Dad Like Me

Back at it again!

dadlikeme — Tue, 22 Feb 2011 18:28:26 +0000

To the 5 faithful readers . . . dad like me is back!

A lot has happened since my last post. My daughter is a year older now and has:
joined a Performing Arts Workshop, participated in a catillion, continued gymnastics, sang in the church choir, discovered Junie B. books, received the “caring” character award, grown 3 shoe sizes, and stood up to a bully.

There is a lot about my experience as a father that I can let you know about. Stay tuned!

Is this thing on? . . .

dadlikeme — Tue, 22 Feb 2011 18:07:45 +0000

Testing . . .testing . . . 1 . . 2.

How much is too much?

dadlikeme — Wed, 17 Mar 2010 01:01:13 +0000

I have always had a pretty simple theory when it comes to how I treat my daughter. It is my belief that her relationship with her father will shape her future relationships with men. As a result, I have made extra effort to show my little girl how special she is to me. I open doors for her. I make sure she uses please and thank you, as well as her experiencing me use the same. We go out on pretty regular “father-daugher time”. (She does not like to call them dates) I tell her she is beautiful, smart, artistic, talented, and the list goes on.

Recently I have start to re-evaluate my theory. Don’t get me wrong, I will not stop telling her those wonderful things and spending time with her, but how we spend time might be the issue. Now, before I go into how we spend our time I need to share with you the next level of this theory. I also have operated under the assumption that I must set a standard for what a man should be and how a mad should be with her. Here is what I mean by that: If my daughter is used to filet mignon treatment, she won’t settle for any dollar menu burger joker when she turns 16. Herein lies the problem. I think that I am overdoing it. When we spend time together, it often includes shopping, eating out, or special excursions. My six yr old has her own Wii, Nintendo DS, Ipod, and laptop. Her room is beautifully decorated with a limited edition print by illustrator Kadir Nelson framed and hanging above her bed. The picture is from one of her favorite books when she was a toddler. I won’t even go into what her birthday was like this year.

I fear that I am setting a standard that will cause her to be a lonely adult. (Not to mention the fact that I have to keep this whole thing going and keep topping the previous years.) Am I creating one of those women that thinks no mad is good enough? Please share your thoughts on this one people. I want to hear from both men and women.

The Art of the After School Snack

dadlikeme — Sun, 28 Feb 2010 19:43:48 +0000

The after school snack has often been a challenge in my home. I would rather my daughter have something healthy to eat and she used to easily agree with me in her younger yeards. Now that she is a little bit older she prefers junk food. For today’s after school snack we tried a combination of the two.

I stuffed an apple with granola, honey, and nutella. It was a hit!

Good Hair vs Bad Hair

dadlikeme — Fri, 09 Oct 2009 19:14:18 +0000

Finally someone has decided to take on this ongoing African American family battle. In his new documentary Chris Rock discusses the now 9 Billion dollar black hair industry. (Approximately 8.9 billion is in weave and wigs. LOL) The good vs bad hair battle was evident in my own childhood. I can’t even tell you how many times I heard my grandfather talk about his mother being a “pure blood Cherokee” . . . yeah, I know what you are thinking . . . I had indian in my family. As a father that has to do his daughter’s hair, I appreciate that my daughter has what some people might call “good hair”. Not only do I “have Indian in my family”, my wife is bi-racial. I am still offended by the term even when it doesn’t apply to me. Hopefully this new movie will get more people in our community talking.

I recommend this movie for parents with older children pre-teen and up. For those with younger children like myself, try reading the book I Love My Hair.

Two Big Announcements!

dadlikeme — Tue, 15 Sep 2009 00:16:58 +0000

1. Dad Like Me will be hosting its first event on Sunday, September 27th at 4pm. We will be going to see the movie “Cloudy With A Chance of Meatballs” in 3D Imax at The Quarter in the Tropicana Atlantic City. Following the movie we will get a spaghetti dinner at Carmine’s in the Quarter. For $25 per person you will get the 3D movie, popcorn with a soda, and a spaghetti dinner. This is a steal! So all fathers in the Atlantic City, NJ area please leave a comment with your name and the number of children you will be bringing.

2. If you like reading this blog you can now get more at www.G3themag.com. I will be writing a weekly column for the online magazine called “Dads Like Us“. The site is in its Beta version, so in order for my column to stay on the site I need faithful readers. So please visit G3 The Mag and check it out every week.

Million Father March

dadlikeme — Tue, 08 Sep 2009 11:07:48 +0000

Today across the country fathers will be walking their children to school. This initiative is to encourage fathers to get more involved in their children’s education. I will be taking my little girl to school today. My wife and I normally alternate days but today is my day. For more information about the Million Father March check the website below:

Million Father March Website

Tea Parties and Other Things A Dad Must Do

dadlikeme — Mon, 07 Sep 2009 23:56:35 +0000

Today I had a tea party with my little girl complete with sugar cookies that she made in her Easybake oven. Having the tea party wasn’t really a problem, but doing it during a football game was the hard part. Like most football loving men, I had intended on spending my labor day relaxing and watching football. Appearantly my daughter had other plans.

Sometimes, as a parent, I just want to be lazy. I had on my sweats with my superman T-shirt and I had just finished eating the turkey burgers I made on the grill. But do I get to relax . . . No! We have to do math problems, draw pictures, and bake cookies for a tea party. Before you know it, the whole day has passed. So much for the day of relaxation. At least the Easybake cookies were damn good!

(If you think this post is too negative. . . relax. Good parents need “me time” too. There is a late game today. The night is mine!)

1st Day of Kindergarden

dadlikeme — Thu, 03 Sep 2009 10:50:37 +0000

Today is the day my little girl starts kindergarden. Like most parents, I am excited for her to start her formal education. When I arrived at her before and aftercare location there were a lot of parents waiting with video cameras and digital cameras. Immediately I thought, “I should have brought my camera too”. After that I talked with one of the other parents who was sticking around to watch the kids actually get on the bus. Then I thought, “maybe I should call the office so I can stick around too”. Finally, I ran into a parent that was planning to follow the school bus to the school. So I thought, “Hell no I ain’t following the bus to the school. She’ll be alright!”.

At first I was feeling kind of bad because the other parents were doing more. Part of me felt like I wasn’t being a good parent. Then I thought about how excited my daughter was and how she really didn’t need me to hang around to be comforted. Then I knew that I WAS being a good parent by giving her the space to grow and have that opportunity to feel like a “big girl”.

Cloudy With A Chance . . .

dadlikeme — Tue, 01 Sep 2009 23:17:31 +0000

I can’t begin to tell you how excited my daughter was when she saw that they were turning one of her favorite books into a movie. At one point last year we must have read “Cloudy With A Chance of Meatballs” every night for three months straight. To be honest, I was a little excited to hear abouth the movie too. Who wouldn’t want to see gigantic food falling from the sky in 3D? For all of you dads out there that would just as soon take your child to see the movie without reading the book first, here is my advice. READ THE BOOK TO YOUR CHILD!

The book is actually pretty good and your child will benefit much more from the time you spend reading then the 90 minutes you will spend at the movie theater. By reading to your child, you display to them a love and appreciation for reading. Hopefully, it will rub off on them. Once you get used to reading, you can even introduce your child to the sequel “Pickles to Pittsburgh”. Of course after you read the book you can go check out the movie.

If you are in the Atlantic City area, visit the Dad Like Me Blog in the near future for a special deal that will include the movie and dinner.