A Dude's Guide » leadership http://adudesguide.com Fatherhood advice and topics from dads. Thu, 11 Mar 2010 05:01:08 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.9 en hourly 1 Boomtown Rats http://adudesguide.com/2009/07/02/boomtime-rats/ http://adudesguide.com/2009/07/02/boomtime-rats/#comments Thu, 02 Jul 2009 05:01:33 +0000 Richard http://adudesguide.com/?p=1167 I’m not just talking about a seminal punk-ish band. No, I’m using that as a pun so I can talk about blowin’ stuff up. What can I say? I’m a dude. We like to blow stuff up. It’s in our genes.

Which might go a long way toward explaining why it’s on the list of top [...]]]> I’m not just talking about a seminal punk-ish band. No, I’m using that as a pun so I can talk about blowin’ stuff up. What can I say? I’m a dude. We like to blow stuff up. It’s in our genes.

Which might go a long way toward explaining why it’s on the list of top holidays for my three little dudes. Just yesterday, Speed Racer was perusing the newspaper (searching for the comics. I can’t get him interested in the actual news of a newspaper. Yet.) when he ran across a story about fireworks being sold and sold a lot. He was, to say the least, a bit excited.

“Can we go there? To this place? They’ve got two for one. We can get a lot of fireworks. Can we go today? Right now?”

I had to calm him down a little. For one thing, it’s difficult to talk to someone when they’re clawing into the ceiling and running about like a hyperactive spider. For another, I knew I’d have to wait for his brother, Sarcasmo, to get home from his leadership camp. It would not be good if we were to go buy fireworks and leave Sarcasmo behind. I’d never hear the end of it.

Still, this is an event to which we all look forward. Me because it’s fun to watch all three little dudes pick out stuff to blow up. Them because, well, they’re picking out stuff to blow up.

Our favorites are mortars. Just because we love the thump as they launch and they really do look fantastic when they explode all the way up there in the air.

– Richard

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]]> http://adudesguide.com/2009/07/02/boomtime-rats/feed/ 0 Comfort Zone http://adudesguide.com/2008/07/22/comfort-zone/ http://adudesguide.com/2008/07/22/comfort-zone/#comments Wed, 23 Jul 2008 03:00:19 +0000 Richard http://adudesguide.com/?p=192 If we left him alone, my oldest dude would probably be content to read and watch t.v. all day. That’s why, for a week or so this summer, we sent him off to a leadership conference. Yeah, we didn’t think that sounded like all that much fun either, but his mom and I wanted to [...]]]> If we left him alone, my oldest dude would probably be content to read and watch t.v. all day. That’s why, for a week or so this summer, we sent him off to a leadership conference. Yeah, we didn’t think that sounded like all that much fun either, but his mom and I wanted to get him out of his comfort zone a little and show him that life can exist and be fun off the page and the screen.

Everybody has their own comfort zone. While I might be all right at a party talking to just about anyone on any topic, (My wife says I could talk to a tree. She’s only worried they’ll start answering back.) there are others — with equally valid strategies — who would rather talk very little. Not a problem. However, I’m firmly of the belief that Eleanor Roosevelt was right: “Do one thing every day that scares you.”

As adults, we can pick and choose when we decide to push against our boundaries. I think it’s our job as dads to help our little dudes find their boundaries — their comfort zones — and, if not blast through them, then at least start expanding them a little bit. As little dudes and dudettes, we need to experience new things or we’ll never be open to change as we get older. Then we’ll become that calcified old man ranting at the kids to get off his lawn and nobody wants that.

So, yeah, we threw my oldest little dude into the shark-infested waters of a leadership camp. The first thing he said to me when I picked him up at the end of the week was, “I can’t wait to do this again next year.” And his worldview got just a bit broader.

– Richard

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