Your brother loves you very much. And you love him just as much. But there is no doubt that at least half of the time, the two of you require a mediator, or referee, to help keep down the chaos level in our house.
And that role goes to me.
In addition to the two hour window between you both waking up and your brother getting on the bus, much of my energy goes to helping remind your brother to leave you alone.
His way of showing you that he loves you tends to include him tackling you with a pillow or conducting the rowdiest version of “Ring around the Rosey” I have ever seen.
Most of the time, his activities result in you laughing. But that does mean that sometimes, and I never know when, the result will be you crying instead.
I do my best to let the two of you naturally play together without my intervention; or prevention of destruction. Still, I feel like a referee, or at least a Quality Control Manager.
But there are definitely times where the two of you get along so easily, that I feel that things are a little too easy for me.
It’s a regular thing for you just to hang out next to Jack while the two of you eat snacks. Neither of you show any direct attention to each other. You’re both just content to be sitting next to each other.
So when you’re just chilling out together, my role is not so necessary. But the moment you both get up to go play in the living room, I always have to think to myself:
“Is this going to be a time where they quietly just play Legos together? Or is this going to be where they potentially break furniture?”
I assume it’s the norm these days for elementary schools to have some sort of faux-money merit system for their students. You often come home from school saying, “I earned some loot today!”
Based on last year in Kindergarten, as you spent it pretty much the moment you earned it, I figured you were doing the same this year; immediately spending it on erasers or bouncy balls or something.
But when you came home from school this Tuesday, you immediately announced to Mommy and me:
“I’ve got 100 loot now!”
You went on to explain there is a stuffed animal you were going to spend it on at the school store the next day.
And that’s exactly what you did.
Apparently, it’s not so common for most of the students in your class to save up 100 or more loot. But you did it!
So things were extra special when you were able to show us your new prize, and then on the same day, Mommy happened to receive some Pokemon-themed gifts from a co-worker who recently traveled to Japan.
You made it sound like that blue dog was the most expense thing you cared about in the school store. Now that you have obtained it, and you still have a few more months left of 1st grade, I wonder what will be the tangible motivation for saving up more loot.
Of course, the fundamental psychological part of this story is not that you got earned a stuffed animal at your school.
Instead, it’s that at your school, you have done a consistently great job of behaving and getting your work done.
The blue dog reinforces that fact. The blue dog serves as a trophy for you being a good citizen in your class.
Wikibuy partnered with bloggers such as myself for this program. I received monetary credit for my time, creativity, and SEO platform. I was not told what to purchase nor what to say about any product mentioned in these posts. Wikibuy believes that consumers and bloggers are free to form their own opinions and share them in their own words. Wikibuy’s policies align with WOMMA Ethics Code, FTC guidelines, and social media engagement recommendations.
I wanted something that was rugged, understated, and practical. When I did find one that came close to my idea of what I believed I was looking for, it was a bit more than I was willing to spend.
But all my dreams came true this week when the folks at Wikibuy reached out to me and offered me a $75 credit to spend on anything I wanted, in exchange for spreading the word about Wikibuy and including a link back totheir site.
Wikibuy operates as a website and Chrome extension that finds you the best deals across the web on products you already are looking for. They don’t sell the products, they just match you with the best prices.
I immediately agreed, yet I figured most of the 75 dollars would go towards the backpack. Fortunately, I was way wrong.
That’s amazing because all the other bags I had found on my own were easily double that amount. With the remaining stipend Wikibuy gave me to promote their website today, I ordered a backdrop to start using for my YouTube videos. You should start seeing it displayed in my upcoming videos within the next couple of weeks.
So, back to my backpack; it is everything I was looking for. It’s perfect for my needs.
Our family travels from Tennessee to California (where my wife is from) once a year. This will be my carry-on. I can easily toss it under my seat on the plane and not have to deal with awkwardly stuffing it in the overhead bin.
Plus, we go on a few other road trips each year as well; like to Florida or Kentucky or North Carolinaor Georgia for a mini-vacation. I will cram as much of my stuff as I can into my bag.
And as opportunities are increasing for me as a freelance writer and videographer for other companies, this backpack will easily store my equipment; including my laptop and tripod.
I am not a suitcase kind of guy. I prefer everything to be compartmentalized and easily accessible. To me, that’s an important element in how men are wired.
This backpack is an extension of my identity.
Of course, I will point out the underlying irony that a “family friendly” daddy blogger is promoting a “military assault” backpack.
Oh well. The only “weapon” I’ll be hauling in it to “shoot” anything with will be my Canon PowerShot G7 X camera.
It always bothered me on Full House, how the Tanner girls all had blonde hair and blue eyes, yet their dad, played by Jewish-American actor Bob Saget, had dark hair and eyes. The girls’ mother was of Greek descent; we know this because of their uncle Jesse Katsopolis.
Then, to further this unlikely concept, when Uncle Jesse and Aunt Becky had twins, their boys had light skin along with blonde hair and blue eyes. One fan theory on the Internet speculates that it was Uncle Joey who was the true father of all 5 kids.
And while that is funny to think about, I now have come to a full understanding of how dark featured parents (like my wife and myself) have children with noticeably lighter features (like our kids).
We have to keep in mind that we adopt half of our DNA from our father and half from our mother, but in the 50% from each parent, it’s a random amount from each.
So it’s this simple, even if there is less “blonde hair, blue eye” genes in the parents, their own children may feature that “hidden” DNA. This also explains how different siblings can look from each other.
To help bring this story to life, below is a breakdown of my own DNA, according toMyHeritage. My maternal grandmother was Mexican and my maternal grandfather was Italian. My mom’s DNA test results showed only 2% Italian, but 15.2% Sephardic Jewish and 14% Middle Eastern. While I definitely received a large amount of DNA from the Mexican side, I adopted absolutely no DNA from the Italian side; which now we realize was a Jewish-Middle Eastern mix.
My DNA:
37.4% North and Western Europe (Germany, France, The Netherlands)
31.8% Iberian (Spain, Portugal)
21.6% Native Central American (Mayan, Aztec, etc.)
6.1% East Europe
2.3% Balkan
0.8% Middle East
Now let’s take a look at my wife’s DNA. Her mother, like mine, is also half Italian. From my wife’s DNA test, we learned that in addition to being Italian, my wife is a decent amount Greek.
My Wife’s DNA:
31.8% England
23.9% Scandinavia
20.1% Greece
7.8% Balkan
5.8% Italy
3.9% Finland
2.7% Ireland, Scotland, Wales
1.9% North Africa
1.4% Ashkenazi Jewish
0.7% Nigeria
But when you break down the most abundant DNA showing up, you’ll see how our kids ending up getting the lighter features. Below are the results of me adding together the DNA from both my wife and me, then dividing it by two. I have ranked the results beginning with the most prominent. The DNA in italics are from my side, the DNA from my wife is in bold font.
Our Children:
18.7% North and Western Europe (Germany, France, The Netherlands)
15.9% Iberian (Spain, Portugal)
15.9% England
11.95% Scandinavia
10.8% Central American-Mexican
10.05% Greek
5.05% Balkan (3.9% Balkan + 1.15% Balkan)
3.05% East Europe
2.9% Italian
1.95% Finland
1.35% Ireland, Scotland, Wales
0.95% North Africa
0.7% Ashkenazi Jewish
0.4% Middle East
So in theory, our kids largely show the German-Dutch-English-Scandinavian genes, while the Spanish-Central American-Greek-Sephardic Jewish-Middle Eastern are more hidden.
Even still, I won’t be surprised, as our kids get older, that they will begin showing more of the rest of their unseen DNA.
I now have peace with why the kids of Full House look the way they do. If you’re curious about your own DNA, you can do like my wife and I did and purchase a kit fromMyHeritage.
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Earlier this morning, I invented a concept that I feel is so relevant, it must be should shared with the free world immediately. However, I predict it will be either widely ignored or passionately panned by critics.
It’s this simple: In order to be in charge of your own life, and therefore your own success, you have to be in conscious control of 5 main aspects: Your emotions, your food, your money, your time, and your creativity.
If you don’t learn to directly take control of these things, they will take control of you instead.
I submit to you that each of these 5 parts of your life is undeniably intertwined. I theorize that if you’re not good at managing your diet, there’s a higher likelihood you’re not good at managing your finances. If you’re not good at managing your time, you’re not good at managing your money. And so on…
Let me continue to bring my theory to life by focusing on each of my 5 Steps to Simple Self-Help:
Emotion:
I’ve realized that one of the greatest advantages (and superpowers!) I have in my life is that I utilize a valuable secret about how the world works: That I myself get to decide who controls my own emotions. However, most people live their lives the opposite way. Instead, they live as constant potential “victims” of someone insulting or offending them. Most people think, “But I’m a good person.” So when another “good person” offends them, it’s an attack on their “good” identity. I have learned that, like choosing to forgive, being emotionally affected by other people is always a choice; though it’s often not an easy one.
Money:
My wife and I have survived some intense and trying financial times. In the first half of our nearly decade of being married so far, my wife and I made some poor decisions in our naivety. In addition to already being in tens of thousands of dollars in debt due to college loans and our wedding, we then chose to move back to my home state, without landing jobs first! Needless to say, recovering from that experience made us grow up real quick. We are now faithful followers of Dave Ramsey, having been debt-free for the 2nd half of our nearly decade of marriage, and we are continuing to grow our savings; despite me losing my job 100 days ago.
Food:
We all know that America is one of the wealthiest and most obese nations in the world. America produces enough food from plants to feed the rest of the world, yet the majority of that food is used to feed the animals that Americans eat. Our culture teaches, “You need to make sure you’re getting enough protein.” The irony is, most Americans are either overweight or obese. I submit that in reality, we are getting too much protein, along with too much fat, too much cholesterol, too much oil, and too much sugar. But to be faithfully determined to eat more whole fruits, vegetables, and grains, and less processed foods and animal products, well; that would require more discipline, education, and open-mindedness. Most people will say they have a busy schedule and there’s just not enough time for that.
Time:
It’s true, our stress levels are high and we have less time in our schedules. But ultimately, we still determine how we spend what little free and unassigned time we have. I submit we naturally place a higher value on casual entertainment (Facebook, Netflix, watching sports) for our free time, than we do on using that time to create. It’s easier to consume than to create, so that’s what most people end up doing in their free time. Just like when a budget for your income, it’s just as important to budget your time; not spend it carelessly.
Creativity:
I have learned that without focusing on being creative, we tend to to consume. That goes for ideas to solutions as well. Without using our brain muscles to find a new solution or method, we tend to continue doing what doesn’t work for us. It’s easy and natural to blame the establishment or other people when there is a problem. Instead, imagine the power and respect you gain when you make an effort to find a better way and just start doing it. And then surprise… it actually works! I guess that’s what this system of mine is all about.
As we consider all 5 of these, the initial reaction is to think, “Well that’s the problem, Nick. If only other people weren’t so rude, and if meat didn’t taste better than broccoli, and if I just made more money, and if I had more time in my day, and if I was wired to be creative like you are, then everything would be easier.”
No.
I submit that it would not.
My system teaches that it’s a conscious decision to take control of your life, regarding your emotions, your diet, your finances, your time, and your creativity.
I think my system makes life easier.
But I also think most people won’t be able to get past the first thing on the list. Most people would rather give other people control over their own emotions. It’s identity protective cognition to remain as the victim instead of choosing to be victorious. I say as long as you continue to think that way, it will inevitably affect how your control the other 4 entries on my list.
I am hereby inviting you to accept your potential superpower. It’s your call. It depends on no one else but you.
I assume this article will either be ignored and hated by the general public. I completely understand why. But in the rare event anyone agrees, I’d appreciate you letting me know; not because I need the confirmation, but because it will show other readers that I’m not as crazy as I sound!
Family Friendly Daddy Blog 