They bite. They scratch. They kick. Kids and cats are similar, but we expect our children to outgrow angry outbursts and manage their anger. We expect nothing of cats, and even at that low bar, we are often disappointed. Still, if we cannot manage our felines, what can we do as parents to help our children? Set Your Expectations Correctly ...
For some men, their 20-second contribution to fatherhood is enough. Once sated, these men disappear from women's lives and, nine months later, leave behind children wondering who Dad is. The consequences of absent fathers ripple across Virginia's landscape. Statistics on Fatherlessness The statistics on absent fathers are stunning, and not in a good way, according to the National Fatherhood Initiative: 19.7 million ...
It's raining, it's pouring, and you might like to be snoring. You have your children for parenting time, though, so what to do? To begin, turn off the television. Now what? Here's what, from low-key to rough-housing! Read with Your Children From toddlers to teens, read with, to, and in front of your children. Avoid censoring, too — let them ...
Raising teenagers has been likened to rebuilding a boat halfway across a river or traveling in a foreign land where you don't speak the language. As advocates for dads (and as dads ourselves), we’re uniquely qualified to tell you it’s probably going to get worse before it gets better. Here are five tips for navigating the terrain. Honor the Hormones ...
Why is the sky blue? Do bees hum because they don't know the words? Why do three-year-olds ask 10,000 questions a day? We know, we know — kids can drive you crazy with all their questions. The reason three-year-olds ask questions is simple: they only have about 1,000 words in their arsenal. They figured out that, by asking questions, they will ...
Lancing a boil is a simple process, really. Apply hot compresses "to encourage the boil to come to a head and drain." It's disgusting, we know, but for many Virginia Dads, lancing a boil is preferable to trying to find fun things to do with teenagers. Well, suck it up, Buttercup, because we have great ideas for real (and completely ...
Comedian John Mulaney casually mentions, in his Netflix special The Comeback Kid, that his childhood was different from today's kids. Says Mulaney, “My dad loved us. He just didn’t care about our general happiness or self-esteem.” Today's parents strive to be their children's pals, and this leads to two nightmarish scenarios: helicopter parents, and lawnmower parents. What is a Helicopter Parent? ...
More than two million men are stay-at-home fathers, according to Pew Research1. If you are one of them, you know the constant jibes and jabs you fend off: you get up when you want, you don't punch a time clock, you are just lazy. For every insult, a stereotype lurks behind it. Let's look at five of these unfair stereotypes ...
We marvel that the list has only eight items, but website We Have Kids lists eight warning signs that you are a bad parent. You'd expect things like neglecting or abusing your kid, sure. But some are surprising, like "irresponsible financial behavior." We have personally witnessed hundreds of examples of bad parenting, often from visiting tourists on our Virginia Beach boardwalk. ...