The Hyperborean Geocacher

I have written about geocaching on this blog before.

It is an excellent (and inexpensive) way to get outside and exercise alone or with the family. A global game, you can find active geocaches almost anywhere you travel (yes, even Antarctica AND the International Space Station). I have been actively caching since early spring and it is a great way to spend spare time or family time.

I find myself wanting to write about geocaching more and more yet this blog doesn't really seem the place to do so. So I created a new blog, The Hyperborean Geocacher. It will be my place to write about all things Geocache. It will also be a place to pursue another one of my hobbies, photography. I always have my camera with me when Geocaching and always have time to grab shots like this one...

Come on over and visit. You may walk away with a new hobby...

Fifth Grader One, High Schoolers ZERO.

I had one of those "so proud of my student" moments that teachers live for.

We took a trip today. Climbed aboard the shuddering yellow school buses and took the thirty minute drive up I-95 to tour the Constitution Center and Independence Hall in Philadelphia. It was a cloudless, seventy degree journey back in time to the founding of our nation.

One of the highlights of our annual trip is the twenty minute tour of the room where both the Declaration of Independence and the US Constitution were drafted and signed. There is something profoundly moving about standing in the same room as the men who took a stand against King George and then created a framework of government (it was their second try, but hey, who's counting?) that we still use today, 223 years later.

The Chalkboard Dad is the Mentally Sexiest Dad in America!

Awoke this morning to an email from the one and only Joe Schatz from Dad-Blogs.

Dad-Blogs has been running a great contest called The Mentally Sexiest Dad Competition. I loved the idea and thought 'what the hell?' and I decided to enter.

I wrote my entry, enlisted the help of the cutest little girl on the planet for the photo, and submitted.

One Hundred Word Challenge - Ditch

The prompt for this week's flash fiction over at Velvet Verbosity is ditch. The task was to write one hundred words inspired by that word. Here's my go...

Pursuit

He sprinted down the crowded city street. Someone had talked. And now they were after him.

He dove sharply left, into a narrow alley. Dropped to one knee at its opening.

Less than a minute passed before a dark figure raced by the alley, immediately followed by a second.

As he looked a heavy hand dropped with the terrible weight of all the world upon his thin shoulder. A winded voice exhaled one chilling word.

"Gotcha."

The boy looked up into the red face of the truancy officer.

Ditching school was not the adventure he had hoped it to be.

Is Back to School Night Important?

Back to School

The parents walk into their child's kindergarten classroom on "Back to School" night, flush with enthusiasm to learn about the exciting experiences their daughter has been having so far in class and the journeys she will be embarking upon the rest of the year. They are eager to learn how the classroom is run, what curriculum the teacher will be using, and any way they can help as they collaborate with the teacher throughout the year.

Husband and wife gladly jot their names on the sign in roster, grabbing the small packet the teacher has thoughtfully prepared beforehand. They navigate their way around small tables, full to bursting with anticipation to see the "ME" book their daughter diligently prepared for them in class and judiciously briefed them on before they departed for the school.

My Piece Wins an Award!

My writing piece that is, not my handgun.

And not my...well...anyway...moving on...

The "inventor of Geeky-Sexy" over at Velvet Verbosity runs a weekly contest where eager wordsmiths write a flash piece of a hundred words inspired by a one word prompt that she supplies.

One Hundred Word Challenge - Greater

The prompt for this week's flash fiction over at Velvet Verbosity is greater. The task was to write one hundred words inspired by that word. Here's my go...

A Choice

He stands at the edge of the cliff, the exposed toes of his bare feet hanging out over the edge.

Father Friday 7 - Best of the Week from Blogging Parents

Graphic by Chris @ Daddy Doctrines



September.

Derived from the Latin septum, meaning seven. So named for the seventh month in the Roman calendar, set into place around the time Julius Caesar ruled the Roman Empire long before that "unfortunate" team meeting on the Ides of March.

I love the month...and I hate the month.

And What Happens Then - Chapter Eight, Also By Me.



Last week over at And What Happens Then I left Lillian in a limo kneeling in a pool of her lover's blood (yeah...sorry if you are reading this while eating or something) neck deep in a "pickle" as my great grandmother used to put it.

Father Friday 6 - Best of the Week From Blogging Parents

Happy Friday!

What a week!

The Father 100 - Episode 4

Graphic by Chris @ Daddy Doctrines

Happy one month birthday, Father 100! 

Since starting this project a month ago, I am already impressed with the great writing we have been able to gather together from many awesome blogging moms and dads, husbands and wives, dudes and dudettes.

And What Happens Then - My Chapter

And What Happens Then is a collaborative blog project I am fortunate enough to be a part of. Started by the prodigious Tara from If Mom Says OK, it is an experiment in collaborative writing with some extremely funky cool blogging peeps.

My contribution, chapter seven, went live today. Go check it out. I do not know what it says about me that my chapter is by far the most violent. While you are there, catch up on the rest of the story. I am also putting the finishing touches on chapter eight which will go live next week.

I hope you enjoy!

The Courier - Chapter Seven

The Father 100 - Episode 3 Winner - Exhausdad!

Lot of fun posts this week. Lots of dads who clearly love to laugh, with their children and with their spouses.

Father Friday 5 - Best of the Week From Blogging Parents

Graphic by Chris @ Daddy Doctrines

Good day...and welcome to episode 5 of Father Friday!

With last week being a major holiday weekend, I was of the opinion that we would only get a handful of posts but we got seventeen which for Labor Day Weekend is, I think, pretty great!

The Peanut Takes on the Lord of the Rings

This past weekend The Peanut, who is almost six, decided she wanted to watch The Lord of the Rings. I have a Gollum cut out in my classroom who warns my students to always write their homework down, lest they be transformed into Gollum and share his fate. She has always liked it and Friday night asked if she could watch the movies.

The Father 100 - Episode 3

Graphic by Chris @ Daddy Doctrines

Good evenin out there all you unbelievably amazing writers who also happen to be moms and dads. Worked off your labor day hangovers yet?

Well I have and I am ready for another round of posts of blogging awesomeness that we have come to know as The Father 100.

Last weeks word, forgiveness, got me many @mentions and direct messages inquiring about my sanity for choosing such a heavy and emotionally charged prompt. It was a tough one alright. I struggled for days with my own piece but I am glad we did it. If you haven't read the entries for forgiveness go here and read them now, powerful and well written stuff resides therein.

In the spirit of fairness, I offer up a much lighter, less gut wrenching prompt for this week. For the benefit of @TheDaddyYoDude I ALMOST went with the word turd...but I chickened out. So, without any further delay, I offer this week's Father 100 prompt and the rules.

The rules are simple. I will give you a word. Yes, that's right a word. As in one. Single. The cheese stands alone...you get the point.

You will have between now and midnight (EST) on Saturday to write a one hundred word post inspired by that word. Entries can be less than one hundred words, but they cannot be more. Posts must focus on some aspect of marriage or parenting. Even though I call this the Father 100, moms are encouraged to join us!

Ninety words? Cool.

Ninety-eight? Awesome.

One hundred two? Sorry chief.

One hundred words (or less).

Write your post on your blog and then add your link to the linky tools below, just like for Father Friday.

Sometime over the course of the weekend I will read all the entries. Then I will pick the entry that I feel best does justice to the spirit of the given word. Some weeks I will have a guest do the judging so I can play as well.

This exercise is strictly for fun and also for good writing practice. As of this time no prizes will be offered. Should I win the lottery or score a successful reality series (Real Dads of Delaware...can you see it?) that may change, but for now the chosen author will have to content himself with the prideful swell of a job well done.

I think this can be a lot of fun. Who is in?

This week's word is...

LAUGHTER

(Am I FORGIVEN now??)

100 Words on Forgiveness

Image borrowed from voiceofvision.blogspot.com

They are easily three of the most amazing words to hear and, simultaneously, three of the most difficult words to utter.

I forgive you.

To hear them said to you is the damp cloth brought to the cracked lips of a man lost for days in the desert.

To say them to another is almost god-like in its power to restore to life a relationship that was dead or dying.

And yet, knowing this to be true, why do I often times find them so difficult to utter?

Why do I withhold?

To my shame, I know not...


This is my entry for The Father 100 from the prompt word forgiveness.

The Father 100 - Episode 2 Winner

When I posted this weeks prompt, forgiveness, on Twitter on Tuesday night I got several messages sent my way almost immediately about the difficulty of the chosen word.

Make no mistake about it, I think the act of forgiveness is one of the most human, and one of the most difficult, acts that one human being can extend to another (or to himself for that matter). In my own experience, as well as the collective experience of our eight contributors this week, forgiveness is not easy and it is an act of sheer will. 

Thank you to all who took this difficult bull by the horns. All the entries are excellent. Choosing one is no easier this week then it was last week.

Here is the excellent entry by @DadStreet from his blog of the same name.

You engage.
They connect.
You expose yourself.
They rip out your insides.
Pain. Fear. Anger. Sorrow.
Heavy.
You carry the baggage of resentment.
You’ve become a slave.  A slave to your own emotions.
Freedom. Freedom is lost.
But freedom is also . . . attainable.
Attainable through a gift.
A gift you give yourself.
Give yourself the gift. The gift of forgiveness.
Make sure your children know freedom.
Make sure they know forgiveness.

The image of being a slave to my own emotions and of forgiveness being the hammer that breaks those chains truly resonates with me. Well done Dad Street! Thank you for sharing your talents with us.

Go check out his fantastic blog Dad Street. It is well worth the time and the read, as are the blogs of our seven other contributors.

Thanks for turning in to this week's edition of The Father 100. Please join us next Wednesday when we do it all over again with a new word.

And I promise not to make it as challenging or intimidating as forgiveness!

(Can you forgive me?!?)

Feed Your Inner Grammar Nerd - The Apostrophe Song!

Found this fantastic song over at one of my favorite writing themes sites, Inkygirl.com.

Enjoy!

Father Friday 4 - Best of the Week from Blogger Parents

Graphic by Chris @ Daddy Doctrines

Father Friday is a month old. Big thanks to all the awesome writers who have turned this into more than I had hoped for at its creation.

Last week we had 26 participants, 26 awesome posts.

Let's see if we can beat thirty this week. Show us your best, blogging moms and dads!

The rules...

1. You need to be a father. New father, old father, soon to be father, want some day to be a father, father...doesn't matter. You just need to be a dad. (Or a really awesome mom!)

2. You must own and maintain your own blog.

3. If you meet the requirements for rules one and two, look back over your posts from the past week, from Friday to Friday. Re-read them all.

4. Choose the post you feel was your particular BEST for the week. It can be funny, helpful, sad, dramatic, deep, light...whatever. Pick the post that most reflects you and what your awesome blog has to offer.

5. Follow the host. That's me. It's quick and painless and I always follow back. (This part is optional, but oh so appreciated!)

6. Put your blog address and a short description of the post in the Linky link located below. Be short but concise. (You know...like twitter!)

7. After you are on the list, surf the posts of the other dads and follow as many as you can. Read and above all else COMMENT! We all know that comments are to bloggers what a keg of Dear Park water is to a desert nomad.

8. Grab the code below, create a new post on your blog, and enter it so you can share the growing list with all your followers. Then just sit back and let it grow!

Don't forget to share the link to this post. Via Twitter, Email, IM, or carrier pigeon. The more moms and dad we can get to link up, the more we can influence our corner of the web with good, positive, humorous parenting.

Student Quote of the Day - Don't Ask Silly Questions

There are many things I love about being a teacher. In the interest of full disclosure, there are also some things about being a teacher that make me want to take up drinking as a full time hobby, but the good things FAR outweigh the bad.

One of the things I enjoy the most about my chosen profession is that I am surrounded by children. We all know, as Bill Cosby says, that kids say the darndest things. I have access to a daily comedy show all around me and I feel guilty, being the only one who gets to enjoy it. So I have decided to bring it to the Chalkboard.

No names of course, just the quotes, the nuggets of comedy that my kids toss out all the time, sometimes on purpose, like here, and other times completely unaware of how funny they are. Like today's quote.

The kids were working on a project today where they create an acrostic using the letters in their first name. One of my students needed a marker so he asked his neighbor.

His neighbor complied and tossed him a double sided Sharpie, with a wide tip at one end and a fine tip at the other. My student regarded the pen with a quizzical  look, uncapping both sides of the pen. He looked up.

"Hey," he said, tapping his classmate with one of the caps, "why does this pen have two sides?"

His classmate gave him the kind of look reserved for the terminally confused.

I love the reply...

"Because...it's awesome!"

The Father 100 - Episode 2

Graphic by Chris @ Daddy Doctrines

Last week we began a new feature here at The Chalkboard, The Father 100. The idea was to have dads and moms who own a blog write a one hundred word piece on a given word. 

I was psyched to have seventeen awesome dads and one awesome mom step up to the plate and show their writing chops off for the world to see. The posts on the word love were touching, funny, heartfelt, and best of all, well written.

I hope everyone who jumped in last week jumps in again and that we get more moms and dads to join us.

Wanna join us? Here's how...

The rules are simple. I will give you a word. Yes, that's right a word. As in one. Single. The cheese stands alone...you get the point.

You will have between now and midnight on Friday to write a one hundred word post inspired by that word. Entries can be less than one hundred words, but they cannot be more. Posts must focus on some aspect of marriage or parenting. Even though I call this the Father 100, moms are encouraged to join us!

Ninety words? Cool.

Ninety-eight? Awesome.

One hundred two? Sorry chief.

One hundred words (or less).

Write your post on your blog and then add your link to the linky tools below, just like for Father Friday.

Sometime over the course of the weekend I will read all the entries. Then I will pick the entry that I feel best does justice to the spirit of the given word. Some weeks I will have a guest do the judging so I can play as well.

This exercise is strictly for fun and also for good writing practice. As of this time no prizes will be offered. Should I win the lottery or score a successful reality series (Real Dads of Delaware...can you see it?) that may change, but for now the chosen author will have to content himself with the prideful swell of a job well done.

I think this can be a lot of fun. Who is in?

This week's word is...

FORGIVENESS

OK writers...write...

Prayer of a Teacher - 2010 Redux

Well, summer 2010 has come to a close. A new batch of students will be coming to my room tomorrow. I was going to write a post about what I am thinking and feeling today but then I read back through the post I wrote last year at this time. It basically said everything I am feeling so I am just going to reprint it here, with a few changes.

When I read through it I realized I owe the entire eastern seaboard an apology. When I mentioned the hope for a "few days of heavy snow sprinkled in just for fun" I did not realize I was opening the floodgates on feet and feet of heavy snow, the likes of which we had never before seen (my back is STILL sore from all the shoveling). So...sorry everyone...my bad.

For your consideration...

 Prayer of a Teacher - 2010 Redux.

Today is an anxious day in the life of a teacher.

The room is set up, copies are made, planning has been done. 

Tomorrow is zero hour.

Tomorrow, the kids come.

Many teachers I know spend this day wandering around in a kind of trance, hoping the year they are about to embark on is a good one. Good students who come to class bright eyed, bushy tailed, and eager to learn. Excellent parents who share your educational philosophy to the letter, who show up, ON TIME, to every conference and dance through the halls, singing your praises so loud the principal cannot help but join in the joyous refrain. Test scores so high Oprah herself will take notice and have you as a guest on her show to share your wisdom with the masses. And who wouldn't want a few days worth of heavy snow sprinkled in just for fun (but NO BLIZZARDS!).

These lofty aspirations aside, we all hope for a good, positive year.

In fact teachers so fervently hope for a successful year that they engage in many activities the day before the year begins to give themselves a leg up, an edge to push them past everyone else.

These have been theorized by some, guessed at by others, and were even predicted by the great prophet Nostradamus.

They have never been revealed outside of the hallowed halls of academia.

Until now.

So...what can you as a teacher do the night before school starts to ensure a smooth, successful year?

- Make sure your years supply of Prozac is filled.

- Spend the day watching Freedom Writers, Mr. Holland's Opus, Dangerous Minds, Akelah and the Bee, Lean on Me, Dead Poets Society, or any othercompletely true to life Hollywood film made about teachers that will make you feel that your year will turn out EXACTLY like them. After you have had a good laugh at this suggestion, move on.

- Obsessively plan out your entire year. Then plan a back up year. Then plan a back up for your back up. Ensure that all back up plans are completely structurally supported by the state standards. Email copies to your principal, the PTA president, and the Head of the Board.

- Sacrifice 50 spotless bulls and 20 virgins to the god Odin that he may bless your endeavors with strength and victory. (This one is very difficult to pull off due to the fact that it is easier to find 50 bulls than it is to find 20 virgins these days. I blame Baywatch.)

- Consume as much alcohol as is humanly possible so that, no matter how devastatingly hung over you are for the start of school in the morning, the year can only get better.

- Spend the entire day at the pool or beach in complete and total denial that summer is over. When a friend makes a joke that you have to go back to real work in the morning, pants them and shove them in the water.

- Lay on your living room floor, tucked into a protective, fetal ball, drooling and mumbling until your spouse kicks you and sends you up to bed.

As you can see, there are many things a teacher can do to ensure a smooth and productive year.

I am, of course, kidding (except for the comment about how much easier it is to find bulls instead of virgins). It is true however that the night before a new school year begins is one filled with nervous anticipation and, hopefully, excitement.

I have a simple routine I follow, and after many years in education, it seems to work pretty well.

After spending a fun day with my family (The Wife is a teacher as well...The Peanut wants to be a teacher some day, as well as a presidential, soccer playing, policewoman firefighting violinist) I will read for a bit and then turn off the lights. Before I glide into the deep waters of sleep, I pray.

I pray for patience. I need to remember that each student is a unique individual. Like fingerprints, no two students are exactly alike. Each comes to me at a different stage of development, academically and socially. It is unreasonable to want them all to be at the same level just because it would make my life easier. I need to do the best I can for each student where they are.

I pray for energy. I know that I am the single most important influence in my classroom when it comes to setting the mood. If I am happy, upbeat, and enthusiastic I increase the odds for that energy to permeate into my students. Likewise, if I am negative, sour, or tired the same will occur. Like a hot air balloonist, I have much control over how inflated or deflated we all are.

I pray for sensitivity. Twenty-five human lives from twenty-five different backgrounds, religions, and home situations will come to me. They will look to me to understand them, to give them acceptance, validation, and support. I need to remember that just because someone did not grow up with what I had or was not raised the way I was, that does not make me superior to them. I need to accept and care for my students where they are when they come to me. I also need to be open to the things I can learn from my students on a daily basis.

I pray for compassion. Some of my families are single parent. Some of my students are being raised by their grandparents. Some are the oldest and the responsibility for raising their younger siblings falls to them because mom or dad work multiple jobs just to make ends meet. Some are going through active divorce proceedings. Some are coping with difficult custody arrangements from past divorce proceedings. Some are coping with life situations that are so terrible and confusing that I as a thirty-five year old adult would struggle to comprehend them. These children come to my door each day and are expected to learn. I must remember that some days this will be easier for them than others.

I pray for wisdom. I know I will make mistakes. It is an inevitable by-product of the human condition. I pray for the wisdom to minimize my mistakes. I also pray for the wisdom to learn from the ones I will make.

I pray for endurance. A school year is a marathon, one run no matter what the conditions are like. I need to be mindful that I must remain as strong on the last day of school as I plan to be on the first. There are parts of the year that pass with the ease of a down hill race. I pray that I do not get complacent at those times. But there are also times of a school year that pass with the gut wrenching agony of an uphill race. I pray that my energy will not fail me when I need it most.

I pray for my colleagues. Though a school may be comprised of a multitude of individual classrooms, it is a community. I need to remember that the other adults in my building will be just as nervous, just as excited, just as fallible as I will be. I pray that I can be an asset and encouragement to my fellow teachers, that I will reach out to them when they are in need. I also pray that I in turn will reach out to them when I find myself in need of assistance.

Lastly, I pray that when my students leave my room that I will have made as much of an impact on their lives as I know they will make on my own. There has not been a year that has passed by where a class has not taught me a multitude of things about myself and the way I view the world, for good or for ill. I will always be indebted to my students and their families for the things they have taught me.

These things I will pray. Then, I will sleep.

At some point in the night my clinically insane beagle will shove her cold, wet nose into the small of my back. And some time after that, as the sun begins to rise, The Peanut will pad not-so-softly into our room and hop into bed with us, snuggling in between us. I will lay there for a bit, savoring the preview of heaven that comes from having my dearest ones so close.

Then my feet will hit the floor...and another school year will begin.

The First Father 100 Winner

Holy advanced calculus Batman!

This was wayyyyyyyy harder than I thought it was going to be. Seventeen awesome blogging dads and one awesome blogging mom took up the challenge to write a one hundred word or less piece of flash NON-fiction inspired by the word LOVE.

Let me tell ya...these dudes and dudette are awesome! I have sat here this evening, for over an hour, reading and re-reading the wisdom, compassion, and excellence that have poured forth from the pens of these eighteen writers. If you haven't read them all go do it. You will thank me for pointing you to them.

I did say I would single out the post that most spoke to me each week. And while they ALL did on one level or another, the effort turned in by Dr. Shawn over at These Are My Footprints In The Sand spoke to me the most.

Enjoy his piece, then go visit his blog for more of the same. Then go visit the blogs of the other seventeen participants. What I had hoped would happen has begun to happen. We are showing the world that these dads and mom can write with skill and precision. Enjoy Dr. Shawn's piece and please join us Wednesday for another round of The Father 100!

I do.

I will.

I promise to.

God gives it.

We all deserve it.

Our children show it.

Our children require it.

It must be unconditional.

Grace can be found there.

Mercy is given birth by it.

Endless nights of teething, worry, teenage years.

Puff, Smurfs, Barney, Blue, Hannah Montana, Bieber Fever OY!

Crawl, waddle, step, crash, tantrum, crash, step, crash, TANTRUM!!

Birth

Cry

Sleeping entire night

Teething

Babble, walk, talk

Preschool

Cheer

Homerun

First Kiss

Drive

Date

Graduation

College

Marriage

Then it’s goodbye as they begin their own.

Fast, flash

Daddy…

LOVE…them as if there is no tomorrow.

Thank you to all who participated! I hope to see you back on Wednesday for the new word!

                                                       -Brian     

                                                         (Chalkboard Dad)                      

Guys, Are We Brave Enough to be Real Husbands?

The Internet is an amazing thing. Scary, dangerous, and a time suck of epic proportions (thanks for nothing Al Gore), but for the most part it is the best thing since sliced bread. Back in June I picked my old blog up off the floor where it had sat, abandoned, for almost a year. I dusted her off, pulling off two old gummy bears and some stringy spider webs and began to once again spend my evenings listening to the voices in my head and writing down what they tell me.

Through the site Dad-Blogs and later the hashtag #DadsTalking on Twitter I have met some really outstanding dads. Men who write amazing things about the awesome privilege we have been given that we should be called dad. Many of these fine, upstanding gentleman are listed in my blog roll under the Awesome Parent Blogs section and I am adding more daily. When you are finished here, jump over there and check some of these guys out. You will not consider your time wasted.

Today on Twitter @TedRubin linked to a post from early July by one of those dad bloggers, @DadStreet. It was a great post about how a guy's priorities shift when he becomes a father from "Am I a MANLY MAN?" to "Am I a GOOD DAD?". It is an awesome post that you can find by clicking here. Go ahead and read it. No, really...I'll wait here for you. I have a good book to read and a nice glass of Sebeka to drink...I will be here when you finish.

Welcome back. See, I told you it was a good post. I read it earlier today and it got me thinking about the importance of our role on Earth as fathers. I could only think of one other role that I think is just as important and that is our role as husbands (for those to whom that classification applies). So, in the spirit of Dad Street, I decided to make my own list.

A list about what it means to be a "Real Husband". Here goes...

- After your wife has had a rough day, taking her shoes off and rubbing her feet, WITHOUT having to be asked to do so.

- Being a considerate person and doing the little things, like leaving the toilet seat down. It seems like such a small thing to us guys but if you do it on a consistent basis it shows how considerate you are. Let's face it. What guy really cares if the seat is up OR down?

- Actually picking up a pen or pencil and writing notes to your wife, they way you did in the beginning. It doesn't even have to be anything elaborate or verbose. Simple declarations of your love will work just fine, a reminder about how amazing she is as a mother. A Post It note left on the bathroom mirror, a note slipped into her lunch, a mailed letter, from you. All expressions that show you care enough to invest time in letting your wife know how crazy you are about her.

- Buying your wife some flowers or something nice, not because you screwed up, but because you want her to know how thankful you are that she settled for a shlub like you and that you still see everyday how incredible she is.

- Opening the car door for her. I know it's not 1950, but if you did it when you were dating or trying to impress, then you damn well should still do it now.

- Watching something on TV she asks you to watch, even if it seems to you like you would rather see the TV exploded at the bottom of a quarry in flames rather than sit and watch it. You don't have to tell your buddies that you watched the Beverly Hills 90210 Reunion Special last night. Don't ask, don't tell applies here. (The one exception to this rule is reality television. Shows like Jersey Shore or Real Housewives should not be watched under any circumstance)

- Helping with your share of the household chores. Laundry, vacuuming, cooking. You live there...pull your weight.

- Telling her you love her before she reminds you to say it by telling you.

- Encouraging her to go out with her girlfriends for some girl time more than once a year. Come on dad, you can take care of the kids without the house blowing up. Don't buy the crap the media sells you about fathers being simple minded buffoons who can't do something as simple as watch over their own offspring. Hollywood thinks it's funny. I don't.

- Being there and wanting to be there. There's nothing wrong with going out with your buddies from time to time, but if you are out every weekend, or several nights a week and you leave her home with the kids, what kind of message are you sending about your priorities? Both to her AND to your children...

- Making time to go out on dates, just the two of you. I know the phrase "date night" has become a bit of a cliche, but the idea behind it is still important. And don't leave all the arrangements to her. You are an intelligent guy. You can arrange the babysitting and make the reservations. In the meat grinder that is life, it is important to make the time to be alone.

- Realizing that there is more to foreplay than asking "Hey, you ready yet?" Just saying...

- Not going to bed angry or with unresolved issues between each other. The Bible says it nicely when it advises "not to let the sun go down on your anger." Really...life is too short and too unpredictable to have unresolved issues between yourselves.

- Listening to her, instead of trying to solve all of her concerns with a snap of your magic man fingers so you can go back  to what's on the television. Sometimes, all she wants is someone to listen.

This is by no means an exhaustive list. And by no means am I trying to imply by publishing it that I am the Mount Everest of husbands because I do all these things on a regular basis. I do not, just ask The Wife and, after she stops laughing, she will fill you in.

But it is a list I want to strive to adhere to, much as @DadStreet's list is one I strive to adhere to.

Any dads reading this, please add any points you feel I left out (there are hundreds) in the comment section below. I would be interested to see what kind of list we could all collaborate and produce.

Men, the two greatest treasures we are given in this life are our spouse and our children. We should be willing to fight our way through hell and back to ensure that they know just how precious they really are to us.

One Hundred Word Challenge - Corridor

The prompt for this week's flash fiction over at Velvet Verbosity is corridor. The task was to write one hundred words inspired by that word. Here's my go...

The Walk

The condemned shuffles down the corridor, head bowed, thoughts on what awaits him at its end. Bright fluorescents overhead throw their harsh light down as he walks and considers the sequence of events that brought him to this place. 

He shakes his head, wishing with all his being that he could take it back. Anger got the best of him and when the red mist filled his vision, he knows that he lost control.

He comes to the end. Looks up.

'This is it,' he thinks. 'My life is over.'

He opens the door marked Principal's Office and trudges inside.

Father Friday3 - Best of the Week from Blogger Dads.

Graphic by Chris @ Daddy Doctrines

Week three. Almost a month.

We increased our numbers last week which is good. Would like to see the numbers climb higher and higher.

This has been a busy week for me, getting the classroom all ready to receive eager new minds on Monday. Found time to write a bit, but not nearly as much as I would have liked. I am also depressed because, once more this year, my Phillies have suddenly forgot simple fundamentals like hitting and base running.

So I am counting on you dad and mom bloggers out there to give us your best from this week so I can cheer up in this, my last weekend before another school year starts. At  least for a little while before we play San Diego this week.

So...the rules...


 1. You need to be a father. New father, old father, soon to be father, want some day to be a father, father...doesn't matter. You just need to be a dad. (Or a really awesome mom!)

2. You must own and maintain your own blog.

3. If you meet the requirements for rules one and two, look back over your posts from the past week, from Friday to Friday. Re-read them all.

4. Choose the post you feel was your particular BEST for the week. It can be funny, helpful, sad, dramatic, deep, light...whatever. Pick the post that most reflects you and what your awesome blog has to offer.

5. Follow the host. That's me. It's quick and painless and I always follow back. (This part is optional, but oh so appreciated!)

6. Put your blog address and a short description of the post in the Linky link located below. Be short but concise. (You know...like twitter!)

7. After you are on the list, surf the posts of the other dads and follow as many as you can. Read and above all else COMMENT! We all know that comments are to bloggers what a keg of Dear Park water is to a desert nomad.

8. Grab the code below, create a new post on your blog, and enter it so you can share the growing list with all your followers. Then just sit back and let it grow!

Don't forget to share the link to this post. Via Twitter, Email, IM, or carrier pigeon. The more moms and dad we can get to link up, the more we can influence our corner of the web for good, positive, humorous parenting.