This one is short and sweet! One thing that I love is having a one-on-one breakfast with my one-year-old baby boy. It has turned into our Saturday morning ritual. My nine year old would rather play his video games and watch Sponge Bob Square Pants and it is a time for my wife to get some extra sleep.

So, I gather our things and we are off to a local breakfast spot that has become “our” place. It is a sweet time of bonding for the both of us. Our Saturday special is the egg white scramble with potatoes and bacon. The funny thing is that there is more “scramble” on the floor than what makes it into my baby’s mouth. The workers always seem to extend a dad and his baby more grace than the norm. I think that there is a funny sense that a mess is to be expected.

It is a morning that is always filled with sweet surprises. I really get to see my baby’s personality forming and he is learning to know me. You know, he really knows me and I love that.

I would love to hear of some of your special moments that you do or have done with your kids to build that sense of relationship and bonding. Its great to always hear new ways to connect with our kids.

This is hilarious but sad! You know the new show called “Are you smarter than a 5th grader” that is out? It pairs adults against 5th graders and usually the adults are embarrassed by the 5th graders because they can’t answer any of the 5th grade questions that is posed to them.

Well, I can now say that I know how they feel. I guess that I should be even more embarrassed than the contestants on the show because I seemed to have not been able to get through a section of my sons 4th grade math assignment. (more…)

I love this story that I am about to share with you. The lesson of fathering that was passed to me is something that I continue to see working with my 9-year old son and I and something that I will pass on to my 1 year old as he grows older.

I was at a business meeting with the VP of a very large on-line camera organization. This was our first meeting and we both hit it off quite well. Peter was just an all around great guy. Very open, honest and willing to take conversations to a deeper level. This is a wonderful and rare quality that you will rarely find when on a sales call. Most people just want to get down to the matter-of-fact and aren’t interested in you personally. Peter was different, he was really interested in who I was beyond the services that I was there to talk about. (more…)

I was sitting in the green room waiting to be interviewed on a morning show called “The Morning Blend” in Milwaukee, WI. This was the first leg of my book tour. The room was filled with several band members who were going to play for this local Milwaukee female singer. All of the guys were pretty young and had a bit of the grunge look. As we chatted the obvious question to each other was “what were we there for?” I shared about my book “American Daddy, A Father’s Heart Revealed.” I had a copy on me so the guys began to finger through it and were moved by the images and stories of the men with their children.

The images began to stir a couple of the guys who were new dads. We began to have this wonderful conversation of what being a father means to each of us and how fathering has changed our lives. You can always bet there will come the story about either getting thrown up on or peed on by your baby. I wasn’t disappointed for one of the new dads went into the story of his baby barfing all over his suite just before they were getting ready to go to church. As you can imagine, church didn’t happen that day and the suit went straight to the dry cleaners. We all had a great laugh.

What I love about spontaneous moments like this is that even though you don’t know someone personally there is a wonderful connection that takes place just being a father and you can walk away from those moments with a big grin and thankful that there is someone at home waiting to call you Daddy!

I am sure many of you bump into people every day and find yourselves talking about “daddy moments” with complete strangers or others you have worked with for years. I would love to hear your story. Simply add a comment below.