Parenting Notes #615-620

This week, I give women advice on motivating their men, the 6-year-old compliments me, and I discover the odd origin of the word Dad.

But before all that!

Let’s see if there’s some stuff you might have missed such as…

This quick collection of notes.
My 9-year-old not eating.
That adorable dad and baby who went viral discussing TV shows are in a hilarious new commercial.
And the mom of 3 incredibly successful daughters explains the one example she set for her kids that most parents fail to do.

Now that we’ve covered all that, and you’ve subscribed to the website via EMAIL, or followed me on FACEBOOK, TWITTER, and INSTAGRAM, we can get to this week’s notes.

PARENTING NOTE #615

The music hits and a switch inside gets flipped.

I can’t explain this phenomenon in men of a certain age.

The task could be running, lifting, cleaning the garage, mowing the lawn, or changing a dirty diaper.

“Eye of the Tiger” pops into our head for that extra boost of adrenaline.

Other songs that have the same motivational effect:

1. Gonna Fly Now
2. Lose Yourself (Eminem)
3. Superman theme song
4. I Need A Hero (Bonnie Tyler)
5. Danger Zone (Kenny Loggins)

My college roommate swore by the Top Gun soundtrack. I like the film, but can’t get past the volleyball scene.

I’ve never told another human you stink and had it lead to an intense volleyball match.

An intense SHIRTLESS volleyball match IN JEANS.

GOOSE: Maverick, why is your shirt off?
MAVERICK: It’s hot in the sun.
GOOSE: Then why are you wearing jeans?
MAVERICK: I have a date after this game.
GOOSE: You’re not going to shower? And you’re going to wear sweaty, sandy jeans. That makes no sense.
MAVERICK: I’m gonna miss you when you die.
GOOSE: What!?!??
MAVERICK: Alright, lets play!

PARENTING NOTE #616

For a variety of reasons, these notes are more difficult to write now.

The kids can read so I try not to make jokes at their expense. They never signed off on being the focus of one-liners about their lives.

People in their lives follow this account. I don’t want strangers, or even friends, making judgments about them or their lives.

I’m crippled by the feeling like Ive written things before just in a slightly different way.

You know that guy who cracks the same jokes every time you talk to him, but he seems clueless to the fact. So you play along and smile and laugh like you’re hearing the quip for the first time. I don’t want to be that guy.

At least not in note form.

I guess what Im saying is these notes are evolving, and I cant promise these notes will always be about parenting, kids, families, or anything remotely close. I can guarantee that they’ll still be funny.

Thanks for sticking around.

PARENTING NOTE #617

I pondered this statement and thought, at first, “Awww, she just called me handsome.”

And then the rest soaked in.

Eh, she’s right, I’m pretty gross.

PARENTING NOTE #618

Sometimes we do something for so long – our entire lives in some cases – and then one day we question it all with, why the hell do we do that?

The word dad.

I use it, my kids use it, billions of people around the world use it, and it wasnt until just this morning that I wondered, where the hell does it come from?

Mother evolved into mom. The abbreviation for father would be fat, and while not far off for some, it’s not the nicest term in the world. So how did father turn into dad?

I decided to look it up and found an answer that I absolutely love.

No one has a damn clue!

From an article on Mental Floss:

Dad was first recorded in English sometime in the 1500s, but its ancestry isn’t clear. Even the Oxford English Dictionary throws its hands up and admits of the actual origin we have no evidence. But, the OED continues, the forms dada and tata, meaning father, originating in infantile or childish speech, occur independently in many languages. In other words, dad might come from baby talk.

So there you have it. We can all dazzle friends and family at BBQs and brunches today with this newfound knowledge.

Hey, do you know where the term dad comes from?

No.

Neither does anyone else! Let’s drink!

Tag your favorite father(s) with this post and tell him, “we don’t know why the hell we call you dad, but we’re glad we do.”

Happy Father’s Day to all the dads.

PARENTING NOTE #619