.:The Internet Home Business Magazine for Moms & Dads:.

0
Comments

Interview At HiTech Dads

 

Earlier this week I did an interview with Bill from HiTech Dads about my thoughts on blogging, dad tips, and being a part of the eMoms network.

You can read the interview here.


Popularity: 1% [?]

Share, Enjoy and Save for Later: These icons link to social bookmarking sites where readers can share and discover new web pages.
  • Digg
  • del.icio.us
  • Netscape
  • Reddit
  • Sphinn
  • StumbleUpon
  • Technorati
 
add to sk*rt

3
Comments

Spanking :: Child Discipline or Child Abuse?

 

Were you ever spanked as a child?

During my childhood, I recall the threat of being spanked more than I remember actually receiving a swat. My mom had an 18-inch wooden ruler that she would take out when I was misbehaving and she would say that if my behavior didn’t stop that I would get a whack with the ruler.

In a moment of pure brilliance, I thought that I would hide the ruler on my mom so she wouldn’t be able to use it. The next time she went to retrieve it and saw it missing, I was told that I would get extra smacks if I didn’t turn over the ruler right then and there.

While I remember being spanked a few times, as well as a firm pinch here and there, I think the idea of the punishment was enough to deter me from continuing whatever behavior brought about the idea of a spanking.

From what my wife has told me, her childhood was different in that she vividly remembers being spanked with a wooden spoon - slotted for less air resistance - and receiving spankings with a belt. In her house there were not any warnings about changing her behavior or else, she received the spanking at the first sign of misbehaving.

Often times when people think of spanking a child, they recall stories on the news where a parent is caught on video beating a small child. A few years ago there was a security camera that captured a woman smacking her child multiple times in the parking lot of a large store. In my opinion, that has crossed the line of spanking and can easily be considered child abuse and I am sure all of us would agree that that type of action is unacceptable.

What do you think about spanking your children?

John from Daddee Yah! recently wrote a post about child discipline and tagged me to share my thoughts.

Now that I am a parent myself, I have faced the question of whether spanking a child is an effective means of discipline or if it is more a form of abuse that does not have a place in raising a child.

Before diving into how we have approached spanking in our house, I have to say that I view a spanking as a single swat across the rear-end or back of the leg and I do not consider it to be abuse. When a parent swats a child repeatedly, I believe that is when the line has been crossed from a spanking into abuse.

With that said, I will tell you that my children have been spanked by my wife and me. However, we have come to the realization that spanking is not an effective means of discipline in our house and is not something that we plan to do again. While I don’t think that spanking a child is wrong and should never be done, I do believe there are other means of disciplining our children that are more effective.

As an example, I recently mentioned one father that sold the copy of Guitar Hero III that he bought his son for Christmas after catching his son using drugs. Could he have spanked his son? Probably. Would it have been as effective as not giving his son a coveted video game? Probably not.

In our house, we have used various forms of discipline but I don’t believe we have found the one solution that works all of the time. Our kids have had their fair share of timeouts, weekends without any video games, days without being able to play with a friend, or conversations with mom and dad about why their behavior was unacceptable.

Just the other day I had mentioned to my wife that I want to use more of a positive reinforcement approach with our kids. Rather than trying to take things away from them when they misbehave or sending them to their room, I believe that more encouragement and reinforcement of their good behavior may reduce their bad behavior. However, that doesn’t mean that my kids will have a free ride and never be punished for misbehaving.

As a parent, sometimes I feel that I have lost touch with what it means to be a child and that some of their behavior is just a part of growing up and learning what they can and cannot do. There are certainly boundaries that should not be crossed and when they are the child needs to be disciplined. Each child is different and may require a different form of discipline, which I believe can include spanking, in order for it to be effective.

Spanking, in my opinion, is not so much a question about right or wrong but more about effective or ineffective.

Do you agree or disagree?

Popularity: 3% [?]

Share, Enjoy and Save for Later: These icons link to social bookmarking sites where readers can share and discover new web pages.
  • Digg
  • del.icio.us
  • Netscape
  • Reddit
  • Sphinn
  • StumbleUpon
  • Technorati
 
add to sk*rt

6
Comments

Dad Profits From His Son Smoking Weed

 

While this is making light of a very serious issue for any parent to encounter, I read a story about a dad in Montreal who recently caught his son smoking marijuana with a few of his friends and turned it into a very profitable situation.

After catching his 15-year-old smoking weed in the back yard, the man decided to sell the copy of Guitar Hero III - one of the hottest gifts this holiday season for Nintendo Wii owners - that he had bought for his son. Apparently the man felt that selling the coveted game would be a worthy punishment and discourage his son from smoking marijuana again.

The auction apparently closed with a winning bid of $9,100 from someone in Australia - not too bad for a $90 purchase.

The man has kept his identity private, which naturally makes me question the validity of the story as it would not be the first time that someone created a sensational story to try and generate a buzz around their auction.

After reading this story I could not help but kick myself for not purchasing the four copies of Guitar Hero III that I saw at a local Target the week after Thanksgiving, although I would much rather miss out on the potential profit than be faced with finding one of my kids using drugs.

In the event that you have well-behaved children and are still looking for your copy of Guitar Hero III, be sure to check out the latest online auctions as I doubt you will find a copy at any of the local stores.



Popularity: 4% [?]

Share, Enjoy and Save for Later: These icons link to social bookmarking sites where readers can share and discover new web pages.
  • Digg
  • del.icio.us
  • Netscape
  • Reddit
  • Sphinn
  • StumbleUpon
  • Technorati
 
add to sk*rt

0
Comments

Are You Smarter Than 98% Of The World Population?

 

Earlier today a friend of mine sent me a logic puzzle and asked if I could solve it. Supposedly, Einstein said that 98% of the world’s population could not figure out this logic puzzle.

The world population is in the ballpark of 6.6 billion people, which means that approximately 132 million people can solve this problem. Since both my friend and I successfully solved the puzzle, I’d be happy to hear from the other 131,999,998 people that know the answer to Einstein’s Logic Puzzle. :)

Give it a try and send me an email if you think you have the answer. You can also leave your answer in the comments but that might ruin the fun for everyone else that wants to try.

Background
There are 5 houses each with a different color. Their owners, each with a unique heritage, drinks a certain type of beverage, smokes a certain brand of cigarette, and keep a certain variety of pet. None of the owners have the same pet, smoke the same brand of cigarette or drink the same beverage.

Clues

  • The Brit lives in the red house.
  • The Swede keeps dogs as pets.
  • The Dane drinks tea.
  • The green house is just to the left of the white house.
  • The green house’s owner drinks coffee.
  • The person who smokes Pall Malls raises birds.
  • The owner of the yellow house smokes Dunhill.
  • The man living in the center house drinks milk.
  • The Norwegian lives in the first house.
  • The man who smokes Blends lives next to the one who keeps cats.
  • The man who keeps a horse lives next to the man who smokes Dunhill.
  • The owner who smokes Bluemasters also drinks beer.
  • The German smokes Prince.
  • The Norwegian lives next to the blue house.
  • The man who smokes Blends has a neighbor who drinks water.

Who owns the fish?


Popularity: 4% [?]

Share, Enjoy and Save for Later: These icons link to social bookmarking sites where readers can share and discover new web pages.
  • Digg
  • del.icio.us
  • Netscape
  • Reddit
  • Sphinn
  • StumbleUpon
  • Technorati
 
add to sk*rt

1
Comments

Who Is Your Favorite G.I. Joe?

 

As I was wrapping up my work for the day, my oldest son came home from a friend’s house and hopped on his computer to watch an episode of G.I. Joe.

While typing my last email, I heard the theme song playing and was instantly reminded of how much I used to love this cartoon. The amazing thing was that I still remembered the lyrics to the song and could not help myself but join in on the fun as the episode kicked off…

Yo Joe!
He’ll fight for freedom where ever there’s trouble.
GI Joe is there.
It’s GI Joe against Cobra and Destro
Fighting to save the day.
He never gives up.
He’s always there,
Fighting for freedom over land and air.

Did you watch G.I. Joe as a kid?

I remember watching G.I. Joe quite a bit as a kid and had a box full of the action figures - don’t you dare call them dolls! Many of those action figures are now in the possession of my kids as my mom never threw anything away.

Snake-Eyes GI JoeWhile my son was watching the cartoon, he turned and asked me “Dad, who is your favorite G.I. Joe?”

Without hesitating a second I quickly answered Snake-Eyes.

Snake-Eyes was my favorite because he was like the silent assassin. He didn’t talk - bonus points for anyone that can tell me why Snake-Eyes did not (or could not) talk - and kicked butt with his mastery of various martial arts. As if that were not enough, he also rode a motorcycle and that was the epitome of cool in my adolescent eyes.

My son responded that his favorite characters were Snake-Eyes and Sgt. Slaughter.

I’m obviously in full agreement with Snake-Eyes but not so much on Sgt. Slaughter. Maybe it was because I was a huge fan of WWF wrestling as a kid but I still associate Sgt. Slaughter more with his antics in the squared circle than I do with episodes of G.I. Joe.

Before I head off to watch Iceberg Goes South with my son, I thought I would ask all of you…

Who is your favorite G.I. Joe?

Photo credit: YoJoe.com

Popularity: 4% [?]

Share, Enjoy and Save for Later: These icons link to social bookmarking sites where readers can share and discover new web pages.
  • Digg
  • del.icio.us
  • Netscape
  • Reddit
  • Sphinn
  • StumbleUpon
  • Technorati
 
add to sk*rt

3
Comments

Pictures :: Special Moments Of Being A Dad

 

When you think of your dad or being a dad yourself, what is the picture that comes to mind?

The picture that I have of being a dad is sharing those goofy moments with your kids - most likely acting like a kid yourself. There are moments where you share one of your interests with your child or are teaching them something that your dad taught you, such as throwing a ball or how to fish.

I was browsing through the collection of photos at morgueFile and came across a handful of photos that reminded me of the special moments of being a dad.

Dad

Dad

Dad

Dad

Dad

Dad

Dad

I hope you enjoyed these photos that capture a few of the casual, yet very rewarding, moments of being a dad!

Photo credits: taliesin, bluekdesign, clarita, bjwebbiz, anitapatterson, phaewilk, hotblack

Popularity: 6% [?]

Share, Enjoy and Save for Later: These icons link to social bookmarking sites where readers can share and discover new web pages.
  • Digg
  • del.icio.us
  • Netscape
  • Reddit
  • Sphinn
  • StumbleUpon
  • Technorati
 
add to sk*rt