Dad Advice

#103
#103
I spent most of my two daughters childhood working, many trips to Japan, China and Korea. Rotating between Greenville SC and Munich every two weeks, back and forth, for a lot of years. I missed out on their childhoods. My youngest would litteraly be dancing at the door, so excited whenever I came home at 3 years old. My business travel didn’t end until my kids were 20 and 16. No do overs. I blew it. I missed the best part of theirs and my lives.

Don’t have any regrets like I have. Time. You can’t bank it and once you spend it, it’s gone forever. Make every single day a family memory. Make it count. There are no “do overs”.
 
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#104
#104
PrattvilleVol said:
I spent most of my two daughters childhood working, many trips to Japan, China and Korea. Rotating between Greenville SC and Munich every two weeks, back and forth, for a lot of years. I missed out on their childhoods. My youngest would litteraly be dancing at the door, so excited whenever I came home at 3 years old. My business travel didn’t end until my kids were 20 and 16. No do overs. I blew it. I missed the best part of theirs and my lives.

Don’t have any regrets like I have. Time. You can’t bank it and once you spend it, it’s gone forever. Make every single day a family memory. Make it count. There are no “do overs”.
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Good advice. I wouldn't be so hard on yourself.

I had a bad relationship with my dad as a child. Then, he and my mom were divorced while I was in college and I blamed him. I didn't speak to him for several years. In my mid-20's, I decided to bury the hatchet. It took some time but slowly, we developed a good relationship. He confessed to me how his work stressed him out and he took it out on me and my brothers. I began asking for advice in personal and career matters. We traveled a bit together and had some good memories. Alzheimer's hit and he passed away last year. I'm glad we had a relationship as adults.
 
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#105
#105
salutethehill said:
All 4 of my kids were C-sections. Watched them all. Thought it was fascinating.
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Mine were delivered natural and I watched them both for the same reason. Only advice I have is to just concentrate on the baby and don't turn around for a while. There's birth and then other stuff after which I was not prepared for (and I'm not normally squeamish)
 
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#107
#107
utvolpj said:
Mine were delivered natural and I watched them both for the same reason. Only advice I have is to just concentrate on the baby and don't turn around for a while. There's birth and then other stuff after which I was not prepared for (and I'm not normally squeamish)
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Delivered both of mine. Docs put me in the catchers position and told me what to do. Awesome experience. We saved the umbilical cord from both. Had no idea what a tough nugget that thing is. It all fascinated me and none of it really bothered me. My dad passed out cold when I was born.
 
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#110
#110
Best advice I can give you is always remember that whatever works with one probably won't work with the others. They are mini versions of you and you will have to figure out which one they are and adjust accordingly
 
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#114
#114
utvolpj said:
That won't make a difference until the kid is actually there. The lactation specialist came around and helped more in 10min than any class
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Yes my wife agreed with me that the class was overkill and not that helpful. Tonight is the last class (TYBG). It's like comforting during birth or something like that.
 
#119
#119
3 steps that may help you potty train your boys:

1) I taught my oldest son 3, to pee off the porch when he was 2. I did this to get him to realize he can aim it like a squirt gun.
2) Once he did that for like a week I had him do it in the real toilet. First few times were a mess because he was everywhere (like he did outside).
3) Put some cheerios or fruit loops in the toilet for him to aim at. If that don't work, tell him to just keep making bubbles and he will keep it in the water.

Side note: As soon as he was peeing in the toilet he also started doing number 2 in the toilet without me having to tell him. Now we are working on the wiping part....any help out there for the wiping process?

Cheers dads!
 
#120
#120
Generally speaking, it seems the first child is easy. He/she will sleep well and eat well and so forth. The next child is when you earn your keep. So wrap up, pull out, get fixed or be sleep deprived.
 
#122
#122
Hoosier_Vol said:
Any tips to get a 4 yr old to try to eat something new.....EVER?
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Not a quick tip but one that helps develop a good attitude over time. We have the rule that the kids had to try one bite of something (and still enforce it even though they are 20, 17, and 14). If they didn't like it, they didn't have to eat it, but they did have to try one bite (decent size not minuscule). We didn't make a big deal about something if they didn't like it so they got to the point that they felt comfortable trying things because they knew there wouldn't be any blowback. The other part of that though is that we didn't cater to kids. We made what we made (within reason) and if they didn't like it we didn't make them something else. You ate what we made. There wasn't an option for chicken nuggets or mac and cheese or whatever. We didn't make a big deal about this either, just presented it as the way it is. This is probably the key.

It probably didn't hurt that we used to watch a lot of Bizarre Foods and after seeing what he ate, most everything else seemed normal.
 
#123
#123
Had to dig up this thread but I knew it was here...lol.....

Question,

Any advice on a 4 yr old throwing fits at bedtime? Our son is almost a perfect angel (seriously, I said ALMOST) all day until bedtime here the past month or so.....At bed time he'll lay down then start saying he wants different pillow case or a different blanket and after about 20 minutes it turns into a total fit for what seems like forever then he'll eventually get calmed down and fall asleep. We have pretty much figured it's him trying to fight sleep......any pointers or any others have a similar issue?
 
#124
#124
Hoosier_Vol said:
Had to dig up this thread but I knew it was here...lol.....

Question,

Any advice on a 4 yr old throwing fits at bedtime? Our son is almost a perfect angel (seriously, I said ALMOST) all day until bedtime here the past month or so.....At bed time he'll lay down then start saying he wants different pillow case or a different blanket and after about 20 minutes it turns into a total fit for what seems like forever then he'll eventually get calmed down and fall asleep. We have pretty much figured it's him trying to fight sleep......any pointers or any others have a similar issue?
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I think my daughter was like that at that age - wanting to stay up until we all went to bed too was my guess -- it got worse a few years later when I made the mistake of letting her have a TV in the room -- so dont do that in the future
 
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#125
#125
Hoosier_Vol said:
Had to dig up this thread but I knew it was here...lol.....

Question,

Any advice on a 4 yr old throwing fits at bedtime? Our son is almost a perfect angel (seriously, I said ALMOST) all day until bedtime here the past month or so.....At bed time he'll lay down then start saying he wants different pillow case or a different blanket and after about 20 minutes it turns into a total fit for what seems like forever then he'll eventually get calmed down and fall asleep. We have pretty much figured it's him trying to fight sleep......any pointers or any others have a similar issue?
Click to expand...

Close the door and let him throw his fit, it won’t take him long to figure out it’s a waste of time.
 
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