What's the Easiest and Least Mentioned Child-Proofing Step You Can Take?

Here is a quick tip or two:

When it comes to child proofing, everyone adds outlet covers.  It's Baby 101.  Some parents install safety gates, corner protectors and cabinet locks.  A simple trick I rarely see mentioned on list of child-proofing steps is turning the nozzle on spray cleaning bottles to 'OFF.'  Yes, I know it's not foolproof.  The littlest ones somehow have the ability to squeeze the trigger, yet won't have the dexterity to turn the dial.  Toddlers may develop the dexterity to turn the dial, but the extra time it takes may delay or confuse them long enough for you stop them before a trip to the emergency room becomes necessary.

The same principles apply to closing the bathroom door, which is where a lot of dangerous compounds are kept in my home.  Just closing the door won't hold them off forever but will thwart their efforts when they are tiny, as well as delay them and possibly alert you when they attempt to breach your defenses when they're a little older.

From No!No!No! to Swastikas

Weird title, right. I know.  The idea for this post came while I was sitting at a fast food restaurant affectionately known around my house as the Monarch.  As my wife and I waited for our order, i noticed that some jack-ass had carved a Swastika into the table.  This restaurant was located in the heart of suburbia near a large county park and oddly enough not far from Wayne Newton's house (no joke).  All this is to say, I don't think a local chapter of any hate group was having a meeting or burger get together.  So more than likely this was the work or indiscretion of bored suburban youths, kids that actually go to good schools.

So were these ne're do wells actual hate mongers?  Probably not.  Teens often do things to get a reaction or to test the boundaries of acceptable behavior. Teenager feel they don't have much control over their lives, so they rebel.  Anyone read Salinger's Catcher in the Rye.  Holden was a little shit.  Teenagers love that book, and consequently many high school English class doors, desks and other flat surfaces wind up with scribbled message in reference to fornication.

Hey, Where Have You Guys Been?

Welcome Back

Where have we been? Good question. Well technically we, The Dads, haven't gone anywhere. Yes, we haven't written an article in a while. We are still experiencing the "joys" of fatherhood each and everyday.  We just haven't had much time to share and write about them.  

Specifically for me, my son Clark became mobile and started to crawl.  My whole life, my whole style of life changed.  No longer could I place Clark somewhere and he would be happy to stay there, while I got a little work done.  He can move on his own and isn't happy unless he's doing so. He's not much of a TV watcher (the opposite of his dad at that age according to grandma).  He's constantly finding new places and things to get into around the house.  He'd must rather explore cabinets that he's not allowed in than to play with any of his toys.  

All this mostly means, chasing what is now a 16 month old boy around all day for fun (and his protection), doesn't leave much time for writing.  He's down to one nap a day (3 hrs, yea!) and an 8 PM bed time.  So hopefully, I'll get a little more writing done in the future.  I look forward to catching up and sharing my stories with you. 

Three Family Trip Tips for Dads

So, you’ve decided to use your vacation time to go on a trip with your family. Taking a trip with your family to Disney World won’t be quite as relaxing as taking at trip with your spouse to Hawaii or as fun as taking a trip to Vegas with your buds. However, it can be very enjoyable. Here are three tips to help you get the most out of your family trip:

1. Buy each of your children a new toy before you leave – Being able to bring new toys with them on the trip will help captivate their interest, so they focus less on how boring the car ride is or how turbulent the flight is. Plus, it will increase their excitement about the trip, which means they’ll be a little less likely to complain when things go wrong.

2. Be consistent – No means no, not maybe. Lay down the ground rules for the trip, and stick to them. Your kids will try to get away with a little more than they try to at home on the trip. You probably don’t want to spend your vacation time disciplining your children, but it’s sometimes a necessary evil to keep them safe. So, enforce the rules, and make sure you and your spouse (if your spouse is traveling with you) are consistent about what you both expect. If the kids know you’re a softie, they’ll ask mom if they can ask ice cream, and when she says no, they’ll ask you. Don’t give in!

Protecting Your Baby from the Cord Monster

 

 
There’s nothing more annoying than tripping over bunches of wires in your own home, as if falling afoul of some masochistic booby trap. Sooner or later, it’ll result in a serious injury. Between the trip hazards and the electric shock risk, having loose cabling all over the house is not safe, especially if you have a young children at home.

There are a number of precautions you can take when setting up your cabling. The first – and perhaps most obvious – step to take is to buy wire tidies and label them. You can keep track of each appliance this way, without having to run your hands along lengths of knotted cabling.

Another precaution is to try to avoid having to run wires across the room if possible. If you have to, bury them under the carpet or attach them to the wall. You can get all the necessary bits of kit for attaching wires to the wall (as well as browsing cables) at rs-online.co.uk.

Baby Hands To The Face!

I’d like to share with you a move I like to call the ‘get that out of my face’ or ‘wax-on wax-off’ type of blocking that Alejandra has been doing to let us know when she’s done eating / drinking / or has decided that she doesn’t want us to wipe her nose.I heard from a friend that this is a ‘day care’ learned behavior. I’m not sure she’s totally correct. It reminded of this little film I watched before I became a dad and which I now I think I should revisit just to see how much more I’ll enjoy it:

This behavior showed up a few months ago, and although it’s a seldom act, it nonetheless surprises us and leaves us somewhat in shock when it happens. Alejandra is normally a calm and relaxed kid. Her disposition is mellow and pretty ‘go with the flow’; however, when she sets her mind to something she can be very animated and passionate about what she wants. Interestingly enough, her slapping the hands to the face is much more common towards her mom than me. I’m not sure why that is, yet if I were to guess, it may be because of the difference in how we react when she does it. I tend to be more firm with Alejandra, whereas my wife is more understanding.

Do You Need a Second Base for Your Baby Car Seat?

I hate to be anti-climatic, but the simple answer is no.  In fact, to my surprise (seriously) you don't even need one base for your car seat.  Clark is my first and only child, before him I had no experience at all with small children.  His was the first car seat I ever handled.  I thought a base was required to install a car seat.  When my wife needed to take the baby somewhere, I removed the base from my car and put it in hers.  Then vice-versa later in the day.

All your base are belong to us!

One day I was looking at the stickers on my son's car seat and I realized the installation instructions on that sticker were different from the instructions on the sticker located on the base.  Then it hit me! You can install a car seat with nothing more than a seat belt (lap or shoulder).  No base required.

The car seat base and definitely a second base are just conveniences.  Convenient, but not necessary.  Loading a car seat into a car with a base probably takes less than two seconds (click-click).  Loading a car seat without a base will take 5 second for a speedster, but probably closer to 15-30 seconds for the average person (pulling the belt, buckling it and locking it into proper position).  Same for removing the car seat.  However, many people leave their car seat in the car permanently, once the baby is too heavy for them to carry around in his carrier, so differences in loading time becomes negligible. With a base the seat belt is threaded through the base.  This keeps the seat belt away from curious little hands and baby bodily fluids.

Keeping Your Child’s Next Party Stress Free

Planning a birthday party for a child can sometimes feel like a daunting task. For most sane people, the prospect of letting 50 kids ricochet around your home like so many pucks on an air hockey table, wreaking havoc on your clean carpet and terrorizing your pets just doesn’t sound that appealing. If you fall into that group, first of all, congrats on your sanity. Second of all, you don’t have to lose your mind at your child’s next party. Here are a few tips to minimize the stress without minimizing your child’s fun on their special day.

Short and Sweet

Don’t feel the need to drag the party out longer than a few hours at most. Depending on your child’s age, a two-hour party is absolutely acceptable and is probably about as long as their attention span can handle. If you’re child has reached the age of eight or older, three hours is fine but anything more than that and the kids will start to get bored and you’ll start to tense up.

A Few Good Friends

There is some sort of strange obligation that a lot of parents feel to invite the entire class to the party. This is not true in the least. Your child will probably have just as much fun with 5 or 6 of their closest friends as they will with the entire class. In fact, at bigger parties, the birthday boy or birthday girl will often feel obligated to talk to classmates they don’t usually interact with or get along with, and this can cut down on their fun.

Babies Don't Do That on TV

It's not like on me!

It has been nine months, and I harken back to the original theme of this blog:  Fatherhood is not like it's seen on Television.  I assume those babies you see on TV, in movies, and in commercials are extremely well-trained and possibly sedated freaks of nature. My baby behaves very differently.

For example (or por ejemplo for the Spanish speakers):

1. On TV, parents feed their baby and the baby faces forward (maybe even makes eye contact) and enjoys the baby bounty before her.  Not at my house.  My son sits in his high chair looking everywhere but forward.  I have to continually regain his attention (whistling, clicking, etc.) away from chomping on the tray of his high chair or the delicious label on his bib, mom walking by or any other kitchen distraction. He seems less interested in getting real food into his mouth (unless its something I'm eating). 


2. On TV, babies lie there and get their diapers changed (takes no time at all). Sure maybe there's a goofy smile or pee fountain for comedy, but they lie there for the duration. When I'm "trying" to change my kid's diaper, he is  trying to get away like an inmate that sees an unlocked exit door.  He's grabbing at everything: diapers (clean and dirty), wipes, lotion, or anything within reach of the changing table. He tries to turn over or stand up.  Where is he going? The most baffling aspect is that we've been through this hundreds of times over the past 9 months.  He knows exactly what is going to happen,  but he never makes it easy for me.  It's not medicine, son, it's a nice clean diaper.  Why do you fight it so?

How Much to Protect My Son

Article first published as How Much to Protect My Child on Technorati. 

Buddha back when he was just known as Siddhartha Gautam, his father King Śuddhodana tried to shield him from all human suffering. That's a mighty challenge, especially since Siddhartha was married by age 16. Ah, teenage love. Once, he fatefully encountered human suffering during his travels, it was crushing and depressing. It drove him to an ascetic lifestyle and in search of enlightenment. 

I recently channeled the teachings of Buddha in my parenting.

Yesterday morning began like most others. I woke up and began making breakfast for my son Clark (a nice warm bottle) and myself (hard-boiled eggs and oatmeal). I left Clark square in the middle of the bed. He quite recently figured out  rolling. He can roll in either directions. He's still mastering his technique, so it's not exactly smooth, but he seems to have a great time doing it.  

I walked back to the bedroom, which isn't that far away, to check on Clark. I watched him continue to flip and roll ever closer to the edge. I realized there was a 99% chance that he was going to fall off the bed and onto the floor (about 12 inches below.) This was a watershed parenting moment. What kind of dad am I going to be? I had two choices. I could let him continue as he was and eventually fall or I could place him somewhere safe from harm for the time being.

Shhhhh! Quiet! The Baby's Sleeping

We've all watched movies or television shows in which babies can be awakened with sound of a pin dropping or more likely dad comedicly stubbing his toe on furniture and trying not to scream in pain.  I can't speak for all babies, but Clark can sleep through almost anything.  In case you were concerned, yes, he did pass his hearing test.  However, moderately loud to low sounds, including regular conversation, phones ringing, television audio and dinner prep don't disturb him, especially when he is asleep.

Shhhhh! Nevermind!

The instructor of our baby class mentioned that babies can hear quite well in the womb.  They basically hear all the sounds going on around mommy during the later half of their time in the womb, even above the sounds of mommy's internal going-ons.  This establishes the ambient noise level of which the baby becomes accustomed.  So if you have yapping dogs around barking during the pregnancy, the baby will probably be used to that sound when he makes his grand entrance (or exit depending on how you look at it).

Well, Clark has a pretty loud dad, so I guess he was prepared for pretty much any sound that might otherwise disturb him.  So it might make for great comedy, but unless you live and work in a library, your baby will probably not be that sensitive to the usual sounds found in his or her mother's daily environment.

I wonder if that's applies if mommy works a jackhammer for a living?  Hmmm

       - Clark's Dad

Update: @ 8 weeks - I say throw everything in this article out the window.  I'm so grateful when Clark falls asleep, that I don't want anything to ruin it.  So I do walk around on eggshells, trying not to "stub my toe."  Parents can go about their daily routines, but baby sleep time is so valuable they probably don't want to risk it. 

Update: @ 8 months - He wakes up erratically on his own before a pin drop has the chance to wake him up.  So, no eggshell walking in our house.  Plus, our upstairs neighbors are stomping around up there all day and night anyway.  So, if he can sleep through that, not much of what I do should disturb him.