Many fathers aim to be as inventive and fun as Bandit Heeler from the cartoon Bluey. Most of us wish we also had a way to easily hit the “reset” button on our kids when they misbehave. Recently, I’ve discovered you can combine the two ideas: spontaneous silliness meets the simplicity of the “Nurtured Heart Approach” reset.

Let me explain through examples.

I was having a rough day. A terrible, horrible, no-good, very bad day to borrow from a popular book. The sky was gray and my mood was grayer. I couldn’t deal with any more of my 3-year-old’s screams, and I was just soooo tired.

I picked up my 6-year-old son at school and saw at once that although we’d been apart all day, we seemed to have had similar days. His normally exuberant face was downcast, and his lips were curled into a frown. He might as well have gotten into the car with an actual raincloud overhead.

Things weren’t headed in a good direction. My 3-year-old daughter took a hard look at her sad-sack brother and grumpy dad, and she wound up a scream the way a major league pitcher winds up before a pitch. We needed a reset. And we needed some silliness.

That’s when the dragon attacked. (I’m a fantasy author so my mind seems to naturally go to dragons.)

I cried out, pointing through the car’s sunroof, and warned them to duck. The car swerved to avoid the blast of fire. When my son protested he didn’t see a dragon, I realized it was an invisible dragon. Another car swerve, and everyone was laughing — except the car behind me who probably thought I was nuts — but that was OK.

We veered from the normal route home and drove into the rainforest. There, monkeys attacked us. Then, we climbed a mountain with yetis before heading home. There were no gray clouds, no sad kids, and no sad dad.

Sometimes, you just need to go ragdoll on them

A similar reset occurred a week later. My daughter was being a “threenager” that day. (Three is an age I’m convinced exists to limit the population. That whole “terrible twos” thing is a lie: age two is great. But threes … oof.) I don’t even remember what the fuss was this time. I think she was angry that she had feet or that there was too much air in the world, or maybe that I existed.

I’d tried reasoning as calmly as I could. And then, she started demanding candy, which she was not getting. I believe she wanted candy as a reward for accepting that she had feet and the world had air. Honestly, I can’t recall.

But I do remember the scream-fest. It rose in decibels until the entire state of Delaware likely heard her. I know that’s not too impressive given Delaware’s puny size. Still, it was pretty loud.

So, I stopped. Literally. Borrowing a trick from the Bluey episode ‘Ragdoll,’ I turned into a doll, fell to the floor limp, and just lay there. The screams intensified. Surely, she could blast me into candy compliance! No? Maybe she could just tug on Dad’s arm, a bit? No? What is he doing laying there?

She was confused. Then, the most amazing thing happened. Her face brightened, and she dropped to the floor beside me. She became a ragdoll herself, and just wanted to cuddle. Yet again, the “reset” had worked. And the silliness had rescued an intolerable situation.

These are just examples. Honestly, it’s not hard. When you feel like you’re headed the wrong way, just do the opposite. Laying down on the ground wasn’t just to mix it up, it honestly felt great. I was tired. I wanted to lie down anyway. Parenting is exhausting work, after all. And swerving the car, or driving through imaginary jungles might not be the first thing that comes to mind, but it sure as heck beats driving deeper into the doldrums.

I’m not a perfect parent. I’m not sure there is such a thing. And I get down, just like anyone. But by using resets and silliness, I’m able to turn my days and my kids’ days around.

That’s something I’m proud of, and encourage all parents to try. 

Photo: © Mat Hayward / Adobe Stock.

When it comes to dynamic duos, Batman and Robin of Gotham have nothing on Led and Jake Bradshaw of Bay Ridge, Brooklyn.

Led, 48, a professional comic book illustrator, and his son, Jake, an 11-year-old with autism, have bonded over superheroes and comic books. But flash back to nearly eight years ago, when Jake was first diagnosed — Led wondered what the future held for his son. He worried about their relationship. He knew nothing about autism but began reading everything he could and asking therapists and other professionals lots of questions.

While scrolling the internet, looking for the latest sci-fi and comic book news, he came across a reference to art therapy and its impact for children with autism. Led, who began drawing at age 3 and never stopped, would add drawing for 25 minutes every day to Jake’s routine. Colors were used to express emotions. Led would engage Jake and ask why he was happy, angry or sad.

He beamed over his son’s obsession with superheroes, reminding him of his younger self. Jake had a speech delay but Led indicated he didn’t recognize it as a sign of autism. Art, something Led was totally at ease with, could help Jake express himself, even without words. He empowered Jake to draw himself as a superhero. That’s when things really took off.

Jake Jetpulse: A superhero with autism born

By embracing Jake’s passion, while luring him into learning, they have created a series of comic/workbooks, The Adventures of Jake Jetpulse, that gives readers a glimpse into Jake’s life on the spectrum.

The villains and monsters in Jake Jetpulse comics are from Jake’s nightmares, Led said. Jake would draw them and name them. To fight off the monsters, Led made “monster repellant spray.”

“I didn’t know what I was walking into. I was just being an attentive dad,” Led said. “I’ve created the superhero universe with him. The stories come from his experience, and I draw to bring it to life.”

Little did Jake realize, he was reading and learning while gaining more confidence. His teacher at school, at the time, shared the comic and activity books with other children.

“If you’re diagnosed with autism, that’s not bad,” Jake said. “It’s OK. You’re still unique and you can do anything.”

Working on social skills at school

Jake brings his creativity and his love of writing and drawing to his classroom at AHRC New York City’s Brooklyn Blue Feather Elementary School.

If it was up to Jake, “he would sit and draw all day,” said Rose Dorcia, his teacher. He is friendly, sociable, talkative, and very inquisitive, she added. “He reads very well, with good pronunciation and he understands most of what he reads.”

Like other children on the spectrum, Jake struggles with social skills. Rose said he’s learning how to approach other children if he can join their activity in an appropriate manner. He’s also working on reading body language, she said.

Led also continues to learn, every day from Jake. By encouraging Jake to pursue his special interests, he has learned to communicate better with him.

Led’s tip for other parents of children with autism?

“Do everything you can to be the best advocate for your child,” Led said. “Establish relationships with therapists and others who work with your child. Ask them, ‘What can I do at home, so my child doesn’t forget this.’”

And most importantly, he added, “make things fun.”

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

AHRC New York City is a nonprofit organization that advocates for people who are neurodiverse to lead full and equitable lives. It helps more than 15,000 people annually, and calls for better education, living arrangements, prospects for work and fuller lives in the community for the neurodiverse.

EDITOR’S NOTE: City Dads Group is working with longtime partner Dove Men+Care to create “how to” videos for the grooming products company’s “Dads Care” campaign. We will be featuring the videos and scripts our members appear in. This one features Brent Almond of our Baltimore Dads Group, with a little help from his son talking about how to get your children into arts and crafts projects.

During quarantine — or anytime, really — it can be easy to plop the kids in front of a screen and call it a day. Coming up with non-screen activities can be stressful.

Crafts are a tried-and-true way for kids to flex their creativity and stimulate their brains. It can also be a great bonding time with your kids. And let’s be honest, it’s also a nice distraction while you try to get some work done.

While I’ve been a graphic designer and illustrator for over 20 years, I sometimes feel like I’m still getting the hang of being a dad. But I know from experience that coming up with ideas for crafts and pulling all the supplies together can be overwhelming. So I’ve put together five tips to hopefully make it easier for you to get your kids crafting.

1. Things are about to get messy

It goes without saying that combining kids and crafts is a recipe for mess! That’s why it’s good to lay down some newspaper, cardboard or an old bed sheet on any surface you don’t want to get stained. The same goes for clothing — wear something you’re okay getting covered in dirt, glue, paint … or, of course, glitter!

If you can work outside, even better! Just keep in mind that a gust of wind, stray leaf or wayward bug can quickly ruin a prized craft creation.

2. Use what you already have

Don’t be discouraged if you don’t have any “real” crafting supplies. If going to the craft store isn’t an option, take a trip through your house and you’ll likely find all the supplies you need. Some of the best stuff can be found in the kitchen, garage, playroom and backyard.

You and your kids can go hunting together to make it fun, and don’t worry if something seems unusable at first — it may spark an idea to create something amazing! Our trek around the house and yard produced an amazing bounty: straws, vegetable containers, twist ties, duct tape, plastic Easter eggs, loose board game pieces, buttons, pine cones, twigs and shoelaces.

And if you don’t have some of the basics like scissors, glue or markers, you can always grab some on your next run to the supermarket or pharmacy.

3. Have a crafty plan

Give the craft time a purpose or some direction. Even a basic plan will make it more fun for the kids and help ensure you get your kitchen table back in time for dinner.

Remember that it doesn’t have to be anything elaborate. It can be as simple as a thank you sign for the pizza delivery guy, decorating old clothes to make dress-up costumes, or a Father’s Day card for your favorite dad.

If you’re totally at a loss, there’s always the internet — search “kids crafts” or “crafts for 10-year-olds.” That will give you more than enough options.

A few other ideas to get you started: color a sign for a virtual birthday party; create a board game using action figures as game pieces; learn origami; make party decorations for an upcoming holiday; build a wind chime from a coat hanger and mismatched metal utensils. Or set up your craft time like one of those cooking shows — give the kids four or five materials, a time limit, and then see what they come up with on their own.

4. Every kid creates arts and crafts differently

When it comes to creativity, every kid is unique. Some kids need more specific directions, some like to create as they go, and some kids don’t like crafts at all. Consider what interests your kids and let that be a guide for how you go about this.

For example, if you have a kid that says they don’t like arts and crafts but they’re really into games — have them create their own board game or a deck of cards. Or if your child loves to read or write, have them make a bookmark or decorate a journal cover. Take cues from your child’s personality and interests, and you’re sure to have a successful craft session.

5. Let your kids do their own thing

As an artist, this is the hardest one for me — but you’ve got to let your kids make their own creations.

Sometimes it’s fun to do arts and crafts with your kids, but sometimes they want to go it alone. In either situation it’s key to let them express themselves however they want and get as messy as they want. Keep a closer eye on younger kids with scissors and glue, but otherwise let them go for it.

When it comes down to it, arts and crafts are really about the process, not the product. The finished crafts are often a souvenir of the experience!

I hope these tips have been helpful. The main thing is to not sweat the details — kids will be creative with whatever you give them, and will always surprise you with what they come up with!

A version of this post first appeared on Designer Daddy. Arts and crafts photo: ©Photographee.eu / Adobe Stock.

A teacher my son had said this to him about the art project he had just completed. A teacher who was supposed to bring out the best in him. A teacher whose very job is to inspire and empower all students.

And so, his mind began to turn, “Was it really good or just good for a boy’s effort?

I am a middle school art teacher. When you train for this profession, you are told that there are thousands of ways to praise. There is no room in art to undermine the creation, revision, polishing, and perseverance it takes to express oneself in art. In a subject where we think outside of the box, it’s hard to imagine feeling trapped within one.

My son’s teacher uttered six devastating words to an impressionable youth who was trying to find his identity in a class designed to nurture and grow a bud into a blossom. Instead of cultivating his art with tender care, the way a gardener transplants a root-bound flower from a pot it has outgrown to thrive in the sun, she instead tore his roots from beneath him. If she had said that to me, I also would have lost my footing.

She chose six words strung together that dispel the notion that anything he created, solved, wrote or performed meant anything at all because he is a boy and only girls have the predisposition to be expressive.

After all, boys will be boys, right? They are too busy wrestling with their testosterone levels to be bothered with feelings and self-expression. Never mind the centuries of critical thinking or pondering that happened before formal education existed; when men pondered the stars in the sky and discussed where the world actually ended. Never mind all the artists and poets from long before their time who spent hours capturing stars on canvas or putting words on paper. Never mind that the ways they spoke about the love they felt in their hearts based on a furtive glimpse or a temporary smile.

I’m lucky, I suppose. In all the years of my schooling, not one teacher told me I didn’t have what it took as a boy to be creative. There were hundreds of thousands of times words passed their lips and never among them was a word of discouragement or malice.

There was no sarcasm when they looked me in the eye and told me that the way I saw the world was special because it was my way. There never was an inference that what I created was inferior to another student because the way I saw the world was different from the girl sitting next to me.

I told my son that our gender never defines what we can and cannot do. I told him that his teacher’s comments prove that even teachers can get things wrong.

I told him that his painting of birch trees in the early morning was more than “pretty good for a boy” and that while that phrase was said to him by an adult, and adults are supposed to know more than kids, there really was no such thing.

I told him that despite his teacher’s own ability as an artist that she truly could never see the forest for the trees if she believed what she said to him and felt sure about a boy’s inability to be creative. If that were true, she was only really teaching to half of her students.

The only way for her to get out of the woods would be to illuminate her path. To prove to her that while the woods may seem dense and murky for boys our creativity will light the way; that our sheer will to not accept this premise that creativity is not for boys.

“Pretty good for a boy” shouldn’t be in our vocabulary. It’s an antiquated line of thinking back to a time when girls weren’t expected to do math or read for that matter because it just wasn’t in their nature.

So to my boy and for every boy who reads this, know this: Art is for everyone. Believing that will lead to a generation of boys who understand that self-expression is a part of who we are regardless of what we are.

A version of this first appeared on DadNCharge. Art photo ©Photographee.eu / Adobe Stock.

“So is every day a sunny day?”

That is the question that stumped my father several decades ago when I took my first airplane flight as a child. Once we ascended through the dark gray clouds, I was stunned that the sunny blue sky reappeared in all its glory. My concrete-over-abstract brain at the time thought a gray sky meant the absence of the sun, not just its obstruction. Hence my question.

“Well,” my father replied, “I guess you could say that.”

Little did I know that by welcoming my question and exploring its meaning through a series of follow-up questions, he fostered my curiosity at an important stage of my development.

In a later example, my father and I were watching a singer on television and I asked him why the performer had so many shadows appearing on the stage and backdrop. He gently informed me that it was because of the multiple spotlights, but that I was “asking the right questions.” Rather than being chastised for asking a dumb question, I’ve never forgotten how valued I felt and how important it is to be curious and open to the world.

A generation later, my oldest daughter asked me in the car why we could see the moon during the day. I admitted I had forgotten the reason but we would look it up later. Also, I commended her for “asking the right questions.”

The next time she stumped me with a question, she excitedly blurted out: “Dad, am I asking the right questions?” I thought of my own dad, smiled, and said, “Absolutely.”

Fostering curiosity needed in today’s high-tech culture

Curiosity is an especially valuable trait in a culture increasingly dominated by technology. A key reason, as scientist and author Cristal Glangchai explains, is that “experts predict that roughly 65 percent of children entering primary schools today will work in jobs that don’t currently exist, with titles like organ designer, virtual reality architect, drone programmer, and genetic administrator.” Thus, the skills of innovation, creativity and adaptability are only going to become more important in the world our children inherit.

Glangchai’s recent book, Venture Girls: Raising Girls to Be Tomorrow’s Leaders, focuses primarily on ways to encourage more girls to prepare for the fields of entrepreneurship and STEM. But most of her tips are also applicable to what she calls “Venture Boys.” In both cases, a key ingredient is a home life that foregrounds the value of curiosity: “Encourage your kids to ask Why? How? What if? . . . . When my kids ask me questions, like why is the sky blue, or what makes thunder, we go and look the answer up online and talk about the science behind it.”

It is especially important for dads to nurture a daughter’s curiosity and ambition as much as a son’s. Glangchai mentions researcher Linda Nielson’s troubling discovery that “girls who have no brothers are overly represented among the world’s political leaders: they tend to receive more encouragement from their fathers to be high achievers.”

So go ahead: Instead of settling for FAQs, model and support IAQs (infrequently asked questions) for your children. Cultivate a “there are no dumb questions” home environment. While “fake it ’til you make it” is sometimes advisable, try “ask it ’til you learn it” more often.

Granted, some questions are more productive than others. When my oldest daughter was very young, she asked: “Dad, if you sleep with fried chicken, will it burn your skin?” We did not pursue the science behind that one, but I did not dismiss the question. (I did, however, make sure she had no experiments in mind.)

To quote a memorable cartoon Ziggy poster I once saw in my college dormitory: “Wonders never cease as long as you never cease to wonder.” I had no idea I’d still embrace that saying so many years later, thanks in part to that suddenly sunny moment in the sky with my father even longer ago. It turns out staying open-minded and continually asking questions does make every day a sunny day— at least metaphorically.

Curiosity photo by Ken Treloar on Unsplash

The greatest tool you can use to help your children grow is something they can’t cram for to pass a standardized test. It’s creativity.

Creativity affects the way we learn and grow. It can be applied to any subject and teaches us that, even within rigid structures, you can find freedom of movement to make something new. And creativity is heavily employed and deepened in others by exposure to art, music and literature — the fine arts.

Show children a painting and ask them to tell you what it is about. No two kids will have the same reaction. You may be surprised at their interpretations because children are not bound by adult knowledge of the world. As Picasso once said,  “It took me four years to paint like Raphael, but a lifetime to paint like a child.”

Take your children to a play and ask them what they liked. Processing visual cues and interpreting vocals train our brains to pick up on nuances about relationships and emotion.

Have children listen to music or play an instrument and they will hear things most of us never thought possible. Brain research studies have even shown that not only does music improve skills in math and reading, but also it promotes creativity, social development, personality adjustment and self-worth.

Fine arts help student succeed elsewhere

Individual interpretation can be as varied as the snowflake patterns that fall from the sky and as vast as the molecules within and around us. Walk down the hallway of an elementary school and you’ll see students’ personalities, bursting with individuality, in their artwork. I’ve seen this in my own children I have a pile of their artwork in my office from their different stages of life: from scribbles to actual people, their perception of the world is shaped by what they see, hear, smell and touch.

Good teachers use creativity in their classrooms on a daily basis. They create lessons centered on an individual’s thought or perception of a concept. Students demonstrate this in projects and performances, critiques and discussion. Study after study shows promoting the fine arts in education helps students succeed in other subjects. In fact, students who study art are four times more likely to be recognized for academic achievement and three times more likely to be awarded for school attendance.

So we know that the arts are important but what is the first thing government regularly wants to cut when there is a budgeting issue? Programs for the arts. President Trump has requested removing most funding from four federal humanities’ agencies in 2018, similar to what he proposed last year and Congress rejected, so we can buy bigger bombs and build walls. It seems counterintuitive, doesn’t it? He wants to make America great again but in the process eliminate these programs from our children’s lives. It’s as if he sees fails to see the connection between creativity and success.

Students in high school see the value in science, math and English so much so that they believe doubling up on these subjects will make them better students. Standardized tests, though, only measure a student’s ability to complete these tasks with a certain level of aptitude. However, ask any employer what it is looking for in an employee and attention to detail and an ability to work outside of the box are must-haves.

Let’s consider the funds that the government sets aside for the fine arts to determine their worth. Federal funding for the arts and humanities rolls in around $300 million a year, while the National Science Foundation is funded around the $7 billion mark. So while people understand the need for and benefits of fine arts education, they don’t invest in it nearly as much.

How it all helps

How do we combat this violation of our need to be creative? Get our children involved in as many  education programs in the fine arts as possible. Encourage them to take an art, music or theater class despite their perceptions of their strengths or weaknesses. Everyone is creative in their own way and kids need an outlet for it in order to grow.

The visual arts helps develop eye-hand coordination and ,because projects are often long-term, they learn how to develop something to completion, solve complex issues and tackle problems head on by thinking outside of the box.

Music teaches them focus and concentration. As with any performance, repetition and practice until a song is mastered teaches children self-discipline and promotes a passion for something people use in their daily lives.

Theater teaches social skills and interpersonal communication. Interacting with a cast and creating everything from backdrops to props to costumes means they are building an attention to detail to make their craft as realistic as possible.

Dance teaches an awareness of their body and the expression that flows through it. Dance can be interpretive or choreographed and provides opportunities for a declaration of feelings through movement when being static just isn’t your strong suit.

Theater, movies, and the culture around fine arts permeate everything in our culture that we value. Actors and actresses, artists and musicians claim high praise in our hearts and minds. Music, art, dance, and theater represent our past, present, and future: they remind us of moments in our lives and activate our memories.

So how do we encourage our children to follow the creative path? We become their agents, their coaches, their mentors and their muses. No uttered word should be ignored. No sour note left unheard. No scribble considered insignificant. For a child, exploration through the fine arts will open doors that may have been previously shut or, most likely, unseen. We owe it to our children to let them open those doors and explore what’s beyond them by keeping the arts alive.

A version of this first appeared on DadNCharge.

It began with a simple question from my oldest daughter, age 4 at the time: “Daddy, what is art?”

“Art,” I began, “is something that, well, let me think about that for a moment.”

What was art, indeed, I asked myself while continuing the mindless routine of a frantic preschool morning: load the dishwasher, supervise the brushing of teeth, check the backpack, and head out the door.

On the way to school, I muttered a few tidbits about art being a way humans change materials like clay or paint into beautiful objects. As with so many adult explanations of abstract concepts, however, the words only created a blank gaze on my daughter’s emotionless face in the rearview mirror.

Later that day we happened to do a craft project at the kitchen table that involved pouring sand of different colors through a funnel into empty plastic bottles. After you cap each bottle, a striking mixture of sand grains can be shaken into countless patterns. Little did I know this kitchen craft would make the abstract meaning of art concrete.

When my daughter started pouring layers of sand into the first bottle, her excitement grew quickly — I could tell by her tapping, rocking and shifting. Finally, she finished pouring the sand into the bottle, I put a cork on the top, and I showed her the result. Her energy uncorked like a bottle of champagne as she jumped from her chair and shouted: “ART! I made art!”

Joy bubbled over as she grabbed the bottle and rushed around the house to show it to my wife and her little sister, then just a year old. My wife mirrored her excitement and congratulated her, while my 1-year-old simply looked at her with a blank gaze on an emotionless face. But that did not dilute the magic for my oldest, and soon every measuring cup, empty water bottle, and piece of Tupperware became another canvas for her art.

Looking back, my daughter’s euphoric moment probably would not have happened in a different environment. Our family uses plenty of technology, but when our kids were very young my wife and I insisted on a screen-free kitchen and dining room to encourage creativity in both art and the art of conversation. Sitting around a table together for as many meals as possible is still the best way for a family to ensure quality time and communication. If dinner together is challenging, try lunch, breakfast or snack time.

Other ways to encourage creativity include having art supplies and quality books readily available throughout the house. You never know when the artistic spirit will move children. Also, make sure your kids see you read, and frame and display their best artwork. My favorite is a piece by my youngest daughter on our kitchen wall that features an aerial view of a square table with four shapes sitting around it. The symbolism speaks for itself.

Another suggestion for art promotion at home is to involve your children’s friends. On those rare days when I became a playdate “host with the most,” I would help the kids with all that sand art. My daughters’ friends often wanted to play with the sand or other art materials over the newest apps or video games, partly because they went home with a “favor.” A final way to involve friends might be to organize visits to places like museums, institutes and sculpture parks.

Whenever our family created sand art together, my wife and I made sure to think about the work of art both our children are, and to be grateful for them. As I watched the sand pour through the funnel, on the outside I often babbled in “parentese” about how each grain of sand has to take its turn trickling down the funnel, just like kids have to take turns with toys, drivers have to take turns at intersections, and speakers have to take turns in conversations.

But on the inside, I couldn’t help comparing the funnel to an hourglass and the grains of sand to the short but precious time parents have to savor the questions of growing children.

Editor’s Note: San Francisco Dads Group co-organizer Beau Coffron, aka Lunchbox Dad, has become an Internet and media sensation for the beautiful, creative and fun meals he sends with his kid to school. This means many parents think he is a rock star/god … while a whole mess of others think he is an over-parenter with too much spare time. They are both wrong. He’s human and just fine with that.

So this is today’s lunch.

Why? Life happened.

After this last week of the TV breaking, the car battery going out, thinking the DVD player broke, and waging the war against lice in my house, this is what I had time and energy for. Not to mention we finally had the chance to celebrate my wife’s birthday.

I think it was the lice that broke me. Those little bugs might be the most infuriating parasites I have ever had to deal with. Hate it is a strong word, but I hate those little things.

Anyway, I had exactly 2.34 minutes of time and energy to put together this lunch. We had leftover pizza, mandarin oranges that needed to be eaten, blackberries, and a granola bar. I did have time to put in a handy little Lunchbox Love note though.

You know what I’m thankful for? I can feed my kids. If parents can do that, whether it’s a fun-shaped lunch or not, I think they are doing pretty good.

I remember vividly being a stay-at-home dad to my one-year-old son.  During the winter time, we were signed up for five different organized parent & me classes to keep us busy and fill the days.  We participated in a Gymboree movement class in the morning and off to music class in the afternoon.  A social parenting discussion group the next day…before rushing off to sign language class in the afternoon.  Sprinkle in a children’s yoga class and demo classes with our NYC Dads Group community, and we were so busy that we did not have any time for FREE play.  Selfishly, I think we took a lot of those classes so I had an excuse to escape from our apartment and socialize with other parents.

Fortunately, one year later, I am wiser about the importance of free, open, and unstructured play time.  Currently, we only take 1 or 2 organized classes and spend the majority of our time in local parks and playgrounds with no set agenda exploring the surroundings.  We are more adventurous and that is exciting for both my son & I.

Recently, I stumbled upon an awesome parenting resource – KABOOM!  Basically, they think there is a play deficit in America!  Do you?

“KaBOOM! is a national non-profit dedicated to saving play for America’s children.  Our mission is to create great playspaces through the participation and leadership of communities. Ultimately, we envision a place to play within walking distance of every child in America.”

These days, it seems society frowns on letting kids play freely outside, and parents instead feel pressured to rush them from one organized activity to the next.  Make note of my experience mentioned above!

From Kaboom!…While there’s nothing wrong with organized activities, I think you and your readers would agree that kids also need to play, and that unstructured outdoor play makes children happier, healthier, and smarter. I wanted to let you know about an online pledge, created by the national nonprofit KaBOOM!, that’s specifically for dads who want to join the national movement to restore play to childhood.

The least I could do was hop on this dadwagon & take the pledge myself (only took 20 seconds).  It’s nice to see more and more organizations like KABOOM that include fathers in the parenting equation.  See you on the playground!