One of my big rewards as a teacher is being able to do community service projects as a teacher.  The last two schools years I was able to get a grant to take my students on a monthly community project.  The grant covers the transportation to get form point A to B and then back.  Some of my favorite projects have been packaging food for hungry kids in Haiti through Feed My Starving Children, organizing books for shipping at a place called Books for Africa, and doing fall and spring cleanup in the local community.

Today’s community service project was at a place called People Serving People.  It is place that provides homeless families with a place to live while helping them finding jobs and provides education to get them back on their feet.  People Serving People has a very good thing going on there.

Today, my students made poinsettia ornaments so kids could get presents from church families.  We put in our time for a very good cause.  It is very neat to see my students want to go on community service projects.  My students come from a variety of financial backgrounds.  Some of the students are filthy rich and some are very poor.  The neat thing is that they all like to give and make other people happy.

I was touched walking into People Serving People today.  I saw little kids without homes being given a chance to be warm.  As a dad, my heart goes out to them.  I am just glad the parents and the children have a chance to receive help to get back on their feet.

I am excited to share these same experiences with Rylan and my future children.  It is good to give time for good causes.   All dads can show their kids it is important to give your time to help people.  All people need a friendly hand.

Dad Loser - Bad Dad

Real Dad Blog Version: I think William T. Hurley might get the dad loser of the year for this incident.

A few days ago, a dad got mad at his 10 year old son for who knows what. What happened next was a child’s worse nightmare. His dad started beating him with his fists and burned him with a hot iron. The boy escaped from his father and sought refuge in the oven. The dad, in his not so brilliant moment, decided to turn the oven on. Luckily, the boy got out when the oven started getting warm. The cops finally came and the boy was rescued.

The police arrested the dad. To make this story worse, the man told his police that he would beat his son again and then actually tried to beat him in front of the officers.

This dad does need some serious help if he ever wants to see his child again. William T. Hurley, you get the dad loser award and probably should never see your son again. Know matter how bad your 10 year old son is, he doesn’t deserve what you gave to him. A spanking is one thing, but burning him and beating him? Then you have to go and turn the oven in when he was so scared of you he was hiding in the oven.

Your son is my prayers. I hope he gets the reform he needs so he will never be like you.

I was thinking the other day what are some good qualities of a dad.  I want to make sure I show these good qualities to my children on a regular basis.

1. Strive to be a good dad – without motivation, you are lazy and nothing. Find motivation and you will have a happy fatherhood.
2. Learn from your mistakes and other people’s mistakes – Mistakes are great if you learn from them and try your best not to do them again.
3. Talk to your children – Yelling at a 2 year old?  They learn from you. Talk to your children about the rights and wrongs.
4. Read to your children  – A great bonding experience plus higher IQ’s!
5. Play with your children – Play has a lot of benefits like memories your children will have.
6. Tell the truth always – There is no reason to lie to your kids unless you want them to lie to you too.  My wife taught me that telling the truth is very important.  I live my life with honesty and feel better about it.
7. Treat your wife well – Your children must learn how to treat the opposite sex.  They learn the majority from you.
8. Treat other people well – Saying please and thank you and helping your neighbors goes a far way.
9. Promote good health – You are your child’s role model of what your kids eat and how much they care about exercising.
10. Want to be a dad – If you are not ready, keep it in your pants.  Children are a lot of responsibility and deserve good parents.

There are many more qualities of a good dad.  These are the first 10 I could think of.  I will be posting more good qualities of a dad in the near future.  Just remember that being a dad is an awesome thing.  Your kids deserve the best.

Richard Heene - Dad Loser #3

Richard Heene, I am sure you can think of better ways to help your family.  Lying to the world about your child being in the balloon should have not been on the list.  I hope you are now a better role model to your kids.  I also hope you have to pay back all the tax payer money wasted in your hoax.

Your hoax got you on the dad loser list as dad loser #4.  Your face has been the media enough where I do not have to explain what you did more than I already have.

Dad loser 1,2, and 3 can be found on the dad loser list.

Baby Gutting Pumpkin with Dad's Help

Real Dad Blog Version: This dad enjoyed his days of Halloween with his son.  I also give some Halloween suggestions.

Halloween starts weeks in advance for children and moms. Moms get the candy all ready for the big day and decide what costumes their babies should wear if their kids are not old enough to pick out their own. For dads, they probably do not really care as long as the costume their kids wear is pretty cool. We do get into a

Baby pumpkin puzzle

couple of things such as giving out candy to the kids, walking door to door, saying trick or treat, or bring our kids around the blocks with their pillow cases. We, also, do the pumpkin carving because we enjoy taking out the guts. The greatest joy is seeing the excitement of our kids faces.

Baby's Jack-o-Lantern

My Halloween started the night before as we carved out Rylan’s second Halloween pumpkin. It brought back the childhood memories when I got to take out the seeds and play with the gooey insides. Seeing Rylan getting excited playing with the inside of the pumpkin got me thinking about the future; the future of Halloween and children getting excited for their cool costumes and their creative jack-o-lantern designs.

Pumpkin Costume Getting Ready for Halloween

Our son was a pumpkin for his second Halloween. It was not this dad’s first choice but when it is a gift from my mother in-law and my wife just wants his kid to be cute, there is not much a dad can do. I just shrugged my shoulders and went along with the cuteness.

Back from Trick or Treating

Even though I wished he were something else, he still was a little stud in the pumpkin outfit. He enjoyed wearing his little costume. He also enjoyed going to trick-or-treating all around the neighborhood while seeing all the other children in the ghost and goblin costumes. My wife got to take him to all the houses while I got to hand out all the candy. It was an awesome feeling to see her so excited to have a cute little guy in a pumpkin outfit.

Calling it quits from a long night of trick or treating

When Rylan got back from the Halloween festivities, I saw a big smile on his face. He was so happy doing something fun and exciting. Even though he has to give all of his candy away and probably will not remember his first experience out tricking or treating for candy, I know it was a great learning experience for him. I am excited to share more memories of Halloween with him and our future kids. Bring on the pumpkin guts and ghostly costumes!

Look at my candy dad!

Dad Parenting Suggestions for Halloween

• Let your wife have her way with what your kids are for Halloween.  It is great feeling seeing them happy about their kid’s Halloween costume.
• Do not buy Almond Joys for candy or other weird candy.  Kids find that uncool. Whoops!
• Find a cool costume and not too scary.  I hate seeing little kids scared.   You can always find a scary mask for the older kids.
• Always make sure your kids are safe.  This comment is self explanatory.
• Your most important job is carving out pumpkins if your kids are not old enough.  A lot of wives hate the gutting of pumpkins.

Dreaming about eating candy in the Halloweens to come

Baby's first Halloween with Dog - The memories on how fast they grow!

Dad Farts

Real Dad Blog Version:   Dad farts!  I do not think I need to go into any more detail.

We all know that our dad farts are smelly and disgusting to our wives. We also know that our wives do not fart.  As my older brother would say, all women play the air guitar. A nicer way to put it is they “drop roses.”  We could take the lovely smell in for hours at a time if it is our own.  If it is someone else’s fart, we may keel over and die.  Farts are a very serious matter as they can be both fun and disgusting.   When it comes to babies though, it is a laughing matter.

It all happened about a month ago when our son was about 11 months old.  I had a bowl of chili so my gas was primed and ready for some noise action.  The pressure was building up in my lower abdominal region.  The pressure got so great I had to let it go.  I let out rip roaring fart. My wife game a look of disgust while my son started laughing his head off.  He looked at me with tears in his eyes because he laughed so hard. It was a look of dad; you are the coolest for farting like real man.  I gave him a look back like I was proud of that one.   I also could tell he felt I scored one for the team by grossing his mom out.

Ever since that day our son will laugh if anyone farts.  He even laughs at his own loud gas bubbles.  What makes it a game is when he hears the flatulent sound he makes the fart sound with his tongue and then laughs and laughs.  It is unbelievable that he picked up the corresponding sound of his tongue and real farts.   I am glad I have a smart boy on my hands.  He is on his way to becoming a real man by enjoying farts as well as making similar sounds that correlate to his butt and mouth.   He’ll just have to learn in the future that when he gets married, it is better to hold it in instead of grossing out the wife.

I see myself as a very frugal dad. I am so frugal that I cut my own hair.  I grab that number two razor to shave my sides.  I then grab a number 5 and 7 razor and the deed is done.  The only problem I have is that I can never get the back the way I want it.  I cannot get it even.  The last time my wife tried to help with cutting the hair on the back of my head, it was like I was cutting it, uneven.

What is the answer?  My dad still cuts the hair on the back of my head.  I am 31 years old and I still have my dad cut my hair!  Thinking about it, it makes me sound like I am that 30-year-old guy that still lives in my parents’ basement.

I would not have my haircuts happen any other way.  I enjoy my dad cutting the hair on the back of my head.  He does a good job.  It is a good father-son bonding experience.  As the years go by, I will always cherish these memories, even if they happen at 31 years old.

As I grow older and my son and future kids get older, I hope to share memories with them.  It could be taking the kids to the Twins’ game with my wife, to playing soccer with them in the backyard.  It could even be cutting their hair when they turn 31.

Read more about My Dad

1 year old baby cake

Real Dad Blog Version: This dad’s baby boy turns one! This is a dad rambling about his son’s birthday and first year as a baby boy.

Our son, Rylan, turned the big one yesterday. We threw him a little party that involved a lot of his family and friends. The day flew by like a blur because we were hosting a lot of people. At least we have pictures of the memories of the big day of our first child turning one.

Baby Eating Cake

His birthday involved eating of sloppy joes (easy to make for a lot of people) and a lot of other food. Then came the birthday cake. The fun part of the birthday party! I was thinking he was going to make a bigger mess than he did. He sure enjoyed the cake.

One Year Old Baby Birthday Party Friends

If you are a dad and have never experienced your child having a really sugary substance for the first time, just get ready for a child that will not sleep. That was our son! He had energy like he never had before after he ate his birthday cake. Watch out!

Our Baby Boy is One!

Our son’s first year flew by. I cannot believe he is already one. This has been the most rewarding year of my life. One year as a dad is beyond words. Being a dad or a new dad is the best job in the world!

A special thanks goes out to our baby boy’s mom for helping make being a dad the best job in the world.

He is starting to play more and more games with us from out of the blue. He will play peak-a-boo with his hands or blankets. He will even play it around people’s shoulders when they are holding him. Rylan is also playing other games that do not make us very happy as parents like dropping his sippy cup on the floor and then laughing about it! That laugh just melts a dad’s heart, though. How could I get mad at that?

Today the peak-a-boo game came out when I was driving home from Sam’s Club with Rylan. We were at a stoplight and when I look back, he put his hands right above his face and then put them right down. Then there came a huge smile on his face. Too bad that light turned green. I could have had played peek-a-boo for hours with him.

As time goes on, you may brush your baby’s teeth with a baby’s toothbrush.  Start this when your baby gets their first teeth.  Our son Rylan loves getting his teeth brush with a baby’s toothbrush.  We tell him that we are going to brush his teeth and he throws his hands up and down in the air with excitement.

When you watch the video of us brushing our baby’s teeth, you can tell Rylan enjoys it. We did things to help with his enjoy of getting his two baby’s teeth brushed.  We brush our teeth around Rylan.  It got him intrigued with us brushing our teeth and he then gets to join in on the fun.  We also have been doing this since he has born starting with the washcloth cleaning his mouth.  He has been exposed to good oral baby hygiene by having good adult oral hygiene.  This new dad likes to have clean teeth and a clean mouth.