Navy Seals

This is a classic look at The Dad Life.  I need to get a print out of the lyrics and frame them.  Great job guys!

I always chose being a Super Hero, or in my case Captain Genuine for my kids as their Father.  This is something I ran across and I love the monologue and actually its message.

My congratulations to Bold Ben Ryan for putting this video up and for his message. To help further his message I’ll let him state his organizations here:

To Help Children Around the World In Need:
http://www.unicefusa.com/
Or to help the Real Life Captain America’s Of the World:
http://www.woundedwarriorproject.org/
and
http://iava.org/
Thank you so much for watching.

Sincerely,
Ben Ryan

Now if I could just figure out how to get my hands on that shield.

Those of you that are also interested in an organization I helped found and a conference for the Daddy Bloggers and for men, please go and visit the Modern Media Man Summit or what we are calling the M3 Summit.  We have a great team of people that really want to put on a great event for Dads and Men.  The conference is taking place on September 9-11, 2010. Go check it out. Registration is now open for the early birds that want the biggest savings, and we are also asking that speakers that want to present at the event submit their applications.  Like Captain America rallying the troops above, Captain Genuine now is calling all Dads to unite and get ready to assemble!  See you in Atlanta!

I was just speaking to a few people and I have been using legal terms around them that in my case I just think that everyone knows. I sometimes forget that using words like “perfunctory” might confuse some and make them not understand what it is I am trying to say. Using legal terms in my conversations is often like speaking to people using my kids’ choice of vocabulary.

This is a classic example of a recent conversation while I was on the phone with someone that really didn’t know me very well. I was talking to them and forgot to mute the television:

Them: Is that a movie I hear in the background?

Me: Yeah.

Them: What are you watching it sounds like a race car?

Me. Yeah. I’m just watching Kachow.

Them: Excuse me?

Me: Oops sorry I thought everyone knew that the movie “Cars” is actually known as Kachow.

I often catch myself in this dilemma of trying to explain my vocabulary at times. Let’s just say, if anyone wants to call you on a word like “Kachow”, just call me I’ll be able to help you explain its origins. Oh and for you that are still wondering about “perfunctory”, it means in a legal sense, the hearing is just a formality, the outcome is predetermined.

That line is a classic line from a movie that I really love to watch. As he sits on the table getting his midsection stapled back together he coins that phrase. Let me be the first to say–only in Hollywood. I can assure you that pain does in fact exist. I for one can attest that all one has to have is to be thrown from a moving vehicle after being dragged two blocks to understand the concept. We have all experienced pain to certain levels, and some are better at receiving and dealing with pain than others. My tolerance for pain is different in different circumstances. My pain level is in direct response to the sympathy I can derive immediately upon injury. In fact I have seen in in my kids when they bump their head. They are more likely to shake off injury if Mom or Dad are not watching, and can be in the throes of death if Mommy or Daddy rushes to their side from the same injury. Now don’t get me wrong, I have no tolerance for pain that might allow me to birth a child. Last night I heard the analogy of pulling my scrotum over my head and I think I would have passed on long before they reached my navel.

I feel the same for psychological pain. Growing up my father could yell and scream at me until the cows came home and I always had that “whatever dad” approach. Sorry Dad, it was in my DNA. My brother on the other hand would lose his mind if my Dad looked at him with those stern eyes and lifted brow. One is not different from the other however and I guess in a sense we all like to think that psychological pain unlike physical pain “don’t hurt.” I say this because I was wondering about the pain our kids feel when we are angry or we scold them or they experience something that injects that feeling. I suppose it is the same and pain tolerance on both ends can be judged differently. The key is to know those pain levels. I have a son that is very much like i used to be, and I think he is the payback my Dad paid for and prayed for all those years ago. I also think I have the fragile child that can cry for looking over and raising an eyebrow. The key I think as a parent is to know those thresholds and to make sure you understand them. What is your pain threshold? Physically? Mentally?

[photo via kamaru ]

No this is not one of those posts about how to take care of your kids. Those owner’s manuals have been on back order since the beginning of time. The manual I am looking for is the one where we learn to screw up our children. I know this is possible as I am a screwed up child. No really, I think we are all a little messed up, but they don’t ever really tell us how we can do that to our own kids. Follow me on this one.

I had a pretty good childhood growing up. I was well loved, my parents were pretty well adjusted and although we didn’t have many of the finer things we always had what we needed. In a recent discussion with my Mom she made a statement about “hope we gave you a good example of what parenting was.” I thought it was as it should be. So how is it that we can screw things up so well? Is it a gift? What is the recipe for how we can half-bake our kids? I’m not sure how things get messed up but it could be watching a Dennis Rodman movie at 4:00 a.m. Perhaps we just screw ourselves up without any help from our upbringing. I could write a book on how I have messed myself up, and that could be the manual we need to start to see how not to make the poor choices. I do know that I have made some notes about what I might want to do different.

Hug your kids today. Smell their hair as you hold them on your lap, and then look them in the eye and smile at them. Lastly, as you smile tell them you love them. Let them see you hug the others as well as themselves. It could be just the recipe for not messing up. Here starts the other manual feel free to add your own notes.

A comment over on my post at The Blogfathers pointed out a new campaign by the Ad Council, and I wanted to help them out and embed the videos. Enjoy!

Priceless!

Get out and be a Daddy.