Bookmark
Holiday gifts for grilling dads
1. Electric Grill Brush – $28 – Boy, do I wish I had one of these. We’d grill outside more often. Our grill is caked with who-knows-what caked over the chrome. I brush most of it away, but a lot always remains. To the hardboiled, I know that means good barbecue flavor, but I can’t get over eating burnt meat grease. 
2. Laguiole 6-Piece Steak Knife set – $42 – This is a treat for steak lovers. These French knives, which look like the famous Laguiole pocket knife look great at a table set for meat.
3. Wireless talking BBQ thermometer – $49.99 We’re not saying you really need it. I mean, does anyone barbecue that much? But maybe the dad on your list does like to bbq while watching the news and needs a reminder call if you really want to consistently hit medium rare.
4. Grilling Tool Set – Even the best of tools need to be replaced. Dads will appreciate this storage case when everything is put back the way they found it ready for next time. We can’t vouch for this set, though it looks like the one we use. You don’t have to pay an arm and a leg for a good set, but make sure the tools are more than 20″ long so dad doesn’t burn the hair off his harms when cooking dinner.
5. Weber Chimney Starter – $14 – If the dad on your list is still using lighter fluid, this is a simple tool he has to have. It uses just one page out of the newspaper to get the fire started. That means less noxious fumes and less chance you’ll be eating lighter fluid in your burger.
Popularity: 1%
What does a parent say when a child asks: How can a dad kill his children?
This headline gave me shivers. Whenever I see these stories in the paper, it’s hard not to conjure up images of little babies hurt by those meant to be there to protect them. Often, they haunt me for hours or days after reading. And, if can’t handle the stories, how can a child reconcile them.
What do you tell a child who asks how a father can murder his two children and their mother? Child psychologists say the answer depends on how old the child is and how much he is capable of understanding.
“Such a situation confronts a child with a loss of innocence,” said Binyamina Shilo, a senior educational and developmental psychologist. “The older they are, the more this situation frightens them.”
[From What does a parent say when a child asks: How can a dad kill his children? - Haaretz - Israel News ]
As this article points out, kids under six are rarely phased by these stories. They are the stars in their little worlds and outside news is completely inconsequential. Older kids fear for the what the stories mean to their own framework of trust. Psychologists point out that you need to reassure them on several scores. First, that you don’t understand it either. That it is such a rare thing that the person must be completely sick in a way that almost never occurs. Second, that the news media plays these stories up, as they do with child kidnappings, not because they happen all the time, but because they are rare and sensational. Our kids need to be aware that bad things happen, but that they hopefully are very very rare in the safe environments we try to create for them.
Popularity: 1%
Moms club to Surrey dad: we ‘hate to discriminate, but…’
This article is getting a lot of attention in the daddy world, and even among moms.
Sorry, no dads.
That’s the message a Clayton Hills father got when he tried to join the activities of the Cloverdale Mommy & Me Meetup group.
Rick Kaselj is a registered kinesiologist and father of Cole, his infant son. A relative newcomer to Surrey, Kaselj was looking for opportunities to meet people in his neighbourhood when he discovered the group online.Rick Kaselj and his Cole are looking for a new place to meet other parents and children.
“My wife and I just had our first child. She works days and I work evenings, so I’m a part-time stay-at-home dad. I found this group online two or three months ago and signed up.”
Since then, Kaselj said, he’s been getting the emails sent out to group members announcing events the organizers have put together for members and their children.
Other commitments meant he didn’t have time to attend any events until recently, but when he expressed interest in joining in on the fun, the door was slammed shut.
“I received an email this morning or last night saying I’m not welcome,” Kaselj said.
“I was hoping to participate with them, but I’m not welcome because I’m a dad.”
The email, signed Cloverdale Mothers Group, apologetically informed Kaselj that more than half of the members want the group to be for mothers only.
“I hate to discriminate,” the author went on, “but hope you can understand when it comes to the security of our children and especially since you have not been able to attend a meetup.”
Kaselj wonders why something wasn’t said earlier when he first joined online and is really puzzled about the reference to the security of the other members’ children.
“I’m not sure what that means,” he said.[From Moms club to Surrey dad: we 'hate to discriminate, but...']
The moms were clearly within their rights to say, “Who are you? You’ve missed all the meetings, but now you want to interact with our kids.” We don’t know what event he was volunteering for. However, it turns out they don’t just want to get to know him, they don’t want him at all. The explanation is that they talk about women’s issues, and they wouldn’t feel comfortable with him around. (Hmmm, where have I heard that logic before?).
There is a bigger issue going on here. It’s how we socialize men to be caregivers rather than keeping them on the outside. We don’t want men hanging around playgrounds because we don’t trust them alone with our kids. Part of that is because we don’t usually allow or promote a role of men as active parents and child care providers. In turn, men are confused about how to act around kids. Sadly, in a some rare cases, men, as well as women, are not to be trusted, but it’s not by shutting everyone out that you’ll eventually get safer.
Popularity: 1%
Columbia, South Carolina | Dad leaves baby in car, goes into strip club
I often say that I feel sorry for poor folks, many dads, who somehow leave a baby in the back of the car and go somewhere to do errands. “There but for the grace of God,” I think. We all live hectic lives and can be overstressed and do incredibly stupid things. I use these examples as cautionary tales about what could happen if you don’t watch the kids in the pool or let them play in the street. Life is very fragile, and everything in your life can change faster than you can say, “If only I had…”
Then there are stories like this one which just are simply shocking. Is it too patronizing to say that some people should not have children?
MYRTLE BEACH, SC (WMBF) – A Myrtle Beach man is out of jail Friday on child endangerment charges after police say he left his baby girl sitting in a parked car while he got a lap dance.
[From WIS News 10 - Columbia, South Carolina | Dad leaves baby in car, goes into strip club]
Popularity: 1%
Suburban dad and spy: Christian Slater stars as both
If you’re a suburban dad, maybe those two ideas sounds familiar. This new shows sounds like they’ve been spying on my life.
Two different minds, one body. So which one of these two personalities leads the more complicated life: the covert operative and contract killer who speaks 13 languages, runs a four-minute mile and is trained to kill with his bare hands, or the efficiency expert who lives a humdrum life in the suburbs with a devoted wife, two kids, a dog and a minivan?[From Suburban dad and spy: Christian Slater stars as both]
Popularity: 1%
