My Kid is Either Gifted, Maniacal, or Possibly Both

I hate to even say this, but I think my daughter may be gifted. I know. I know. Saying you think your kid is gifted is the married with children equivalent of a bachelor saying “I think that stripper really liked me.” All your friends nod their heads at you and smile, but as soon as you leave to go back to the ATM they are laughing behind your back. 

Why do I think my daughter is gifted you didn’t ask? 

Five Dollar Friday - KaBoom!

Playgrounds! Remember play grounds from when we were younger? I sure do. I still have the scars. The playgrounds of my youth were remnants of the 70's. They were splintered wood and scalding steel structures casting ominous shadows over a hard and unforgiving bed of dirt and rocks. They were tools of natural selection. Kids would talk about the playgrounds they had survived in the same way one might reminisce about battles in a foreign war.

Photo courtesy of 1000awesomethings.com

Political Fights On Facebook Make Us All Toddlers

Ugh. I did it. I fell off of the wagon. I've been so good too. I've been taking it a day at a time, changing the things I can and accepting the things I can't. Tonight it just got to be too much. I got into a full blown political Facebook fight. I railed. I ranted. I posted links to articles that supported my argument that no one in the thread read. Eventually everything devolved into name calling and by the end we were figuring out how to spell our grunts and beat each other to death with bleached femur bones through social media. Sigh…

Five Dollar Friday - NPR (KUER) and My Non-sexual Man Crush on Doug Fabrizio

I am back!! My hand is healing from surgery and working - slowly, but working. I am pumped to tell you guys about this week's Five Dollar Friday! It's "guilt week" over at my favorite radio station, KUER (NPR). You know how at the end of Mr. Roger's Neighborhood there was a five second sound bite that told you that the program that you had just watched was "brought to you by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting and viewers like you"? Well, a couple times a year NPR decides repeat something similar over and over and over again for an entire week. Bottom line: NPR needs money to keep running! They don't like to beg, but that's not going to stop them. 

Guest Post - Donna White: Memoirs of a Committee Mum

Good news Ask Your Dad readers; I am currently typing this with two hands! That means I am back and posts written by yours truly will return soon! I just need to start writing - which I will tonight. I promise. I've got something fun in store for tomorrow! Until then, here's one more guest post from my friend across the pond, Donna White at Mummy Central, a parenting blog based in the UK. This post is part of a little "blog foreign exchange" we're doing, so stay tuned to her website where I will soon be representing the US! (I apologize in advance)

Also, if you have any questions about the British sounding terminology, feel free to ask Donna Directly through her twitter. She'll be happy to teach you the lingo!

Memoirs of a committee mum

She’s the one you avoid eye contact with at the school gates, always asking for raffle donations, tombola prizes, and – perish the thought – volunteers.

British parenting website Netmums categorised her a while back, flatteringly dubbing her “PTA busybody mum”.

*Stands up Spartacus style*

I am that busybody. Although in my case, I’ve only reached the dizzy heights of playgroup.

So if you don’t mind, I prefer committee mum. Both of my sons have been through our local playgroup, a registered charity which relies on fundraising.

So to give a little back (and I’ll admit, to exercise my brain cells) I’ve spent more than two years doing roles from chairperson to secretary, fundraiser and all-round general dogsbody.

The majority of committee mums I’ve worked with are likeminded, roll-your-sleeves-up-and-get-on-with-it women I’m incredibly thankful for.

But I’ve met a less than helpful bunch who enjoy the title – without doing any of the actual work. They merit their own special names. Let me introduce them. 

Five Dollar Friday - Scary Mommy Nation

Mom (wife) here. Someday I should find an easier code name. Anyway, Dad is still recovering. Funny story: he has an appointment on Tuesday to have his stitches taken out. But when we changed his dressings on his hand, get this: there were no stitches....dom dom dommmmmmmmmm. Ok maybe that's a little dramatic. They probably just dissolved. Or they forgot to stitch him up. Ya know, whatevs.

I'm here to bring you today's Five Dollar Friday. Today my five bones went to Scary Mommy Nation. In a blog full of daddy issues (not that kind), we are recognizing a group aimed at helping out the mommies out there in need. 

Guest Post - Guerrilla Mom's Abridged Version of "Healthy Sleep Habits, Happy Child"

While my hand heals, I've asked a few of my favorite bloggers to pick up the reigns. This week's post is from Guerrilla Mom. 

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I was racking my brain for what to write for my Ask Your Dad guest post.  Then I remembered that you have a new baby on the way.  So I thought, Great! I'll give him some parenting advice!  I know you have already done this once before, but heck- there are things that we all fail miserably at the first time around, right?  I don't know what your particular failures are - so I'm just going to project.  Mine is sleep training.  My child will be two in November, and I still have absolutely no idea what his bedtime is.

Shoot.  

Maybe I shouldn't be giving advice on this subject.  It is an important one though- so in lieu of having you fail in my footsteps - I picked you up a copy of  Healthy Sleep Habits, Happy Child.

  

It's five hundred pages long.

Okay, so I edited the cover a little.