As a kid with ADHD before it had a name, I struggled. I would blurt things out at school and home. I was told much more than most kids to watch out, wait my turn, pay attention, and stop talking. While my behavior was understandably...
When I was invited to host the All Pro Dad Podcast, I had a lot of reservations. Doesn’t being a podcast host suggest you are a subject matter expert? I certainly have a lot of parenting miles on me and have learned a lot of...
The average height for a sixth grader is around 4’10”. The average height for a man is 5’9”. Therefore, if you are a dad of a sixth grader, then you are probably 23% taller than your kid. For perspective, it would be like your boss...
One of my all-time favorite movies is The Sandlot. Young Scott Smalls moves to a new neighborhood. His mom encourages him to get out, make friends, and even “get into a little trouble.” The movie is based on Scotty and his friends’ adventures on and...
On my first scuba dive, we were instructed to go down the anchor rope and wait at the bottom. The instructor said to me, “You go first; you aren’t scared.” He was right. I was 18 and wasn’t smart enough to be scared, because what...
At first, you may think my dad made one of the biggest parenting mistakes. Thinking it was safer than a motorcycle, he bought me a three-wheel ATV when I was 12. The Consumer Product Safety Commission eventually banned these tricycles of terror due to countless...
Some Christmas gifts can offer immediate joy, communicate love, and even create lasting memories. But can we pause for a five-minute, nationwide Christmas gifts sanity check? We string lights all over a tree and cover it with knick-knacks. Under said tree we place decoratively disguised...
It was our first Christmas together as a married couple, and I thought I had purchased my wife the perfect gift—a Snowbabies figurine. I took into consideration all the things I knew about my wife to select the perfect gift. Inexpensive. We didn’t have much...
My mom suddenly passed away when I was 10 years old. My emotions were all over the place. A few weeks later, an adult snapped at me for making a mess, and I started to cry. His response to my tears was, “Just because your...
My adult son recently decided it would be fun to play a game I like to call Parental Gotcha. It goes a little something like this. We are just hanging out, and he casually says, “Do you remember that time I told you I was...