Just watchingNobel Son, a creepy movie starring Alan Rickman and Mary Steenbergen, as well as Bill Pullman, Bryan Greenberg and Shawn Hatosy.

I don’t know why I missed this since I love Alan Rickman. This is a well-made thriller mystery with a few major twists and turns, as well as some humorous jibes at ego-maniac academics. The best scene uses a remote control Mini car running around a shopping center, but all at life-size. Unfortunately, it’s not for kids, with a fair amount of profanity and brief nudity. There is one scene of a thumb being chopped off – this isn’t a spoiler. That action happens even before the credits roll.

I found the end a little quick and sloppy. Too many loose ends tied up very fast without much explanation. All in all, though, a diverting movie for a plane ride or light amusement at home.

I hope we can all be inspired by Obama’s message about the importance of dads in the lives of their kids. Some men take their own personal experience and triumph over adversity as an example of how all kids should pull themselves up despite the lack of the same advantages most of us take for granted. I like the fact that Obama speaks plainly about how the pain of going without a present father and that he was lucky to overcome it.   

Obama says prime goal was ‘to be a good father’
President tells East Room audience of his absent dad’s impact

“I decided that if I could be one thing in life, it would be to be a good father,” he told aWhite Houseaudience, after saying that his father’s decision to walk away from his family had left “a hole in a child’s heart” that couldn’t be filled.

Obama spoke after five men, includin

This just in from the Armenian Medical Network website (story available also in Russian).

I love the “failure to launch” reasoning.

Italian men become fathers at a later age than any other nationality, and do little or nothing to help their wives once their babies are born, statistics office Istat said Thursday.

Italian men have their first child at an average age of 33, compared with younger than 31 for fathers in Spain, France and Finland, Istat said.

Part of the problem is that many Italian men live with their parents for longer than elsewhere in the world, with 40 percent of 30-34 year-old Italian males still staying at home.

[From And the world’s oldest first-time fathers are… - Gender: Male -]

I can’t find the average age of first time fathers in the U.S. It’s 32 in the U.K.

My name is Joshua Berg. I am white, my wife is black and we have two biracial daughters. My extended family includes members from almost every continent on Earth and represents multiple ethnic identities. In short, we are representative of what is gradually becoming the typical American family. Welcome to my column about raising mixed race children.

The numbers of interracial marriages and unions resulting in mixed heritage traditions are numerous and increasing exponentially. If Norman Rockwell were alive today, he’d need a more complex palette indeed. But, the issues of these families are often overlooked, as this country and the world cling to outmoded ideas of race wherein concerns, legitimate as they may be, of exclusively whites, blacks, Asians, Hispanics and any other homogeneous groups fill the spotlight.

Even as we have started a new and exciting chapter in American history with the election of a bi-racial president, we still confront and discuss race in this country from a very bilateral perspective – your race or mine. I would like to open a discourse from the point of view of one human race first. In fact, most of us, even though we identify with a single race, are not “purebred.” Maybe looking at ourselves as more similar than different while still recognizing and respecting our differences will bring us closer together as human beings.

Shifting the outlook and mindset of people is best accomplished through the education of children. That is why I am so excited to start a conversation about raising children of multiple backgrounds. I will bring to the table my experience from the perspective of a father of biracial children by addressing issues like racial identity, stereotyping, portrayal of race in children’s media, definitions of beauty, health, education and much more.

It wasn’t until 1967 that people of different races were allowed to marry in this country, which we should celebrate as we continue to work toward the right to marry for all. And, it was a mere nine years ago that the census allowed for Americans to check multiple race boxes to describe their heritage (and my kids think there should be an alien race box for me). At that time, it was reported that over seven million people identified as mixed race. However, the issues of this now much larger and rapidly growing community are still not a significant part of the national or international dialogue. As my children grow up a part of what is referred to as “Generation Mix,” I hope to do my small part to engage people to participate in what I know will be a lively discussion of issues facing families like yours and mine. Let’s get in the mix!

It’s my pleasure to announce that Joshua Lewis Berg has joined the GreatDad Dad Blog as a contributing author.

Joshua Lewis Berg is a dad who lives and works in Los Angeles. He is an office manager during the week and am aspiring writer and children’s entertainer on the weekends.  Joshua is committed to being the best dad he can be by trying to always “wear the kids’ shoes.” (Not literally, of course, given he wears size 15!) To that end, he created his blog, Through the Eyes of Babes (http://eyesofbabes.wordpress.com), which features photos taken by children as a way to get a glimpse of the world as they see it. He loves volunteering his time for good causes and wants to start his own charitable foundation whose mission it is to learn and teach true happiness.

Joshua has voiced commercials, industrials and animation. Most recently, he can be heard as the voice of numerous characters on the show“Pinky Dinky Doo.”

GreatDad.com has always been a collection of many voices of the dad experience. Rather than one man’s opinion, we have had many writers including twelve author contributors who have domain expertise in some aspect of fatherhood, from medical to humor to psychological. Many many people have asked us to include their voices in the site but we felt we had to limit our contributors just so we could understand all of the content we were curating.

Now we feel we can expand our perspective to tell the stories of even more dads. One way to do this is to add guest blogs to GreatDad.com. Soon, you will be seeing graphic changes to the blog to represent the inclusion of many other voices. For now, you may notice new authors of posts and in the Authors section in the sidebar. I will introduce our newest author in a separate post. And, we’ll have other news soon on how we’ll be adding more new viewpoints to GreatDad.com. We may even add a mom or two.

For those of you, friends and family, who only want to follow my particular thoughts, recommendations, and observations on my kids, you can find the official GreatDad Blog at GreatDad.com/GreatDadblog.

If you’re interested in adding your blog RSS feed to the GreatDad blog, please let me know in the comments section and I’ll let get back to you quickly. While we can’t include everyone, I want to get as many different perspectives as possible while putting extra emphasis on the quality of writing including humor and insight.

Thanks to readers and writer for making GreatDad an enthusiastic source of ideas on modern parenting.

When you look back in your own life, many of your memories are likely things that you did with your parents over and over, like attending baseball games or celebrating Thanksgiving. Over the long haul, kids will remember less what you said to them and even less your good intentions, than the experiences you shared together. Make a conscious effort to create memories with your kids. That does not have to mean an expensive vacation, but instead doing things together that have meaning for all of you.  

SMILE WHEN YOU SEE THEM

The Nancy Armato Rule

Antonina’s mother, Nancy Armato, is the ultimate child greeter. She smiles and beams and bursts with pride at the sight of her three children and her six grandchildren. No child who enters her home has any doubt whatsoever that he or she is completely welcome-there is no room for doubt.

Grandma Nancy’s hugs, kisses, compliments, questions about a new toy or shoes, recognition of a sterling report card, or her recalling a goal in a recent soccer game-all are part of her fabulous greeting. Every child gets his moment.

The children around her respond in kind. They feel so loved and welcomed by her that it literally and physically changes them. They open to her like roses bathed in the warmth of the morning sun. She adds a patina of grace to their lives when each one realizes they have given her reason to smile.

Watch your son walk into a

Plenty of PDA that doesn’t get out of hand is good to show your kids. It’s important that they see what a loving relationship looks like, and that also includes supporting and helping your spouse in ways they can clearly see. Try to think of it in terms of the type of future wives and husbands you would want to see them become, or be attracted to.   

Check out our friends Buttoned Up (www.getbuttonedup.com) for lifestyle and family organizing tips and tricks. I’m also their featured Guest Guru of the Week. How I got title, I’ll never know. As my wife will attest (or complain), I am not super-organized. Or, maybe I’m organized, but have way to much stuff. Having kids, though, forces you to get a few things in order.

1. Photos are top of the list because if you don’t get a system you’ll be awash in digital ink like Mickey Mouse in Fantasia. Find one computer and keep everything on it. Don’t let anyone put photos on any other machine until you make sure to have one major repository that you know is complete, and that you BACK UP. With mulitple cameras,phones, and computers, the temptation is to have multiple collections as you load and erase cards. Not a good plan if you don’t want major gaps. Start now and never look back.

2. Okay, wills and trust should have been first. Get this done before the baby arrives and update it with every new child or change in situation. Not enough can be said about the value of this, even if assets are short right now. Your biggest assets are your family and you have to plan who would take care of them in the worst of situations. In fact, that is the one thing you need in your will.

3. Start a 521B education savings plan for the kids, even if it’s just $100. Saving for college will take 18 years. Don’t put it off even for a few years.

4. Organize your medical information in a file box in the kitchen where you can get to it easily with each doctor visit. Even if you are lucky not have any major health concerns, keeping good records of doctor advice and kids’ development will come in handy when you forget what to do for some periodic malady that rears it’s head in the middle of the night. Likewise, keep all the medical research books in a handy place where you can find them.

Get Buttoned Up has lots of tools and ideas to organize yourself better. If you’re the kind of person who needs that for a kick in the pants, or needs it feel you have it all under control, that’s the place to go!