Where Are The Dads With Minivans?

I drive a Honda Odyssey minivan. I actually like it. Why shouldn’t I? Because it’s not manly? Please. It’s not like the 4 door Civic I drove last year, before getting the minivan, was any more manly. And I don’t care what car you’re driving, snot on your shirt and cheerios stuck to your pants are not going to be cool.

The minivan has leather interior, 5 CD changer, and doesn’t struggle when you drive up a hill with the AC on. It’s a shiny new car. So why is it so bad for a dad to drive one? I don’t get it.

When I pick up the Things at preschool every day, most of the cars are minivans. But I never, and I mean never, see dads driving them. Except me. Are all they all laughing behind my back? Or maybe they’re secretly jealous.

Those who serve, those who wait

Military men and women sacrifice much for their country... and so do their families. It’s been said that freedom isn’t free – and that’s true. Even the children of soldiers pay the price, as they experience the absence of their dad or mom, who is serving overseas.

As you watch this touching video, take a moment to remember all of our military families who sacrifice so much for our country’s freedom and safety.

Posted with permission from www.allprodad.com

Snow, What’s in it for the family?

A family snow holiday can mean many things to Australians; it can be a completely foreign concept, an unimagined idea, or a far off dream. For others it’s an alien and daunting prospect, but something they might want to try at least once in a lifetime. For the enthusiast, a trip to the snow can be a regular event; a fun-filled time spent with family or friends, something to give up other things for.

Whatever it means to you, there must be something special about a visit to the snow because around a million Australians visit ski resorts in this country each winter. But what is it about a snow holiday that is so appealing?

Bare Feet

I looked up from the open suitcase in front of me, then got up, walked over to the window, and leaned over the couch so I could see the street below.

In the glow of tail lights I could see the shadow of a man standing on the sidewalk in front of our building.

The buzzer rang again. This time I picked up the phone.

"Hello," I said.

"Airport shuttle."

I hesitated, glancing toward the bedroom.

"We're on our way down."

I hung up the phone and walked back through the apartment, stepping over the suitcase to get to the bedroom door.

"The shuttle's here," I said into the dark room. "I'm gonna start bringing things down."

After yanking the zipper around from one corner to the other, I drug the suitcase and our other bags to the front door and set them in the hallway. I slung the baggage over my shoulders and struggled to the elevator.

Every Parent Needs a Break

Our break came in the form of a trip to Aruba that Megan won through her work. If you're sitting at home with your little ones you can either throw stuff at the screen or you can take a little trip in your mind with me. If you chose the latter, go make yourself a pina colada. I'll wait...

The trip almost didn't happen. With my family in California and Megan's parents in Florida, we don't really have a local option to watch the kids for extended periods of time. We've done a couple of trips in the past where we scheduled several sitters in blocks of time, but that was too stressful for everyone involved. Just as we were about to give up on the idea, the heavens opened up (singing choirs of angels and all) and delivered to us my sister Tracy.

Confessions of a stay home dad - part 5

THE LONG DRIVE

My family and I recently had the occasion to drive most of the length of the North Island, returning home from visiting the relatives. It was a landmark journey - the first long haul car trip undertaken with James, whose toddlerish exuberance is still peaking.

Toddlers aren't meant to sit down for extended periods of time - it is hotwired into their developing brains to runjumpbouncecrawlswingplayshout, not sitsitsitsitsit. So the aim of the game was keeping the small person happy and by extension, us. This wasn’t just pure altruism at work either; we wanted to get to the end in one piece. Avoiding minor catastrophes in the back seat was going a long way towards avoiding a major catastrophe on the road. So we thought it out, took all those incremental lessons learnt from short trips and rolled them together into one big ball of diversionary tactics designed to get the most out of the journey for James and us. Here's what we learnt:

Family Travels

PREAMBLE

Not too long ago our family spent 60 days travelling around the world, mostly in Europe, with 3-night stop-overs in Hong Kong (on the way) and Singapore (on our way home). From my own observation on this and previous overseas holidays it seems that very few people travel with children for this long, and those who do rarely have 3 of them along for the ride (though my daughters perhaps qualify as young adults, the eldest at least - they are 13 and 15).

Dad's day out

I always like to make sure I know how the day is going to look, Am I going to meetings? Am I going to town or anywhere else that may cause a problem for my little girl Pyper when out for a few hours.
I am a stay home dad so when I am not working on DIYFather.com I am going to meetings or doing errands for my wife and her business, then I am looking after Pyper.

Everything in our household can be put off to the last minute – especially with newborns, you have to wake them, and do you feed them? Do you change them? What about their clothes?? Oh my god are we ever going to leave. Now if your organised and sometimes we are and sometimes we aren't – we already have a babies bag ready to go with the following supplies:

Dad, don't pack your grumpy pants

"More more more more ..." continues to be bleated from the back seat of the SUV as we cruise down the I97 towards Bend. Our 20 month son was really into something. Was it the enjoyment of cruising the windy mountain roads of Oregon, was it food related or was it another round of the 'bananas in pyjamas' he was craving? I personally think he was wanting to sing-along again with Canned Heat "on the road again", this kid really rocks!

There are plenty of dads that would have a near weak moment like saying "I do" when hitting the road with the kids. But for that one dad there are five others that just love it. I'm proud to say that I'm one of those dads that just loved it.

Travelling with children

Would you take your children on a month long tour of Europe?
I wouldn't have even entertained the thought; I could just imagine the long drives on the road in between countries, "I'm bored...", "Are we there yet???...", "I need to go to the toilet..." if you have children you know just what I mean.
And do they really appreciate the history of Europe? Will they eat the foods or just want McDonalds? Tours can be full on enough without having the added burden of children and their needs and whims.

But on my recent 27 day tour through the sites of Europe there was a father and his wife that did just that, with 2 teenage daughters and one young 8 year old boy they toured Europe as part of a tour group for nearly a month, was it tough? Only they will know (I do hope they read this and add their own experience), for the rest of us in the tour group they were all great happy easy going children.