Yes, Daughter, there is still a Santa Claus

Late night thoughts on Childhood Beliefs

Note; It’s been nearly 6 weeks since I’ve written anything of substance. The cycle repeats. Inspiration, Dedication, Insecurity, Shame, Confidence. If I’m lucky, sometimes I’m able to replace Shame with some Editing. I shouldn’t feel insecure about what I do, I know it’s good. But I lack validation and the desire to seek out the validation, so I have let my dreams sit for the summer, enjoyed it with my children, for the summers do go fast and they are both starting school this year and my memory is slipping faster than they are growing.

I love my daughter. She’s nine. She told her mom a few days ago that she’s starting to have suspicions about Santa Claus. She didn’t say that directly, she was making an observation. “You know, Santa seems to only have toys that you could also buy in Walmart.”

I’m like… wow. But you, as a parent, have to keep that dream alive, you know? What do you do? Bring down the house of cards that is Santa Claus? 

Dad Talk; remembering the good moments for the later bad moments.

Parenting sucks. It's all about 'responsibilities', reflecting and encouraging 'good behaviour', finding quality 'babysitters' and 'not getting high and watching Arrested Development in your underwear'.

This was the pinnacle of television comedy

I can't imagine a worst occupation than 'parent' outside of the military, police officer, social worker, any type of government employee, shelf stocker, radio DJ's, banking, professional sports fan/reporter, airline pilot, teacher, computer technician, health professional, farmer, logger, roughneck, security guard, blogger, Wal-mart employee, etc. etc.

Ok, so maybe I believe there actually are a lot of other things that suck other than parenting. Parenting is hard work, definitely. The wages are non-existent and there is no health plan. There are no real 'sick' days. As you build up seniority in being a parent it might get a bit easier but it also gets conversely more difficult as these pooping, non-mobile, eating and grunting mechanisms become pooping, mobile, larger eating and talk-backing individuals with feelings and emotions. They begin to have a social life and may become confused on what the difference is between 'needs' and 'wants', instead of relying on pop culture and what their friends tell them they need instead of their parents' definitions of needs vs wants.

A Dad's view On Rape, Handguns, and Murder

The DAD in me; Guns and Me and You and Them

(Part 1 of 3)

So adorable! Baby's got a gwun.

First, I think it's healthy for any blog or website that tries to lighten things up in this world to once in awhile cast some serious light on an issue. Call it the Jon Stewart Principle. We can't always heal ourselves with laughter or sly smiles. At least not at first. It's healthy to laugh, laughter does heal but it shouldn't heal due to ignorance of current events. Often, it's the knowledge of current events which make the laughter.

Let's take on these heavy subjects I'm introducing one at a time, from the perspective of a father, all ripped from this last week of national news. People who may stumble across this page may not have children and decide to move on, thinking this doesn't pertain to them. For those people so full of optimism, I was once like you. I didn't think I was ever going to be a father and that was fine. However, in a span of a quick and unexpected five years I am now expecting my third child. So, never bet against the future. Anything can happen. Hopefully, more good than bad but it's been a tough week to believe in that mantra.

I have one boy and one girl and one yet to be determined. Each of these subjects touch on our views of gender roles but I will start with the predominantly male one first; guns.

A comparison of School-based shootings between America and Canada from 1980-April 2013;

                        America     Canada 

         80's            20                1

         90's            30                2

         00's            32                3

     2010-             33                 2

     Total;           115                8

     

     Deaths;        303               26

Gold Medal in Deaths by Firearms in Schools; USA!

*this doesn't take into account that over 1/2 of the Canadian deaths were from 1989's Polytechnique massacre (15) nor the fatalities caused by teens outside of schools. It also doesn't mention how many were injured but it's safe to guess 'more'. 

*sadly, if were to expand these statistics as per population and give Canada about 1/10th of the population of the US the final stats would read as Canada having a death toll of 260 so let's keep the non-violent Canadian society aspect in check...Again, the Polytechnique massacre does skew the numbers quite a bit.


I grew up on a hobby farm, with goats, chickens, horses and rifles and learned to shoot by the time I was twelve. At one time we were having a fox problem, Dad coming back into the house declaring that the fox had killed another one of our turkeys or chickens. Dad took to leaving his .22 rifle out in the feed shed, all the quicker to access it if that fox ever came around, which it did.
On that day we were inside. Dad yelled 'Fox!' and raced out the door to the back, me trailing behind. I could see the silver-haired fox in the turkey pen, racing up and down the fence line, obviously trying to find the hole that he had came in. It knew it was in trouble. Dad pulled out the rifle and popped 10 quick shots off, firing like a movie star; just shooting as if a swarm of zombies were coming at him. He missed every shot and the fox was able to scamper through the hole and disappear.