When You Lose Your Child at the State Fair
Is one really lost if they don’t know they are lost? That is a question I have returned to again and again after a recent incident at the State Fair of Minnesota. As Minnesotans living in the heat of…
Category Fatherhood
Handling Surge on the Road and at Home
As the driver of an 18-wheel tanker hauling food grade products, John Ogren is familiar with “surge.” He might be hauling anything from liquid chocolate to grape juice to soybean oil; it doesn’t make much difference when he needs to…
How Dads Make a Difference: From “The Boy Crisis” by Dr. Warren Farrell & Dr. John Gray
When I recently spoke with the Care Managers at Jordan Valley Clinic about the importance of fathers to children’s health, I was happy to have The Boy Crisis by Dr. Warren Farrell and Dr. John Gray to use as a…
Three Girls, Three Sports
How many of you are like me? While growing up you played as many sports as you could—baseball, basketball, football, and even soccer (VERY little)! I was NOT the best athlete. There were many of my teammates who did a…
“Read Me a Story. Read Me a Story, Daddy!”
From the time they are very young, children often love nothing better than to have a parent read to them. It doesn’t matter how many times they’ve heard the same story, if they’re younger than three or four, they want…
Teaching Good Manners
I grew up with a brother who was less than two years younger than me. We were raised by our hard working, single mother, along with equally hard working grandparents. I never really remember being taught “manners.” We kinda just…
Helping your Child Make Friends
As a parent, for the most part, we have the ability to help and protect our children as they grow. We can make sure they don’t go running in the streets, stick things in the outlets or consume toxic items.…
What a Good Dad Looks Like
Good dads are not always tall, handsome, charming, or engaging. Some are short, average looking, quiet and shy. But a good dad always looks like a hero to his children. His super power may be juggling oranges. His cape may…
The Value of Steady Service
A wise man once told me, “…what you practice in moderation, your children will excuse in excess.” That’s a profound declaration, and if we conduct an honest assessment, we will find that it is an unswerving truth. Yet, when you…
Why I Learned From My Dad
Kevin: Over the course of many years of parental investment, I have tried to calculate whether or not my fatherhood has made a difference in the life of my three boys. Being fully aware of all my weaknesses, I have…