#School, #Curriculum, #Kids, and How WE #Parents Fit at #DadChat

School Today

When I went to primary school way back in the B&W days of no remote control and transistor radios and rotary phones, my parents had little to do or worry about when I headed out the door. In fact, they had little to worry about after school as well because I rode my bike wherever I wanted as long as I got home before dark. Mom made sure I carried a dime “just in case” I needed to call home. It’s slightly different now!

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Pride Was My Downfall

Pride t-shirt

There are a lot of “P’s” that help in life, but Pride is NOT one of them. I often extol the virtues of passion, persistence, and pharmaceuticals (just kidding), but pride is one of those things than usually gets in the way of our success.

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Can Our Kids Handle Criticism

Thursday, February 21, 2013

Featured guests:

Wayne Levine (BetterMenCoaching.com) for “The Men’s Room.”

Holly Flanders – Olympic and World Cup ski champion

Special Guest, Dr. Jennifer Weberman (The Parenting Playground) for “The Women’s Room.”

I often wonder if our kids can handle criticism. This show is based on this “A Dad’s Point-of-View” column, Constructive Criticism: Are Today’s Millennials too Thin-Skinned to Handle It?

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Just A Guy Wanting His Sons to be Men

Does anyone remember when men were men?  When boys looked up to their fathers and other men and wanted to be men just like them in their “manly ways.”  Now, with elementary education completely hijacked by women, there’s been a systematic change in how boys are educated and raised.  When is the last time you saw a male teacher in elementary school?  Do you really think the self-esteem movement has done anything but diminish any real accomplishments? Father just want their sons to be men.

Why are boys dropping out of high school at a much greater rate than girls?  Why is the percentage of young men entering college now substantially less than young women?  Why are boys in elementary school made to read books about subjects that are clearly of a female nature/subject vs. the books they’d organically choose to read? read more

Friends, Dads, and Quality Time from Australia by Bruce Sallan and Darren Lewis

One of the wonders of the Internet and my writing has been the reach it’s had globally.  Not long ago, I received an email that began with “G’Day” from a man named Darren who had come across one of my columns.  He wrote a wonderfully complimentary note and also told me about his fathering website and business.  Clearly, though we live literally on opposite sides of the globe, our values united us instantly.

I asked him to send me something that expressed his views and what his site offers which is centered on adventures with fathers and their children, boys or girls.  He also included some very relevant data that I totally agree with and that also makes me sad to read.  How so many parents can spend so little time with their offspring is a mystery to me.  The lasting damage is incalculable.  I’m often struck by the clearly documented fact that human beings tend to recreate behavior they’ve learned whether it’s good or bad.  That’s why abused children often become abusing parents.  It defies logic, to me, but the evidence is overwhelming.  read more