There’s a new group over at the MomTalk communities just for dads. It’s called The Dad Zone and it’s going to be your source for all the good dad information you can get your hands on.

All you moms out there should get the dads involved. Send them to The Dad Zone, get them registered and help them share their experiences, suggestions, ideas and questions.

The Dad Zone is the perfect place for dads to come and talk about all the facets of being the male parental unit. We face challenges moms don’t, we have ideas moms don’t and often, we’re disregarded as parents by society at large. The Dad Zone is our safe haven, guys, to talk about all that stuff that our wives, girlfriends or significant others don’t care to hear about. We can share ideas and ways to be better dads to our kids.

Come on out, dads, to The Dad Zone. It’s only at MomTalk.

I’ve often complained about the bad winter weather and how it’s affected Mini’s weight (along with mine). Well, we’re on the way to making some more changes to our lifestyle that will negate the weather excuse for not exercising.

AM and I recently acquired a Nintendo Wii with the EA-Sports Active software. We’ll be getting a Wii Fit, soon, too.

The Active software uses the Wii controllers to detect the user’s movement and leads the user through an exercise regimen. AM has used it several times and worked up quite the sweat and has felt the “burn” for a few days after each use.

I’m going to get Mini to use Active, along with AM and myself, to exercise when she’s here. The fact that it’s a game makes it more attractive to Mini and makes her want to do it. And it’s an interactive video game, so what kid doesn’t like that? I’m hoping it’ll make her forget that she’s exercising and instead focus on the gaming bit. Plus, it looks really fun!

Once the weather warms up, we’ll transition the gaming to outdoors, minus the Wii, and introduce Mini to an outside exercise regimen.

Along with smarter food choices, which we’ve been teaching and making along the way, and the exercising, we’re hoping this will lead Mini to gaining a well-rounded understanding of being healthy and maintaining a healthy lifestyle.

How do you keep your tween active in the cold,wet winter months? Leave your ideas, suggestions and questions in the comments.

This wasn’t our weekend to have Mini, so we didn’t really get to enjoy the benefits of last Saturday’s snow day. Instead, AM and I went out to play in the snow once and spent the rest of the day inside being moderately warm, reading, listening to music and podcasts and playing Nintendo Wii.

I’ve talked about the importance of staying home and playing games or watching movies as quality family time. And it occurred to me that I’ve mostly concentrated on the whole family, which makes sense as this is a parenting blog. I have, however, left out an important bit of being a parent: Taking time for yourself and your significant other.

It’s important, in any relationship, to make time just to be with each other. To talk, to sit and be silent, to watch a movie, whatever. It really doesn’t matter as long as it is time just for the two of you to be alone and together.

The arrangement of having Mini every other weekend is fortunate for AM and I in that we get to spend a great deal of time together. We get two weekends a month and all week. Spending time together allows us to learn about each other, to get to know each other. And even after being together as long as we have, we still have things to learn about each other.

That’s how our relationship has remained strong. We’re together a lot and we like it.

My advice is to make time to be with your significant other. Have date nights, spend time alone. Being a parent is important. But you can’t do that well, if you’re not balanced in your relationship.

How do you keep your adult relationships active? Leave your ideas, suggestions and questions in the comments.

This is the third in a series of posts regarding Mini’s broken arm and the repercussions. The first post is here; the second is here.

Mini was seven when she broke her arm. She had just lost her best friend to cancer a few weeks before. We were both reeling from the death. In the seven preceding years, she’s never been more hurt than the small scrapes and bruises that little kids get by waking up in the morning. The death of her friend and Mini’s broken arm completely changed me and my outlook as a dad. And it still impacts me, today.

Before her arm was broken, I saw Mini as a small person that got equal opportunities to make mistakes and learn from them. After, she became, to me, something that needed complete and total protection. I daresay I became the smothering, controlling dad that I never really wanted to be. There would be days I’d have her and wouldn’t let her move, wouldn’t let her carry anything, wouldn’t dare risk that she got hurt again.

I completely turned into “SuperDad”…except that it wasn’t super. Not even a little bit. It was not healthy for Mini, or for me. I became nearly obsessed with checking in with her and making sure she was OK. I was hovering and probably annoyed Mini to no end. But it was the only way I thought I could protect her.

It took an intervention, of sorts, by AM to make me realize I wasn’t behaving in a healthy way. She told me that Mini would talk about dealing with her friend’s death when she’s ready and I shouldn’t push the issue. And she told me that Mini will have to deal with things like broken arms or legs or sprains in the future. If she doesn’t learn to handle those sorts of things as a child, she may never really learn to cope.

So, I stepped back. I did less of the silly stuff to help Mini. I let her reach out and learn to work with one arm. And, now, nearly two years later, she’s perfect. Her arm has healed back perfectly. And she’s dealing with some pretty emotionally complex stuff right now in a healthy way. She’s growing up so fast and making me so proud!

Have you had an experience that changed your parenting style, for the better or worse? How did you work through? Share you ideas, suggestions and questions in the comments.

Last weekend AM and I took Mini on a surprise weekend “getaway” to Wilmington. We were there for a whole day, visited quite a few places and didn’t hit a single chain anything (store, restaurant, etc). It’s important that Mini understands that everything doesn’t revolve around McDonald’s and Wal-Mart and that she realizes there’s often a whole locally owned world around her.

We got up pretty early and headed off around 9. We got to our first destination around 10 and had a great breakfast at Chris’ Cosmic Kitchen. Mini had a bagel with cream cheese, AM had shrimp omelet and I had Creole shrimp and grits. Mini tried both the omelet and grits and liked them, but didn’t want to order her own dish.

From breakfast, we headed to Paint-N-Play. We each painted a small ceramic object (Mini painted a Pegasus, AM a small frog-friend for Mr. Turtle and I painted a mug with a slanted bottom). There were hundreds of potential objects from dishware to cups to yard animals to Christmas ornaments. It was a perfect way to occupy a few hours with creativity and fun.

After that we visited Pomegrante Books and looked at a great collection of children’s books and handmade journals. We also stopped at The Two-Wheeler Dealer, where Mini saw a bicycle she’d like, and Gravity Records, where they have actual records.

After all that, we were getting hungry and travelled back to Chris’ Cosmic Kitchen for lunch. This time, Mini had a cheese burger and AM and I had crab meat sandwiches. We ended the trip with Kahlua Cheesecake and full bellies.

Many of our tweens are filled with a preconception that everything they eat should come from a drive-through, that all their entertainment should be received through an electronic screen and that books come from the mail or a big ol’ store. None of this has to be true. Take some time and visit locally owned businesses. Your tween, when she’s older, will thank you. And so will your local economy.

*The listing of restaurants or businesses in no way constitutes an endorsement by Onslow Memorial Hospital of them or their products or services*

What locally-owned businesses do you support? Leave your ideas, questions and suggestions in the comments.