With four fast-growing children and a wife who works part time so she can spend more time caring for our household, we’re always looking for ways to save money. Sure, we could live like paupers and never spend a dime except on beans and rice and the occasional camping ‘trip’ in our backyard we could teach the kids to call ‘family vacation,’ but that’s not how we want to live our life. We enjoy having fun and living well, but we want to do it within our means. If we can do that and still save … [Read more...]
Moments that take my breath away
Being the parents of four small children, we often get advice from unexpected places. Sometimes that advice is welcome, other times not so much, but we (usually…) appreciate the sentiment nonetheless. Perhaps the most common word of advice we hear, always from parents who are older than us, is to cherish the moment, because it won’t last forever. Now I can’t speak for my more sentimental wife, but I will admit that when people said that to me in the early days of our parenthood I would just … [Read more...]
What we let our children watch on TV, and what we don’t!
Like it or not, for better or for worse, these days television plays a role in the upbringing of most American kids. How much of a role that is, and whether it’s a positive or negative one, is up to parents. While we certainly understand the motivations of those parents who choose to do without TV entirely, we haven’t made that choice for our family, for a variety of reasons. For one, we feel that, just like guns and the internet, television is something that can be used for good AND for evil. … [Read more...]
Teaching kids to LOVE reading!
“I cannot remember the books I've read any more than the meals I have eaten; even so, they have made me.” -Ralph Waldo Emerson Growing up in the 80’s, my family seemed to always be one step behind the ‘technology curve.’ We laugh about it now, but back then technology just wasn’t on our radar (or that of my parents anyway!). We didn’t get color television until 1985, when my father discovered that the Vietnam greenery of Tour of Duty looked unbelievably better in color than black and white. … [Read more...]
The day I conquered my fear
Ever since I wrote ‘The day my son was braver than me’ about how I looked the ‘Wild Eagle’ in its beady little eagle eyes, then looked quickly away, the coaster has never passed up a chance to taunt me. Being a father of four who knows he’s going to have to eventually suck it up and learn to ride coasters with them, I’ve tried to ‘work my way up’ the roller coaster hierarchy. OK, the Tennessee Tornado was a bad choice, but perhaps some other, less intense rides could ‘warm me up’ to the … [Read more...]
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