Back to School Part II

I know I promised to post ideas of our steps for making the transition to school a bit easier.  I apologize for the length of time it took to follow up on it.  To make it easier and quicker, check out the following links.  My wife has posted our steps on her blog.

This one talks a little about our chore charts and organization.  These were really cheap to make and have been successful thus far.

Here you can read about our companion to the chore charts, a reward calendar.  We use happy or sad dollars which they earn by doing their chores & homework.  We have also used it as a behavior monitor when we have had behavior issues.

Lastly, she talks about meal planning here.

Enjoy!

matt, liz, and madeline

I recently started on a hunt for other father-focused blogs.  I thought to myself, “If you are going to write one, it is a really good idea to read them as well.  If you hope to be supported, you should also support.”

Yesterday my google search’s first hit was matt, liz and madeline, and I must say I was so drawn in that my search for that day ended there, and I have bookmarked it (I don’t bookmark anything).

The life of Matt and Madeline has changed drastically in only 17(ish) months, all which started when his wife (Liz) passed away one day after giving birth to Madeline.  I will not try to summarize his feelings or his writings, they speak for themselves.  What drew me in was his ability to take this devastating loss and turn it into something that could be called nothing less than amazing.  His optimism, dedication, and unwavering love is a testament to fathers worldwide.  I hope you will check out his page, I promise you won’t be disappointed.

To Matt:  If you should ever read this, or even if you don’t.  Thank you for not only being a great father, but for sharing your story with the world.  I will continue to follow you and give you support from afar.

Once again, thank you for choosing Intentional Father, and your children.

Back to School

It is that time of year again, the time parents love and children loathe.  That’s right…

BACK TO SCHOOL!!!!!

This year was a big one for us.  Our oldest is moving to middle school and our middle child going into 1st grade.  I must say, hidden behind the excitement, my wife and I were both very nervous for them.    Needless to say, all went well, and they were actually excited to go back to school today!

While we are happy to have them back in school (not because we won’t miss them), this also marks the beginning of an extremely busy time for us.  As if 3 kids and a dog wasn’t enough, my wife starts her classes and night work schedule this week as well.

Busy is an understatement.

To make this transition, and the coming months easier, our family has had to become very organized.  Charts, lists, and schedules abound.  I am not a schedule/calendar person.  I hate scheduling everything, so this particular portion of the transition has been particularly hard for me.  I am, on the other hand, a tech-wanna-be.    So I have found ways to make this transition more tech savvy for myself, while still useful for the whole family.

In the next few posts, I will highlight some ideas that we have utilized to make the most of our time, please feel free to comment and let everyone know your ideas too.

Thank you for choosing Intentional Father, and your children.

Restart

I started this blog awhile ago, hoping to change my fathering experiences into thoughtful educational experiences for other fathers.  I wanted to use evidence based research from renowned educational institutions to back me up on all of my theories.

Obviously that didn’t go well.  It isn’t that the research isn’t out there; rather, being a father of 3, working full-time, with a wife that is working part-time and pursuing her masters degree, really doesn’t lend much time for research.

On the other hand, is there any better research or evidence based process than actual hands on experiences?  I mean, come on, I’m a father.  Why not just use my experiences, and through those experiences, maybe I’ll help someone.  Or maybe someone will be able to relate.  Or maybe it will do nothing more than provide a platform for me to talk.

Whatever happens, I hope you will continue to read.

Thank you for chosing Intentional Father, and your children.

Movies

One of our favorite nights as a family is movie night. Whether it be at the theaters or at home in our p.j.’s, we love to watch movies.

It can be hard at times, however, to find a movie that is good for the entire family. Our children like to use the ratings to their advantage, however sometimes the ratings are a bit loose for our families taste. My wife and I try to research movies as much as possible before allowing our children to watch them.

Try this website for movie reviews that are true to the family mindset. They break down the profanity, violence, and more adult times in the movies.

http://www.kids-in-mind.com/

p.s.- A little hint for the movie ratings. When our children try to use them as an argument, or say there is only a “little” inappropriateness in the movie, my wife and I like to use a little story we heard from Pastor Greg Laurie:

I heard a wonderful example recently. A father was having the usual argument with his children about some TV show or movie or music or something. He didn’t like it and they thought that it was OK. It wasn’t really “hurting” them although they knew there were immoral and violent parts in it.

The next day he made their favorite brownies but before serving it, he let them know that he had put a tiny speck of dog poop in it. Certainly it was only a tiny bit and it wouldn’t really be a problem. But as you would expect, they wouldn’t even touch it, even though it was just a tiny speck of dog poop.

Gross.. yeah.. but true.  Like a little bit of poo will pollute the brownies, a little bit of those inappropriate times can also pollute your children.

Thank you for choosing Intentional Father, and your children.