“I’m not a math person.” As a math teacher, I hear this quite often from both students and parents. Why do we say this about math? You don’t really hear people say they aren’t a reading person or a social studies person. They may say they don’t like reading or don’t like history but that’s a matter of interest. Saying,…
A natural birth is hard…and I didn’t even go through it being a dad. But I supported and watched my wife push through the natural hospital birth of both our sons, which was truly incredible. We were fortunate enough to have the means to hire the same, excellent doula for both births. We paid $900 for our doula, which was…
Feeding toddlers can be a rightfully daunting task. You want to make sure you give them a balanced diet with good nutrition, but that can definitely be easier said than done. This is especially the case since toddlers tend to be picky. If you (and your spouse) are not a stay-at-home parent, it can be even more challenging. My wife…
My oldest son is almost five years old now. At this point, he’s seen his share of kids’ shows…and I have too. As I’m sure parents can relate to, some are great, well done, and quite entertaining. But there are those other kids’ shows that are painful to watch and really, really suck. Here is my list of five kids’…
I’m a great dad. I wholeheartedly know this. Maybe you feel that’s arrogant, but that’s kind of the point. Even in today’s age where hearing someone say “stay-at-home-dad” doesn’t really raise an eyebrow, I still see so many jokes and stories celebrating dads for doing simple parenting tasks. Look, I’m really easy going, so I find some of these to…
My younger son recently got ear tubes. It’s a very common procedure. It’s estimated that about 80% of children will have at least one ear infection by the age of three. Relatedly, about 7% of children have ear tubes by age three. My older son only had one ear infection by the time he was three, but my younger son…
Teachers are largely under appreciated. Being a longtime teacher, I know I’m biased. There are certainly bad teachers, but there are also bad lawyers, bad doctors, and bad construction workers. When you have excellent teachers though, they are invaluable. But no matter how great and dedicated a teacher is, there’s no question that the parenting of a student is still…
I’m kind of a minimalist. So after having kids, I never wanted to have tons of toys. Generally, I would say that my two boys have fewer toys than most of my friends’ kids, but we still have a decent amount. While my wife and I have often looked for interesting toys, this is even more the case now as…
As a long time teacher, I often think about the strong correlation between effective teaching practices and effective parenting. Even before I had kids, my colleagues and I would discuss the strong parenting traits that helped students thrive while lamenting the lack of parenting that hindered students. It often seemed that the same practices that were successful in teaching applied…
I love a good old road trip. As a kid, I went on many road trips, and as an adult, I’ve continued to enjoy them. Even with two young sons now, I still enjoy them. It can be a challenge to keep the kids from becoming too restless on a road trip, but I’m a firm believer in not caving…