Disney’s Frozen Activity Sheets!
What more do I need to say? Just remember to thank me when your kids flip out!!!
Children Telling Stories #1 – The Princess and the Underpants
Something I have noticed about my children is that they love performing for a camera. Whether it’s dancing, singing, telling stories or making up new languages, they always ask to be taped and then come running to watch and laugh at the playback. I’m guessing they get their narcissism from their dad and I think it’s great! I’m always happy to let my kids express their creative sides and these stories have become an important part of our bonding process. That said, I have decided to publish some of them in a segment called, Children Telling Stories, and will hopefully be posting one story a week.
In this week’s story, my daughter tells the story of the magical princess, who ends up in a waterpark after taking a magic carpet ride and needs to clean some underpants. Enjoy!
Win Big in the Hot Wheels® Canada Track Builder Challenge!
I’m not going to lie, I geeked out a little bit when I was asked to become a Hot Wheels® Connector Club Ambassador. I didn’t even really know what that meant but saw the words Hot Wheels® and flashed back in time to my days as a young car collector. With my kids entering their creative years, the Hot Wheels® track builder sets are a perfect addition to our household.
In an effort to encourage learning and creativity among young children, Hot Wheels® Canada has launched the Track Builder Challenge.
The Hot Wheels® Track Builder Challenge is a cross-national competition, designed to inspire creativity through play based learning, and educate children on how to build exciting, original and creative tracks. With the emergence of so many new electronic devices these days, the ability to get hands on with something like this is extremely exciting for me and the kids.
To launch the six month program, an interactive track exhibit featuring Canada’s first Ultimate Track will be live at the Art Gallery of Ontario (AGO) from March 8 to 16, 2014 during the Gallery’s March Break drop-in program. The Ultimate Track is comprised of over 1000 pieces of track and connector and stretches over 625 feet in the 25×25 exhibit space. If you can’t make it out to the exhibit, you can still watch all of the action by checking out either of the live feeds on the Hot Wheels® Canada website!
In addition to the exhibit, a new Hot Wheels® Track Builder Challenge nationwide contest will be housed on hotwheels.ca. Kids can learn from the Track Experts in the Tips and Tricks section, and then have the opportunity to submit their best Hot Wheels tracks for a chance to win a custom built track in their home, and a Track Party hosted by Hot Wheels®.
Now, if you’ll excuse me, my kids and I have a Hot Wheels® Track Builder Challenge to win! You can head over to the Hot Wheels® website to enter to win but you’d better bring your “A” Game because we are ready! Most importantly, just have a great time building and watching your children excel beyond your wildest dreams!
How To Look Good and Impress People
Remember that big job interview you just went to? You know, the one you didn’t get. Do you want to know why you didn’t get that job? It’s most likely because you spent 75% of it, scratching the itchy mess that you call a beard. If, like me, you suffer from Itchy Beard Syndrome, I have a solution that is going to change your life! The best part? It only takes five minutes to implement. That’s right, folks. In just five simple minutes, you can go from an itchy bearded mess that no one wants to hang out with, to a smooth operator that can’t be stopped!
This is a secret that could go for $199.00 elsewhere, but not here! No, here you won’t pay $199.00, $99.00, $49.95 or even $5.00! Today only, as a special gift to my readers, I am sharing the secret to a happy life for FREE! All you have to do to have a more fulfilling existence is follow these two simple steps:
Step 1: Grab a bottle of Edge(R) Sensitive Pro Relief shave gel and lather up those whiskers!
Step 2: Shave off the peach fuzz and enjoy the benefits of a smooth living!
That’s all there is to it! Edge® Sensitive Pro Relief shave gel has helped me go from itchy faced to silky smooth and it can do the same for you!
Disclosure: I was compensated for my participation in this campaign. I also sent out 25 bottles of Edge® Sensitive Pro Relief shave to some of my readers and will be sharing their thoughts very soon.
Meet Mr. Zucchini!
I’d like you to meet, Mr. Zucchini! Mr. Zucchini was created by Health Canada as a way to talk to kids about eating well and also providing tips to parents on how to plan for a healthier lifestyle. I think this kind of creation is a perfect way to get children more engaged in the food choices they are making. To further prove that point, when I showed the above video to my kids, who are 3 & 5, they laughed hysterically and made me play it over and over again until I eventually just showed them how to do it themselves. Here’s hoping more of Mr. Zucchini will lead to them wanting to try some different foods!
For more information about this campaign, you can visit Health Canada’s Website!
I was compensated for my participation in this program.
Capturing A Child’s True Beauty
It’s no secret that I spend a lot of time on the internet, as bloggers do. Because of that, I sometimes feel like I have seen everything the internet has to offer. Yesterday, however, I was reminded that there are still amazing things happening that deserve to be talked about and I want to share one of those with you today.
A friend shared a link to an online magazine yesterday (linked above) and mentioned that it was a powerful read. It took me about a half a page before that stinging feeling started and I was wiping tears away. By the time I got to the end, I had already typed out an email to the creator of the magazine to ask if I could share it with all of you. The magazine, entitled “Kids – All About Love”, mostly features photographs and stories of children who are battling some form of illness. The pictures are incredibly done, really bringing out the personality in all the children, and the stories are so well written that I felt invested in all of them from the opening paragraphs.
The creator’s name is Lisa Kelly and she runs a website called, Salt and Light Studio. I was so touched by the stories that I arranged a phone interview with Lisa that day to talk about them and her inspiration for them. I love and agree with Lisa when she says that “Our life stories are a gift we give to the world“. I hope these stories move you the way they have moved me and please feel free to share them if you see fit. We need more stories of love in the world and these kids have helped me remember that we need to make the most of every second on this planet!
You can find more of Lisa’s work on her website, Salt and Light Studio, or on her Facebook Page.
Days Inn Canada Falls Short With New Dad Ad
I have been a part of the online dad community for a little over two years now. In that time, I have learned to value my contributions to my family and have become a far better and more attentive father because of it. I have also become more aware of the way fathers tend to be portrayed in the media and have even been fortunate enough to be a part of a community that is striving to, and has succeeded in, changing the dumb dad stereotype. In fact, according to a recent extensive study by 8 Bit Dad’s, Zach Rosenberg, fathers are being portrayed in a more engaged and positive light, more and more every year.
Unlike my American counterparts, however, it is extremely rare for me to see a commercial where the dad is being portrayed in a negative light. That changed this week after I saw the new commercial from Days Inn Canada. The commercial shows a sad child sitting alone in his room, wishing his father was there with him to read his bedtime story. It then cuts to the father, who is excitedly lounging alone in his hotel room, and sings the line, “And on the brighter side, dad’s watching mixed martial arts”. It gets worse from there but this is about the point in the commercial where I checked out and thought of a million different scenarios they could have gone with that would have made this commercial a viral sensation. First and foremost, why not have the dad reading to the kid over the internet and showing the love that I know most dads feel for their children. That would have been something I would have been proud to get behind and shared immediately. It would have even been enough to get my future business, at least once. And look, I’m all for Me-Time, as we all need it, but mixing it in with the sad child just made it look like the dad was happier outside the house than in it.
Not that fatherhood has ever been the way that the Al Bundy’s of the world would have you believe, but things are different now than they used to be. For a father to be a more engaged member of the overall household and child raising duties is not the exception anymore, it’s the norm. I’m sure Days Inn Canada thought this was harmless fun and others may see this as me being a whiny dad, but I think it’s important for them to know that it’s okay to go against the stereotype and to create a new mold.
What are thoughts on the commercial? I know we all see things differently, so please feel free to share your thoughts in the comments.
All this said, I would love to invite Days Inn Canada to have a conversation with us dads, so we can talk about what our version of fatherhood looks like for future commercials. In the meantime, I invite you to take a look at how the face of fatherhood has changed in just the last 1000 days. Video is courtesy of the folks at the Dad 2.0 Summit.
I’m not the only one who feels this way. Check out these posts from Buzz Bishop from DadCamp and Justin Connors from Life in 140.
A Glimpse Into The World Of Celebrity Fatherhood
Let’s get this out of the way, I was paid to post the trailer for Hank Azaria’s web series, “Fatherhood“. I’ve always had a fascination with celebrity culture and thought this would be a fun glimpse into what being a celebrity dad was like for Hank. What I wasn’t prepared for was that I would watch one episode and then immediately plow through the whole series in one sitting.
I watched intently as Azaria interviewed other celebrity fathers, such as Mike Myers, Kevin Bacon, Rainn Wilson, Tim Robbins, Jim Gaffigan and many more, and listened as they talked about what fatherhood meant to them and shared the lessons they have learned to date. I don’t know why I was surprised to hear that their version of parenting sounded a lot like mine, I guess the money throws me off, but it was definitely refreshing to hear.
My favourite parts of the series are the interactions with Azaria’a parents, and more specifically when his father talks about the difference in the household priorities from his generation to ours. My takeaway from this web series was less about the lessons and more about the importance of the celebrity dads sharing their experiences and showing others that it is okay to talk about your feelings and experiences as a father.
I was only paid to share the trailer and not to talk about the show, but it struck me as something that a lot of people, especially dads, would enjoy. You can catch all the episodes over at AOL.
The 2014 Ottawa Children’s Gala Is Almost Here!
When I brought my family to last year’s Ottawa Children’s Gala, I had no idea what to expect, mostly due to the fact that I had never been to a “Gala” before. The fact that it was designed for children to come and have a good time was a major selling point for us and everyone in our family had an amazing time.
From face painting and princesses, to a candy bar and plenty of dancing, our kids spent the entire night with huge smiles on their faces. For my wife and I, it was an excellent opportunity for us to actually dress up and go out for once, which was really nice. The dinner was amazing and although I didn’t win anything in the many auctions, I tried my best and the prizes were very cool. Also, as if put there for me, there was a professional photo booth that was stocked with all sorts of goofy costumes to try on. Yes, I sometimes pretend that I am still a child.
Proceeds from the Ottawa Children’s Gala help support a program called ‘Plan-It Safe’ of CHEO. Corrine Langill and her team are dedicated to eliminating preventable childhood injuries in our city. Their mission is to increase local capacity, strengthen public policy, ensure effective programming and advocate for the creation of safe environments to reduce the toll injuries take on children and youth in our communities.
So with good food, loads of fun for the kids, a great cause and amazing people, I’m not sure what else you need to hear to convince you that this is a great event. This year’s gala, which will be hosted by Lianne Laing and Angie Poirier, starts at 4pm on Saturday March 8th, and will be once again held at the Ottawa Conference and Event Centre. You can get your tickets RIGHT HERE and I hope to see you there!
Disney On Ice Delivers Again!
Let’s face it, having children can get pretty expensive, which means that we have to choose our activities and events wisely. After attending Disney on Ice’s “100 Years of Magic” event at the Canadian Tire Centre last night, I can say with complete certainty that it is worth the price of admission for my family. It sounds cliche to praise Disney but between the light displays and the non stop action in their stories, they really know how to put on an amazing show that a whole family can enjoy.
From my son screaming, “Stitch, Stitch!!!”, in my ear, to my daughter’s excited squeals at seeing all of her favourite princesses, there was never a dull moment for the entire two hours of the show. Admittedly, I spent more time watching the wonder in my children’s eyes than I did the show, but seeing their joy alone was completely worth it. On the adult front, my wife and I both agreed that the production of Mulan’s story completely stole the show and had me drawn in as if I were watching a Broadway play. It’s really tough to explain how good the quality of the production is without you watching it yourself but I promise you that you will be amazed.
One of the other cool things about these shows is that I’ve had the opportunity to get to know a few of the cast members and have come to find out that they are all fascinating people in their own unique ways. You may remember a few weeks ago, I interviewed cast member, Matthew McLean, and this week I had the chance to chat with Kirstie Nelson, who also taught me how to do the ever popular, “Twizzle”, of Olympic fame. Kirstie’s bio blew me away by how diverse she is and because we had major audio issues with the audio during filming, I just wanted to point out a few of her many talents. She is a surfer, hair stylist, figure skating champion, yoga instructor, who also happened to graduate University with a degree in chemical engineering. Yes, I felt like an incredibly lazy human being after reading all of that. Anyway, I have attached our interview below and even though you may not be able to hear the whole thing, you can always skip to the end to watch my incredible Twizzles!!!
Thanks to Feld Entertainment and Canadian Tire Centre for facilitating the interview and I offer my sincere apologies for the technical issues with our sound. On the bright side, guess who just purchased a bunch of new sound equipment… Also, the Ottawa show runs until Sunday Feb 23rd, so there’s still time to see the show! You can buy tickets RIGHT HERE!
