Top Notch Parents - Latest Comments

Re: Father’s Day Contest: Win a $50.00 Gift Certificate!

Peter Cawley — Wed, 17 Aug 2011 07:30:38 -0000

The restaurant’s PR firm contacted me (and some other daddy-bloggers) a few weeks ago to see if I’d be interested in a contest

Front Doors, Oak Doors

Re: Valentine’s Day Gifts for the Whole Family

hcg diet with drops — Thu, 26 May 2011 15:15:16 -0000

I agree, very cool article. Thanks.

Ryan
Utah, USA

Re: Valentine’s Day Gifts for the Whole Family

Chris Ross — Mon, 23 May 2011 12:48:03 -0000

This is great article about Valentine's gift. Thank you.

Chris, Canada
http://www.cheerfulbaskets.com...

Re: Hey! It’s Bed Time …

Sfeet43 — Mon, 28 Mar 2011 23:58:42 -0000

hi could i have th boy in the pictures smelly and dirty socks and his underwear and a pic of his private

Re: Teen Talk – 101

Kevin Westerman — Sat, 12 Mar 2011 09:01:44 -0000

My kids are toddlers (4 & 2), but I am dreading that time in their lives that Dad and Mom are not cool enough to talk to. I'm glad you and your son had that moment in the car. I bet he'll remember it too.

Re: Upward Basketball is a Slam Dunk Program

horton — Thu, 24 Feb 2011 12:32:54 -0000

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Re: Upward Basketball is a Slam Dunk Program

fertility pills over the count — Mon, 14 Feb 2011 01:16:29 -0000

Today was all about basketball for the King family. This morning, my son, Thomas, had an Upward basketball game; he played 24 minutes, pulled down several ..

Re: Valentine’s Day Gifts for the Whole Family

Charles — Mon, 17 May 2010 05:28:42 -0000

Always love to hear some good experiences from our friends... i too love to share something i had..

I just bought my itunes gift card from http://itunesgiftscards.com and got my gift card after 2 hours,this store deliver fast and they are legit

http://itunesgiftscards.com

Re: Is Your Son or Daughter Ready for a Cell Phone?

Bill Dwight @FamZoo — Thu, 25 Mar 2010 22:20:23 -0000

I've gone through this process with 4 of our 5 kids to date (youngest is just 8 so not yet). Your advice sounds really solid. FWIW, a couple of additional tips from my (checkered but improving) experience:

* Show them your monthly phone bill ahead of time and how you see the time/duration/# etc of every single call on every phone in the monthly bill (at least you can on my online Verizon acct). If they know this up front, it can be a handy deterrent to overuse or "after hours" use.

* Remind them regularly that *everything* broadcast through an electronic device can be stored, shared, re-transmitted, etc. - possibly FOREVER. Then have them imagine that whatever they are about to send is going to be forwarded to their grandmother (or some suitably revered person) . If that thought makes them uncomfortable, they shouldn't send it. Maybe we should tape grandma's picture to the phone!

* Have them pay for monthly cell-phone insurance out of their allowance or agree to pick up the full charge if (and I really mean when) they lose their phone. It's about $4.99/month. This puts a little shared skin in the game. Otherwise, you'll always be using your own upgrades for replacing your kid's broken phones!

* Have them pay for any overage charges out of their allowance (or odd jobs if you're not into the allowance thing)

Re: Confession: Sometimes I’m Too Much Like My Boys

Functional Father — Mon, 22 Feb 2010 20:46:54 -0000

While my daughter is only 2-years-old right now, she's a television addict much like her father. I of course use it to my advantage from time-to-time. If I need to do something in another room of the house, I know that with Yo Gabba Gabba on, then she essentially be a zombie in the den for 20 minutes. If she's not eating her meal at the dinner table, I pull out the laptop and load up a playlist of Sesame Street songs - she proceeds to eat everything. Trouble is that she's so addicted now that she's conditioned to ask, insist, and cry for the television numerous times per day. She now knows that if she throws a fit in the car, I'll be at her mercy and stuck turning on her favorite Kermit video. The roles have reversed.

In my opinion, the TV shows/videos have contributed to her ever-growing vocabulary, but her dependence on it and her ability to manipulate me by using it as an ultimatum (turn on the show or I'll keep screaming) frightens me.

Recent NY Times article described how children with no limits on entertainment and media devices in their household grow up with more issues in school than kids who have strict limits on TV, video games, computer, etc.

Hopefully I'm not building bad habits - your post is a bit of a wakeup call for me.

Re: Confession: Sometimes I’m Too Much Like My Boys

Michael Hawkins — Tue, 16 Feb 2010 23:20:25 -0000

Hey "Mom" ... good idea: hide the electronics. I've threatened my family that we may go Amish for a week and see what happens. No electric, no running water. Ha! See how much we appreciate the simple things.

Reading? Yes! Both my boys are avid readers. And have been for a long time. I am very happy about that. :-)

Re: Confession: Sometimes I’m Too Much Like My Boys

Michael Hawkins — Tue, 16 Feb 2010 23:18:11 -0000

Ah yes, the vortex will pull you in....and not let go. It's crazy.

Re: Confession: Sometimes I’m Too Much Like My Boys

surprisedmom — Tue, 16 Feb 2010 22:37:00 -0000

I like checking in on blog for comments. I'm addicted to that. I also Tweet. I have a FaceBook page and I belong to Dad-Blogs. I started to go overboard on the Internet, so I took a two month hiatus. It put things back into perspective, something I don't believe kids or teens have. They are so plugged in. Sometimes I would like to hide all the electronics and see what they would do. One thing makes me ridiculously happy, my girls are voracious readers. They have been reading since they were little. Now it's time for me to watch TV. :)

Re: Confession: Sometimes I’m Too Much Like My Boys

bdr0126 — Tue, 16 Feb 2010 20:05:42 -0000

I hear ya! My kids are almost impossible to pull away from video games and TV. I myself get inside this vortex and can't get out...I am in the ZONE man! Great Blog!

Re: Confession: Sometimes I’m Too Much Like My Boys

michaelhawkins — Mon, 15 Feb 2010 16:49:50 -0000

Thanks for the comment. I completely agree. My kids are teaching ME things when it comes to electronic gadgets like iPods and the like. It's amazing.

Re: Confession: Sometimes I’m Too Much Like My Boys

steelydad — Mon, 15 Feb 2010 16:31:37 -0000

I try to teach my kids a lot of things, reading, writing, etc. but one thing I'm not concerned with teaching them is anything computer related. They just look at an electronic device and instinctively know what to do with it. They don't need our help except in matters of moderation when it comes to that stuff.

Re: Upward Basketball is a Slam Dunk Program

michaelhawkins — Thu, 04 Feb 2010 12:23:00 -0000

Papa Gio - Thanks for the comment! There is one uber-competitive dad in the group. And it's starting to wear on the other parents. He is micro-coaching his son. I feel bad for the kid. Otherwise, it's a great program and I highly recommend it.

Thanks again for sharing your thoughts!

Re: Upward Basketball is a Slam Dunk Program

Papa Gio — Thu, 04 Feb 2010 00:39:47 -0000

I have not been a part of Upward programs in the past, but I have heard really good things about them. I can only imagine how great a program like this is for a kid who loves the game of basketball, but maybe was not blessed with those athletic skills. This gives them the opportunity to play in a safe and nurturing environment.

And what an awesome thing for a parent who can watch their kid play without feeling the pressure of the other uber-competitive parents disecting their kids every move.

And of course you are going to get people who think that old fashioned competition is the only way to go, but the good news is, they don't have to participate in it.

Sounds like a great program for everyone involved.

Re: Hide The Spinach. Green Smoothies to the Rescue!

michaelhawkins — Mon, 01 Feb 2010 11:21:01 -0000

Comments are welcome!