The new year ahead

Welcome to 2024 everyone. It’s day 2 and I have aleady fallen behind on something I wanted to try out. That would be to try and write at least 500 words every day. Not focusing on clicks, or topics that will get clicks, or creating conversation or engagement. Just writing for the fun of writing. Like I did many years ago. Funny enough, writing for just fun pushed me into a career where it was about engagement, clicks and trying to stratigize what Google wanted to see. I think that is what kind of killed the buzz.

It really was about a daily journal to cut down on phone calls as I did not really like phone calls with family and friends. Posting about what I was up to was much easier. It was also before it was a thing to share everything on social media. Just like the boomerang of writing, to not writing, to writing again, social media is starting to go away from oversharing (at least that’s what I think). Sure there are endless amounts of influencers on Tik Tok and Instagram showing off their literal boring days and what they are cooking, but if you look at Facebook for example, your parents, aunts, highschool friends etc. are not sharing much anymore. Or at least what it was like several years ago.

Smells Like Teen Spirit In Here

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.

Parents and Discord – What You Need to Know

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.

Kyle Lowry, Walter White, March Madness and More

march 16 cover image

Well it’s Mid-March and we are officially a year into this mess known as the pandemic and now the media is pushing the arrival of the third wave. Cool.

Does anyone else feel like March 2020 and March 2021 have merged? Thank goodness I have an Instagram feed to remind me that the last 12 months existed. Seriously, if I close my eyes, I can instantly go back to this time last year and it feels like it is now. We were on the kid’s March Break, or March Broke as I was calling it, and trying to navigate staying busy with the boys.

It’s been a year since signing up for Disney +. It’s been a year since I started playing Red Dead Redemption. It’s been a year since I watched no March Madness.

Anyways, how are you? How is life going for you? Gotten your vaccine yet?

How about a brain dump?

5 Positive Takeaways From Online School

5 positive takeaways from online school

“I don’t like online school, when is it over?” ~ Unnamed children in my household.

Does that sound familiar? The COVID-19 pandemic continues to play with our kid’s education like a yo-yo spinning up and down between in-person and online school. Everyone in our house was done. We were ready to return to the real life classroom, hopefully for good.

Blowing up 5 O’clock

Weird title eh? What does this guy have against 5 O’clock? Is that morning or evening? Fair question for Like a Dad readers. For us it means kids and video games

For most 5 O’clock in the pm is awesome. It’s home time for most. A time of joy and hope for a fun evening ahead. 5 O’clock for many is just the best.

In our house, this time of day is also pretty sweet. In the week, we are pretty much home and, on the weekend, it’s when my wife and I actually get to sit in a room in peace and no children.

Where the kids at?

Well, 5 O’clock has become like Christmas that comes around every 24 hours. As our youngest would gleefully say – It’s video game time!

One Month Since…

me aug11

Hello. Have you been wondering what’s up with me for the last little while? Probably not, but that’s okay. I prefer to lay low and not be on people’s minds.

So, it’s been roughly a month since I got released from the hospital and started all the changes to make me a healthy and happy guy.
Here is what I have learned.