Triple The Dad

These food nets from Munchkin are just all-around awesome.  Perfect for intoducing solid foods when your little one is first big enough for such things but still too little to pick up small bits of food.  Ours could pick up handfuls of food, but not successfully negotiate that food into their mouts and these solved the problem.  They rae also great for teething.  Putting a couple pieces of ice into one of these nets transformed our angry little teething Liam into a much more happy baby.  And unlike the teething rings you put in the fridge, these don't warm after 30 seconds. I haven't noticed it, but I've heard complaints that the nets can get "gross," which I guess is possible.  I recommend a good washing.  Also, we were told that finger feeding is a lost art in teh U.S. and that more babies needed to be working ot use their fingers, so this might not be a longt-term tool you want to use.  In addition, I will add that while we got a good s...

I saw an article at http://www.slate.com/ about the impact on technology in our schools. The article , approached the issue mostly from a "will it be good for our schools/kids and will it lower costs?  The column ran in "Future Tense," and so this administrative and technology point of view makes some sense.  However, it makes almost no sense for the majority of readers, Moms and Dads, or anyone who cares about children's education. That is because technology, whether in the form of computers or the internet or e-books or whatever is next, is only a tool.  All the e-books and internet access in the world won't change a thing in the majority of U.S. schools.  Most students already have internet access in one form or another, whether at home, on their phones or at a library or school. Further, access to the wide-range of information available on the internet will not help students in any appreciable way.  In reality, students already have access to all...

After tweeting back-and-forth a few times with @ phdinparenting about the advertising of chocolate milk in schools, she posted her thoughts more fully at http://www.phdinparenting.com/ . This is my response. Milk, and even chocolate milk, can and certainly are health drinks; whatever that term means. The short answer is that milk itself contains many beneficial nutrients. And contrary to @phdinparenting, these nutrients are “essential,” as noted on Oprah.com : Calcium – builds health bones Protien – a source of energy and muscle repair Potassium – maintains blood pressure Phosphorus – strengthens bones Vitamin D – more bone goodness Vitamin B12 – maintains red blood cells and nerve tissue Vitamin A – immunity support, vision and skin benefits Riboflavin (B2) – energy booster Niacin – metabolizes sugars and fatty acids In fact, the nutrition label lists significant amounts of 14 vitamins and mineral.  The nutrition grade on Caloriecount.com varies by producer, but fo...

I have to admit, I’m kind of proud of the parenting job my wife and I have done thus far. For first time parents I feel like we are doing OK navigating very new and scary waters. For first time parents of triplets, I feel like we hit it out of the park. Something I like to keep in mind is that we are raising little adults.  Sure we have a broad idea of who we would like our kids to become, but in essence, what we parents are really doing is shepparding kids to adulthood.  As much as we'd like to think otherwise, genetic study after genetic study of multiples demonstrates that nothing but the very extremes of parenting conduct will affect your child.  Essentially, a child is born with genetic limits on athletic skill and intelligence.  Nothing you can do short of raising them in a closet will prevent them from reaching their "set point."  Try as you might, by second grade your kid will likely know X number of words.  Sure, you might be able to get him to X...

You'll want to get out in front of this behind, trust me. I'm usually an off-brand kind of dad.  We use Target-brand for most things, such as formula and diapers.  Its rare that I don't find the off-brand product to be the of the same quality as the more pricey, and sometimes much more pricey, name-brand product.  Honestly, how many facilities do you think manufacturer formula and diapers, and do you really think Target has its own?  Or is it more likely that Huggies rents out the downtime on its production line to Target? That is what makes this post so spectacular.  I'm going to recommend you use Triple Paste for your baby's diaper rash and other skin-related conditions over anything else.  We've tried the imitators, and none have come close.  Target's paste was too solid and hard to remove from the tube.  Triple Paste's tub, on the other hand, is easy to open and the product spreads like a dream.  All without the mess you might ...

I was going to post in this space about breastfeeding eventually.  It started when I joined Twitter recently as @triplethedad (follow me!) and started following a bunch of Mom and Dad types.  Although I previously experienced the ferver of the breastfeeding crowd, I was still taken aback by the militartism of some of them and the "us against them" attitude. I knew I would have to address it at some point, but honestly, as a Dad to formula fed triplets, I don't have a lot of experience or knowledge.  And further, while I'm not 100% comfortable around breastfeeding women, I have no problem with them/it and realize what they are doing is totally and completely natural.  So, between the lack of deep understanding and acceptance, I wasn't sure where to start.  What I did know was that I wanted to address the unnecassary ferver around the topic and the seeming war between formula and breast. Luckily, Jamie Lynn of Iamnotthebabysitter.com beat me to it in a post o...

We have such good kids that they aren't all that great to blog about.  I started this project thinking I probably had at least a week of nearly nightly posts about the ongoing battle to get Rand to to sleep in his crib and most maybe a month of ongoing discussion. Instead, I got one night of fighting. The next 5 all went relatively well.  Sure, on night 6 he woke up at 6 a.m. and cried on an off until his true wake-up time; and sure, he might not have gone to bed until late that night because he now enjoys his crib so much, but that isn't much of a blog-worthy crisis. There are still things to work on.  For instance, Rand still struggles during nap times and his crib mattress is still inclined, but otherwise I'm a pretty happy Dad. Instead, I have a glowing review of how adaptable my triplets are.  Good for you, kids, because adaptability will get you a long way in this world.