Quality Father/Son Time with Our Pal “Venom”

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father son movie venom tom hardy walmart

Disclosure: This shop has been compensated by Collective Bias, Inc. and its advertiser. All opinions are mine alone. #CollectiveBias #ManCaveMovieNight #Venom #TheEqualizer2 My son’s in his first year of college. Dorm life, a completely unstructured lifestyle, girls, an occasional class to attend, lots of cafeteria food (fortunately Pitzer College has an excellent dining hall) and all the socializing a young man could desire. Underlying all of it, however, is a subtle current of loneliness; it’s…Read More

Of Boys and Girls and High School Sports

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sexual harassment at high school

My youngest is on the local high school volleyball team and she’s doing great. I’m a proud Dad and show up for all their games, whether at home or to the further reaches of Colorado oforn away games. The volleyball season is pretty darn short, however, just a few months, then it’s over for the entire school year. Which is a bit odd, really, since games are always indoors so they could certainly play throughout…Read More

Five Ways Dads Can Prepare for an Online Therapy Session

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betterhelp online therapy - help for stressed dads

Let’s face it, this fatherhood thing isn’t easy. And sometimes it can feel impossible, with obstinate kids, a judgmental partner or ex and a boss that couldn’t care less about your home life and won’t cut you any slack. That’s why I support every Dad taking care of your own mental health, not just focusing on your children. Nowadays we have some really cool options for this too, notably online therapy and counseling. From the…Read More

What Kind of Sports Fan Am I?

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tottenham hotspur spurs logo

I’m a loyal Tottenham Hotspur fan. If you’ve hung around me long enough, you’ve heard me talking about my Spurs, a soccer team in the English Premier League. Right now they’re #3 in the whole league, which is comprised of the 20 best soccer teams in the British Isles. Why the Spurs? Family history, actually: I was born in their area of London, my Dad supported the team and attended games – even as a…Read More

The Big New World of a Public High School

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switching from private to public school - high school

I went to a public school throughout my childhood, K-12, though my ex was at a rather elite prep private school for her childhood. Two very different experiences. When our oldest began her own journey through schooling, we agreed that we’d like to do something different and enrolled her in a Waldorf School. Actually the Santa Cruz Waldorf School because at the time we were living in the Santa Cruz Mountains above Silicon Valley (and…Read More

Meeting the Boyfriend / Girlfriend…

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meeting the parents

One thing that’s hard to wrap your head around as a parent to young ‘uns is that someday you’ll be with your child and not their friend or BFF, but their boyfriend/girlfriend. At seven, a “girlfriend” is innocuous, but as they grow up and hit those teen years, well, the stakes go up and the chance for getting into serious trouble increases. To make things more complicated, we live in a highly sexualized society where…Read More

The Long Journey to Empathy and Forgiveness

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empathy, forgiveness and parenting

It’s almost like a pool of water: on the surface we simply exist and things happen to us, good and bad. A bit deeper we recognize that they’re not all our fault or justified, and sometimes – perhaps often – actions are not okay and not justified. That breeds anger, resentment, depression, etc. But deeper than that and a real challenge to reach is the lower level of forgiveness, of seeing what happens, recognizing it’s…Read More

High School Graduation from the Bleachers

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attend high school graduation versus online high school

A few days ago I did something I haven’t done for <cough> years: I attended a high school graduation. You’re likely thinking that my oldest, A-, is 20 so surely I attended her high school graduation, right? Turns out that though she spent many years at the same private school, she ended up deciding that an online program would serve her best for the last year of high school. The program was very good and…Read More

Math Word Problems and Stress Management

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how to solve word problems with your child student

My 13yo girl is good at math, though she is quick to get discouraged. There’s something about the “hard” sciences that brings that out in a lot of people, students and parents alike. My theory is that it’s to do with the right or wrong nature of the work. History is open to interpretation, composition is strongly influenced by your imagination and writing style and physical education, well, if you can throw a ball… But math…Read More

My Parenting Advice to Newly Single Parents

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parenting advice to newly single divorced separated parents dads

I’ve spent the last few days at Type-A West in Denver, Colorado, including being part of a panel discussion about Dad Influencers, along with long-time friend Eric Elkins and new friend Bolaji Oyejide. Ably moderated by Don Jackson, we ended up talking a lot more about fatherhood and the nuanced issue of appropriately sharing our experiences as fathers with our followers. Do you reveal all, or do you keep everyone at arm’s length? Bolaji was…Read More

Two Weeks of the Bachelor Life

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kids in hawaii, living the bachelor dad life

I don’t know that I can ever really be a “bachelor” in the sense of a man who is unmarried and has zero responsibilities, but with my girls in Hawaii for two weeks with their mom, it’s feeling a lot like I have a big house and not a lot of people within. In Hollywood a “bachelor” is someone who lives a decadent lifestyle, is a slob and subsists on pizza and bottles of whiskey….Read More

Your Children are Never Too Old for Valentine’s Day…

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a homemade kid-focused happy valentine's day

When your children are little, it’s pretty typical for parents — mostly Mums, but we’ll get back to that — to give them valentine’s day cards or sweets. As they grow up, however, is there an age when it becomes inappropriate or just a tad weird? Some might think so but I don’t. In fact, I gave Valentine’s Day cards to both of my girls this morning and they’re 13 and 20. Better yet, Ashley,…Read More

Kid’s Sports Can Be a Great Experience

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girls ymca volleyball team parenting parent coaches community

All three of my children have been into sports, far more than I ever was as a child. Heck, I joined marching band in high school so that I could take that instead of PE. My sports experience as a youth ended when I was about eight when my parents got sick of the way the other parents treated their children and harassed the coaches on my local Little League team. I actually have no memories at…Read More

Truth or Dare Primer for Parents

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teen friendly truth or dare sample questions - party notes - how to play

My daughter celebrated her 13th birthday over the weekend with a gala party that included almost every single person in her class at our house for cake, dancing and a game of truth or dare, the latter held in a dark room only lit by our laser disco light. Truth or dare? Um… I had some reservations about the game, for sure, particularly since 13 is the age at which girls start to get very…Read More

The Challenge of Scheduling Christmas and Hannukah

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christmas vs hanukkah

I married a woman from a different religious background than my own, which meant our ceremony was Unitarian. I was raised Jewish, she was raised Baptist, though neither of us had a particularly strong religious family. When we were married, we took that common route of celebrating all possible holidays, whether Jewish or Christian. I mean, why not celebrate as many events as possible? Since it always fell on very different days, we also opted…Read More