What you’ll do for your kids…
Konbanwa! O genki desu ka? (Good Evening, How are you?) (Con Bah Wah! Oh Genki Des Ka)
One of the things I have been repeatedly reminded of, is the fact that this is really my blog and I'm supposed to be writing it for me. Well, I am. I do like when people read it tho 
So! I thought that I would start including some of the things I have been doing to help me and my family to accomplish some of the things we've just been talking about but never did anything about.
First up? Learning Japanese. "Why Japanese? If you're going to learn something, learn Chinese!" Well, there are two reasons for this. First of which is that there are plenty of people who speak Chinese and english, so it's not like my kids will become interpreters or anything like that. Secondly, and to me most importantly, is Aidan wants to learn it. He and I are taking classes in Kendo and for a long time now, he's been nuts about anything that is Japanese, especially martial arts and anime/manga. So I am going to try and post something that has to do with Japan or japanese culture each time I post. Or at least once a day. I know I've been lax the last few days, but I'm trying to catch up.
I found a good place to teach kids, or anyone for that matter, phrases in Japanese. It has sound so grab your headphones.
Kids Web Japan
The shame of it is, at one point during the year last year, he was teased because anytime he made a point, it usually had something japanese related to it. He ignored it and is even more enamored with the culture. One of the things I have been working on here and there is to see if there is some kind of exchange program for when he's older - maybe high school or even a semester abroad in college. I couldn't be happier since I'm equally enamored with the culture. My wife often asks me why I married a short, fiery, jewish girl from Jersey instead of a woman from japan. To this day, I don't know. I do know that at some point in my lifetime, I WILL take my son to Japan. And my wife and daughter if they want to come too 
Itterasshai. Ki o tsukete (See you later. Take care)
What is too much?
DadCentric wrote about a kid holding up a sign about lying to his parents:
I WILL NOT LIE TO MY PARENTS AND I WILL NOT USE PROFANITY
Standing on a busy corner, eyes downcast, humiliated with a group of people standing in the shade behind him, most likely his family.
Here's the thing - when does this become okay? As parents, we have to set boundaries. We set limits to protect their safety, hopefully teach them something, and generally keep them from running us over as they speed their way out of our houses. This, to me, seems like what DadCentric is saying - maybe a bluff got called and hopefully the parents are just as miserable and humiliated.
As a father, well, as a parent, I am constantly hit by varying degrees of issues/emergencies/decisions. The last several months have been fairly emotional, and I find myself reacting like RagingDad and exploding over some split milk. One issue after the other after the other and BOOM!
HULK SMASH!
The problem is, we lose control for a split second on kids with impressionable psyches who take in EVERYTHING - don't shake your heads, they do! - EVERYTHING you say and store it in that little brain of theirs where it percolates and helps them grow. Problem is when something comes out of your mouth that you want to desperately grab out of the air and stuff back down your stupid throat, gets away, gets in their heads, and germinates into something that comes out years from now that when you realize what it's all about, you want to turn in your DaddyLicense and slit your wrists open because you are the worst father in the world.
*wow, that was interesting. I love how I start writing because something catches my attention and it turns into a thought provoking post that helps me figure out what in my head*
So what do y'all think?
Blogging
So why do we do it?
Dooce does it because she's freakin hilarious. They do a BlogHer conference to promote women who blog. I think it's great.
But how much of the really big huge blogs are real? I read a lot of blogs, and most of the ones that I do tend to read a bunch of are typically Dad Blogs - how to be a better parent, how to make life better so your wife doesn't strangle you, what's happening in my life that I want to share - but my point is, why do people blog?
Truthfully, and people try to convince me otherwise, I blog for two reasons:
- I blog because I like to write and it helps me to bring my brain together when I need to
- I blog because I like hearing from people. Especially ones I haven't spoken to in a long time and ones I've never met
Do I think I will have the readership or the revenue stream of Dooce? No, of course not.(Tho, come on, you know that would be ultra freakin cool.) Plus I think I'd have to actually advertise on my site to actually see any revenue coming in.
I think that I have already found two cool guys in similar situations who are doing it for the same reasons - to share experiences and to find other people of like minds. Check out the blogroll, it's Mike @ Unraveling Mysteries andRaging Dad. Give them both a read, pretty cool.
DadBlogs
I updated my links because I realized that I actually had a reader. Mike, from Unraveling Life's Mysteries came by and commented on a few stories of mine.
Jump over and read his stuff and if you have a chance, take a look at the other Dad Blogs in my list. In fact, they all are except for Dooce, who I can only wish being as cool or as funny as. I think it's the different plumbing that I have as opposed to her. I think her plumbing makes her funnier.
Then again, that would mean that I would have to be funny, which I am not sure I am at all sometimes.
So what is it all about anyway? Why do we post, and give links and try to interest people in our stuff? At first I thought it was because I was just doing it for me!@ Yeah, right. I think each one of us is looking for readers and are gratified when someone does post a comment.
That being said, can people PLEASE comment on my stuff? All I've been getting is bots posting 'insurance' or 'poker' or other crap like that. Does anyone read this? Even if you just want to drop an "I DO", please do. I also take requests for posts I'm trying to get better about posting stuff, and I truly do think that I am getting better. I'll try not to whine too much either. Too much.
How we met
As some know and some don't, Fae and I met online. In 1993. Before online dating. Before almost online ANYTHING.
We were playing a roleplaying game called a MUSH, it was based on the bestselling books by Anne McCaffrey called Dragonriders of Pern. We began roleplaying and talking OOC (out of character - there's a way to send messages to just that player) and enjoyed spending time together online. I was going to be leaving for the summer, so she asked for my phone number so we could talk on the phone.
That was February of 1993, and 15 years later, she still thinks I'm kind of cool
Anyway, a post on MetroDad made me think about it. Go look, its a good article about transitioning from online to real life relationships.