Easter and Dads

Dads have the power to enchant the kids when they can indulge in simple activities and celebrations along with the kids, and Easter provides an excellent opportunity for this. In addition to Easter decorations for the home, here are a few creative activities that will excite the kids immeasurably if dad can join them:

1. Baking an Easter Bunny Cake: If dad does not do much cooking, it is still possible to bake a bunny cake using a cake mix and readymade frosting that makes the job simple. But it will simply amaze the kids to see their dad baking a cake, and the Bunny Cake is going to be something too special for any kid in the world anyway.

2. Decorating Easter Eggs: All you need to do is to poke a small hole delicately in an egg, and drain it out till the shell becomes empty. Clean it, dry it, and now it is ready for funny decorations. Let your imagination run a riot, and encourage the kids to let their creative juices flow on the eggshells to create some wonderful decorations.

Intelligent Self Defense Karate

Being a father of 4 children, their safety is always on my mind especially as my 3 teenagers become more independent, to me the streets don’t seem as safe as they used to be, and it’s not just the streets, social events and parties can quickly get out of control.

Having done a level of security work myself as a night club bouncer I have seen my fair number of fights just appear out of nowhere, so I do worry about my kids.

However I know my kids are not going to want to me to follow them everywhere, so they are just going to have to learn to recognise potential risks and avoid them, but in the event that they are caught up in a situation, they need to know what to do as safely and quickly as possible.

I found this great self defence video, which as the title says is the most intelligent form of self defence I have seen.

Don't give up on your kids

This is a clip from tv show "Fresh Prince of Bell Air" with Will Smith, in this clip Will Smith gets reunited with his estranged father (Lou) after 14 years of absense, who tells him that he is coming to spend the summer with him. But Lou disappoints Will again by telling him that there trip will have to be postponed.

Even thou this is acting (great acting), I was inspired to post this clip.
Real live can be a lot harder.

Reading With Your Kids

One sociologist, looking over 8,000 years of human history, writes that the measure of wealth is the ability to own a book and be able to read it. Literacy is the ultimate luxury. And yet, in that regard, our country is becoming poorer and poorer.

Instill a love of reading into your children by reading books with them and discussing them as you go along. This could include novels they’re reading in school or supplementary reading. Make your children truly rich in spirit – read with them!

Warmly,

Mark Brandenburg

Mark Brandenburg MA, CPCC
mark@eqnow.org
www.markbrandenburg.com
www.eqnow.org
Phone (+1) 651-766-9976
"Helping Men Succeed"

Know your bugs - Campylobacter

I recently came across a story about a stomach bug that I hadn't heard of up until then - it's called "campylobacter" and it can get pretty horrendous for babies and children. Eating food contaminated with the campylobacter bacteria causes a gastrointestinal infection which typically leads to diarrhoea, vomitting and cramps (amongst other symptoms).

The bacteria is very common in NZ (in fact NZ has the highest rate of campylobacter food poisoning in the developed world) because of very high contamination rates found in chicken food stocks. Infants and young children are most at risk from a campylobacter infection. Symptoms typically show up 1-10 days after ingesting contaminated food and the illness lasts 2-5 days (sometimes up to 10 days). Diagnosis of the illness is made by testing a specimen of faeces (bowel motion).

Typical signs and symptoms of campylobacter

Who is St Nicholas?

The tradition of putting gifts in shoes is still carried out by parents around the world (mostly Europe I think) who get their children to clean their boots and put them next to the entrance door of the house on Dec 5th for St Nicholas. During the night the boots then get "miraculously" filled with chocolate, candy, nuts or fruit. Most parents probably use it to keep their children's behaviour on the straight and narrow (as of course "bad kids" don't get anything from St. Nicholas) and to break up the long wait for Christmas presents.

Helping brave children - FUNRAZOR 2008

For the last few years Child Cancer Foundation have organised a "funrazor - shave your lid for a brave kid" event to raise money to fund programs for kids and their families on the childhood cancer journey. So this year it was time to get some DIYFather involvement in the event. Here's what happened ...

My son didn't recognise me when I got home but it's all been worth while :-) A BIG THANK YOU to everyone who sponsored me!!!

-Stefan

Bring it on!

“Bring it on,” I yelled to my kids. “I’ll pin you both at the same time!”

“You think so?” my daughter yelled back. “You’re gonna get what you deserve!” My son came at me from the front, while my daughter snuck around behind me. I spun to the ground, and was assaulted on both sides. It was only a matter of time before they each had a shoulder pinned to the ground.

While they celebrated their victory, I planned my next attack, knowing that the “results” of the battle were far less important than the battle itself.

Do you want to be an effective father?

One of the easiest ways to be effective is to wrestle with your kids. Not only is it loads of fun, but its’ benefits go a long ways towards teaching your kids some valuable lessons.

Reflecting You

Remember that when it’s all said and done, your kids will accurately reflect many of the things you’ve given them.

They’ll reflect your joy, your enthusiasm, your anger, and your love. They’ll see how you treat your wife, and how you treat women in general. They’ll see how you respond to stressful times, and how honest you are. They’ll see how you take care of yourself, and how you nurture others. And they’ll see how important your family is to you.

You give it to them, and they reflect it back.

What are you choosing to give your children?

Warmly,

Mark Brandenburg

Mark Brandenburg MA, CPCC
mark@eqnow.org
www.markbrandenburg.com
www.eqnow.org
Phone (+1) 651-766-9976
"Helping Men Succeed"

Farming fathers have a unique position

I was at a meeting last week, and someone asked me if we did things with the rural community, and I thought well we don’t directly. Most of the fathers that access our information seem to be urban. It got me thinking about when I was brought up in the country and how a very unique situation farmers have with their children. And this is because usually their children are seen as an extra labour unit to either get the cows in or do jobs on the farm, which are not paid for.

So I thought that farmers over urban fathers have a great opportunity to get more involved with their children and to spend more time with them. Usually the farm has the family home on it, so it’s a lot more accessible to their children and also to the farmers in general.