When your 15-year-old is on spring break with another family for a week, the last click-bait you want to see on your phone is “Tornado Watch from Florida to South Carolina.” What are the odds, I fretted, as my thumbs speed-texted “U ok? Just heard about tornado watch for sarasota?” My daughter replied like King Kong casually batting away a helicopter parent: “yeah we r good.” Despite her nonchalance, shortly after her return home she admitted that my message had, in fact, alerted them to a coming storm, much to her amazement. Begrudgingly, she gave me credit for helping them take … [Read more...]
‘Benchwarmer’ by Josh Wilker Failing at Sports, Maybe Fatherhood
If ever a new father needed to join a City Dads Group, it is author Josh Wilker. He has questions and worries. Many worries. About bonding with his newborn son. About getting his child to sleep, installing car seats, reconnecting with his post-partum wife. He's a dad in desperate need of the answers and reassurance provided by a support group like ours (note: according to his Facebook page, Wilker "likes" his hometown Chicago Dads Group). But at the time he's writing about in his latest book Benchwarmer: A Sports-Obsessed Memoir of Fatherhood, he can only seek solace in his obsession … [Read more...]
Harnessing “The Power of Dadhood”
“The most manly characteristic is to accept the responsibility of fathering a child” is one of many powerful suggestions Michael Byron Smith offers to help new fathers become the dad his child needs in his book, The Power of Dadhood, which I found a worthy and inspirational read even for a veteran dad of two (ages 6 and 2) like me. The one area I find challenging is promoting confidence in my 6-year-old son. He is a reserved child at times and while I want him to be the star of his soccer team, I realistically curb my expectations. Smith writes “the challenge (for your child) must not … [Read more...]
9 Things All First-Time Dads Should Know
Three of the men dearest to me, my actual brother and two close friends, recently had their first child. Here's what I know about having your first child that I shared with them. First-Time Dads Tip 1. Babies don't come out looking at colleges. You have time to learn and time to make mistakes. The first three months are mostly about poop, food and sleep. It will get more complicated, but it all seems to come one complication at a time. First-Time Dads Tip 2. Know what goes into your child. You'll be hearing a lot about what comes out -- it seems poop is the Rosetta Stone for every … [Read more...]
A Quantum Leap into Fatherhood
Almost seven years ago I became a father. I still remember the swelling mix of feelings – love, pride, exhaustion and fear amongst others. I remember, vaguely, getting the car to pick up my daughter and my wife. My daughter. I was a father. Oh, boy. The hospital stay was nice. Cozy. It was like Diet Parenting. People brought you food (free if you were a breastfeeding mom – which I may, or may not have, pretended to be over the phone when I ordered meals). Nurses would take the kid so you could nap (we never let her leave). Your child was LoJacked so people couldn't steal her without … [Read more...]