Owner: SuburbanDaddy URL:http://www.suburbandaddy.com Join Date: Mon, 08 Oct 2007 07:25:24 -0500 Rating:0 Site Description: Parenting advice and struggles of a dad with three small children Site statistics:Click here
Take The Animals To The Zoo 2008-05-27 07:35:46 What to do on a long holiday weekend with the Animals
Things? Take them to the zoo!
The weather was absolutely perfect so we went to the National Zoo
in Washington, DC. It’s something we do once a year. It’s only a 45 minute drive, why only once a year? Because that’s [...]
The Gift I Never Wanted 2008-06-03 07:02:39 Everyone has their own God given talents. Unique skills which separate them from the pack. Sometimes the talent is, indeed, a gift. Playing the piano is a gift. Hitting a golf ball 300 yards is a gift. But sometimes, the “gift” is not something we want to have. In [...]
Parenting Poll of the Week - Allowance and Chores 2008-06-06 07:10:34 I was surprised to learn that many child development experts agree that linking an allowance to the completion of chores is not the best approach. I would have thought the opposite, but it kind of makes sense.
Giving money for bigger chores is ok. But regular, everyday chores, like taking out the garbage or [...] Read more:Parenting
, Chores
What Were These Parents Thinking? 2008-06-07 12:37:27 Thing 1 plays on a soccer team. At this age, it’s more of an organized play time than an actual soccer game. But he really enjoys it. I’m sure it’s a hint of what my life will become in a few years as all three kids get into it.
Each week, it is [...] Read more:Parents
Future Ladies Man 2008-06-08 10:51:04 Thing 2 has discovered a new skill. He is able to raise a single eyebrow. He likes to watch himself do it in the mirror, and each time, it’s like he just discovered it for the first time. Read more:Future
Conversations With A 3 Year Old 2008-06-10 21:06:18 Each day I pick up the Things at preschool/daycare and the ride home is no more than 15 minutes, but the conversations are priceless. Thing 2 is very excited to tell me about his day. Any random thought that pops into his head is expressed.
Every sentence starts the same way with “Daddy. [...]
Parenting Poll of the Week - Father’s Day 2008-06-13 06:55:54 Dads are used to being the Rodney Dangerfield of parents. We don’t get no respect. Our culture is filled with reminders like Parenting
Magazine’s tagline: “What matters to moms”.
Father
’s Day provides the ultimate salt in the wound. BusinessWeek reports that in 2005, consumers spent $11 billion on Mother’s Day vs [...]
Working Under Pressure 2008-06-17 06:45:35 Thing 3 got a birthday present in the mail. It was a fairly large sized box, and the Things were very, very excited. And very eager to “help” their one year old brother play with his new toy.
This isn’t like Christmas, where each Thing has their own presents to keep them occupied. [...] Read more:Pressure
The Story I Should Not Tell 2008-06-29 20:33:42 I probably should not be telling this story. There are some things we are better off not knowing. I don’t need to know how hotdogs are made. They just taste so good. And I don’t want to hear about what happens in restaurant kitchens. I just want to enjoy a [...]
More Conversations With A 3 Year Old 2008-06-24 16:13:12 In a recent post, I tried to convey a typical conversation with Thing 2 while driving home from preschool. As promised, I put the daddy cam in my car one day, so you can see first hand.
It’s actually surprising how well the video came out, considering I was holding the camera with one and [...]
Birthday Rite of Passage 2008-06-23 20:40:12 What would a first birthday be without the “first cake” ritual? In this case it was a cupcake, but the end result is the same.
Happy Birthday
Thing 3!
Parenting Poll of the Week - Bike Helmets 2008-06-20 06:59:23 When I was a kid, we didn’t wear bike helmets. No one did. I don’t even remember seeing bike helmets sold in stores. We also didn’t wear seat belts in cars. We were idiots.
Today I wear a seat belt and use a bike helmet. It never would occur to my [...] Read more:Parenting
, Helmets
Doing It All Again 2008-07-15 06:50:15 After such a restful vacation last year (see Vacationing With Kids Is No Vacation), we’ve decided to do it again. This year we’re going to Bethany Beach in Delaware. Bethany is known as The Quiet Resort but I don’t think there will be a lot of quiet in our house. Read more:Again
Kids Say The Funniest Things #8 2008-07-07 06:52:37 When a three year old is in tantrum mode, the laws of reason and logic don’t apply.
SuburbanDaddy: When you calm down, you can have it back.
It doesn’t matter what “it” is. Could be a toy, pillow, or piece of dirt.
Thing 2: Stop talking. Stop taaalkiiing [whining]
SuburbanDaddy: I can talk if I want. [...]
Parenting Poll of the Week - Kids And Happiness 2008-07-03 15:43:48 I read an interesting article that suggests parents are less likely to report being happy than the childless.
In Daniel Gilbert’s 2006 book “Stumbling on Happiness,” the Harvard professor of psychology looks at several studies and concludes that marital satisfaction decreases dramatically after the birth of the first child—and increases only when the last child has [...] Read more:Parenting
Kids And The City 2008-07-29 20:30:27 Considering the name of this website, it’s no surprise that my kids are 100% suburban. They are very much at home in a Target or Home Depot. They know the difference between Panera and Starbucks.
We are only about 30 miles outside of a large city, Washington DC, but it may as well be 300 miles [...]
Parenting Mystery Solved 2008-07-24 07:03:27 The parenting mystery is solved. There were several partial correct answers, but monoceros came closest. The garbage can wasn’t a difficult one to guess. It’s an obivous object of interest to little kids.
The key in my situation is that Thing 3 has just learned to walk, so objects that used to be out of his [...] Read more:Parenting
, Mystery
Parenting Test - Can You Solve This Mystery? 2008-07-22 06:55:42 OK parents, let’s see if you can figure this out.
Here are two images of ordinary objects in our house. One is a garbage can on top of the kitchen counter. The other is a kid-sized picnic table on top of a porch table.
This is the way we keep these two items every day. Can you [...] Read more:Parenting
, Mystery
, Solve
The Daddy Rules 2008-07-18 20:16:56 Kids are always complaining that there are too many rules to follow. No running in the house. No fighting with your brother. No putting your fingers up your nose.
As I picked up the Things at daycare one day, I realized there are an awful lot of rules that I have to follow, too.
Rule #1: Bring [...] Read more:Daddy
, Rules
Can’t Find A Match 2008-08-13 20:31:03 We have these Glad containers all over the fricken house. I am constantly stepping on them, seeing them on the deck, in the basement, bedrooms, and in drawers all over the house. That’s because getting into, playing with, and moving containers are one of Thing 3’s favorite activities. Which is all fine and good until [...] Read more:Match
Terrible Three’s Takes Over 2008-08-11 08:00:52 The terrible three’s are upon us. I don’t care what they say, the supposed terrible 2’s are nothing compared to the strengthening will and independence of a three year old.
I don’t know if it will quite reach the level we went through with Thing 1, but it is starting to look very familiar.
Thing 2, who [...] Read more:Three
How Long Do I Keep This Stuff? 2008-08-08 06:08:45 Like most kids their age, The Things love to make art projects. Coloring, painting, collages, and many other works of junk art they produce in preschool. Tape a piece of yarn to a popsicle stick and, presto, it’s a fishing rod.
Last weekend we went to Home Depot’s Kids Workshop. Once a month they have ready [...]
The Things Parents Do 2008-08-27 20:57:07 We’ve all been there. Lack of sleep, too many things on our mind, and constant chaos cause parents to do (or forget to do) things.
This time I was grilling dinner on the back porch amid the usual chaos. I made hamburgers and hotdogs, and also some extra chicken so Suburban Mommy could take to work [...] Read more:Parents
No Win Situations 2008-08-24 20:01:46 There are some parenting situations you just can’t win. Case in point: Thing 1 and Thing 2 were at it again, in the throws of a heated sibling rivalry. For a change.
I managed to get control of the situation and both agreed to sit down and quietly watch a TV show together. They actually agreed [...]
Looking Forward To Monday 2008-08-18 20:08:55 By the end of the work week, I’m glad that it’s the weekend. Well, for the most part. I don’t exactly get to relax on weekends, but at least I don’t have to think about work for two days.
By the end of the weekend, after two days of “relaxing”, I’m ready for it to end. [...] Read more:Forward
, Monday
Movie Review - Scooby Doo and The Goblin King 2008-09-24 16:41:11 I was given an early release of Scooby
-Doo and The Goblin
King, so I could let the influential movie connoisseur in my house review the movie. Normally, SuburbanMommy would be the expert in that area, but in this genre, Thing 2 is the opinion that matters.
First, I should note that we received no compensation [...] Read more:Movie Review
A Tale Of Two Trips 2008-09-22 16:10:45 To paraphrase Dickens, our recent trip to the beach was both the best of times and the worst of times. At times we were relaxing, having a great time, watching the kids enjoy the sand and surf. But that was just a teeny, tiny portion of how we spent our days.
The rest of the time [...]
Television and Giant Mushrooms 2008-09-21 09:59:20 My kids don’t watch what I’d consider a lot of television. In fact, many times, I wish they would spend more time watching TV.
But this weekend, Thing 2 really wanted to watch movies. Finally, SuburbanMommy gave him the old parenting line: If you watch too much TV, your brain will turn to mush.
He didn’t seem [...] Read more:Television
, Mushrooms
I Am Officially Old 2008-09-11 07:06:09 That’s it. It’s official. I am old.
How did I come to this realization? It wasn’t because I regularly fall asleep by 10pm. Or because, as Thing 1 puts it, “Daddy forgets everything”. And it wasn’t when I noticed that I’m almost twice the age of many of my kids’ preschool teachers, and they call me [...]
Back From The Beach 2008-09-07 19:59:33 Another summer ends with a beach trip for Suburban Family. It wasn’t much different than last year’s adventure. We were happy we went, and happy when it was over. It was one of those trips.
The kids had a great time, which is the whole point, right? For Thing 3, it was his first time to [...] Read more:Beach
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