American Crime Scared the Parenting $#@% Out Of Me

Have you watched American Crime on ABC? The second season just wrapped up and while Season 1 was mostly entertainment for me, Season 2 scared the parenting shit out of me.

Why? Because it dealt with several real-life situations that ANY child and family could go through.

I don’t plan on giving spoilers away, and to be honest, there are no dramatic twists or who dunnit moments. Maybe that is why the show felt so real. It painted the picture that it could happen to anyone who is in the wrong place at the wrong time or let internal struggles get out of control. The show is much more hard-hitting that any family time movie or special from my childhood. There was no happy ending, just real life outcomes.

Don’t Get Burned Buying Your Next BBQ

ps_napoleon-grills-left-prestige-p500rsib-1-ss_1576_L

Check out these handy tips for buying your next BBQ

TORONTO March 9, 2016– With all the new bells and whistles available in BBQ’s these days, grill-shopping can seem more like luxury car shopping, and can send folks running for a frying pan to cook that sirloin, rather than have to endure the headache of choosing.

With grilling season soon upon us, Napoleon Gourmet Grills has come up with this list of tips on how to pick the grill that’s right for you.

Here are some tips to help choose what is best to suit your needs:

Celebrate Pi Day With Your Kids

kids and pi

You won’t even need to provide ice cream for this Pi Day. But that would be a nice treat.

Yes, it’s almost Pi Day once again. March 14th at exactly 1:59 PM. Where will you be? Maybe eating pie?

The fine folks at Kumon want to make it fun for kids to not only have fun, but learn in the process. That is why they are promoting Kumon Pi Day.

For those who don’t know Pi (π), it is a mathematical constant, the ratio of a circle’s circumference to its diameter. Commonly approximated as 3.14159, ‘Pi’ is an irrational number with infinite decimal digits. That means it keeps on going…….forever. Think, your kid in the backseat of a day long trip asking “are we there yet?”

This year, Kumon Canada wants to help Canadian children celebrate Pi Day in a fun and exciting way. Pi Day is a great excuse to engage children in fun math challenges meant to enrich and deepen their understanding of the concept of Pi. Activities could include investigations of the value of Pi, special Pi projects and parties with pizza or other kinds of “Pi.” You know your kids best, so whatever they interested in, there is a way to insert Pi.

Big Green Egg Makes The Best Tasting Chicken Wings

big green egg

You want to argue? Let me introduce you to my wife and kids.

Yes, the Big Green Egg once again dazzled and won the hearts of dinner fans again this weekend. I went to the grocery store thinking nachos and I left with a pack of chicken wings. Crazy how the meat aisle and a mild day in March can get you to change your mind.

The outcome was simple. Season some wings, throw them in the smoker for a few hours and let the magic happen.

I don’t want to make it sounds like I’m Myron Mixon, but I make some of the tastiest wings going. Every time I serve them at a get together of friends, the talk of the party is not Canadian Politics, the weather or even what’s up with work, it is all about the spicy and savoury chicken.

Rhythm Is A Dancer It’s A Kid Companion

dancingonbloorwest

How do your kids let loose, while remaining in the boundaries of what is right and wrong? All that pent-up energy waiting to be burned off, while you try to keep the day from turning into a train wreck.

It has become pretty hard to find something your kids can do to turn off the brain, stop the day-to-day structure, stay away from screens and just be a silly kid. It’s not like when we were a kid and just get tossed out the door to play and figure it out. So many societal factors now prohibit that kind of logic. So what do you do? A treadmill isn’t going to cut it.

In our house, for many years, it has been all about the dance party.

Because rhythm is a dancer, it’s a kid companion.

Medieval Times Review & Contest

medieval times

Want to experience some good times with the family? Have you visited Medieval Times in Toronto yet? Recently I had the opportunity to take my family back to a time where Knights ruled the land and you only ate food with your hands.

My first memory of Medieval Times (like many of you), came from the movie, The Cable Guy. You go and enjoy a dinner theatre of live performances like it would have been back in Medieval Times (go figure right).

While enjoying a 4-course meal, you get to watch various battles between knights using swords and other weapons you are likely to see on any Episode of Game of Thrones.

For a few hours, you are taken back to a time when Kings called the shots and glory was earned on the battle field.

For us the experience was like nothing we had seen before. Well, sorry, my wife went many years ago, but for myself and the kids it was all brand new.

From flying falcons, to beautiful stallions, the evening had something for everyone.

The Anatomy Of A Netflix Night In

netflix night in

How many times a day to you daydream of being home on the couch with your favourite snack and TV show? Or maybe you have plans to go out, but deep down, you really just want to make it a Netflix night in. I don’t know about you, but it’s a pretty common feeling for me. TV has always been a vital cog in staying sane as a parent to young boys. I look forward to both, watching shows with them, but also watching shows I want to watch after they go to bed.

In the old days, you had to plan your nights according to when and what shows were on. Thursdays used to be big. Must See TV and all that jazz. It was a night you would choose to stay home and make it a fun event.

Now with the likes of Netflix, any night can be whatever you want it to be. No more waiting. If the kids wake up for whatever reason, you put down the popcorn, pause the show and deal. Then pick up where you left off. Technology is a beautiful thing. I can’t imagine a time when you just had to suck it up and miss part of what you were watching.

Our family has a few routines when it comes to a Netflix night in. It comes down to whether or not it is a weekday or weekend.