For Pete's Sake

The Dad Blogs Creative Process Wednesday, 06 January 2010 11:56 Written by peteej

I know, Joe and I have been AWOL recently, but to our defense we had the holidays to deal with and some behind the scenes stuff with Dad Blogs. Also, the stress of running a totally awesome dad community can be consuming at times. If the Dad Blogs community, Joe and I let holidays, parties, and extra-curricular activities get in the way, then the content for the site suffers tremendously. Unfortunately, we have done exactly that.

So as a gesture of goodwill toward you, our beloved readers and members, we offer a glimpse into the torturous creative process that is required in order to provide you with top-notch parenting advice and news. Here's a sample from a recent GTalk chat where Joe and I discuss the news budget for pulling Dad Blogs out of the abyss that it has seemingly fallen into. Please be warned that the level of discourse between Joe and I may be difficult for some to comprehend, so read ahead with caution.

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Vigilante Parenting: Judge, Jury…and Executioner? Friday, 20 November 2009 10:33 Written by peteej

When my kids do something wrong, I’m quick to respond by pointing out the problem and doling out the appropriate punishment. As a parent and a dad, I am the judge and jury. No habeas corpus, no fair trial, no jury of your peers. Discipline and punishment pretty much goes like this: you mess up, you accept responsibility, now carry on.

Take that a step further where someone harms your child in some way. Would you feel an urge to extend your vigilantism and deliver the verdict on your own? Personally, I don’t know how I would restrain myself if I was put in the situation, even knowing that the results of my vigilante behavior might ultimately put me in jail. Crimes of passion may seem unreasonable from the outside, but they begin to appear almost logical if placed in a personal and subjective context. Even then, it doesn’t excuse the crime or the offender.

What if a heinous crime occurs within the family among your own children? Like a page taken from Steinbeck’s classic novel, Of Mice and Men, Jamar Pinkney, Sr. decided to play the role of executioner after learning that his 15-year-old son had been molesting his 3-year-old half-sister. Pinkney, who has no previous criminal history, learned of the confession from the boy’s mother, Lazette Cherry, who stated that the confession wasn’t “something you sweep under the rug.”

Unfortunately, Pinkney agreed too much.

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Store Your Memories in a Font Wednesday, 23 September 2009 15:41 Written by peteej

If you are anything like me, you own a good camera that never gets used on the family. Sure, you’ve got loads of macro, nature and pet shots, but less of the family. How will I remember who my kids were while growing up?

For me, it will be via a font collection.

FontCapture is a cool (and free) service that allows you to create a true-type font of your own handwriting. I’ve always wanted to make a font out of my handwriting, but never had the time. FontCapture takes about 5 minutes total, so I went ahead and did it following the incredibly easy steps below:

• Step 1: download the template.
• Step 2: fill in the template.
• Step 3: scan template.
• Step 4: download font.

Being somewhat of a graphic designer, I can identify with the vanity of having my own font. However, being a dad, I can also see how cool it would be to have my kids’ handwriting stored in font form for years to come. That way, when my kids leave home someday, I can obsess over their handwriting by simply pulling up a font.

While the vanity aspect is appealing, the real bonus lies in the longevity. I plan on doing this every year from now on for myself and my girls (if FontCapture is still running that long) or until my someone gets sick of it. By the time they hit college, they will have an arsenal of fonts at their disposal, making for a fun and unique memory of their childhood. Can you imagine creating keg party invitations with a font form when you were 9 years old? Wait, maybe this isn’t such a good idea… All I know is that my kids will be among the first to reminisce about their childhood while writing a term paper.

Kim Kardashian: Natural Beauty Advocate? Monday, 11 May 2009 19:41 Written by peteej

I was driving my girls to the grocery store, accompanied by Shania Twain's singing in the background. I'm not much of a country music fan, but Shania gets my respect because she's got decent music and she changed the face of country music. I took a moment to explain this female empowerment to my girls, something that I do often when the opportunity presents itself. There's tons of unrealistic expectation placed on women (duh), so I hope my efforts will counter that just a bit.

Enter Kim Kardashian.

We see a magazine cover in the checkout line with Kim on it, showing off her goodies in a small black bikini. Nothing new, but this one was a little different. It was in response to someone giving her crap over having airbrushed photo shoots. Even worse, they called her fat. To defuse any negative press (and to gain a load of positive press), she posed on a whim in her backyard wearing her mom's bathing suit. The accompanying cover lines read, "This is the real me. I love my body. You should love yours, too."

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Safety Last: Childhood Daredevils Thursday, 16 April 2009 15:41 Written by peteej

The Big Spring Contest deadline is tonight! Remember, blog posts are REQUIRED for a chance to win a Kid's Creations swing set valued at $5,000!

Back in the days of legendary stuntman/crazy person Evel Knievel , it was expected that you would wander from home alone, stay out past dark and perform daredevil stunts at least twice a day. It was a requirement before the age of 10 to have jumped over four of your friends on a bike, blown something up with gasoline and jumped from the top of the big slide at the park. No safety gear allowed. More times than not, it all worked out and nobody was harmed. It is those times that you remember fondly, but the accidents are the ones that stick with you for a lifetime.

I managed to accomplish all of the above and then some. But the one thing that got me good was the cheap metal swing set at my house. That thing cut you at every opportunity, rocked when you would swing on it and lasted all of a year before we managed to beat it into submission. It left plenty of scars on me, but I prevailed. The combined power of a few 10-year-olds is quite impressive.

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