Still "young"......I guess

Yes.....I know....some of you still see me as a baby. However, here are the top ten things that are making me realize that I'm not as "young" as I used to be.

10. I can now potentially see many of my first year 5th graders at the local bar. Yes......they turn 21 this year.

9.   College was over a decade ago for me.

8.  I'm over a 1/3 of the way done with my teaching career......(at this point in the year I wish I could add 1  
     or  2 to my numerator)

7. These damn aches and pains are ridiculous. Seriously? Physical therapy for an "injury" I don't even 
    remember getting?

6. Crankiness must come with age. Those voices that I used to save in my head are much more difficult to
    keep in. The funny thing is, I don't really care. I find it nice being able to tell it how it is (still trying to be
    tactful about it though.......however, I see that ending someday).

5. I've had to reprimand teenagers in public several times this past year. However, maybe that has nothing to 
   do with my age. People can't tell me that teenagers have always been like the ones we have today. (please
   Teenage God.....be kind to my daughters).

4. I've been blessed by the Grey Hair Gods, but not by the Nose Hair Gods. Seriously....WTF?

3. Is it just me, or have my eyes gotten better? Oh wait........those are just more wrinkles appearing that
    weren't there before. I loved it when wife got new contacts......."Wow....your face". Do you think she
    meant something nice?

2. I've seen many actresses that I was very fond of (won't go there) who are now playing grandmas in
    movies.

1.  See above picture. Great friends, freshman year of high school.....yes....high school. Wait a sec....did you 
     say almost 20 years ago? Yes......me in the white hat backwards. Sexy huh?

Old, young......whatever. Being a father and teacher has taught me that you are never to old even though you may feel it (like me). Act goofy, laugh loudly, and enjoy life!

For those of you who follow, maybe it won't take me over a month to write something next time. ;)

A Kid Losing a Tooth......Ugh

Teeth…..gotta have them, but at some point when you are a kid, you’ve gotta lose them too!

It seems like it was so easy when I was a kid. Of course I didn’t mind twisting them and bleeding a bit. If I think about that now it makes me cringe. Those damn kids in my classroom that come up to me bleeding or watching them not pay attention to me, all while they are being their own “dentist” in the back of the room……..a little distracting to me. Seriously……..can’t you wait kiddo? Do I have to watch you turn your gums into hamburger? Come on!

However, the anxiety that is running through the veins of my daughter right now makes me want to play “dentist” myself. If I try to come near her though, she runs away…..seriously. Her first tooth, hanging by a thread, mocks me. Damn you tooth! How many times are you going to be in the way of my daughters eating? You cause her to lose sleep, worrying about you hurting as you come out. The Tooth Fairy is coming my dear sir……….the Tooth Fairy is coming. If I can actually get my hands on you, you will be mine….ha ha ha ha!

I haven’t been the best father though. I admit, I have become frustrated enough to use some scare tactics. “Sadie….you could choke on your tooth in the middle of the night”. “You could swallow your tooth and not see it again”. “Your tooth will rot in your mouth”.  Hint to parents using scare tactics with a kiddo that has anxiety issues already…….you might not want to do that. It’s kind of like adding a lot of fuel to the fire. Oh…..educating myself and learning the hard way, the life of a parent. 

I’m hoping this whole thing ends well. Hopefully, she isn’t scarred for life and will actually not be worse for the next tooth. The deal between all of us? As long as she eats her food without complaining we won’t talk about pulling it out. We’ll see how long this lasts. Please tooth…..just be kind and surrender. Let me find you on her pillow as she wakes up in the morning. Please don’t make me come get you, or else our world will come crashing down for the most minute second it takes me to reach in and pull you.

Only one almost down…..how many to go? Ugh.

This Thing Called Sleep

For those of you couples without kids reading this may be a natural form of birth control, especially if you like your sleep.

Thinking back to having my first child, I didn't have a clue how much I took sleep for granted. Little did we know though that our first child (or both for that matter) wouldn't even sleep through the night until 9 months old. Those night coming home from the bar (thanks grandma!) and getting up to feed the child in the middle of the night was Hell on Earth. Oh the number of times I crashed on the recliner in the middle of the night (see above), many times a blur.

Then the baby was no longer a baby. We didn't have to feed them in the middle of the night. Sweet right?! Oh wait......then came potty training. "Daddy!........I have to go potty!". Nothing like a kid yelling and waking your lazy butt up in the middle of the night, sometimes almost literally scaring the shit out of me.

Seriously......would we ever get to sleep? Naps became a regular occurrence for us (this still holds true for wife....she loves her naps). Timing was everything. If you didn't time it right, no nap for you. Timing two kids' naps was a form of art. Parents with kids.....sound familiar?

The weird thing is after all of this.......even when I have a chance to sleep now, I decide to stay up instead. Maybe it's because us parents lose so much time for ourselves and we need that "me" time. I love sleep, don't get me wrong. However, I also love to have some sort of a life outside of kiddos too. Sometimes it helps me keep my sanity after listening to arguing and whining for the several hours previously.

The most frustrating thing is going on a vacation without children. When you try to sleep in, you end up waking up at the same freaking time when you do have kids. That damn natural clock just laughing at you. Seriously?!

Here we are, over 6 years later. Wife and I still make deals of who gets up on which weekend morning, or who will get up the morning after some shin-dig. At least our kids sleep a little longer now. The routine......getting up, making breakfast, putting on a movie and then trying to release a few more z's until they want something else, every weekend. We have to drag them out of bed on school days, but they wake our butts up on the weekend. We've even gone to the extent of lying a few times telling them it was going to be a school day so they would actually sleep in. Haven't done that? Liars!

Don't get me wrong married couples without kids........I wouldn't trade it for the world. My girls are everything.....more than sleep. However, this thing called sleep is very precious. Enjoy it when you get it!

To my sister and brother in law............you have a few more months of bliss, soak it up!

Top 10 Dad's of Daughters Challenges

10. We have enough barbies and dolls to open up our own store.

9. Doing hair is a pain in the ass. Maybe it's because it's not mine, or maybe it's because their hair looks like animals slept in it all night. If wife and grandma didn't do it most of the time, I would be in trouble.

8. The shrill playing screams and voices will make me get hearing aids by the time I'm 35.

7. Their attitudes aren't getting any better.......the teenage years.....oh God help me.

6. Manipulation, yes already at the fine ages of 4 and 6. I shouldn't stereotype here, but ladies, you are masters of this skill.

5. They are already talking about boys and who they are going to marry....something that probably won't change anytime soon. You boys are this father's nightmare. I'm not looking forward to the drama that will develop in the future.

4. They fight quite often because they want the same toys, so many times we buy two of the same thing (hence the reason for #1)

3. They make fun of my genitalia. There's something about them pointing and laughing at my "stuff" that is disturbing, especially when they team up to do it. (I know.......I hear the jokes......ha ha).

2. Hormones someday in this tiny house, that's all I have to say.

1. Someday, I will have to give them away. A day that every father dreads. Even with all of these challenges, I love having daughters and I feel honored to be their dad.


Enjoy those little ones! Any of you have these similarities, especially fathers?

Elementary Hoochies

Let me ask you this. Do you think it is ok for girls in elementary school to wear make-up and fake (a few real) piercings? Call me old fashioned, but holy shiznit! Thank God I have some time before my kidlings (both girls) are thrown into or want to be a part of "The In Crowd". "The In Crowd" that tramps around by wearing 1/4 inch thick make-up around their eyes walking next to Kindergartners. Seriously........seriously. Why isn't there a district policy about this?

However, there is one major problem that arises when trying to change certain policies.....parents. Yes, most of you who read this would not let your daughter go out in public as a 12 year old looking like this, but there are way too many that do and support their daughter's "freedom of expression". If this 12 year old was at a middle school setting, I still wouldn't support it, but wouldn't be whining about it. The difference is who sees them. A few years back, there was a student in 5th grade that was wearing too much eye make-up that us teachers (and students) thought was distracting to learning. However, when we informed mom about our concerns she wigged out. "My daughter has the right to express herself in whatever way she deems fit". Ugh! She even threatened to go to "high up" peeps (upper administration) about this. This support for her daughter obviously kind of shocked us. Dealing with this lack of parental support for school rules though has become part of life.

As we always did in our youth, we looked up to those "big kids". When I was a 1st grader I thought those 5th graders were so cool. I doubt times have changed much. Those kids still say those things. In this day and age though it goes something more like this......."that 5th (or 6th) grader is so cool......I want to look like Captain Jack too!!"....ok...not really, but you get the point. Don't we still want role models for younger kids at the elementary school that still show just a tad bit of innocence? What do you think Captain?

When you get to that age though, it's not about playing dress up anymore. This is something I do with my girls, something fun, not distracting, innocent. Hey pre-teen hoochies.........when you are 10-12, you are in the public's eye now. You are influential on my children. You are "role-models" for our future students and younger children. You need to kick your parents in the ass and tell them to actually think about how you should look.

Just venting.....just venting. Hey female teacher friends of mine.....maybe you should cake on make-up like some of these girls and see if you get any parent complaints. Hee hee......just sayin'.

Grooming the Sports Freak

Yes.....I'm a sports freak.....an addict if you will. Checking my fantasy sports teams everyday, watching my football on the weekends.....all of it. Wife can get sick of it.....the time it takes to study statistics. However, she has learned quickly that this obsession of mine isn't going away, especially after 15 years of dealing with it.  Luckily, there has been a part of her that has never died too. I mean this "girl" used to collect more baseball and basketball cards than I did growing up. Sometimes she even impresses me with some of her sports knowledge.

My parents never really understood what turned me into this "freak". However, in my eyes it's easy to see how in early childhood battle of "nurture vs. nature", nature won. You see......growing up in the boonies will do it to you. The nearest neighbor I had was 1/4 mile away. You could go a whole night without seeing one car drive down the road. My backyard was 20 acres of fields and forests, a city kids dream. It was my playground.

What did I do? Build forts, run around the field chasing cows, and yes.....play sports. The first day I moved into our house a little before the age of two, I was greeted by two neighbor boys, Kenny and Kevin (brothers). We did pretty much everything together. As we grew older sports took a front seat; tackle football in the field, wiffle ball, and basketball. Dad poured concrete in front of our garage after Santa brought a basketball hoop. I can't tell you how many times I swear I heard the buzzer or the end of a shot clock. We would play through our parents yelling at us out the window, into the darkness, until finally "game over" was made clear when parents had to actually walk out of the house to get us (not happy by the way).

It's amazing how many times conflicts came up....no referee or umpire, we had to talk through it. It was hard to win the battle when I was the youngest in the neighborhood and we had no instant replay. However, it was good for me. Being a country kid I was able to learn not only work ethic, but the importance of imagination and teamwork along with having a playful attitude.  Luckily, these traits were never removed or lost, gladly calling this man home. 

As a father and teacher, I try to teach these kids the importance of sports and the need for sportsmanship and respect . I love to relive and tell the stories of the playful age that I once was, and try to get them to appreciate their youth. The amount of time to do the things I used to be able to do as an active sports nut has disappeared. However, even when the time to "play" is gone, I don't appreciate sports any less. The Ducks, Blazers and Seahawks will never be routed against!

Why do I write about this? Kids learn by observation and experience. Give them the time, show them your playful side. In a time of our lives where we have no choice but to live with less, sometimes sports and play can be so much more, especially for our youth of today and our parents of the future.

The Frightening Reality of a Father

 1960's

2010

Question: Why does any father raising daughters need to be afraid?

Answer: Look at the above pictures for the answer. 

So what does that mean fathers? It means you should be seriously polishing up those guns of yours. I consider myself lucky for having a little bit of time left before the boys come "a knockin'". Now being 6-4 and 250 would help a little in the department of intimidation. However, if a father is protective, it doesn't matter what size he his......those fellas will think twice. 

This brings up a tough dilemma though. I will hopefully always pride myself in the open lines of communication between all of the ladies in my life. My challenge? To not be too overprotective in the day and age where sexual discovery comes much earlier in youth, all realms of media feeding the "monster" that is swallowing our children's innocence is growing even larger and more dominant, and dependency on parents is fading.

How do I do this when I even find myself being caught up in all of it too? Yes.....I have GaGa on "The Pod" and I have even stopped to look at the cover of Cosmo to get a peek at the subjects of the articles about sex (and yes......the ladies that are on them).

I have to come to the reality that it is inevitable for my daughters and the youth of today to be exposed to the things that used to be hidden or happened behind closed doors. The "monster" is everywhere and it's not going away anytime soon. The big deal of holding hands in 6th grade has been replaced with things I don't even want to imagine happening with 11 and 12 year olds. It makes be cringe. Maybe I was too innocent in 6th grade. But was that necessarily a bad thing? Maybe it's because I just chose the right friends or hung around with girls that didn't have to prove they were older than they really were. This is something I see on an everyday basis, hiding their "innocence" behind the caked on make-up is just one sad thing.....nothing I can do as a teacher.

However, with this being said there are some things we can do. Keeping those lines of communication open with our kiddos is the first step. Telling them the difference between what is right and what is wrong. Not sheltering them too much (I can go off about this but decided to hold my tongue) and just plain loving them.......loving our children to pieces. Don't give them something they feel like they have to escape from. Don't allow their hearts to seek out love to fill the holes. Just be good parents. If only you had to have licenses for birthing or parenting children of today!

I have time to get over my over protectiveness (luckily). However, I will protect the love that I have for them in ways that they will never be able to understand.