This week Mommy got your brother Jack a new book to help him transition into his upcoming “big brother” status: It’s called The Berenstain Bears’ New Baby; where Brother Bear gets a baby sister.
(By the way, you will be born into a family that greatly appreciates the folksy Jewish/Christian cultural perspective of the Berenstain Bears’ book collection.)
It’s important to me that I make sure your brother doesn’t feel left out when you get here. Whereas you’ll always know what it’s like to have a sibling, he will have 5 and a half years’ experience as an only child before that changes for him.
Mommy and I are going to be on the lookout for a special toy for him, upon your arrival; it likely will be a stuffed animal, as that’s the main thing he’s into.
My own parents did the same for me when my sister was born; I got a Garfield stuffed animal.
Similarly, last week Jack got you a doll for when you get here.
You are going to get so much attention from everyone once you arrive. You are our precious little girl.
I just want to make sure I do my best to proactively prevent this from being more difficult than it has to be as he soon will become a big brother.
Fortunately, he’ll be old enough to where I think it will work to his advantage; that he will be eager to use his “helper” skills.
Your personality will be formed, and his may be altered, as the two of you begin interacting; especially in your first couple of years together.
So as your Daddy, I feel responsible for creating the atmosphere and environment void as much as possible of competition, but instead, cooperation.
I think that this new Berentstain Bears book is a good way to help set the pace right.
Love,
Daddy
P.S. Here’s a picture your brother Jack drew of our family so far. Before too long, he’ll be drawing 4 people.
It’s common knowledge there aren’t nearly as many daddy bloggers as there are mommy bloggers; but to take it a step further, I specialize in family friendliness in my documented male perspective of parenthood.
On my blog, I believe in keeping things upbeat, positive, constructive, and artistic; and in particular, void of profanity, violence, or innuendos.
I want my blog to be an escape from negativity. I want to regularly expose my readers to a narrative featuring a traditional, loving, committed family.
Modern popular culture tries to sell us on this idea: “You don’t need a man in your life to raise a child or a family.”
Meanwhile, I instead see the invaluable importance of an involved husband and father.
“A good father is one of the most unsung, unpraised, unnoticed, and yet one of the most valuable assets to our society.”
Therefore, those of us husbands and fathers who do sacrifice everything for our families, who I believe are the majority, not the exception to the rule, fly under the radar.
That’s because we’re not broadcasting our good deeds and our loyalty to our family. We have nothing to prove to the rest of the world. Our family is our world.
Perhaps my role as a “family friendly daddy blogger” is to help celebrate fatherhood.
Most of my blog posts are weekly letters I write to my children. I enjoy, in real time, serving as their narrator; sharing picture collages to illustrate the stories I tell them about what is going on in their lives that week.
My goal is for my subtle stories to convey the message of the importance of family; and that the dad character is a crucial element in that formula.
It used to bother me that the committed father and husband character on TV shows is typically either portrayed as a bumbling fool (Tim Allen of Home Improvement) or a widowed saint (Danny Tanner of Full House).
Apparently, the concept of an involved husband and father who is not a walking bio-hazard and whose wife is still alive is difficult to capture in a television program.
But that doesn’t bother me anymore. I can’t control that.
What I can control is my family friendly daddy blog and how I positively portray fatherhood to a sometimes skeptical world that tends to forget that we committed husbands and fathers really do exist; and that we aren’t such a rare breed after all.
In the new book The Biggest Story: How the Snake Crusher Brings Us Back to the Garden! by Kevin DeYoung, and illustrated by Don Clark, the historic story of Christianity is brought to live in an overview “storytelling” format, beginning with Adam and Eve, and ultimately ending with the role of the modern day church.
I can honestly say I’ve never read a children’s Bible storybook anything like this before. The best way I can describe it is that it’s like a children’s minister explains how the stories of the Old Testament characters of the Bible are related to Jesus coming to Earth for the salvation of His people.
But the whole time, there’s this festive, Hebrew-ish artistic backdrop. The illustrations are simply amazing and unique.
Being exposed to this book actually reminded me of just how Jewish the Christian faith is; considering that 2/3’s, not half, of the Holy Bible is the Old Testament; the other half obviously being the New Testament.
This book explains how the Christian faith was ultimately born from the Jewish faith. It helps bridge the Old and New Testaments in a way children can begin to understand.
The Biggest Story: How the Snake Crusher Brings Us Back to the Garden! is intended for children ages 5 to 11.
I recognize that with my son being 4 years, 9 months old, the content of the book is a little above his comprehension level; though he is definitely intrigued by the mystery of it.
However, I definitely look forward to my son growing into this book.
*Congrats to Matt Wright, the winner of my giveaway of Family Friendly Daddy Blog, who will have a hard cover copy of The Biggest Story: How the Snake Crusher Brings Us Back to the Garden! sent to hishouse.
Did I just win The Biggest Story: How the Snake Crusher Brings Us Back to the Garden!?
OFFICIAL HASHTAGS: #BIGGESTSTORY and #FLYBY
“Disclosure (in accordance with the FTC’s 16 CFR, Part 255: “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising”): Many thanks to Propeller Consulting, LLC for providing this prize for the giveaway. Choice of winners and opinions are 100% my own and NOT influenced by monetary compensation. I did receive a sample of the product in exchange for this review and post.
Only one entrant per mailing address, per giveaway. If you have won a prize from our sponsor Propeller / FlyBy Promotions in the last 30 days, you are not eligible to win. If you have won the same prize on another blog, you are not eligible to win it again. Winner is subject to eligibility verification.”
A few weeks ago, Cast Iron Productions reached out to our family about the possibility of us being in a brand-new show on NBC, called The Family Project.
I have to admit, I feel honored that they chose us because A) they found our family simply because of my blog, which makes me very happy about my SEO, and B) because they said we seem like a really fun family based on what they saw on my blog, Family Friendly Daddy Blog.
After an email exchange, a phone interview, then a 2 hour Skype interview with our family, we were told we were good material for the show.
They liked specifically that we are a Christian, vegan/vegetarian family who doesn’t believe in spanking and who lives by an extremely enforced “Dave Ramsey” budget and who keeps our home spotlessly clean and who doesn’t own smart phones.
As far as what the show is about, here’s my best understanding:
It sounds like the concept of Wife Swap and The Real World combined. Instead of 2 polar opposite families swapping the wives in each family, it sounds like The Family Project will combine all the family members of both households in the same house.
They were clear with me that we would still have to work jobs, but it would be whatever my wife and I consider our “dream jobs”. As for me, that would mean full time blogging and making videos for my YouTube channel.
We had a lot of fun during the Skype interview, but I do have good reason to believe that ultimately, NBC will not be officially choosing us:
I was very clear with the casting agency that we have a complete Libertarian approach when it comes to our lifestyle:
In other words, we have no desire to enforce our beliefs on others. Therefore, I seriously doubt a camera crew would be able to get a rise out of me, which typically makes for “good reality TV.”
After all, conflict and chaos serves as the fuel of reality TV. From there, the audience watching is subconsciously prompted to pass judgment, thinking to themselves, “At least I’m not as crazy as that person!”
If one of the parents of the other family in the house tried to get me to debate with them on why we are vegans/vegetarians or Christians or why we won’t spank our child or why we live by a super strict budget, I simply wouldn’t argue back.
I am a man who is completely confident and secure in my beliefs. I have no desire to seek confirmation from anyone else.
While I’m always happy to explain any parts of our lifestyle, I back off the moment the other person thinks I am defending myself.
I have nothing to defend.
And I especially have no reason to argue with a non-Christian. Jesus didn’t argue with or try to fiercely convert those who were close-minded to His teaching.
Instead, He said time and time again, “Whoever has ears, let him hear.”
In other words, His teachings were meant for those who were listening; not those who tried to heckle him or prove him wrong.
I am a man who is completely confident and secure in my beliefs. I have no desire to seek confirmation from anyone else.
Where would the drama be in a reality show episode like that? Where is the conflict and chaos?
The only thing I can think of is to “try to get the Christians to crack” after being so irritated by the other family’s opposing “annoying” habits.
I’m not saying that’s impossible, but as Christians, our role isn’t to judge, but to serve others.
So I’m thinking, if their dirty dishes in the sink got in the way of our family making our own vegan meals, then we should probably help them out with their dishes.
Why would NBC pick us at this point? Yes, we’re a fun (and interesting) family; and yes, we have a different lifestyle compared to the American mainstream, I would assume.
But we have nothing to prove… or to defend… or to be offended by.
I have a feeling that just like with Steve Harvey and Katie Couric, when they approached me a couple of years ago about being on their shows, only to never call me back after they realized I wouldn’t argue with other guests on the show about my beliefs, that The Family Project will air without the Shell family.
Even still, I’m very curious to check the show out when it premieres in a few months!
Last Sunday morning, while on family vacation in Sacramento, I decided to get up “early” and go to the little old Presbyterian church there in my mother-in-law’s neighborhood.
For the 8 years I’ve been coming here each summer, I was always curious about that place. So I showed up in shorts, loafers, and a checkered button down shirt.
I appreciate how I can just arrive at a church filled with strangers, yet we all have an understanding of what we have in common; even though they’ve never seen me before.
Something I’ve gained a better understanding of over the years is that my current place in life typically illustrates the words of the Bible and the pastor’s sermon.
While he spoke about Jesus’s parable of the Prodigal Son, the main theme I took away was this:
We are all sinners in need of God’s grace. We are not good enough on our own.
This is actually a boldly countercultural statement. I’ve learned that most people who are not Christians will typically and quickly summarize why they don’t need to believe in Jesus as the Son of God:
“I’m a pretty good person. I’m not an ax murderer or anything.”
But Christianity teaches the opposite:
I am not a pretty good person. My pride and selfish thoughts alone are enough to keep me from being a “good person”, as they serve as evidence I was born with a sinful nature. Therefore, I need God’s salvation from myself, if nothing else; because my nature creates spiritual distance between God and myself.
But “the church of mainstream secular America”, by default, believes that if you’re a “pretty good person” then you don’t really need God.
So for a person to quickly and openly admit they’re not a “pretty good person,” it’s definitely countercultural.
The irony is that a stereotype of Christians is that they are “holier than though”; in other words, self-righteous and judgmental.
For the record, let me be clear. I am completely aware that I am not perfect. I am corrupted.
How can I judge anyone else when I am too distracted with the plank in my own eye?
I am not better than anyone; and if I ever think I am, then I am living in open rebellion against everything Jesus taught His followers.
Christianity is definitely offensive, though. If for no other reason, because it casts all of us in the same boat:
None of us are “pretty good people”. It’s only by setting aside our prideful thoughts of “I’m a pretty good person” that we can begin to learn what Jesus came to teach us.
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