No Off Season...for dads

I have two sons, 16 and 12.   They truly keep my life moving.   As I have told many people (as well as those who personally know us), my house stays live, never a dull moment.   I can boldly say that since I have been married and with children, I have yet to be bored in over 18 years !   God knows how to make life to the fullest! Well, that brings me to this point.  A part of having an ever-exciting time in my home is due to talks.  You know…talks.  Yes, there are the talks about the birds and the bees.  But who are we really fooling, birds and the bees are really about sex!  Just say it…sex!  What I know of sex is often times completely different from what my boys know.  And it can be shocking about how much they know and how much they don’t know. Okay, we move on. Then there are other real talks.  Talks about life, chores, responsibility, girls, friendships, money, family, school, and the list goes on and on.  I...

"I like driving with one hand.", my son says as he drives for the fourth time in his life. How about this one: "I want to drive with my knees."  My son hasn't been behind the wheel a full hour in his life yet, and he's talking about driving with his knees?!? Where did he get that from? Where did he understand that driving with one hand was okay or using my phone while on 495 was cool?   In fact, where do most of the things that my children do get it from?  You guessed it... their mother!  I will not take responsibility for...okay, I'll stop.  Yes, they get their habits from me. I know I've written about this in the post to some extent, but I believe it's worth mentioning again.  Our kids watch us like a hawk although they might not be looking at us directly.  They see and hear your habits, including the good and often bad habits.  Understanding that they see me, I gotta figure out how I need to change for their betterment.   I rea...

Y ou remember that song by Rockwell?  "I always feel like somebody's watching me. And I have no privacy.",  as Michael Jackson adds his infamous, "Hee hee" in the background.  I know we have all had moments when you felt that eyes were on you.  You weren't sure who was looking at you or why, but they were.  No, this doesn't have to spook you out.  In fact, sometimes it good. I was recently at a party celebrating a milestone birthday.  The lounge scene was live and people were really excited.  The live reggae music, dancing, West Indian food, and people everywhere had set the stage for a very festive evening.  It was so much fun.  A relative of ours (we'll call him Joe for this purpose) was getting ready to leave.  He and his wife had a long journey back and had to get to work the next day.  I saw him and gave him proper respects as he was preparing to leave.  He later turns around in the midst of the loud band and sin...

As I write this we are experiencing Blizzard Jonas, the blizzard of 2016, in which we are expecting anywhere between 12-30 inches with wind gusts up to 65 mph.  Well, we found out that different agencies needed clothing and canned foods.  We had some in the house, so we traveled into DC before the road restrictions took place and receive a $972,463 fine to donate.  My youngest and I walked into Central Union Mission to donate.  As I filled out the donation receipt, an African American man walked in and asked for a free sandwich.  The attendant gave him one without any reservation.  When I really took notice of this man, he looked like all was stable.  He had on a long, black trench coat, was decently shaven, slacks, decent shoes, and a black bag with him.  He left out and I was struck with a 'wow' moment.  Here's why. The day before, I had on a very similar outfit.  I wore a long black trench coat with a black derby, khakis and carr...

I missed my flight.  I MISSED MY FLIGHT!😡 With unsuccessful standbies and an overnight airport stay, it turned out to be a major headache, but also a wonderful time of reflection. I was reminded that I can't do what I do as a man (father, leader, deacon, teacher, and whatever other 'titles' I have) without help and direction. I re-realized this watching airplanes. I sat in a terminal window with the morning sun beaming through (so I could warm up) watching planes prep for takeoff.  There was a lot happening for it to be a successful flight. There were trucks moving back and forth on the ground giving planes whatever they give them. I saw food trucks distributing food. There were trucks hauling luggage to and from the plane. What really got me thinking were the trucks that push the planes from the terminal to the strip. There was a long metal guiding pole that didn't bend or flex extending from the truck to the plane. And it guided the plane out. There were also grounds...

My wife & I had the h😳n😫r of taking my oldest and two friends to a week long summer camp in Pennsylvania. We were driving the Turnpike from the Boogie Down, New York after dropping my youngest to his grandmother's for a week. It felt like I had been driving all day; we drove from Maryland to Pennsylvania to pick up our youngest from camp. From there we drove  The Turnpike to New York to drop him off, saw family, got a pie (pizza) and then headed back on the Turnpike with its escalating tolls to Pennsylvania. I was pathetically busted after all the driving. The sun has gone down and we had to head back to PA. Did I say I was busted? Well, these three energetic boys ensured that I wouldn't go to sleep.  I'm flipping through stations trying to find some decent music that all of us could listen to. A song here and a song there popped up, but nothing consistent. Then my oldest says, "Dad, can I put on my music?" WARNING! DANGER! DANGER! WARNING ! Loud, blaring mu...

So he finally turned 16. A monumental age no doubt. There are so many lessons to be learned during this pivotal year, especially as we prep him for college. One of the first lessons that we need to teach is how to handle money. If you're reading this and you were in college, you can remember the hundreds of Visa & American Express offers you received before you made it to your dorm room. And don't forget the many banks luring you in trying to give you free checking.  So here's a sure fire way I believe you can prepare your child on how to handle money: by you handling it well yourself. This is also known as modeling. There was a PSA commercial in the late 80's or early 90's where a boy was smoking. The dad walks in and asks the boy where he learned to do that. The boy responded, "From you dad. I learned it by watching you."  I'm amazed at how much our children mimic the things we do.  So give them something positive to mimic.  I could write so much...