30 Jan

Dad and Buried Posted in discipline 20,462 comments

Parental Sacrifice is Required

Chud.com, an irreverent site that tackles all manner of movie and television news for genre fans, movie buffs, fan boys and the like, recently posted an editorial called “When Bad Parents Go to the Movies.”

The article is a tad inflammatory and harsh, making gross (literally) assumptions about parents who take their children to movies and thereby ruin the experience for others, but it’s also pretty dead-on. Taking your kids to movies that aren’t appropriate isn’t the best way to win Parent of the Year. But taking young kids to any movie is a dicey proposition.

When you become a parent, going to the movies stops being easy. But that’s the parents’ problem. Let’s not make it everyone else’s.

28 Jan

Dad and Buried Posted in Drinking 14,765 comments

Eye of the Toddler: Using Your Kids to Stay in Shape

Kids are stress-inducing.

Unfortunately, they’re also time-consuming, which makes it difficult to alleviate your stress, and stay healthy, via the time-tested method of exercise. If you don’t have time, you probably aren’t going to bother shelling out for a gym membership you’ll rarely use. And good luck with trying to use that treadmill you bought during his nap; if there’s a louder piece of equipment this side of the drum-kit my in-laws bought my son, I haven’t come across it.

What’s a parent to do?!

Don’t fret; I have a solution! Like Rocky in Siberia (actually, it was filmed in Krasnogourbinsk, but come on), you have to work with what you’ve got. In this case, what you’ve got are kids.

Luckily, they’re even better than a Bowflex!

25 Jan

Dad and Buried Posted in Zombie 3 comments

Zombie Post: Pain Banishment

Yesterday’s post, about teaching my son not to overreact when he’s disappointed, or startled, or gets hurt, reminded me of how far he’s come. A year ago, I wrote about how poorly the kid handled pain. He was just learning to walk then, and he was falling a lot. He’s a lot more mobile now,Read more about Zombie Post: Pain Banishment[…]

23 Jan

Dad and Buried Posted in discipline 33 comments

The Art of the Underreaction

Years ago, Mom and Buried and I learned a parenting lesson we’d never forget: keep calm and parent on!

A woman and her son were walking around Fenway Park, the little boy happily toting a Red Sox balloon. All of a sudden, the balloon popped. We steeled ourselves for a meltdown. But his quick-thinking mother defused the situation.

She responded immediately with a wide smile and a big laugh, brightly exclaiming, “Your balloon popped! Who cares, right?” In no time, her son was laughing along with her. She’d thwarted his natural inclination towards getting upset by treating the whole thing as no big deal. When he saw that Mommy didn’t care, suddenly neither did he.

Even without kids, I knew it was a brilliant move. Years later, with a two-year-old of my own, her underreaction seems just as brilliant, even more essential, and a lot harder than it looked.

21 Jan

Dad and Buried Posted in Learning One comment

Stupid Toddler Tricks

Everyone laments the speed with which kids grow up. (Almost everyone.) Parents are constantly warning other parents how quickly a kid’s childhood flies by and how, before you know it, the apple of your eye is in college.

But that’s not what scares me. Watching my kid get older will definitely be bittersweet in the long-run, but I’m more concerned with the now. Specifically, the double-edged sword that is my son’s rapidly increasing intelligence and physical development, and how it affects me on a daily basis. Because every new skill my son acquires brings with it an increase to my day-to-day stress.

The smarter he gets, the more difficult my life becomes.

Read more about Stupid Toddler Tricks …

Dad and Buried

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