Head over to DadRevolution today for a post I wrote on the lessons I have learned from biking after the first couple of months. We are all enjoying the bike but the boys have already poked a hole in the plastic window so it is not as snug and warm in there as it could be. Luckily we have plenty of toques and gloves to stay warm as the weather gets cooler.
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It’s the one about fantasy basketball, Kurt Rambis, and some corny man love:
“Every Fall as football starts heating up so does my fantasy basketball league I have with some childhood friends. This league has been going on now for over ten years and for all of us the day of the draft is like Christmas morning to five year olds. I get disproportionally excited and my hope is over flowing. My brother is in this league, my dad won it last year, and of the twelve teams there are only two that I have not known for almost twenty years. One of the old timers, and perennial powers, has his wife leave the house on draft day so he won’t get distracted. Now I can’t pull that kind of move with my wife but I know where he’s coming from passion wise. We care about this league and each other in a way that transcends basketball, but basketball is at the heart of it. We have played pick up games at Beattie Park in Lompoc together and fought viciously over non calls and bad trades. We are a family.”
Read more over at DadRevolution
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Many of you may know that along with this blog I also post over at Dad Revolution with other dad bloggers looking to change the face of fatherhood. Instead of the absent father or the dad that just shows up we want to encourage dads to engage more. We are trying to show that parenting isn’t just for the ladies. At least that is what we say we are doing anyway. On Sunday night Aaron over at Father Folk wrote an open letter to the dads over at Dad Revolution, a letter to me challenging us to do more. Please take five minutes and go over and read the letter before we continue….
You read it right? Good stuff huh. That letter went up late Sunday night, was taken down and then went back up this morning. You see Aaron took a little heat for posting that, it seems some still don’t get the spirit of the challenge. Aaron is not a fighter on the playground calling us out but rather a friend in the locker room spurring us on. That is how I interpret it anyway, and I think he’s right. Well I think he’s mostly right anyway. I disagree that engaged parenting from fathers is the new just showing up. I think we get clouded by the dads that are blogging about their kids and how they parent. It is a self selecting group but a small percentage of fathers. Most of the dad bloggers are engaged dads, otherwise they wouldn’t even be writing about parenting. They would have blogs on Bass fishing or model train collecting. There is still a large percentage of dads that are not even showing up at all. Those guys don’t even know their kids birthdays let alone blog about twenty toddlers that screamed when the clown came out.
I do agree that good enough is not good enough for me though. If I want to be associated with a revolution then I want to be a revolutionary. Being an engaged at home dad, leading by example is a good start. But I want more than that. I really do want to see the public face of fatherhood changed. I want to see fathers turn into dads in this country. I want to see those millions of kids without dads mentored and loved. I want to see the dads that are still there engage with there kids more, get on the floor and play with them. Get outside and run, or collect leaves, or build a fort, or lay on the grass and watch the clouds with their kids. I want to see a revolution with dads where one day the absent father is as rare as the at home father is today.
Now I don’t know how to do that exactly. I’m still working on translating dreams into action plans but highlighting groups like The Mentoring Project is one way of starting. Connecting with dads locally is another way to start and as more of these actions come up I will continue to write about them. I will also use my every other week post on Dad Revolution to call more to action. But I’m still going to tell the day to day stories of my family and my friends. I want to do the same thing with this blog that I try to do with my kids and that is be the person I want them to grow up to be. If I want them to eat their veggies, then I will. If I want dads to get on the floor, then I will and I will write about it.
Thank you Aaron for calling us to action not calling us out. I for one accept the challenge.
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Vacation is over but Beautiful and I got a free weekend without the boys to enjoy the fading summer nights with friends. I am tired now but feel ready to be back home, back to the routine, and moving forward to the promise of fall. I will write later this week on the odd resolution making nature I associate more with the start of fall than I do with the dawning of a new year but until then I will leave you with a couple of things I dug this week:
Your turn, what did you like this week.
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The boys crossing the street to visit Ms. Amy. There is something about the simplicity of this video and the way they scatter on the other side that I just love.
Please check out my post today on DadRevolution called “It’s the love that I want to share not just the game” and if you can leave a comment, those are always nice.
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I have a post up at DadRevolution today with more about the fort building from Wednesday’s pictures. There is also a nice little story about trying to manage a rope swing. Please check it out and leave a comment.
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Today we are starting a revolution. OK that is not really true, the revolution has been going on for some time now, we are really just recognizing and putting a voice to a dad revolution. This revolution is led by dads who are standing up to be more then just the “other” parent. Dads who are taking an active role in the day to day job of raising kids whether they are married, single, working dads, or stay at home dads. Today we are being intentional about not only recognizing those dads but also calling all dads to join with us. Parenting is not just women’s work and it never has been and we at Dadrevolution.com are calling on dads to join the revolution. we are calling on men to step up and take their place at the parenting table. Will you join us? Come to Dadrevolution.com and meet the revolutionaries. Over the next two weeks you will be getting to know each of the guys stories and why they are part of this site. In the next few months you will get a new post each day on a variety of topics from a diverse group of voices spread out across the U.S. and beyond. Starting today April 19 on the anniversary of the battles at Lexington and Concord that opened the American Revolution, fourteen men are trying to start a revolution of their own.
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