Triple The Dad

Parents of all stripes, but new parents especially, are prone to worry. And why not? The early months of parenting are unlike anything you've encountered before. You are bone tired and lost at sea, having never been too sea before and without any way of knowing where you are, or even if you are on Earth. Many parents react to this situation by promptly taking out an auger and drilling a hole right through the bottom of their boat. The question is - right after "hey, where did they get that auger?" - why? Why do parents make it harder than it has to be. For one thing, if your kid does it, its probably normal. Like 99.9% probably normal. You see parents in advice columns and busily pounding away questions at Google like... My kid does X, is it normal? In fact, the first five Google suggestions for "my kid does..." are: 1) doesn't want to go to college 2) doesn't sleep 3) doesn't listen 4) doesn't play sports 5) doesn't eat ...

I'm just going to say it: The five-second rule is real. We (or at least I) practice it in our household. Now, I realize that once food touches the floor, even for a second, it has probably 99% of the germs it would have if it was left there for a full minute. I'm not so naive to think that picking food up off the floor within some five-second time frame magically keeps germs away. Instead, I use it as a guideline of sorts for my kids. Kids are devilish little things. They have lots of questions. How come we can say "yellow dye" but not "you die"? How come we can eat candy after dinner but not for breakfast? How come we can eat some  food off the floor, but not other food. Well, I'm here to tell you the answer is the five-second rule. Again, its not a germ prevention thing. Lots of times I use this as a short hand. If an uncooked noodle falls on the floor and its there less than 5 second, I'm putting it in the pot for boiling. Hey, its getting...

When it comes down to it, parenting is pretty much a crap shoot. It is like rolling a 100-sided die and having to pick the exact number it will land on. And getting it wrong means you'll have poop or permanent marker smeared on your face. Sure, you know all 100 numbers backwards and forwards, but that won't help you when you have poop lodged inside your nostril or a poorly drawn mustache on your face for that important work meeting. Because outside of a steady routine, just about anything else you do can be either entirely wrong for your kid, or the best parenting choice you could make. The worst part is you don't know which is what until its done. You can set strict rules and raise a good, god-fearing and law-abiding citizen who excels at everything he does; but you are just as likely to end up with some psychopath. You can provide no rules and raise a a free-spirited rebel, Gerry Garcia type; but you are just as likely to raise the next Charlie Sheen. It has as at least...

Are you worried your kid isn't getting enough fruits and vegetables?  How can you not be, right?  I mean, there are thousands of articles about it online and your kid is probably pushing his plateful of vegetables away with only a bit more gusto than he inhales sugars.  And then there are the judging eyes of other Moms and Dads and Grandparents.  It is really, really easy to worry that your kid is falling short of the recommended amount of veggies.  But are you sure? What I call the  Picky Eater Panic  occasionally rears its ugly head even to me when I see my kids wolf down pizza while vegetables sit sadly on their plates.  But its a mostly overblown fear.  The secret truth is that a serving of vegetables for you three-year old isn't that big and your kid is probably easily getting that much.  How much? About a quarter cup. That is the word from earthsbest.co m. Below are the serving sizes for three- to six-year-old kids (with the ...

I've written about the Picky Eater Panic in the past.  But I'm a vegetable eater and my three have all eaten pretty well.  Each has his or her own fav: one loves vegetables; one clearly loves fruit; and one appears to love carbs, but overall they've eaten what we have given them. Then, in the last month or so, things changed.  It crept in slowly.  First is was more of the green stuff left on plates, not a lot, but enough to notice, as if someone was trying to sneak through enemy lines.  Then it became a little more. And finally, it moved to the point where we were having to tell them to eat their vegetables or they wouldn't get anymore Mac & Cheese.  Picky eaters had arrived.  Would the Picky Eater Panic be far behind? I admit, I was concerned.  But then I went a Googling, and learned what a serving size is for 2-year-old kids. Did you know that for a 2-year-old kid or toddler, a serving is about a quarter or half of an adult serving? ...

Ok, so Christmas is right around the corner. If you haven't already finished shopping for you toddler, you are probably in a pure panic.  Sure, you can go out and see if anyone still stocks the Hug-Me Elmo, only to be upset, and further panicked, when you find they have it. Makes a surprisingly great Christmas gift for toddlers! Have no fear, Triple The Dad is here. This Christmas, get your toddler something both you and he can enjoy.  A Ninja blender. Ok, so you'll enjoy the blender more than he will.  But have you purchased gifts for a toddler?  Three quarters of the fun for them is in the opening of the wrapping paper and no less than half the fun is in playing with the box. So you'll let them open it, and play with the box while you get to work stuffing the child's new Ninja with fruits and veggies. I suggest you start out with a banana, a cup of frozen strawberries and say a half a cup each of milk and yogurt.  Let your kids help by dumping ...