimed “Seasonal Stay at Home Dad” (I am a teacher 10 months of the year), I am challenged daily to not only balance my work and home life, but also to be successful at both. That's why I immensely enjoyed Scott Behson’s book The Working Dad’s Survival Guide: How to Succeed at Work and at Home. A lot of times when you pick up a book and you see “PhD” after the author’s name, you collide with an infusion of highbrow prose that may “say a lot” yet mean little to you. Behson keeps it real, though, and speaks to the reader in a manner that is neither demeaning … [Read more...]

Filed Under: education, work-life balance Tagged With: , , ,