Author: Family Friendly Daddy Blog

Leave a comment Posted on parenting, Storytelling

You Can’t Choose Your Parents

February 9, 2013 at 12:21 am , by 

2 years, 2 months.

Dear Jack,

In this very moment, here is exactly what’s going through my mind:

You really do have a weird man for a dad.

I realize that’s nothing I need to apologize for. After all, my quirkiness and passionate beliefs are what attracted Mommy to me in the first place.

So ultimately, you are here today because I’m not so normal of an American man.

We’ll make this thing work, though. You’ll turn out fine.

It’s just that I have a feeling as you get older, your friends will all be aware that your dad is… a bit on the eccentric side.

You’ll be the kid with the dad who doesn’t eat meat, doesn’t use any products that contain sodium laurel sulphate, doesn’t use microwaves, doesn’t pay for cable or smart phones, and doesn’t believe in using credit cards.

I’ll be that Libertarian, yet law-abiding; conservative, yet open-minded; Generation Y father who happens to live on the outside of what is often mainstream.

To be honest, I only recently realized how off-beat a demographic I am a part of. As I look back through the letters I’ve written you, I see that often my worldview does not necessarily reflect that of the majority.

So the question is, how will that affect you?

Am I brainwashing you? Probably a little bit. However, I don’t see how I’m brainwashing you any more than any other parent out there.

That’s one of the scary parts about being a parent. As your dad, I greatly influence your worldview, whether I mean to or not.

You can’t choose your parents. I’m the one you ended up with, though.

Whether it’s for better or for worse, I take pride in showing you my version of how the world works and/or how it should work.

Ultimately, what I want for you isn’t any different than what I assume any parent wants for their child:

I want you to know you are loved, you are special, and you are wanted. I want you to be confident in yourself, strong in your beliefs, and caring to others.

Maybe I’m not that weird of a dad after all…

 

Love,

Daddy

Leave a comment Posted on Health, parenting

My Kid Wants To Eat The Same Few Meals For Dinner Every Night

February 6, 2013 at 10:41 pm , by 

2 years, 2 months.

Dear Jack,

After you bought groceries by swiping Mommy’s expired debit card on your high chair, you proceeded to bring a box of Annie’s macaroni and cheese to your Thomas the Train play table, along with two plates and two spoons.

“I make Jack and Daddy dinner,” you casually proclaimed.

You shook the closed orange box upside down and stirred the invisible pasta into a plate, then served me.

I ended up having seconds, then thirds.

To you, dinner means Annie’s whole wheat macaroni and cheese. Period.

It’s not that your parents haven’t tried to introduce you to other options. You’ll eat rice and beans, quesadillas, pizza, bananas, goldfish crackers, bananas, raisins, pureed fruit, cereal, and… well, actually, that’s pretty much it.

However, if we gave you macaroni and cheese every single night for dinner, you would never complain or ask for anything else.

Tonight, Mommy decided to mix things up by making Macaroni and Cheese Cupcakes, based on a recipe she found online from Giada of The Food Network.

We substituted fresh carrots for the chicken that the recipe called for, meaning your macaroni and cheese for tonight was full of vegetables.

You liked the Mac and Cheese Cupcakes. We will be repeating this recipe.

So here is the takeaway:

Don’t be surprised if we start tossing broccoli, carrots, and zucchini into the other few menu items you eat, like your rice and beans, pizza, and quesadillas.

As your parents, we no longer have to feel slightly guilty about only feeding you the few select meals you will actually eat.

We will simply begin enhancing your “bread and cheese” meals with whole veggies. If you don’t like it… then you can eat cereal.

 

Love,

Daddy

 

 

 

 

 

 

Leave a comment Posted on parenting, Storytelling

Will Cash Be Obsolete To The Class Of 2029?

February 4, 2013 at 11:04 pm , by 

2 years, 2 months.

Dear Jack,

This past Saturday morning as I laid down on the floor in a haze, having woken up at 5:40 AM with you, I watched you carry around one of Mommy’s old purses, which for some reason you called your “wallet like Daddy’s.”

You then took out an old expired debit card and slid it across your high chair:

“I buy groceries with my money.”

The fact you have quietly observed Mommy and I scan our debit card enough times to associate that action with the word “money” is interesting to me.

You do understand the concept of coins being money because you have a piggy bank.

However, I’m pretty sure you have no idea whatcash is. I just don’t know that you’ve ever seen Mommy or I use it.

By the time I graduated high school in 1999, I had never even heard of a debit card. All I ever used to buy anything was the green stuff, not a card.

You will graduate high school exactly 30 years after Mommy and I did. It will be the year 2029.

I’m wondering by the time you’re 18, if using cash to buy something will be as obsolete as land line phones, video rental stores, or writing checks.

To you, money may simply be a debit card. (We are Dave Ramsey followers so the thought of a credit card is taboo in our family.)

As for me, I grew up seeing how much each individual bill was worth. I knew that I preferred a $10 bill over a $1 bill. The numbers meant something more… certainly quantifiable.

For you, though, the concept of money will be much different if you grow up using a debit card instead of cash. When you look down at a debit card, you won’t literally see a sign noting $20.

Therefore, it becomes your parents’ responsibility to teach you the importance of budgeting. We must incorporate in your mind that a debit card does not symbolize simply the total amount of money in the account, but more importantly, it symbolizes the key to accessing the specific amount set aside for that exact purchase that particular day.

Mommy and I have definitely had to learn the hard way when it comes to money. But this week, we are paying off our other car.

Then, we’ll just have the rest of my student loans before we’re debt-free.

I think it’s cool to see you scan your debit card like Mommy and Daddy. I really look forward to teaching you how money works; even if it’s without getting our hands on cold, hard cash.

 

Love,

Daddy

Leave a comment Posted on Health, parenting

Children’s Yogurt That Is All Natural, Vegetarian, Kosher, and Affordable

February 3, 2013 at 11:42 pm , by 

2 years, 2 months.

Dear Jack,

I have trust issues with major yogurt brands. They have a nasty habit of throwing in mysterious ingredients that I can’t feel good about you consuming, as your health freak dad.

Like I mentioned yesterday in “Buying The Family’s Groceries Based On Ingredients, Not Calories,” I’m a stickler for finding out what’s in food, then researching the ingredients I’m unsure of:

“When we’re buying groceries, the first thing we look for on the front of the package is ‘No artificial flavors, artificial colors, artificial sweeteners, or high fructose corn syrup.’”

This past weekend I did my homework. I went to different grocery stores comparing their yogurt brands.

Here’s what I learned:

Even aside from all the fake red food dye which is derived from their petroleum or bugs, the well-known yogurt brands put gelatin in their product.

That means that their yogurt contains a mixture of the skin, cartilage, horns, and bones from animals like pigs and cows; or fish, if it’s labeled “kosher gelatin.”

Interestingly, the more expensive organic brands of yogurt, often aimed at babies and young children, do not contain gelatin.

It’s not just because we’re vegetarians that we avoid ground up animal bi-products in our foods. The way I see it, a hundred years ago when people ate yogurt, they probably didn’t go through the efforts to sprinkle their yogurt with gelatin.

Since I’m very deliberate that our family avoids processed foods as much as possible, I feel that a non-meat food product that requires ground up animal bi-products to taste or look right is too processed for us.

What is the alternative to gelatin in yogurt? Locust bean gum, which is derived from the seeds of trees; I assume they cost more than the animal bi-products that gelatin comes from.

However, there was one brand of yogurt that met all my strict qualifications: It had to be all natural, healthy, vegetarian, kosher, and yet still as affordable as the competition.

The winner… Chobani Greek Yogurt!

So I bought you an 8 pack of their Champions Tubes, which are portable pouches of their Greek Yogurt.

You had no hesitation in trying it. In fact, your immediate response after your first taste was, “I can like it!”

Then I grabbed a tube myself and realized just how good it was. I’ve never tasted yogurt that was so pure and “unchemically,” which is a word I just made up.

You immediately got upset that I ate one of yourChobani Champions Tubes.

Jack, just realize how epic that is. You got upset with me because I took from you the only all natural, vegetarian, kosher, and yet still affordable yogurt on the mainstream market.

We both win.

My congrats to Chobani Greek Yogurt, who I’m sure have no idea who I am, for earning my trust and becoming the only yogurt brand that shares my same high standard and beliefs in what good food should be.

I can like it.

 

Love,

Daddy

Chobani Champions® quick facts featured on their website:
  • Only natural ingredients
  • No synthetic growth hormones, preservatives, or artificial sweeteners
  • A good source of protein
  • An excellent source of vitamin D
  • A good source of bone-building calcium
  • Five live and active cultures, including three strains of probiotics
  • Gluten-free and Kosher certified
  • Free of nut, soy, wheat, and shellfish allergens
  • Available in four delicious flavors that kids will love. (Verry Berry, Honey-Nana, Orange Vanilla and Vanilla Chocolate Chunk)
Leave a comment Posted on Health, parenting

Buying The Family’s Groceries Based On Ingredients, Not Calories

February 2, 2013 at 11:32 pm , by 

2 years, 2 months.

Dear Jack,

Having kept off the 25 pounds I lost in 2009, it’s weird to look back and see a “beefier” version of myself.

That picture you see is from September 2008; just a few months after Mommy and I got married; back in the days before I had to change my lifestyle to combat and eventually get rid of my dyshidrotic eczema.

Those were the days before I ate actual fruit; instead I was drinking fruit juice, which increased my intake of processed sugar and stripped the fruit of its crucial fiber content.

Those were the days I was still drinking low-fat milk, which actually promotes weight gain; instead of exclusively drinking whole milk like our family does now. (I tested this out on myself and documented it online for any doubting Thomases.)

I wasn’t drinking 3 liters of water a day to help wash out the toxins I’m exposed to on a daily basis.

I wasn’t taking walks during my breaks at work or finding some other way to be physically active for at least 25 minutes a day, minimum.

I was eating more than 4 to 6 ounces of meat a day; which slowed down my digestion.

Only a few people said anything about it to me, back in 2009: “Hey, you’ve gained some weight since getting married, haven’t you?”

But as a guy, I wasn’t really concerned about gaining weight. Honestly, I wouldn’t have changed anything if it weren’t for the constant headaches, digestion problems, rashes all over my body, noticeable acne, and blistered, swollen hands.

It wasn’t until I lost 25 pounds and got down to the proper weight, that my health problems seemed to just magically disappear.

If I could narrow it down to one main thing I started doing differently that made the biggest difference in improving my health, and as a side effect, losing excess weight, it was that I started doing everything I could toavoid processed foods.

In other words, I stopped counting calories and started reading ingredients.

Most popular diet programs seem to be based on the idea that once you run out of your calories for the day, you have to stop eating. That means that it’s okay to eat a fast food burger, fries, and a soda for lunch, but you may not be able to “afford” a healthy banana with dinner.

Interestingly, our family never counts calories, nor do we refrain from eating when we’re hungry. The secret is, there are a lot of ingredients we won’t eat.

When we’re buying groceries, the first thing we look for on the front of the package is “No artificial flavors, artificial colors, artificial sweeteners, or high fructose corn syrup.”

All of those ingredients make the product a red flag for it being a highly processed food.

That would explain why finding a good yogurt brand for you is a bit problematic. I’ll be writing to you about that tomorrow…

We also check out the daily percentage for the sugar content and sodium content, which explains why we avoid granola bars and soup.

Another red flag is any food that has the word “diet” or “light” in it. We just say no to mysterious chemicals.

While a diet soda doesn’t contain the sugar content a normal soda does, if nothing else, it distracts us from the drinking enough water for the day.

Why are we not constantly craving foods full of fat and sugar? Why are we not constantly hungry?

Here’s the secret: We capitalize on the good fats, good proteins, and good sugars.

Good fats and proteins include nuts, avocados, seeds and minimally processed dairy products; as opposed to consuming more than 4 to 6 ounces of meat per day, depending on body weight.

Good sugars include whole fruits and whole grains; as opposed to sweet tea, soft drinks, sugary coffees, cake, candy, and white bread.

Because we build our snacks and meals around the good foods, not their evil counterparts, we are able to give our bodies the natural nutrients they need and crave.

This is the life you were born into, Jack. You have Mommy and I as parents. As you get older, it may seem we are depriving you of the good stuff.

Just remember, we learned when you were an infant that you have inherited the eczema from me. So if we don’t keep you on the straight and narrow, it will lead to a life of pain, discomfort, and frustration for you.

We live this way because we care about you.

 

Love,

Daddy

 

P.S. I’m not a doctor or nutritionist, nor do I have a product or program to sell here. I am just a dad who happened to learn this stuff through trial and error; using myself as a Guinea pig.

Everything I have shared with you today was simply what I taught myself from the process of trying to figure out the cure to eczema.

Again, I have been eczema-free since 2009. I am very eager and willing to respond with any other readers of this letter who have more questions about anything I have mentioned here today or want to learn about more additional ways to cure eczema.