Monday, June 22, 2009

The SAHD Truth: Parenting Guides

(Welcome to the first installment of the stay-at-home-dad book I'm writing, titled The SAHD Truth.)

Parenting guides are quite useful. If displayed conspicuously they put off the vibe to visitors that you're interested in the well being of your child. I've found people tend to have a higher opinion of you if they believe this to be true. Plus, you can use the books every year to balance your wobbly Christmas tree stand. Other than that, I've not found parenting books particularly useful, but that's not to say they don't serve a purpose. Allow me to illustrate:

Invariably, new SAHDs will encounter a situation with their now 2 or 3 year old child when the dad will so thoroughly lose it, will reach the end of his rope, will behave in a way he never thought possible, will surprise even himself with his temper, the volume of his yelling, and the ease at which his head spins a full 360 degrees, will open his eyes wider than humanly possible, will spout fire out of his mouth and smoke out of his ears, will behave in such a way that even as this adult temper tantrum is going on he will have an out of body experience where he thinks to himself, "Holy crap, I have completely gone off the rails," and when it's over he'll look around to see if anyone else witnessed his fine display and his now blubbering puddles of what were once his children - but not out of embarrassment, but rather looking for some other parent who no doubt has done the exact same thing at some point to be co-witness to his personal car crash: "Did you see that? I completely lost it."

This is probably how such a scene began: SAHD is packing his kids up for a visit to the grandparents. He has put the girls in pretty dresses and fancy shoes with lacy socks. While the older two walk, he carries the baby and sees that last night's rain has left muddy puddles in the driveway. He sees the girls head for the puddles and thinks about how perfectly white the grandparents keep their carpet.

SAHD: Girls, who can get in their car-seats first?

See what he did there? He tried to get the girls away from the puddles without drawing attention to the puddles. Classic misdirection.

Of course it didn't work.

SAHD (louder): Girls! Don't touch the water. Nana will not like it if you get her house muddy. (True.) She won't give you any treats. (So false SAHD almost laughs saying it.)

Poor SAHD. The kids don't even hear him. They're almost to the puddle.

SAHD (yelling): GIRLS!! STOP!! If you touch that puddle I will take away (insert favorite stuffed animal) and throw it in the garbage!

They stop. They look at SAHD. They consider his words. Then one of them - let's call her Kate - jumps in the puddle.

SAHD (breathing fire and rotating his head 360 degrees): (Embarrasing display of adult temper tantrum)

What does this have to do with parenting guides? If you noticed, SAHD tried three techniques before his personal meltdown. Those techniques came from parenting books. OK, not the one about throwing away a kid's favorite toy, though I'd probably buy such a book if it existed. Such parenting guide techniques give SAHD a little bit of an excuse for his behavior: "I tried what the books said! I tried to be a good parent! And then I clearly gave up trying and just resorted to screaming my head off."

Have you ever watched competitive drag racing? SAHDs are loud, souped up, volatile drag racers at the starting line. The trick is to keep them at the starting line, safe and idling. Drag racing has a giant Christmas tree of lights whose order makes sense only to them (yellow, green, then red?) Think of the first light as the calm warning to the children, like the first technique SAHD used. The next light, 2nd technique. Then a whole bunch of lights come on - 3rd technique. Then a bunch of lights at the bottom come on, the engine roars, flames come out of the tailpipes, tires squeal, the car moves at impossible speeds, gets about halfway down the line, its front raises up into the air, then the whole car does a backflip through the air and falls into an explosion of epic proportions.

That's what parenting is like.

Did I mention I've only seen drag racing on the end of the year specials of the George Michael Sports Machine? I'm sure some drag racers have made it to the finish line without blowing up, but I've never seen evidence of it. Anyway, I guess the moral of the metaphor is if you're getting to the bottom of that long bank of lights, if parenting techniques 1 through 3 haven't worked, go find a nice quiet place to cool down before you explode.


(Where have you gone, George Michael's Sports Machine?)

Working Wife: Why is the baby sucking on your baseball glove?

SAHD: That's what that parenting book told me to do.

Working Wife: It did not. That thing is filthy.

SAHD: Swear to god.

Working Wife: Show me where it says that.

SAHD: Can't. It's holding up the Christmas tree.

Working Wife: Uh-huh. Speaking of the Christmas tree, don't you think it's time to take that down? It's June.

SAHD: I'm taking care of 3 children! I barely have time to go the bathroom!

Working Wife: OK. And how'd you do in your online poker today?

SAHD: Really good!

(Forget the SAHD guide. I need to write the SAHH guide for stay-at-home-husbands. If you haven't already today, go cast a vote for me in the Nickelodeon awards.)

Thursday, June 18, 2009

Vote early, vote often

Thank you to whoever nominated STL Homeboy for Nickelodeon's Parents Connect Best Local Blog for St. Louis. I'm quite honored. I just found out I was nominated, but it seems the voting began last month. If you're a fan of the blog, click on either the logo below or to the left and cast a vote for me. You can vote once a day, so come back often. Thanks for the support.


For Local Blog
in St. Louis

Tuesday, June 16, 2009

Thank you

I want to thank everyone with whom I have been able to share my experiences as a stay-at-home dad on this blog, but I've found that in the past few months I've focused my free time on other creative projects. It's sad to say, but I won't be writing about my experiences here any more. Thank you to everyone who supported and encouraged me. I will still use this blog to post pictures, so check back often.

Speaking of pictures...



Megan's birthday was last weekend


Don't ask why Kate is naked

Some pictures from this past Easter taken by my talented cousin Shauna:



Kate's jelly bean shots



Kate sharing some of her spoils with Uncle Chris



Clara was most excited about the bunny ears


Clara with some of her new toys


Clara organizing stuffed animals



Cecilia tuckered out after going to church



Kate stopping and smelling the tulips



Faces of joy



Clara in good light



Kate in good light



A cool kid and her juice



Cecilia with her daddy

Tuesday, June 02, 2009

Two weeks on the beach



They said it couldn't be done. They said I was crazy. When I told people I was going to drive three little ones, one of them a six-month-old, from St. Louis to St. Pete Beach, Florida, some looked at me like I had grown a second head. Some just pitied me. My favorite reaction: "It can't be done. It cannot be done."

They were wrong.

Not only did we do it, but we had a pretty good time along the way. Many many thanks to Jen, the girls' babysitter, for helping me these two weeks. I definitely couldn't have done it without her. The girls were great travelers. They looked for things to complete their car bingo. They watched movies in the back. Clara fed Cecilia when she got hungry and played with her when she got cranky. We stopped at rest stops and ice cream parlors. When they got tired, they slept. Late the first night, after I pulled into a gas station, Clara woke up bright eyed, looked around and grinned: "We're back where we started!" I guess the gas stations all look alike to her. We would have driven all the way through on the first night, but Cecilia woke up crying with some painful constipation, so we got motel rooms and completed the journey the next morning. Megan flew in and spent the second week with us, just as the rain was ending and the perfect weather was beginning.

Our time in Florida was a daily combination of eating, sleeping, playing on the beach, and playing at the pool. That was about it. Kate got a nasty black eye after falling from a chair on one of the first days. Cecilia liked to stick her toes in the sand or slap the water in the pool. And Clara seemed to grow up before our eyes, as some of these pictures will show (especially the one above, which will soon be framed in our house.) Nobody wanted to head home after our time was up.

Lots of pics to follow:


Cecilia is ready for the pool!


Kate is either ready for the beach or for her Vogue photo shoot


Clara is in her happy place


Even while playing with sand, Kate looks stylish


Some think, "Oh, sweet baby!" Uncle Jim thinks, "Ham hocks."


Sisters


The apple doesn't fall far from the tree


Jen and Kate at The Hurricane


Cecilia telling a joke


The girls


The Bittles


Silly Cilly


They were this happy the entire time


One of many sunset pictures we took


Another. I hope you enjoyed the pictures.