Almighty Dad | A stay at home dad blog

 
Every conflict between my boys has something to do with a material thing, some physical object.  Thankfully I’m not alone in my parental frustration.  It turns out that 75% of sibling conflict stems from disagreements over objects (Dr. Laurie Kramer, University of Illinois).  The traditional notion that conflict arises out of competition for parental attention is wrong; it ranked dead last of all the reasons siblings fight (Nurture Shock).  I didn’t really think my kids were ever fighting for my attention anyway, but I’m happy[…]

Charles Bronson’s character (Harmonica) made it his life goal to avenge his brother’s death.  How much do we value our brothers and sisters?  This much?  
 
What would you do for a brother or sister?  How much, when we really think about it, do we appreciate our siblings?  How close are we?  I have a unique perspective on all of this because I have two sisters, but I only grew up with one of them.  My twin sister and I were adopted when we were babies[…]

I‘ve learned over the course of the last few years to never suppress my enthusiasm for anything my kids accomplish, and to try my best to treat each kid differently based on each ones personality and strengths.  There was a time though that I found myself, on occasion, being subdued in my accolades for fear of making one of the kids feel “less”.  It was in an attempt to show that I don’t have favorites.  Of course the big lesson here is that feeling proud of your[…]