I started writing down my life goals and it turned out to be a list of places where I want to nap, but haven’t yet
— Andrew Knott (@aknott21) February 12, 2018
There’s not a lot going on right now, but that doesn’t mean my family can’t still enjoy some of our favorite seasonal pastimes like trimming the Christmas tree, counting down to Santa’s arrival, and riding bikes around the neighborhood and loudly critiquing everyone’s decorating choices.
Read MoreMost of my time these days is spent trying to figure out how to pass the time.
The pandemic has never been worse, so I feel even more compelled to stay home. Taking the kids outside to parks or playgrounds feels like it should be relatively safe, but since at least half of the community where I live has never taken the virus seriously and still doesn’t, I never feel comfortable.
Read MoreI’ve resisted writing much of anything the past couple of months because I knew if I was going to write anything during this impossible time, it was probably going to be about distance learning. And who really wants to read one more word about that?
Read MoreOne night recently during the stuffed animal puppet show my 6-year-old makes me do with him at bedtime several nights a week, I created a back story for one of his main stuffies — Rainbow Owl.
Read MoreIt’s been a common refrain since the pandemic started that we’re all in this together. This sentiment has become even stronger recently in my area where schools are slated to re-open this month for in-person or online learning at parents’ discretion.
But the unfortunate truth is we’re not in this together at all.
Read MoreThe early years of parenting are filled with weird activities like frequenting pretend restaurants, building dollhouses out of cardboard and driving them to the playground, and conducting stuffed animal puppet shows in the dark. It can feel like these things are forever while you’re wrapped up in them, but slowly they begin to slip away.
Read MoreOne of the foundational pieces of media from my childhood is The Sound of Music. How important is the movie to my family? Let’s just say it’s one of those things where when someone marries into the family, other people who have previously married in sometimes warn the newcomer that adequate reverence for The Sound of Music is both encouraged and mandatory.
Read MoreThis pandemic is impossible for everyone, but I’m starting to believe the only way to maintain some semblance of sanity is to change our timelines and expectations. Living week to week or month to month is exhausting.
Read MoreIt certainly seems like I write an inordinate amount about sleep, bedtime routines, and related minutiae, but as they say, “write what you know!”
Read MoreOne day recently, I was pushing my four-year-old daughter on the swing and she asked me to stop for a second so she could go examine something across the yard.
Read MoreSummer is not my favorite time of year. I live in Florida where summer weather is the worst. It’s miserably hot, swampy, and breathing the air feels like sucking in a warm bisque. I also dislike the lack of structure and my mental health tends to take a bit of a nosedive.
Read MorePerhaps it’s our destiny that many Mother’s Days for my family will be highly fraught. Of course, I suppose Mother’s Day and Father’s Day and, really, pretty much all holidays bring with them tons of emotional baggage. For me and almost everyone else.
Read MoreMost days distance learning is an unbearable slog, but some days it is an unbearable slog with geocaching at the end.
Read MoreWe’ve been muddling through distance learning with a second grader and kindergartner, letting the kids watch tons of YouTube and play tons of Minecraft, and when my daughter runs into the table, taking her to my wife’s hospital so my wife can come out to the parking lot and repair her face with surgical tape instead of risking a visit to urgent care to get stitches.
Read MoreOur house should be overflowing with activity and noise and celebration today. It’s my middle child’s sixth birthday and, although we aren’t the most social animals, we do throw big birthday parties for our kids at our house every year. It’s one of our main traditions.
Read MoreMy 5-year-old and I have many deep and profound conversations at night while we’re lying in his bed. Well, deep and profound might be a bit of a stretch, but they are sometimes interesting, and I often learn a thing or two about his day.
Read MoreMy two sons and I sit on the black rocking recliner in our living room. The chair is worn, cracked, and on the verge of spilling pieces of foam, but it’s still plenty strong enough to hold three bodies. An 8-year-old on one arm, a 5-year-old on the other, and a 38-year-old in the middle, reading very animatedly from a book called The Black Cauldron — the second book in the Chronicles of Prydain series by Lloyd Alexander.
Read More“The birds from the empty cages probably died,” my five-year-old said to me without a hint of emotion.
Our homework sessions can be challenging at times, but they aren’t typically quite so morbid.
Read MoreWhen I was approached by Life of Dad with the opportunity to represent them at the special Undercover Tourist Family Fun Fest event at Universal Studios, I snatched it up faster than Harry Potter grabbing the snitch.
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