Dad Blogs - Useful Parenting Tips for Dads » Paul Banas

Neutering the American Male

Paul Banas — Tue, 21 Feb 2012 02:10:26 +0000

One of the biggest challenges that dads face in these days of shifting roles is that of maintaining a healthy masculine/feminine balance within themselves. Both men and women have the ability to be masculine or feminine in their approach to life and the situations that life presents.

It is this ability that makes it possible for women to defend their children and for men to be brave and courageous and still be able to express tenderness. For centuries, the roles that were set for both sexes dictated what they could do and could not do. The roles for men were totally masculine, while roles for women were totally feminine. The side-effects of these older roles were that many men had difficulty accessing their softer emotions. They were limited in their ability to express tenderness and compassion, because it was considered unmanly.

Dads at Toy Fair – Martin from Ohio Art

Paul Banas — Tue, 21 Feb 2012 00:17:11 +0000

In our series, "Dads take on Toy Fair," Martin from Ohio Art writes: I am a Dad of a 7 year old boy and a 3 year old girl. When I am at toy fair I am generally focused on selling our company’s products but do get the opportunity to sneak out and walk the show to see what catches my eye. From a Dad’s perspective, I like toys that allow me to spend some memorable time with the kids in a way that is fun for kids and Dad. From a tech perspective, I am always looking for cool new innovations in the RC category and from a learning perspective, I look to the science based activities. What’s better than taking a 2 liter bottle of coke, dumping in some mentos and watching the kids eyes light up as a geyser of coke spews from the bottle?

Avoiding Sports Injuries (Video)

Paul Banas — Mon, 13 Sep 2010 09:24:51 +0000

Nurse Mark visits DadLabs to let parents know how to recognize sports related injuries and when to take your child in for a doctor visit. Learn what kinds of injuries to watch for in youth sports like soccer, baseball, swimming and gym...

College Savings Nightmare(Video)

Paul Banas — Thu, 09 Sep 2010 09:06:51 +0000

Daddy Troy and Daddy Clay offer a few strategies on how to pay for college tuition and other school expenses. Learn about options including savings, financial aid, and 529 plans for financing higher education.

Five back to school health tips

Paul Banas — Wed, 01 Sep 2010 20:36:24 +0000

Back to school time usually coincides with health notices, increased awareness of lice, and for some, a reminder to get a flu shot. If you're not on the way to the doctor's office this fall, here is a list of things your doc still wishes were on top of mind for your preschooler:

1. Don't make the doctor out to be the bad guy. If you warn your child all year long that he'll "have to go to the doctor and get a shot" when ever you are trying to enforce a rule, your child will be extra worried about those doctor visits, making them unpleasant for everyone.

A Week With My Father – new show on father/son reunions (Video)

Paul Banas — Fri, 27 Aug 2010 10:24:46 +0000

Giacaomo Knox is launching a new web show and trying to sell the pilot for A Week with My Father, a new show that explores reunions between dads and sons. It's an interesting idea, and underscores the importance of the father/child bond.

The first episode features Knox reuniting with his father after 33 years apart. The next episode, already in the Development stage, will reunite a former NBA great who came back from a stroke, and his father.

On our desk: “Sugar Milk” by Ron Mattocks (book review)

Paul Banas — Mon, 16 Aug 2010 19:25:30 +0000

Sugar Milk, subtitled "What One Dad Drinks When He Can't Afford Vodka" joins the library of first person, mostly true accounts of real dads navigating the completely new waters of fatherhood in the new millennium. Unlike many of these books that track pregnancy and the trials and tribulations of fatherhood in a still secure nuclear family (see Daddy Drinks, for example), Mattocks' story is the more increasingly commonplace tail of a dad organizing his life around kids from a first marriage and stepkids from a second. Throw the recession of 2007-2010 into the mix, and the story becomes emblematic of the way we live today

Off-topic: French robber steals cash by baring breasts

Paul Banas — Mon, 16 Aug 2010 18:08:45 +0000

Not really on-topic, but always amazed at how predictable we men are. I'm surprised this doesn't happen more often actually. Could be a new approach for the Pentagon.

Police say on August 7, the man inserted a card into a cash machine in central Paris to withdraw money when two young women approached him and asked for money. The women waved a newspaper at the man in an attempt to distract him, but the technique didn't work.
[From French robber steals cash by baring breasts - CNN.com]

On our desk: “Sugar Milk” by Ron Mattocks (book review)

Paul Banas — Sun, 15 Aug 2010 23:45:12 +0000

On our desk: “40 Weeks of Keeping Your Head Down” by Bill Bounds (book review)

Paul Banas — Sun, 15 Aug 2010 21:13:43 +0000

In Forty Weeks of Keeping Your Head Down Bill Bounds has written an entertaining first person look at the baby process. This genre, pioneered by Grant Eppler in What to Expect When She's Expecting, gives the reader a very personal view of what happens on the long road of pregnancy. While Bounds' experiences are personal, his experience is common to us all, complete with OB/GYN visits, scary moments, and the eventual joy of a birth scene. Other new dads can read the book front to back, or pick up and scan the chapters for approaching or familiar territory