Canadian Dad Podcast - Kelly Flannigan Bos

Canadian Dad Podcast – Ep. 7 – Psychotherapist & Relationship Expert, Kelly Flannigan Bos

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This week on the podcast I had the chance to speak to psychotherapist and relationship expert, Kelly Flannigan Bos. Kelly is also The Relationship Rescuer blogger with the Yummy Mummy Club and we had a chance to talk about her role on the site.

We talk about a range of topics, including conscious uncoupling, marital stress, putting your marriage first and how to take small steps towards rekindling your relationship.

Finally we discuss the stigma behind seeking counseling and Kelly explains why it’s important with any type of counseling that you get the help you need before it’s too late.

I hope you enjoy this episode as much as I did and many thanks to Kelly for taking the time to chat.

Disaster Wall Art Gallery

How To Create A Beautiful Wall Art Gallery

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Ah, the disaster wall. That’s what I call the dedicated space in the picture shown above. For years my wife and I have been adding to it with no rhyme or reason behind the placement of the photos. I keep saying that I am going to fix it but then Game of Thrones comes on or my son wants to play Pokemon and I completely forget about “the wall”…

This past week I received an email from Canon, asking if I would like to take part in their campaign for the Canon PIXMA PRO printer. While watching their promo video I was excited to see that my blogging friend, Alex, from I Don’t Blog was featured, as her husband had surprised her by using the Canon PIXMA PRO to fix up their disaster wall! Fun Fact: Alex calls me Emmet because she thinks I look like “the Special” from the LEGO Movie…

After watching the video, I got excited about surprising my wife by fixing up our disaster wall. Don’t tell her, okay? Canon was kind enough to create a webpage that gives step by step instructions on how to create a beautiful wall art gallery with help from the Canon PIXMA PRO printer. I leave you with the video that got my mind turning, featuring my friends, Alex and Ryan!

*Disclosure: I was compensated for my participation in this program, however Alex really does call me Emmet and I promise that I am going to fix my disaster wall.

Halloween Candy Not Healthy

Project #DadFit – The Long and Winding Road

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To say that I have been struggling lately would be a gross understatement. What started as an ambitious attempt to sculpt myself into a model of fitness, has now become a weekly struggle to even pack my gym bag. I’d love to blame Halloween for this but it started well before that.

The funny thing is that I was doing so well. I was 6 weeks in to my workouts, completed my first 5k run and had started eating better on a daily basis. Then we got some bad news, which had me working longer hours, followed by some even worse news and then I let the whole thing slip away. As it stands, I have not worked out in over two weeks and my nutrition level is at a zero, unless coffee and pizza have some sort of nutritional value.

Now, this is NOT a ‘woe is me’ post and in fact, it is quite the opposite. As I sat on my couch last night, drinking a beer, eating leftover Halloween candy and generally feeling disgusting, I remembered what it felt like when I crossed the finish line at the Army Run and how great it felt after completing my first week of the P90X3 program, and I immediately got up, packed my gym bag and left it at the front door.

Life dishes out all kinds of different scenarios and it is up to us to choose how we are going to handle them. In this instance, I have decided to choose my health over feeling sorry for myself. There is no failing, there is only road blocks to navigate until you get to the next check point and I intend to get there running.

Ontario Electronic Stewardship

What’s Hiding Under Your Bed?

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Hey, you, what’s hiding under your bed? It’s not something that you get asked every day, is it? I can’t imagine how I would react if someone actually said it to me, although I’m sure I’d laugh it off awkwardly before rushing home to take a peek at what treasures lie underneath my double mattresses.

I decided to lift up the curtain and would have never guessed what I actually found under there. First, there is the lovely, if not completely beat up, Acer laptop picture above. That beauty gave up 5 solid years of internetting and I guess it chose to hide under the bed as its final resting place. Here is a short list of some of the other items I found under the bed.

– 3001 socks
– 1 Smartie
– 4 Pokemon cards (No EX’s)
– 1 used concert ticket (Foo Fighters)
– 6 miscellaneous things I didn’t recognize (See: wife)
– 1 random remote control (Device not found)
– 0 children (Phew!)
– $3.15 in change (WooHoo!)

As you can see, the haul was very random and in some cases very profitable. In the case of the Acer laptop and the random remote control, I knew exactly what to do. A couple weeks ago I talked about all of the old electronics I had found lying around my house, as part of a campaign with the Ontario Electronic Stewardship.

The goal of their #WhereAreYoursHiding campaign is to encourage everyone to go on a scavenger hunt in their houses and to dig up all the old, unused electronic devices they can find. Once you’ve collected everything, you can visit RecycleYourElectronics.ca and find out where your closest drop off point is.

Recycling your old electronics has many benefits. Not only do they contain valuable materials such as gold, copper and other rare metals, but by recycling them you ensure that fewer TV’s, computers, phones and other devices end up in our landfills. Plus, the electronics that are still deemed useful can go to families who can’t afford the newest technology.

If that hasn’t convinced you, I don’t know what will. That said, I have a challenge for you! Rummage through your house or have some fun and create a scavenger hunt list for you and the kids, and find as many old electronics as you can. Then head to RecycleYourElectronics.ca and drop them off at your nearest Drop-Off location. It’s as easy as that! I leave you with the new campaign video from the Ontario Electronic Stewardship.

Disclosure: I was compensated for my participation in the #WhereAreYoursHiding campaign. The message is important and you should all get off your butts and into action!

Learn How To Read

How I’m Helping My Children Learn To Read

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Just when you think this parenting is getting a little easier, you hit another road block. That was the case for us recently as we embarked on the wonderful journey that is teaching our kids how to read. My first mistake was assuming that reading to the kids every night before bed was enough to make it happen. I was incorrect.

Now that I am all grown up, I tend to take a lot of things for granted. I seem to forget that there was once a time where I didn’t know how to tie my shoe, or play hockey, or read a book, and that those things didn’t just happen miraculously overnight. When my son recently struggled with his reading progression, I blamed myself for not pushing him hard enough. The reality of it, however, was that it wasn’t the level of effort that was holding him back, but it was a combination of a few different things.

First, all children learn differently and at different paces. That is probably the hardest thing to grasp as a parent because there is a secret voice inside all of us that pits us against other parents. Just admit it, it’s okay. Second, the method I was using was not effective. I was getting him to try to read his easy reader bedtime books to me, not realizing that he was exhausted from a long day and had little to no interest in trying to get the words right.

I decided to take to the trusty internet to look for some resources to help us with our reading adventure and came across a site called Reading Eggs. It offered online lessons for reading and math that were full of interactive animations, fun games, great songs and lots of rewards, so we signed up for the free trial and got to work. We usually give our son a little bit of screen time for video games but once he started working on the Reading Eggs activities, he began choosing that over his video game time, which, PS, is totally amazing!

Once our trial was done, we noticed a big improvement in both our children’s abilities and decided to sign them both up for the 6 month subscription package, which we are about half way through. Because the kids love it so much, this was one of the few times I have reached out to a company to see if they wanted to partner together to offer something for my readers and they love they idea!

How about you? What has been your biggest struggle or success with helping teach your children to read?

Extended Free Trial Of Reading Eggs!

4 Week Trial - Reading Eggs

From now until Nov 30th, if you Visit This Link, you will be able to sign up for an extended 4 week free trial to Reading Eggs! If you do sign up, make sure to let me know how you like it. You can also follow the folks at Reading Eggs on Facebook and Twitter.

Dad Kids Goofy

Fatherhood

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“Daddy, can I have ice cream?”, my 4 year old daughter asked, at ten in the morning while in the checkout line at Costco.
“Hmmmm, I guess so”, I replied. She was home from school because of a fever the previous day, so I figured we could both use the treat.
“HOORAY! You’re the best daddy ever!!”, she shouted as she hugged me in the middle of the store.

While I’m not sure that most people would award me the “Best Daddy Ever” trophy after feeding my child an ice cream cone at ten in the morning, it certainly made me feel special. Plus, no one else knew why she screamed that, so I just pretended that I bought her a pony or something. The point here is that as each day goes by, I get a greater sense of how lucky I am to call myself a father to these two amazing kids.

There are so many times in the day that I catch myself awestruck with their many quirks and qualities. Even the smallest things can strike me in a way I hadn’t anticipated. Hearing my daughter sing along to a song when she thinks no one else is around, knowing that if she saw me she would surely stop. Watching my son bond with his new hockey teammates in a setting that would make most adults cringe with fear.

Life can be friggin’ hard, man. You have to worry about money, time, health and everything else that being an adult and parent brings. Being a father is the thing that saves me from my own mind and lets me focus on the fact that there are two little people that need me to be a man for them so they can grow into their full potential. How can you think about financial struggles when your daughter wants to shake, shake, shake, shake, shake it off, shake it off? Who has time to beat themselves up over skipping a workout when you and your son are engaged in an epic Pokemon battle?! Not me.

Any time I lose focus on what’s important in life, my kids are always there to remind me with open arms, and for that I feel extremely lucky.

Canadian Dad Podcast - Chris Routly

Canadian Dad Podcast – Ep. 6 – Children’s Author & Writer, Chris Routly

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This week on the show, I spoke to stay at home dad, blogger at DaddyDoctrines.com and the author of the new children’s book, “Sometimes You Need a Jellyfish“, Chris Routly!

We discussed his journey from a career in graphic design to life as a stay at home dad, blogger and author. Chris also talks about his work with the National At-Home Dad Network and the new Portland Dads Group that he is co-running. 

Chris is a great dad and great writer, PLUS he knows the exact date that Marty McFly goes into the future and we talk a bit about how the internet is always getting the date wrong!

Finally, I am happy to introduce the first ever sponsor for the podcast! If you would like to take advantage of a one month free trial at Reading Eggs, you can go to ReadingEggs.com/CDAD and sign up! I have been using this service for about a year and my kids love it. 

Sid Science Kid Centrepointe Ottawa

Win 4 Tickets To See Sid The Science Kid LIVE At The Centrepointe Theatre

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I’m just going to say it. Watching children’s television can get boring for parents at times. It always feels like the same episode is on repeat for days even if the kids don’t notice. It wasn’t until we starting getting out to some of the TV shows Live performances that I developed an appreciation for what the kids were seeing in them.

It will be no different when Jim Henson’s Sid the Science Kid LIVE! show comes to Centrepointe Theatre in Ottawa on Nov 15th! My kids have been watching Sid for a long time now and I love how it mixes education and music together. Here is a brief overview of the show, followed by a great giveaway from Centrepointe Theatre!

Sid the Science Kid comes to life in this incredible live stage experience! Kids and parents alike will be thrilled as Sid, May, Gabriela and Gerald come to town to discover the excitement and curiosities of the world around them. With wonders to discover, Sid and his friends set off on a day of excitement and adventure, as they explore their five senses through fun games and experiments and by asking curious questions and finding fascinating answers. Teacher Susie is also along to keep the music flowing as the kids explore the world around them with audience interactive activities, cooperative problem solving and plenty of laughs to go around. There is even a surprise sixth sense revealed by Teacher Susie.

Win Tickets To The Show!

If you would like to win 4 tickets to see the Sid the Science Kid LIVE show, leave a comment below and let me know what your child’s favourite TV show is. I’ll pick a winner on October 29th. Good Luck!

Chris Blissdom Canada Ward Al

Almost Famous

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Almost Famous. This is what I think of when I look back at my Blissdom Canada experience, and really, my blogging journey as a whole. And it’s not that I am chasing fame in any way or think that I am, in fact, famous, but more that I feel like William Miller, the main character in the movie of the same title. In the movie, Miller spends his time chasing his dream of being a music reporter but always seems to be two steps behind.

When I started blogging, I really had no writing skills to speak of. I had never written anything, anywhere, but thought the prospect of it was interesting. I had no hobbies, unless being depressed about my father’s death and playing video games until three o’clock in the morning counts as a hobby. Blogging has been my escape from all of the anxiety I had built up inside my brain.

In the two and a half years that I have been doing this, I have had my share of ups and downs. I have done things I am proud of and some other things that I am not so proud of, but have continued to grow as a writer, father and human every day. Lately, however, I have been feeling like I am chasing my own tail. It feels like great things are happening but I’m struggling to figure out what they all mean and why it hasn’t translated into something bigger. I share this with you because after talking to a bunch of the attendees at Blissdom Canada, I know that I am not alone in this struggle.

The question is, what do we do about this? When you have that feeling that your big break is just around the corner, even if you don’t know what it is, what do you do to reach for it? For me, the answer became a little clearer after Blissdom Canada. In speaking to people like Ward and Al, Drew Dudley, Derreck Kayongo and Neil Hedley, I realized that in order to achieve the type of success I want, I need to put my head down and continue to explore and create the things that I find most interesting. Who knew that the answer would be that passion and hard work pay off?

Things don’t just happen because you’ve written a few blog posts or recorded a podcast or two. They happen when you make the decision to take chances, dedicate yourself to your craft and put in the hours in order to make it a success. If you had asked me a couple weeks ago, I would have told you that I was slightly disappointed with the direction I was headed, but now I realize that I need to spend more time celebrating and building on all the small victories. Get out there and create, people, and good things will happen!

Canadian Dad Podcast - Mike Reynolds

Canadian Dad Podcast – Ep. 5 – Children’s Author, Mike Reynolds

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This week I spoke to father, children’s book author, podcaster and writer, Mike Reynolds from PuzzlingPosts.com. We discuss Mike’s weekend at Beau’s Oktoberfest and I give plenty of love to the organizers of the Blissdom Canada conference, where I was a panellist during a podcasting session this past weekend.

Mike talks about his children’s books, “Daddy, Fly” and “The One Green Dinosaur”, that he co-wrote with his young daughter. He also talks about other ways to be creative with your kids and how great their little minds truly can be.

Don’t forget to say hi to Mike on Twitter,@PuzzlingPostDad

Enjoy the Show!