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Discovering Dad

Learning what it means to be a good dad.

This article written by Contributing Writer Daniel De Guia.

Mealtime at our house is, to be completely honest, my least favorite time of the day. By the time I’ve finished working all day and have battled through evening rush hour traffic, the last thing I want to deal with at home is more chaos. It’s taken a long time, but my wife and I have come up with some ways that work well for our family to make dinner time a little bit more relaxed and less anxious.

15 minutes of clean - Depending on the state of the main living area, we’ll have everybody to spend 15 minutes putting toys back in bedrooms, picking up books, putting away DVDs and CDs, or just de-cluttering in general. Myself or my wife will cook dinner while the others help clean up. This not only gets the house tidy, but can also help the kids burn off a little of that extra energy with all those trips up and down the stairs. That means, less fidgeting during dinner.
“The besta parta day” - When the kids are in extra talkative moods, we help them settle down and remember to wait patiently by going around the table and asking each other “What was the best part of your day?” (or, as my son says “What the besta parta day?”) This little game helps force the kids to be patient and listen. It also lets us all take part in the high points of each others day. Sometimes, asking that one question will turn into a conversation of how

Sweating the Small StuffNovember 18

This article written by Contributing Writer Tom Bowns.

I’ve often heard the old saw “Don’t sweat the small stuff” and the lesser-known corollary: “It’s all small stuff.” Whoever wrote these maxims must not have had to take care of any small children.

It’s nearly impossible for a caring parent NOT to sweat the small stuff, particularly when the small “stuff” is being crammed into larger, expensive-to-repair important “stuff.” Being vigilant as a dad means watching what your kids do, being sure they don’t hurt themselves, and trying to intercept things before damage is done to the house and furniture. We’re always on our toes - alert, ready to spring into action and save the day.

Most of the things kids do though does not cause permanent damage. Most things are smaller, such as spilling cereal on the floor, leaving the door open when the heat is on, scribbling on a book with a pen, repeatedly turning on and off a light and flushing things down the toilet. These things are annoying, but they probably won’t hurt anyone. And yet, we often act like it’s the end of the world when they occur.

For example, the

Fitness for Dads - Fixing Your PostureNovember 13

This article written by Contributing Writer Chris Lopez.

My mom used to tell me all the time…

My dad used to affectionately slap me on the back of the head each time I wasn’t aware…

It’s seen as a lack of self-confidence…

And yet most of us still do it…

We stand in line at the ATM, or while talking to the other dads at our kid’s soccer game or when we’re sitting at our desk in the office. No matter where we are, our posture is terrible!

Posture is one of those things that, if not paid any attention to, can really start to affect our health later on in life. Poor posture can be attributed mainly to what we do everyday and living what I like to call an “anterior dominant” life.

Anterior Dominance just means that we do most of our daily activities in front of us (driving, writing, eating, conversing, working/typing). This results in the muscles in front of our body becoming tight and overworked causing our shoulders and neck to creep forward and up and our chests to “cave in.”

It also doesn’t help that when we go to the gym the first thing we concentrate on are our “mirror” muscles. We lay down on the bench press to work our chest, pump our biceps until they scream for mercy and then crunch our way forward to feel a burn in our abs. Doing all of that doesn’t get us in better shape or make us look better. It just makes our lives harder because we’re over taxing our already tight anterior muscles taking us further away from Brad Pitt and bringing us closer to Quasimodo (the Hunchback of Notre Dame).

So what to do then?

First, we eliminate the barbell bench press altogether. Bench pressing was great when we were in high school and college when we played football and wanted to impress girls. But now, unless you’re a busy dad who’s an offensive lineman by profession, it just isn’t necessary. In fact, the majority of the population doesn’t even know how to bench properly for it to be a safe exercise. Instead, limit your “pushing” exercises to just push-ups and variations of push-ups. And believe me, if you do push-ups correctly, you’ll stop feeling like they’re just for high school PE class and guys in the military. Most of the programs that I write for busy dads don’t include any type of pressing with external weight because we’re already tight in our chest and shoulders.

Next comes the conscious part of daily life. It’s important for us to be aware that we have bad posture and do all we can to consciously correct it. Walking with our shoulders back, standing “tall,” sitting with our backs straight – these are all things that we can do everyday to correct our posture. It may feel weird at first and you may feel like you’re trying to overexpose your chest like you’re Superman, but it only feels weird because you’ve probably been hunched over for so long.

Finally, we need to concentrate our exercise efforts on the areas that are the most neglected. First, we need to work our abs and spinal erectors (the muscles in your back that help keep your spine upright) the way they’re meant to be worked – not by moving them but by trying our darnest to keep them still while we move limbs around them. Most of you have seen this video before about a basic ab workout…

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qJSbSHutTLE

Then, we need to concentrate on those smaller muscles in our upper back that oppose all the tight ones in front of us. I like to use this circuit 3-4 times per week to help keep my posture right…

Please Welcome Chris Lopez as new Contributing WriterNovember 10

I’m very proud to announce that Chris Lopez, aka FitandBusyDad, is officially a Contributing Writer for Discovering Dad. The positive response Chris’ guest post series Fitness for Dads has received is what inspired me to ask him to join the me and the crew of outstanding writers who post regularly on the site.

Chris will continue to write articles about fitness for dads, as well as share his experience and thoughts about what it means to be a good dad.

Here’s some additional information about Chris:

Chris Lopez, BSc HK, CSCS is a fitness expert, writer and personal trainer. He is an occasional contributor to the Globe and Mail, Maximum Fitness and Men’s Fitness Magazines and has been helping get Busy Dads in shape for 10 years since the birth of his first child. He and his wife live in Toronto, Canada with their 4 daughters. You can also read his Spotlight on Dads feature to get some more personal insights i

Thank You for Voting - Get Ready for ChangeNovember 6

Thanks to all of you who joined the Discovering Dad Pledge to Vote! This was truly a historic election, and I think everyone will agree that America is about to embark on a new path under the leadership of Barack Obama.

Some say this path will be filled with obstacles and challenges that no one leader could ever overcome; others say that a new era of prosperity and peace will be upon us within the next four years. Either way, things are going to change and it is the result of all of you exercising your right to vote.

The following Discovering Dad readers were randomly selected to win the Pledge to Vote Prize packs from Hachette Books:

Clark
PG
Lee McKusick
Roger
Daniel

All five of you will receive 10 politically-oriented books from Hachette Books USA.