I’d love to be able to say that I can go any significant amount of time without feeling like I’m completely failing as a parent. Some of it is depression, some of it is anxiety, and a lot of it is simply the fact that I can’t give my family everything that I wish that I could. Expensive vacations. A huge house. Top of the … Continue reading When You Feel Like You’re Failing
I’ve been struggling with this one lately, boys. See, I know I’m responsible for teaching you what it means to be men. Problem is that I’ve been on this spinning blue ball for over 40 years now, and I don’t know that I’ve got it completely figured out myself. Based on what I see around me lately, I’m not sure anyone else does, either. What … Continue reading What Defines A Man?
It’s not unusual to question if you’re doing enough when you’re raising an autistic child. Part of that is just general anxiety. The other is worrying over whether or not the reason he or she isn’t making the progress you’re hoping for because you’re not giving them enough time, therapy, guidance, etc. It’s hard to benchmark as well, because every autistic child is unique. … Continue reading Too Little Or Too Much?
There are things that give me more anxiety than the start of a new school year. Acid rain. Nuclear winter. The off-chance one of the boys will discover “Caillou” on one of our streaming services. Yes, there are things that I agonize over more that the start of school. Not many, though. When you have small kids, it’s only natural to be a little nervous … Continue reading School Daze
The children have started to show their asses. During those first few years, a lot of the disciplinary issues we ran into were due more to a lack of understanding on our little angels’ parts than anything else. The children didn’t understand that the walls of our home weren’t blank canvases to create upon with their un-washable markers. They didn’t understand that grabbing something right out of someone’s … Continue reading I Am The Law?
Sometimes it feels like we’re raising our boy under a ticking clock. To some degree, every parent feels that way. We tend to judge ourselves by how quickly our kids reach certain milestones. The points at which our children start to walk, talk, read, etc. tend to set the standard by which we judge their progress, along with our own. It’s no different when you’re parenting a child … Continue reading The Ticking Clock
What have I learned in six years of fatherhood? That a good portion of parenting appears to consist of screwing up, doing your best to make sure your kids don’t see you screwing up, and praying that you do better the next time you think you’re about to screw up. I still find it mystifying that video games come with instruction guides but children don’t. … Continue reading I Screw Up A Lot
Partly because of my job, and partly because of all the “millennial” frustration I see on-line everyday, I’ve come to a conclusion regarding my own kids: I have to love them enough to let them fail. Let me clarify. We all want the best for our kids. We want them to grow up happy, healthy, and most of all successful. We put a lot of … Continue reading Let Them Lose
I know this seems a bit out-of-place, but I’ve noticed lately on some of the online dad groups I frequent that a lot of parents are struggling with the issue of medication for mood disorders like depression or anxiety. Whether it be for themselves or even their kids. Lord knows I have. After all, when you’re hurting, all you want is relief. Even more so when … Continue reading To Medicate Or Not To Medicate
Fatherhood in the Trenches 