Blogs
East Bay Dads If any of you are "Stay At Home Dads" for over a year or so, I'd would like to know how you manged to do so. I have been a SAHD 1 year and 14 months and I don't think I can handle it anymore. I have been an invisible member of this organization and read up on your whereabouts and I think it's great. However, do any of you know where there is a good support group where guys like us are ready to give up on taking care of their kids and wife. I have a 7 years old daugther and a 3 years old son and a wife who is a workacholic Mon-Fri. and on weekends loves to socialize with her family. I feel totally burned. I just realized this during the whole summer that life is gotta be better than staying at home with your 2 children. Trust me I have been with them for a year or so and I treasure them, love them, and wish that when they grow up that I will be there to see their milestone. I feel so worthless not working. I keep myself busy by being in a PTO. I really feel burnt out. I searched the internet on SAHD but doesn't help me any some of the support group are located in other states. I need one locally, one that will understand what I am going through and not the social type of organization (no offense fellas'). PS. I would have joined some of the social functions that you guys have thrown but for some reason I couldn't get myself to attending. |
|||
Passing along information...
|
|||
In my profile it says no news letter selected, but I get a weekly news letter....help! |
|||
I have a 2 passenger Burley trailer for bicycles in my garage that
|
|||
Here is info on the new film from the Fathers' Forum Becoming a Father takes you inside the Fathers’ Forum and offers an intimate “glimpse” at the feelings men express with each other about parenting. In the “confidential” and private setting of Fathers’ Forum groups, new dads share their struggles, fears and successes at fatherhood. Here is a preview of "Becoming a Father"....a new film/dvd from the Fathers' Forum. An Excellent Glimpse into Contemporary Fatherhood, When a woman has a new baby, it almost goes without saying that she will join some form of a mothers' group where both the practical and emotional aspects of parenting will be discussed. For fathers, however, no such tradition exists and while more is expected of fathers than ever before in history, the role models for this kind of involvement are nowhere to be found. In Bruce Linton’s, Becoming a Father, a voice is finally given to contemporary fatherhood. We are given a first hand glimpse into some of the struggles, dreams, hopes and confusion that new fathers may face. Dr. Linton helps the men in his groups examine how their relationship with their own dads may impact their expectations around parenting, the value of taking time to consciously consider the choices one makes as a parent, and the shear enormity of the job of parenting. This film is a much needed documentation of the "real" experience of fatherhood, and will be of great value to new and expecting fathers as well as their partners. review by Gina Hassan, Ph.D. |
|||
Here is the link to the original post.
|
||||
With the holidays fast approaching, here are some nifty books that you might want to consider for that favorite son or daughter of yours. What’s that? Christmas is over? Damn. And I started this entry WEEKS ago. Guess that is what happens when you have another baby (now we have two girls, Maddie (4 years) and Juliet (5 weeks). Really, nothing gets done. It’s like moving in slow motion. So, I get a sentence in here, a word in there, slowly, methodically constructing my blog entry over the course of a month. More on this in a future post (can you say twenty-eleven)… OK, so where were we? Oh yes, a fun book you should buy. Would make a nice gift for Groundhog Day. There are currently several books on the market that cover the stay-at-home daddy world. Some of my favorites include… • The Daddy Shift by Jeremy Adam Smith and a few books by Po Bronson. But there are a scant number of children’s books devoted to the subject, which is what makes “Daddy Does The Dishes and other Daddy deeds” such a fresh and fun new addition to the world of parenting literature. It is cleverly written by Kori Reed, the wife of stay-at-home dad Mike Becker, and wonderfully illustrated by Kori’s sister Kendra Reed. There are two other books in the series, “My Daddy Can Touch The Moon” and “My Daddy is Supersillious”, with others on the way, all published by ReedFamilyBooks. Really, this book celebrates all fatherhood, not just sahd fatherhood. Check it out! more at http://www.googoodadda.com |
|||
At 3 AM I was wide awake. Bottle feeding one of my twin boys. Waiting for the other one to wake up. I went to bed at 8 PM but couldn't sleep until about 10:30 PM. I woke up at 2 AM. That would 3 1/2 hours of sleep. I would love to enter into that blissful state of altered conscious called sleep, but, as I watch over the wrestling of my boys with the late night fart fairy, I have no such luck. At 4 AM my infant son Benjamin is staring up at the ceiling with glee. With fascination. No, with awe and wonder. He is staring at the round light in the middle of the ceiling. Which is off. But a slight bit of light from the other room catches the brass nipple shaped decoration at the end of the round breast shaped light fixture. Day and night the boys stare at the $19.95 light fixture from Home Depot. They utter oohs and aahs at it like faithful worshippers. If I could only have that boobie. That boobie. The boobie in the sky with diamonds. Who knew that Home Depot could inspire such admiration?
Maslow's hiearchy of needs starts off with the physiological. When a teacher showed me this chart many years ago, my teacher omitted sleep. I guess my teacher took sleep for granted. I'd argue that sleep is even more fundamental than food. Ghandi famously fasted for 21 days, Jesus for 40 days. The longest scientific record of anyone going without sleep is 11 days. So the human body can go for at least twice as long without food as it can without sleep.
Yet, here I sit in front of the computer. Staring into the pretty screen. Nice glowing screen, pretty. I feel driven to look at the beautiful. To give my life to it. Even if it is just the boobie in the sky because it is brain candy.
In watching my boys I have gained a greater sense of my own human basic human impulses for hunger, for sleep, for brain candy. Me wants pretty. Can it be that all our human toil for gold, diamonds, and all glitters is wired into us? That somehow we long to give ourselves to the beautiful? I think it is. As I mature, hopefully I can stop and ask, is this beautiful object, is this expression of beauty really worth my attention? Or have I merely mistaken a cheap imitation for an object of awe?
My blog: http://www.bluerivers.org |
|||
Today, I wear a shirt soaked in tears, drool, and spit-up. The scars of being a parent. I can tell these scars are important. They give me depth, and I know my willingness to hold my baby through the crying will shape our future relationship. In the future, I will wish that my baby were simply crying. Instead, he will have words. Words that also hurt, and then I won't be able to simply hold him. I will need to think and feel with him, and continue to love him in all the ways that he needs to be loved. I hear the crying again. It's time to go back to the tears and hold my son whom I love.
|
|||
I would jump in front of a speeding car to save my daughter’s life. I say this with no hesitation and with a really powerful conviction which surprises, and, frankly, scares the hell out of me. Where does this feeling come from? I experienced it from day one with Maddie, when I hardly knew her. To think, I would sacrifice my own life for that of a tiny little stranger. I knew when our daughter was born that I would be taking care of her a lot. I prepared as much as I could. I read all the books I could find, talked to other parents. I knew this would be a huge responsibility. This small creature would be completely dependent on me, for food, for shelter, for warmth, for moving about. Her life was, literally, in my hands. What I didn’t consider, and what I slowly came to realize, was that MY LIFE was in HER hands as well. This was a two way street. While I was busy nurturing this baby and helping her develop into a little girl, she was doing the same for me, helping me evolve into the father I am today. She has taught me patience, empathy, and honesty. My intentions have become much clearer, my resolve much stronger, my energy more focused. She keeps me grounded and present. She has helped define me as a person and shown me what I care for most deeply in life. We are connected on so many different levels and we affect each others behavior. My view of the world has changed. This is what has surprised and delighted me the most about becoming a parent. And to think, she’s accomplished all this and she’s only 4…
more at http://www.googoodadda.com
|
|||
