How To Get From Great Dad To Super Dad

I am a man.

1. Put your children’s  interests first, always.

If you have some habits that are not conducive to your good health, continuing to engage in them is not in the best interest of your children.
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2. Protect Your Family

This in one of the main responsibilities of being a Dad. Start with safety.

Teach them good safety habits, and set a good example by using your seatbelt, school them on respecting fire and water, and the perils of drug and alcohol.

Protect them financially by obtaining and maintaining health and dental benefits. Never hand Mom out to dry.

3. Spend Ample Time With Your Children

We all come home from work tired and looking to relax. And no one expects you to head  out to the backyard or park for a game of touch football or hide and seek.

But you can have dinner together and discuss their day.

Or watch a family TV show together.

Ask to see or help them with homework.

Or just have talk hour. Be sure and tell them about your day (kids find some of the mundane characters and situations you encounter amusing). Make Thursday night Pizza night (Mom will love this too) Have pizza delivered, pop in a movie and enjoy. Even better go out for pizza….if it’s nice weather and the restaurant is close, walk together.

If you are not in the same household, you can still have quality time outside of the prearranged visits.

In New Jersey Death Doesn’t Let Parents Off The Hook For Their Child’s Student Loans

Amid a haze of grief after her son’s unsolved murder last year, Marcia DeOliveira-Longinetti faced an endless list of tasks — helping the police gain access to Kevin’s phone and email; canceling his subscriptions, credit cards and bank accounts; and arranging his burial in New Jersey.

And then there were the college loans.

When Ms. DeOliveira-Longinetti called about his federal loans, an administrator offered condolences and assured her the balance would be written off.

But she got a far different response from a New Jersey state agency that had also lent her son money.

Source: In New Jersey Student Loan Program, Even Death May Not Bring a Reprieve – The New York Times

Shout Out To The Baby Mamas Coming Through

“Baby Mama” is two words together that have been crudely stereotyped. The two words together often conjure up images of poor single women with multiple kids by often times multiple men. Baby Mama has been mistakenly articulated by many as a  single woman with a child or children on the outside of the union of marriage looking in.

The Tiresome Question I’m Often Asked About My Brown Kids: “Where Are They From?” — Embrace Race — Medium

I’m a white mother of six children, five of whom are children of color, and four of whom came home to our family through foster-adoption.

When I’m out and about with my kids, I often field questions about how my big, multiracial family came to be, and I try to receive them with generosity and openness — to a degree.

I want to give people the benefit of the doubt, and I hope that their curiosity stems from goodwill and perhaps an interest in adoption that comes from lived experience, or even from plans or hopes to become adoptive parents.

Racism and plain nosiness knows no boundaries.

Read the rest of this story @: The Tiresome Question I’m Often Asked About My Brown Kids: “Where Are They From?” — Embrace Race — Medium

What The Holidays Really Feel Like For Children Of Divorce

The stress that comes with splitting your life between two parents is in full-force around the holidays. When you’re a kid, your parents’ divorce is most exposed from November to January.

Rea More @What The Holidays Really Feel Like For Children Of Divorce