Thursday, April 2, 2009

Equal Parenting 101

As difficult and time consuming as it has been at times over the past nearly two years, I am extremely proud to say that Mrs. LIAYF and I have played a fairly equal role in teaching Lukas the essential skills he needs to succeed in life.

Equal? I recognize some will not believe that child raising truly can be equal. So, for those of you with doubts let me present the following recent personal examples:


1. To expedite his vocal development Mrs. LIAYF has been tirelessly reading Lukas books of all varieties. I have also tirelessly pointed out all of the really cool pictures in those books.

2. Mrs. LIAYF has been working with Lukas to recognize the different 'Colors' in his Richard Scarry book. I have been teaching him to stack colored cups on his head at bath time.

3. Mrs. LIAYF has been using numbered cardboard nesting blocks to teach Lukas how to count to 10. I have been stacking those blocks with him and then charging them like a raging bull, teaching him to knock them over with his head.

4. Mrs. LIAYF has been giving Lukas a big boy cup at meals recently, teaching him how to drink from it without spilling all over himself. I have been teaching him to dip his Fig Newtons into the milk in the cup for maximum enjoyment.

Sure, I could go on and on, maybe even write a book about the teamwork that Mrs. LIAYF and I have employed to bring our son to the developmental stage which he now finds himself.

But I'll settle for this simple blog post. I'll leave the book to Mrs. LIAYF. This is a team effort after all.

11 comments:

SciFi Dad said...

You're such a giving partner, doing all the hard parts of the "shared" work.

(As an aside, I used to make stacks of nesting blocks for my daughter when she was younger, and then scream "Destroy! Destroy! Destruction is cool!" as she knocked them over. My wife's contribution to this fun? Telling me to stop. It's all a rich tapestry.)

Unknown said...

With or without his parents' help, he will discover soon enough the secret of colors. But he won't get the secret of cups on heads anywhere else.

Unknown said...

And I wrote a short post, if you want to have a look.

Surfer Jay said...

Good jobbby job. And don't listen to the nay sayers, every kid needs to know how to charge like a raging bull.

Being us... said...

We honestly do the sharing the same way in our house. Jacob isn't speaking alot but will match colors with memory type cards etc, etc....but honestly I tend to be the boring teacher and Paul is the fun imaginative teacher. My imagination seems to be lacking sometimes on how to make things fun so I ALWAYS turn to Paul. Don't underestimate how making things fun contributes to Lukas's overall learning! Keep it up! I am sure Mrs. LIAYF appreciates it!

James (SeattleDad) said...

@SciFi - I'm just doing my part. He needs to learn all the important skills to survive, not just talking and counting and the like. lol.

@OM - Thanks for the post at your site. I appreciate being included with the other great fathers you have featured. And yes, stacking cups on his head is essential to long term success.

@Being us - I kid a bit since I do contribute to those skills as well as does Mrs. LIAYF contibute to the goofyness. However, it does seem to lean towards the way I described it. He benefits from it all though. It's the attention that he gets that is the key.

@Surfer Jay - Absolutely. He laughs so hard when we do that trick that I think he is going to cry. It's a nice time.

Martin said...

Unrelated, but he's suddenly lost his 'baby' look, now he's got a 'little boy' look.

Petra a.k.a The Wise (*Young*) Mommy said...

I knew we kept you guys around for a reason :)

James (SeattleDad) said...

@Xbox- Yeah, he is growing up fast. Walking, talking, counting, sorting, stacking. And now he is looking like a little boy.

@Petra - We are good for a few things.

Super Mega Dad said...

You are truely a man's man, my friend! Father's have the toughest role of all.

I am in control of my kids' scifi and video game education. The wife is in charge of all that math and reading stuff.

James (SeattleDad) said...

@Super Mega Dad - Hang in there. Your kids will be much better for your efforts. Good work, man.