Every morning I watch our 15-month old so that my wife can get her much needed rest. This morning we went out to the front yard and I turned on the sprinklers to water the grass. We live somewhat in the hills so there are always birds, planes or helicopters flying around us and above us.

With every step and touch of a new plant or flower the “ahhhhs” begin to ooze from Ezrah’s tender lips. Then as the birds flew and the airplanes and helicopters roared the air was filled with a series of “ooohs”.

This morning was such a time of discover for my baby and I. His discoveries were the newness and sounds of life. My discoveries were the new ways that I saw Ezrah and the immense joy that he brought me this morning.

Gabriel

My family and I just spent the last week in Miami, Florida on vacation. I must say that it was such a wonderful, wonderful time. The weather was perfect, apart from a couple of rain showers. The activities…the beach…para-sailing…wave runners and scooting all over town on a scooter were also what made the time fantastic.

My wife, along with our baby, headed to Key West with a few of her girlfriends mid-week which left my 10-year old son and I to take on Miami by ourselves. Some of the most memorable moments for me was the one-on-one time that he and I shared and the “great” conversations that he and I had. I can tell you that he had me laughing on so many occasions! We had our times of conversations that had depth to them as well. My son is funny, insightful, creative, caring, daring and full of adventure.

I want to encourage the dads out there to get some one-on-one time with your kids and let them shine. You will be a better man for it.

I would love to hear some of your stories as well.

Best,

Gabriel

I wanted to share with you the poem that my ten year old son wrote for me. It is titled “A Portrait of My Dad!” I must say that I was greatly moved at my son’s descriptive writing. All I can say is that it “moved” me in the most wonderful way:

A Portrait of My Dad
by Julian Pelino

You dad are a hurricane moving excitedly, you have everything upon you. Your voice beats like a drum that never stops its loud beat.

A color? You are the dark blue of the mountain sky. You are a lion sleeping tiredly in the shade.

When I am with you I feel like an excited lightening bolt striking a tree.

I am currently sitting in an airport on my way back to L.A. I had the opportunity to appear as a guest on the 700 Club show this morning to talk about my book project American Daddy, A Father’s Heart Revealed.

On my flight from Virgina to Dulles/Washington airport, for my layover, I sat next to a man who was a Chaplain. He has served two tours in Iraq and shared some of his story with me. I can’t imagine what many of these men and women have gone through.

I was moved, once again, at the sacrifice many men and women are making. The fact that they are away from their families and the impact of that separation on all. With Father’s Day just around the corner I was thinking of all the wives, sons and daughters that would not get to give a big hug to their husbands & fathers.

So, I want to wish all fathers a happy Father’s Day! I want to wish all of the men serving our country a happy Father’s Day! You are all heroes!

The babies crying woke me up at 1:30am. It is very difficult for me to fall back asleep once I wake up. As I begun to count sheep my nine year old hopped in bed with me, it was now about 2:00am. My wife was nursing the baby at the time so it was just he and I. He told me that he didn’t feel well and that his stomach was hurting.

So, we went up to where his bed was and I tucked him in. The moment, which happened so fast, was he was praying to the porcelain God, if you know what I mean. I stood behind him and rubbed his back, telling him that everything was going to be o.k., as he took care of business.

We went back to his bed for the second tuck in. He asked me to pray for him and I did. As he began to fall into his sleep I just took a blanket and lay on the floor next to him. I was reminded, at that moment, that I was his comforter and his protector! I lay there like a watch dog making sure that nothing would harm my son. I know that nothing was coming at him but I felt really courageous laying there and watching out for him. I felt like a man and it was wonderful!

I would love to hear from you and have you share your moments like this. Our children need their Daddy’s!

Great story to share…my son Julian’s mom calls me to tell me about a moment they had in the elevator of thier downtown L.A. loft. As they were riding up to their floor there was a lady carrying a bunch of bags. My son noticed the volume of bags and said to his mom…”She probablly could use some help. I bet that my wagon would do the trick!”

When Julian and his mom arrived at their unit, Julian begins to share his new business idea. He is going to post a notice in the lobby and will let people know that if they have bags when coming home they can call him and he will come down to the lobby, with his wagon, and help them. And, for only $5 bucks! What a deal, eh?

When Julian’s mom called me I was so excited about the story and how my son, so quickly, saw a need and came up with a solution. The cool thing for me is that when Julian is with me he and I always have this entrepenurial conversations. He is always coming up with fantastic ideas and I just try to nurture his thought process. Some of his ideas are so crazy and off the wall but I just smile and say “Yes!!! Wonderful idea!”

Let us all take the time to see our children and “listen” to what they are saying. Let us take the time to celebrate their ideas, gifts and talents and begin to nurture them.

I guess that the bigger picture here is that my son will see needs of people and try to meet those needs as he grows older. What is it that your kids are dreaming about. How are you supporting and nurturing those dreams and ideas.

Please share some of your thoughts and stories!

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.