DADVICE

Don't call me dude....

It's just a name right? Or is it? I recently found out a co-worker of mine lets his daughter refer to him by his first name. This is something I never would have thought of doing as a child. It was Mom and Dad at my house.

We've changed it up a bit at our house and the boys call me Papa. It was something we chose because I liked the sound of it. The problem we run into is that most people don't know about this and constantly ask my boys about their "dad."

I'm sure that they will eventually out grow "Papa" and move on to Pops, Pa or even Dad. However, the one thing I will never respond to is my first name. They've tried being cute lately and have dropped a "Chris" here and there, to which I do not respond.

If they keep it up I'll just have to start calling them "Son 1" and "Son 2," to turn the tables on them.

This begs the question, since my co-worker and I have both gone with non-traditional monikers, which name makes more sense? I would like to believe Papa is closer to traditional, but it gets used for grandparents a lot, as well.

And speaking of grandparents - we've gone with old school Italian for Nana & Nunu. All of these names are fun to me and make our family unique, I guess. Just as long as they don't call me "Dude!"

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R-E-S-P-E-C-T

Let's talk about respect...which seems to be the hot issue at my house lately. Our five year old is certainly feeling much more comfortable in his world; school is fun, he's figured out the right direction to run the bases in tee-ball, and his baby brother is really looking up to him! All of these things are natural and we are very proud of him. However, this also means he is becoming the child my parents warned me about: The one with his own opinions and pushing the envelope when he can. My wife and I have made it clear many times that we will not tolerate some of his shenanigans, but he is five and trying to 'reason' with him is still challenging. We finally stumbled upon a chore chart that rewards good behavior with smiley faces and encouraging mottos. I can't believe what a motivator this has been; nothing is better to a five year than a "good job" smiley face! If he happens to misbehave and not earn a smiley face, the next day he is going to be EXTRA good.

Who knew something as simple as this was the solution to our problems with a five year old? It is working and, for the moment, there is some harmony in the household. Now ... if we could just get our three year old to stay in bed all night . . . more smiley faces??

A few other things on my mind as we enjoy the early spring...

So glad my parents never found it necessary to turn the music down! To this day I cannot hear ELO or Donna Summer without a) wanting to turn it up louder, or b) reminiscing about coming home from school and actually seeing the house shake. My love for music was shaped by their love for music and I will gladly pass it on to our children.

The bus stop is the greatest place to learn everything about your neighborhood!

I had a chance to have lunch with my kindergartener at school. This is an experience I suggest you all enjoy. What starts out as a leisurely meal quickly turns into 'kid chaos' and makes you appreciate every teacher you ever had even more!

We're gearing up for a fun day at this year's Family Fun Fest. There are going to be some great guests and lots of fun for the family. I hope to see you all there.

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Back at it....

Well, here I am back at it, it’s been an oddly mild winter, my football team let me down, and now I’m finding out my kids are actually annoying. I guess we can look forward to the cherry blossoms, right?

As we settle into our third year in our once new house, we’re finding out the textured blue-ish paint job in the bedroom and the “this was once white” color thoughout the downstairs are just plain ugly. In an effort to beautify the place, we’ve been doing some painting, which means plenty of trips to the local home improvement store. In my effort to be super dad, I enjoy bringing the boys. They play well together these days, and can usually make a dull trip more interesting, to say the least. During one of our latest trips, they HAD to share the race car shopping cart, which is really made for one smaller child. Sharing means lots of talking, singing and, at some point, fighting. They were doing great until I had spent about 15 minutes too long looking at paint samples. They were restless and beginning to express it. As we headed for the checkout, the fighting was calming down; however they decided it was time to put on a show and try to entertain anyone who was nearby. In the same aisle happened to be a nice couple who were also checking out paint. As we passed them, the boys began to sing at top volume. "Ha ha," I said as we passed and muttered something like, "kids...aren’t they cute?" What came next was something I was not expecting or ready to see. It was an annoyed roll of the eyes, followed by a shrug and blank stares from the couple. What? My kids, my little angels, the cutest little things ever, are actually annoying little pains in the rear...to others!

Since then I have stepped back and looked at the boys from a different point of view, still mine, but realizing they aren’t always that cute to everyone else. And by the way, if we’re in the same store and your kids decide to entertain me, I will laugh and enjoy the show. While I go and work on new material for the boys to use during our next trip to the store, hit me up with any questions you feel compelled to ask. Enjoy the spring-like weather while it's still here!

Editor's note: We'd love to hear your questions for Chris, so use the Add Comment feature below to tell us what's on your mind!

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Now really....

Now really, how did this happen? I was just sitting around being my usual smart-aleck self, when someone asked me to give advice to other Dads. I have been rereading that for fun. Granted I have managed to keep my two sons, Fonzie and Chachi, out of the emergency room for over five years, so I must be doing something right. So why not share some of my thoughts with you? And perhaps you have an issue that's troubling you and would be entertained by another perspective. Send them to me here at Fredericksburg Parent and I'll do my best to provide some "parenting advice."

Since it's the start of the new year let me first share that I will not be keeping 80% of those resolutions I made on New Year's Eve. This means my diet will consist of things you'll find on "DON'T" lists in health magazines, I will continue to be sore from the workouts that will end mid-February, and the money I was going to save will be spent taking Mrs. Centore to dinner as an apology for breaking the "we aren't going to argue over trivial matters" resolution. In other words, I'm not pretending to be perfect and my fatherly observations should not be interpreted as expert advice.

December was Fire Prevention Month, which ironically reminds me of the time I almost burned down the house in an attempt to make popcorn on the stovetop. Being raised on Jiffy Pop myself, a pan, oil, and kernels can be mystifying. I found out the hard way that the oil and kernels need to go in the pan at the same time. Heating up oil on the stove can and will result in flames and, when dosed with water, makes the situation worse. Fonzie and Chachi getting nervous and scared as the flames nearly engulf the curtains compounds the panic. If you ever find yourself in this situation, I strongly suggest putting the top on the pan to extinguish the flame and next time hitting the popcorn setting on the microwave.

Lastly, we all know it's back this month and we can't wait to see the preliminary rounds of terrible singers. We should also remember who the real Idols to our children are. Fonzie has been wanting to dress like me, act like me, stay up like me for the past few months. When I told Mrs. Centore that I thought it was odd, she lovingly pointed out that our boys are going to want to be just like me. What?? I know myself pretty well and for a minute I was a bit panicked, imagining Mini-Me's running around. All of the crazy things I had done in my life flashed through my head, things I would never want them to do. But after a while I realized I'm a pretty good parent who cares about his children and THAT is what they see and want to be. So for all the Dads out there trying to get it right, YOU are the next American Idol!

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