Have you ever labeled one of your children — e.g., the “smart” one, the “clumsy” one, or the “whiny” one? Of course you have! Because you’re human.But as we know now, labeling a child is not healthy. A label often becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy, and even a positive label can constrain a child’s identity by compelling him or her to perform that limited role. Hence, labels could be considered part of a “fixed mindset,” to borrow from Carol Dweck’s celebrated research on a fixed vs. growth mindset.In their recent book, Mindsets for Parents, Mary Cay Ricci and Margaret Lee attempt to … [Read more...]
Beleaf: A Versatile Musician, Artist, Modern Father Figure
We follow up a rave review of Beleaf Melanin's new album, In Fatherhood, with an interview of the artist and popular YouTube dad.Q: You are big on collaborating with friends and family. In the closing song “Baby Daddy,” you speak to the adage "it takes a village" in parenting, but what does that mean to you in terms of creating art?Beleaf: It’s important to come in with a team. I definitely don’t think we were meant to do things alone. I think we can but it’s best to do them as a tribe. A part of a bigger village that’s basically open to changing the world.I started out as a DJ … [Read more...]
Dads Can Help Moms in ‘Fifth Trimester’ of Re-entering Workforce
What should a father do if his wife wants to return to her job after she gives birth?Support her all he can and figure out how to make the marital partnership work for each of you, says author Lauren Smith Brody.Brody gives advice on how to achieve those goals on the latest edition of The Modern Dads Podcast where she discusses her latest book, The Fifth Trimester: The Working Mom’s Guide to Style, Sanity, & Big Success After Baby.Based on interviews and input from more than 700 moms who work in a wide variety of occupations, Brody's book is not all opinion and anecdote as she … [Read more...]
Beleaf ‘In Fatherhood’ a Hip-Hop National Anthem for Dads
The modern fatherhood space can seem, well, academic, at times. Overly disciplined, sterile. Whitewashed, even.Then, seemingly out of the blue, a hip-hop album drops, and a breathtakingly talented dad emerges to the forefront to remind us that fatherhood advocacy isn’t always squeaky-clean academia and the face of it, most certainly, isn’t always white.That album is In Fatherhood. That dad is Beleaf Melanin.And, perhaps unbeknownst even to him, he has just penned fatherhood’s National Anthem in the form of an elaborate conceit, woven around a singular euphonious narrative, … [Read more...]
Give the Gift of Not Screwing Up Her Mother’s Day
Editor's Note: We asked mom, humorist and Barry Manilow fanatic Wendi Aarons for her advice on celebrating Mother's Day this year. Enjoy.Mother’s Day is a wonderful opportunity to show your wife, mother or the special woman in your life how important she is to you. It is also a wonderful opportunity to screw up big-time.I say that as someone who once spent Mother’s Day at a dilapidated horse track in San Antonio, Texas, dressed in the purple sequined “jazz hat” she was given as a gift by her family. Thank goodness I hit that trifecta or the day would have been a total … [Read more...]
Fishing with Your Kids Rarely about What You Catch
Fishing for me is a rite of passage. Learning how to fish comes from a pursuit of something that can leave you both angry and yet the happiest you've ever been. Fun can be had on both a boat trying to get that monster bass as well as in the middle of a frigid river searching for that trout. However, I’ve learned something over the years. Fishing isn’t always about catching fish.Getting up early and being on the water is a very sacred place for me. Life seems to rush by like the current of the water without a care in the world. When I’m on the water, the only thing I have to think about is … [Read more...]
Cold (and Often Long) Facts about Spring Youth Baseball
Youth baseball. A sport with varied skill levels. Some kids can knock the cover off the ball and others have never put on a baseball glove before (you can tell these kids because they always put it on the hand they throw with.)Baseball is a sport with no time limit, no clock. The games could last forever … literally.It is a sport played outside, during the unpredictable weather of the spring. Games rarely get cancelled, making for some interesting situations.This season, those windy 40 degree days made me thankful for the other 165 hours of the week I wasn’t sitting in a cold lawn … [Read more...]
For Whom the School Bell Tolls When Graduation Looms
Yesterday is a blur. It is a convergence of two strong, independent streams crossed by time, so deeply intertwined that hindsight and distance often render them as one. That, of course, is not fair to the individuals bound within. Fortunately, a confluence has a way of splitting again, and two roads are always diverging in the now, stretching well into tomorrow.This is where we stand, with the window of elementary school officially closing behind the last one out, and the boys each moving up an academic notch, to middle and high school, respectively. Between them we shall leave no path … [Read more...]
City Dads Blog, Members Nominated for Social Media’s Iris Awards
City Dads Group and several of its members recently received nominations for social media work in the past year from its online parenting peers.The City Dads Group blog has been nominated for Group or News Blog of the Year for the second straight time in the annual Iris Awards. The Iris Awards honor “the art of parenthood,” according to its organizers.The following City Dads members also received individual Iris Award nominations:Creed Anthony, Indianapolis City Dads - Dad Blog of the Year Mitch Chaitin, NYC - Dad Blog of the Year Jim Higley, Chicago - Dad Blog of the … [Read more...]
Baby Dove #RealDads Campaign Fights Limiting Parent Stereotypes
Disclosure: City Dads Group is proud to partner with Baby Dove.If you've ever been shamed by a partner, friend, relative or complete stranger for parenting "the wrong way," Dove beauty and grooming products has your back in its new ad campaign.To help launch its new Baby Dove line of cleaning and moisturizing products for wee ones, the company takes the stand that every mom and dad parents in his/her own way and none is necessarily right or the best. The concept aims to build the confidence of all new parents by showing a broader picture of modern parenting in response to Dove … [Read more...]