The arrival of a newborn, especially if it’s the first born, brings a flurry of child proofing. The problem is that the initial bout of safety consciousness can give way as your child or children grow up. And that of course is a problem since safety hazards tend to increase with a child’s age. The other issue is that nobody likes a lecture that is nothing more than a list of “no, don’t, you can’t, and never.” Stressing the importance of safety is like talking about saving for retirement. It’s necessary, but not very much fun. Not nearly as much fun as skateboarding down a flight of stairs without a helmet or spending money today. (more…)
Canavan Disease is a devastating genetic brain disorder that prevents myelin, also know as white matter, from forming in the brain. Children stricken with Canavan’s disease are essentially trapped in their bodies, unable to lift their heads or move, they typically lose their eyesight and are unable to fight off illness. Most die within their first decade of life.
Hopeless cause you say? Not even remotely if the Jacob’s Cure foundation has anything to do about it. Founded by Jordana Holovach and named for her son, Jacob, the foundation works to support federal and private funding for research as well as raising awareness about the disease. (more…)
It’s summer time and that means swimming whether it be in a pool, a lake, or an ocean. And though swimming is great family fun, it can also be dangerous - especially if your child’s fearlessness exceeds their current swimming level.
The challenge for the parent is that traditional flotation devices are impractical for recreation swimming (life jackets), or hinder/discourage the development of swimming skills (water wings/arm bands). Plus, there is the ridiculous factor at play with water wings - they just look silly. (more…)
Through some not-so-subtle reminders, I’ve been informed that Mother’s Day is coming up. (Thanks, Kris.) Sunday the 13th to be exact is the day that we pay homage to mothers by doling out cash to the greeting card, floral, jewelry and restaurant industries.
It wasn’t always so commericial though, according to Wikipedia entry for Mother’s Day, the original concept as envisioned by Julia Ward Howe was a Mother’s Day for Peace. Howe based her idea on the work of Ann Jarvis who organized a Mother’s Day celebration to speed reconcilation after the Civil War. President Wilson signed the order making Mother’s Day a holiday in 1914. (more…)
What do Bill Murray, Johnny Cash and Arnold from Different Strokes have in common? They all make appearances on clothes from Sandbox Threads, the new online store from stay at home dad, Andy Swaggerty. Sandbox aims to provide “Funky Styles for Little Hipsters” with clothes influenced by everything from celebrity and pop culture to political activism, travel and sports all with vintage and retro inspired themes. Aside from our favorites, Bill, Johnny, and Arnold, we like the travel and Vintage Ad lines.
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Our featured blog is Flagrant Disregard, written by John Watson. Flagrant Disregard covers John’s life as a married guy with kids which he sums up as “I’m the John Watson that blogs about vomit. I’m John Watson the dad.” He’s also John Watson the entrepreneur; and talk about busy, John has his hands in several businesses (see below) and freelance web design.
I really like Flagrant Disregard even though I only came across it recently. Why? I like the combination of dad, entreprenuer, and tech guy. It reminds me of Good Morning Silicon Valley written by a guy who changed diapers that morning. His posts range from family matters, to the scourge of Snap.com (which I wholeheartedly second), to what is probably my favorite post in awhile which compares punishment for illegally copying a Netflix DVD with other more serious offenses. (Or a least, what you thought were more serious offenses…) (more…)
If you’re anything like the typical family, you have multiple PCs, laptops, cell phones, PDAs, maybe a Mac and several planners, and a bunch of sticky notes. You’re more wired, but less connected. It’s especially hard to manage everything across all your commitments: your job(s), family, etc. It’s no wonder as you went to bed last night you you remembered that you forgot to pick up your suit from the dry cleaners that you were going to wear to the sales presentation today.
Enter Backpack from the folks at 37signals. I’ve been using the online organizational tool for about 4 months and I love it. I can honestly say that it has had a measurable positive impact on my productivity. It’s one of these ’so simple why didn’t someone think of it earlier’ tools. (more…)
