Smells Like Teen Spirit In Here

By Michael Cusden in Kids, Parenting, Toronto

Can you believe it has been 10 years since I first started this blog? 10 years since I started documenting my life as a Dad. Well it’s time I checked in on myself and what better time than when my oldest child just turned 13!

Yep, if the title didn’t give it away, I now have an official eye rolling and always ready to eat all the groceries teen. To be fair he doesn’t so much roll his eyes as he just puts up with my attempts at humour.

It’s a new chapter, or dare I say, a new book of parenting that I am writing/living IRL as they say. We survived the terrible twos. The actually more terrible threes. Whatever was in between five and seven was a blur and then the pre-teen angst that seemed so cute and easy to manage. You know, when your kid thinks they have it so bad. That’s when I was eye rolling a bit.

But now. The unknown for us. I think I would have more success understanding the Metaverse at this point.

All I have to go on is remembering what life was like when I was 13. Fire up the microfiche machine.

Now I would definitely say our 13 year old has a lot of similarities to me at that age. Like me he’s super tall, super hungry and super helpful. But that only gets me so far when understanding how to be the parent of a teen in 2022.

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Potty Training Boys in only 3 Days – Tips, Tales and Takes

By Michael Cusden in Kids, Parenting

potty training

At this stage of parenting, I did not think I would ever think about potty training ever again. But recently I did.

I had one of those moments when you look at your kids and wonder when it all happened? When did they grow so big? When did they grow into a young adult?

It happens right in front of your eyes and yet, it’s still a shock to the system.

One minute they are small enough to carry in a pouch, the next they are tall enough to almost stare you in the eyes.

Last week I was ordering new underwear online for our oldest boy. Medium briefs!? No superheroes, no trucks, just plain-coloured, boring underwear. It seems like yesterday I was buying a bulk pack of size three Spider-Man undies.

Then even before the confirmation email from Amazon hit my inbox, I was taken back to the days of why we needed those tiny undies in the first place.

The long weekend that I was potty training our first child using a three day bootcamp friends had shared with us.

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Parents and Discord – What You Need to Know

By Michael Cusden in Kids, Media & Entertainment, Parenting
parents and discord

As a parent, I knew the day would come that my kids would start talking about music, movies, celebs etc. that I would not know about.

It’s impossible to keep up. But one area I thought I would hold my own and be able to talk the talk, was with technology and online apps.

But that quickly vanished over the past few years and especially since our oldest son added a phone and Chromebook to his life. Now my brain checks out when the boys talk about Minecraft, Among Us and Roblox.

I tried to understand each by creating profiles and playing, but it just never caught on. For the record I am horrible at Among Us.

The latest and maybe the most unknown app to me is Discord. Have you heard of it? If you have young kids or teens, I know you have.

Do you know what it is? What it does? If it’s safe?

You really should because at least in our house it’s becoming the number one way our oldest son communicates with the online world (and us).

I know I am late to the party, but for those who don’t know about Discord, here is my explanation including what parents need to know.

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