Fatherhood

A bit of a nutter, but so passionate about his work and his kids. Steve Irwin RIP.

steve irwin, fatherhood, crikey

The UK is gripped at the moment by the story of the McCann Family.

See more about the story from ABC News here

With a young daughter of my own I can only imagine what her parents are going through. I hope she’s found safe, and soon.

Help Find Madeleine at www.findmadeleine.com.

Another PSA from the National Fatherhood Initiative…

dad, light saber duel, fatherhood

As the National Fatherhood Initiative states here:

‘It takes a Man to be a Dad!’

fatherhood, national fatherhood initiative, tarzan

Earlier in the week, I wrote about Mothers Day - It’s this Sunday ! 5 Ways to Not Score an Own Goal !

Here’s A few other ideas -

Buy her a new bag! - something practical, or may be not ?- More here

Or look from a great number of branded gifts at gifts.com .

Kimberly L. Keith, who writes on Parenting issues at About.com, has compiled a great list of project ideas. It’s really great to do these with your kids, they’re cheap and mean so much more..

gifts, mothers day, fatherhood, finances

I’ve been keeping an eye on this one for a while but it looks great!!!

Over at ParentHacks.com, they’ve found a great way to help kids who have little help from elsewhere.

They suggest sending any old toys you have to Iraq.

My family does a shoe-box of toys, toiletries, a bit of candy and hats and mittens to Romania every year, and we often fill two boxes as we collect all year.

Do your bit for someone less fortunate…

Find out about Toys to Iraq here. Find out about Samaritan’s Purse (the shoe box scheme) here.

iraq, kids, toy donations, recycling, samaritans purse

The concept of the start over dad (SOD) is a complex one. With the high rate of divorce and separation nowadays, and an increase in both credit and disposable income, some couples are waiting until later in their lives for children.

The start over dad already has kids from a previous relationship, who are already in their late teens or twenty’s. Then he has a child with his new partner. Although he might have experience of bringing up kids, his former partner may have been much more involved with their upbringing than he was.

The most positive aspect of SOD’s is that most people have more financial wealth the older they get. They shouldn’t struggle with financial worries.

The main issue for me is that by the time the child reaches college, their parents will no longer be earning. In a previous post I mentioned that the cost of college for a child born in 1999 will be approx. $200,000. This could put a serious dent in your pension and personal wealth, and could reduce the help you could give your kids when they start a family.

Another 451 Press writer, Erinn, over at ParentingOurChildren.com, has posted a great article about Start Over Dads.

Doesn’t a woman have a right to have a child with her husband no matter what his age? Women are having babies later in life now also.
I am very interested in what you think about SODs.
Do you think it is right/wrong?

start over dad, older fathers, fatherhood, in the news

Hey, look out, further to my Tuesday Rant, I’ve found proof of Dads doing exactly what they say they will.

Last fall, Richard Jubinville and Tim Foulds told the boys if their Norwood Falcons were to win the Winnipeg A2 championship, they would dress in drag for a mid-afternoon walk on the busy thoroughfare.

Guess which team won?

This article by Ross Romaniuk in the Winnipeg Sun shows the two dads in question walking down the said main street.

dads in dresses, kids hockey, fatherhood

Who said good things don’t happen to good people? I really appreciate Foster Dads, as they give lots of love and guidance through tough times.

Lucky guy, but we’re all the lucky ones to know that there are people like this to step in if any of our kids were to need help in the future…

read more | digg story

Glenn Sacks is taking part in a teleseminar called Being A Better Dad. This is potentially a good resource for fathers struggling with child custody or co-parenting issues.

read more | digg story

In Japan, fathers traditionally have little to do with child-rearing. But in now, fatherhood is fashionable, and new magazines devoted to young fathers are highlighting the trend…

read more | digg story

I spent a large part of my childhood tethered to a Nintendo. The only thing more depressing than the hours I wasted playing NES is eclipsed only by the hours I wasted, years later, with online role-playing games. Don’t get me wrong: I love video games. But marriage and fatherhood have drastically changed my priorities, and I can no longer justify the cost and time to play. It’s been so long, I no longer have even the urge.

So I’m mystified and terrified by the release of the PS3. The price alone makes me shudder: $600 for the console, and $60 per game. The father within me can’t fathom the waste. All I can see is health insurance, life insurance, mortgage, car payment, tuition, car insurance, natural gas bill…food. I’m certainly not willing to pay upwards of $600 to stand in line for several hours, risking theft, a punch in the face, or bullet in my chest, all for the chance to kill more realistic elves in surround sound.

What does this phenomenon teach our kids about perspective, instant gratification, and priorities? And it’s not as though this behavior is rare. Similar goings-on occurred last year, when IKEA launched a new store in London. Heck, I saw this two years ago on Black Friday, when Staples was selling folding tables for $5. Tables!

For now, Ian and I are happy playing Super Mario World and Tetris. And eating.

Making the rounds this month is Britain’s Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists’ proposal that the medical community take more seriously the option of euthanasia for seriously ill and disabled newborns:

‘A very disabled child can mean a disabled family. If life-shortening and deliberate interventions to kill infants were available, they might have an impact on obstetric decision-making, even preventing some late term abortions, as some parents would be more confident about continuing a pregnancy and taking a risk on outcome.’

Read more →
The Times Online

Wesley J. Smith warns that ‘infanticide…has become a respectable notion‘, and that those concerned with preserving the lives of children need to start paying closer attention to the issue. We can no longer assume that newborn euthanasia is beyond the pale.

One of my greatest frustrations with the ‘pro-choice’ and euthanasia movements has been their reluctance to be honest with themselves. Their rhetoric is filled with vague notions of rights, personal freedom, and quality of life. In the end, it all comes down to killing.

Ironically, now that such an organization has finally made clear its intentions in such unambiguous terms, I find myself less than comforted. It’s not the language sending chills down my spine. It’s the knowledge that a large group of people gathered to craft this proposal, writing draft after draft, and, in the end, decided that ‘killing infants’ was a good idea. Good enough to use the term in its formal proposal.

Be careful what you ask for.