raising4boys.com » Daily Life http://www.raising4boys.com parenting tips, tricks and commentary Sat, 18 Dec 2010 20:20:44 +0000 en hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.0 The Sweet Smell of Halloween Candy http://www.raising4boys.com/2009/11/01/the-sweet-smell-of-halloween-candy/ http://www.raising4boys.com/2009/11/01/the-sweet-smell-of-halloween-candy/#comments Sun, 01 Nov 2009 17:00:50 +0000 dad http://www.raising4boys.com/?p=699 Am I the only one who loves the smell of Halloween candy? No matter what you’ve collected while out trick-or-treating, it always smells the same when you stick your nose in the bag.

If you’re not sure what I’m talking about, go take a whiff of the Halloween candy that your kids just collected. It’s amazing. It’s also virtually impossible to describe — sort of an emergent property that arises whenever you combine multiple types of candy in a small space.

Mmmmm… The sweet smell of Halloween candy… In this case, the whole is definitely greater than the sum of its parts.

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]]> http://www.raising4boys.com/2009/11/01/the-sweet-smell-of-halloween-candy/feed/ 0 Strep, Impetigo, Sinusitis, and God Knows What Else http://www.raising4boys.com/2009/02/12/strep-impetigo-sinusitis-and-god-knows-what-else/ http://www.raising4boys.com/2009/02/12/strep-impetigo-sinusitis-and-god-knows-what-else/#comments Thu, 12 Feb 2009 14:39:54 +0000 dad http://www.raising4boys.com/?p=630 It’s been a long, long time since we’ve updated. What can I say? We’ve been busy. On top of that, we’ve also been sick. All of us. Not for the five months since I last updated, but for the past week or two. It started with Son #4 coming home sick from preschool…

In the beginning

At the time, we though that he just had a nasty virus, but we now suspect that he was a walking bug bomb. His “virus” eventually led to impetigo due to crusty, cracked nostrils. As unfortuante as that sounds, it may have turned out to be a blessing in disguise for him, as we think that the antibiotics took care of something else… Strep.

Anatomy of an outbreak

Last Friday, I came home from work early feeling like crap. Sore throat, achy, and exhausted, I crawled into bed and tried to recover. I felt better when flying high on my ibuprofen/acetaminophen cocktail, but otherwise I suffered through the weekend.

Meanwhile, Son #1 started feeling crappy on Saturday, a situation that deteriorated as time wore on. By Monday he puking and my throat still hurt. On Tuesday morning we went to the doctor. I was diagnosed with strep, whereas Son #1 was diagnosed with sinusitis (the resulting drainage was irritating his throat and upsetting his stomach). I got Omnicef, and he got a Z-Pac.

Puking in triplicate

Around that same time, my wife picked up Son #3 from school with a fever. Son #2 was still fine, so he stayed for the remainder of the day. By evening, they both hurled (after eating some pizza and drinking some red fruit punch). Lovely. Counting Son #1′s pre-dawn hurl, that meant that three of our four kids threw up that day. Son #4 was blissfully ignorant of the havoc that he had created, as he had long since recovered.

Recovery? Not so fast

On Wednesday, I was staring to feel better, but my lovely and talented wife was starting to feel like crap. On top of that, Son #1 was developing a bad cough reminiscent of an earlier bout with pneumonia. And Son #2 was still in pretty rough shape with a fever all day long, dizziness, and a sore throat. So…

This morning my wife, Son #1, and Son #2 all headed back to the doctor. She just called. The good news is that Son #1 doesn’t have pneumonia. Another bit of good news is that nobody else has strep (lucky me!). The bad news is that they’re now all on antibiotics combatting a sinus infection.

And so it goes. At least it’s not H. pylori, and nobody got hurt.

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]]> http://www.raising4boys.com/2009/02/12/strep-impetigo-sinusitis-and-god-knows-what-else/feed/ 2 How to Deal With a Bully at School http://www.raising4boys.com/2008/09/11/how-to-deal-with-a-bully-at-school/ http://www.raising4boys.com/2008/09/11/how-to-deal-with-a-bully-at-school/#comments Thu, 11 Sep 2008 10:02:32 +0000 dad http://www.raising4boys.com/?p=609 How do you teach your kids to deal with a bully? Our oldest son, who is currently ten (nearly eleven) years old and in 5th grade, told us last night that one of the kids in his class has been picking on him and calling him names.

A bit of background

While the name-calling has been pretty run-of-the-mill stuff so far, we don’t want it growing into something larger. Moreover, the kid in question apparently told our son that he’d “get him” during recess if he told a teacher. Given this, we’ve decided that it would best to nip it in the bud right now.

It seems that the protagonist is an equal opportunity bully, in that he’s been picking on and threatening a number of kids in the class, including a number of our son’s friend. From the sound of things, he’s a bit of a loner, and I suspect he’s lashing out because he feels left out.

Anyway, enough pop psychology…

Standing up to a bully

Rather than inserting ourselves into the situation, we’ve decided that it would be best for our son to try and work this out on his own, at least at first. To that end, we had a chat with him last night before bed and suggested some possible responses the next time this happens.

We certainly don’t want him to escalate things, so we’ve advised him to steer clear of this kid as much as possible. However, if confronted, we would like to see him stand up for himself, so…

First and foremost, we suggested that he respond to any further name-calling by simply making eye contact and telling the other kid (firmly and confidently) to:

“Stop calling me names.”

If asked what he’s going to do about it, we suggested that he respond matter-of-factly with:

“Tell the teacher.”

If he’s then greeted with a playground threat, we advised him to respond with:

“Stop threatening me. I’m not afraid of you.”

It doesn’t hurt that the kid is actually considerably smaller than our son, and he’s not actually afraid of him — he’s more annoyed than anything else. And to close with:

“If you don’t stop, I will tell the teacher.”

And then make good on his promise by telling the teacher.

The goal here is to be firm, confident, and non-provocative. In my experience, the vast majority of incidents like this happen because the protagonist enjoys getting a rise out of their mark, and they are further emboldened when their victim shies away from the confrontation, so… Say it like you mean it, and then act on it.

This is all new territory for use, so we’ll see how it goes.

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]]> http://www.raising4boys.com/2008/09/11/how-to-deal-with-a-bully-at-school/feed/ 14 The Boys of Summer Have Gone http://www.raising4boys.com/2008/08/14/the-boys-of-summer-have-gone/ http://www.raising4boys.com/2008/08/14/the-boys-of-summer-have-gone/#comments Thu, 14 Aug 2008 22:52:02 +0000 dad http://www.raising4boys.com/2008/08/14/the-boys-of-summer-have-gone/ Long time, no write… Our three oldest went back to school a week ago yesterday, and our youngest goes back to preschool on Monday. This year, he’ll be in for five days per week. That means that my lovely and talented wife gets some much needed downtime on weekday mornings.

On the topic of going back to school… When I was a kid, we always got out in early June and went back after Labor Day. Same deal in college. That schedule is now so engrained into my psyche that I have a really hard time adjusting to the idea that summer vacation starts in early May. By the time my mind and body accept the idea that it’s summer, there’s only two months left.

No matter, we had a great summer. Our three oldest had a great swim season early in the summer, and we also took a couple of nice trips. This includes a mid-summer week lakeside with family and a long end of summer weekend at the ocean.

The boys are now settling back into their school routine and we’re gearing up for fall soccer. While we coached three teams last fall and two in the spring, we’re scaling back to one this fall (though we might end up helping with a second).

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]]> http://www.raising4boys.com/2008/08/14/the-boys-of-summer-have-gone/feed/ 1 Babies, Birth Control, and Too Much TV http://www.raising4boys.com/2008/06/07/babies-birth-control-and-too-much-tv/ http://www.raising4boys.com/2008/06/07/babies-birth-control-and-too-much-tv/#comments Sun, 08 Jun 2008 01:08:44 +0000 dad http://www.raising4boys.com/2008/06/07/babies-birth-control-and-too-much-tv/ This evening my wife and I were joking around with son #1 (currently 10 years old). He was asking about whether or not we were planning on having another baby, and we responded with an emphatic “no.”

His response?

“Well, if you don’t want to have any more babies, you should get Mirena. It’s 99.9% effective, and it’s also reversible in case you change your mind.”

Hmmm… I think somebody has been watching too much TV!

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]]> http://www.raising4boys.com/2008/06/07/babies-birth-control-and-too-much-tv/feed/ 1 Things You Could Never Imagine Saying… http://www.raising4boys.com/2008/05/20/things-you-could-never-imagine-saying/ http://www.raising4boys.com/2008/05/20/things-you-could-never-imagine-saying/#comments Tue, 20 May 2008 13:37:31 +0000 dad http://www.raising4boys.com/2008/05/20/things-you-could-never-imagine-saying/ …before you became a parent:

“Get your hands out of your pants and finish your lunch.”

“Your buttcrack is not sanitary. Go wash your hands.”

“Either sit on the toilet or go to bed. This is not a game.”

“I saw you pick and eat it. Go wash your hands — I don’t want them on my computer.”

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]]> http://www.raising4boys.com/2008/05/20/things-you-could-never-imagine-saying/feed/ 7 School Pictures are a Scam http://www.raising4boys.com/2008/05/02/school-pictures-are-a-scam/ http://www.raising4boys.com/2008/05/02/school-pictures-are-a-scam/#comments Fri, 02 May 2008 12:39:20 +0000 dad http://www.raising4boys.com/2008/05/02/school-pictures-are-a-scam/ I remember back when I was a kid. We had school pictures once a year, and they were a pretty big deal. Everyone got dressed up, our moms combed our hair extra well before we left for school, and then our pictures (no matter how goofy) ended up being displayed throughout the house.

Well, it’s still a big deal, but… It now happens twice a year and the packages have gotten much bigger and more expensive. It seems that the new expectation is for us to buy pictures during both the fall and the spring.

On top of this, our preschool takes pictures twice a year, as well. The real bummer for us this past week is that they sent the proof home and Son #4 (three years old) promptly snatched it off the table and lost it. Not a huge deal, right? Well… For whatever reason, the proof costs far more than a regular picture, and we’d be on the hook for it if we didn’t return it by today.

The real bummer of this is that the proof has a big watermark across it declaring that it’s the property of the photographer. Thus, even if it eventually turned up, it would be of no use to use.

Thankfully, under intense questioning, he had a moment of toddler clarity and told us he had slipped it under the carpet in the living room (we have a large area rug over hardwood in that room). Ah, yes, of course… We looked high and low, but not quite low enough.

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]]> http://www.raising4boys.com/2008/05/02/school-pictures-are-a-scam/feed/ 10 The Buzz Cuts are Back http://www.raising4boys.com/2008/03/19/the-buzz-cuts-are-back/ http://www.raising4boys.com/2008/03/19/the-buzz-cuts-are-back/#comments Wed, 19 Mar 2008 10:33:52 +0000 dad http://www.raising4boys.com/2008/03/19/the-buzz-cuts-are-back/ One of the first signs of spring has visited our house… Three out of four of our boys are once again sporting buzz cuts. It’s not secret that I cut my own hair, and in the summers we buzz the boys as well.

The lone holdout right now is our six year old, whose hair has recently garnered compliments ranging from people telling him that his hair “looks like gold” to someone saying that it’s “delicious.” As long as that keeps up, I suspect he’ll want to keep his hair. The good news is that his hair grows the slowest of the four, so it still hasn’t gotten shaggy.

What this means in practical terms is that we now only have to worry about one case of raging bedhead before getting the boys out the door to school. And guess what? The boys love this as much as we do. No more combs running through scraggly hair, much less of a rush in the wee hours of the morning, etc.

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]]> http://www.raising4boys.com/2008/03/19/the-buzz-cuts-are-back/feed/ 3 The Challenges of Having (More) Kids http://www.raising4boys.com/2008/03/05/the-challenges-of-having-more-kids/ http://www.raising4boys.com/2008/03/05/the-challenges-of-having-more-kids/#comments Wed, 05 Mar 2008 13:50:35 +0000 dad http://www.raising4boys.com/2008/03/05/the-challenges-of-having-more-kids/ As you know, we have four little boys running around the house — though I’m somewhat hesitant to use the term “little” since they’re growing so fast. Anyway, with that as a backdrop, I thought I’d share some thoughts on the transitions from zero to one child, one to two children, etc.

Zero to one: Monumental. Having your first child results in an infinite increase in the number of kids in your house. Life will never be the same again. But that’s a good thing.

One to two: Doubling the number of kids in your house. A major change, but not as big as the first one. And you’re still not outnumbered.

Two to three: Thus is a smaller proportional increase, but now you’re outnumbered. In basketball terms, you now have to switch from a man-to-man defense to a zone defense.

Three to four: Life is so out of control at this point that you’ll hardly notice the change. Not really, but kinda. Having a new baby with three other kids running around is a challenge, but by this point you’re sorta used to the chaos.

Four to five: We’ll never know… :)

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]]> http://www.raising4boys.com/2008/03/05/the-challenges-of-having-more-kids/feed/ 6 The Miracle Bus http://www.raising4boys.com/2008/02/20/the-miracle-bus/ http://www.raising4boys.com/2008/02/20/the-miracle-bus/#comments Wed, 20 Feb 2008 12:11:44 +0000 dad http://www.raising4boys.com/2008/02/20/the-miracle-bus/ It’s 7:11 AM, and the “Miracle Bus” just came and went. That’s how my lovely and talented wife refers to the school bus that ferries our kids to and from school everyday. Somehow, some way, they board the bus as little hooligans, transform into absolute angels for the duration of the school day, and then morph back into their old selves by the time they step off the bus at the end of the day. Amazing. While we love the fact that our kids are perfect little angels all day long, we wouldn’t mind having the bus run in reverse every once in awhile.

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