Teaching your son how to be a man

Deciding on the ways you should teach your son how to be a man can inspire a great deal of soul searching for any father. Back in the olden days, when a man was seen as the head of the household, sole bread winner and a pillar of physical and emotional strength, this task may have been an easier one. The advice back might have been quite simple "get a good job, work hard, support your family and don’t cry". However things are bit more tricky for 21st century dads. Here are some more contemporary manly things to teach your son:

How to cook
Why is important? Because knowing how to cook is all about self-sufficiency and independence. Is there any skill more important than one that teaches self sufficiency? Cooking is also “still” a pretty easy way to impress girls – so two birds with one stone.

How to manage money

A dad's point of view - is Glee gay?

There's no doubt that I'm really wading into it with the title of this column. I was reflecting on the end of this season of Glee and the only other television series that I watch regularly, Modern Family. I enjoy both show but do wonder if they have an agenda as to the message they want to put across.

Let me be clear on my stance on homosexuality to eliminate any pre-conceived prejudices you may assume I have or may project on me that are not true. I lost a VERY DEAR friend to Aids back in the day when it first appeared. I worked in showbiz for a quarter-century and loved and interacted with people of all stripes, with equal passion, respect, and collaboration. If they were talented and good people, I loved them. If they were not, I didn’t. Simple.

How to save space in your kids' bedroom

The central piece of the bedroom is generally a large bed which occupies most of the space; in order to win free space, you can search for a bed appropriate for your room size at bedstar. Another reason for having not enough space in your bedroom is due to the fact that we are used to having lots of toys in the room as well.

So one of the easiest things you can do is to buy a size appropriate bed. E.g. consider the following:

• Sofa bed – it can be folded during the day to occupy less space
  
• Storage Bed – the storage spaces can be used for keeping all the toys in the storage compartment under the bed
  
• Murphy bed – can be lifted during the day to give you floor access

April Fools Day: practical jokes to play on your kids

OK it's time to get ready for April Fools Day so we thought let's put together a useful list of pranks you can play on your kids and partner.

Babies and Toddlers: well given that the irony of April Fools Day may be a bit lost on babies and toddlers you can just have a good old laugh with them. E.g. paint your face, user finger puppets or put a nappy on your head (a fresh one!!!)
Preschoolers: Find a piece of old / scrap cloth. Place your victim’s favourite toy or other item of interest on the floor and stay nearby. When the victim comes along and bends down to pick up the toy, rip the cloth ... yell out that your little one as just ripped their trousers.
Primary school children: Add a few drops of food coloring into a milk carton for a nice surprise at breakfast! If you have sleepy kids you can also get up a bit earlier and draw something on their face while they are still asleep.

Ten things to do on Mothers Day

What can you do on Mother's Day to make it special for your partner (and your children)? Here's a list of treats for partners/mums and activities with babies/kids.

What you can do for your partner on Mother’s Day:

1. Let her sleep in (which typically means taking care of the baby and kids in the morning)
   
2. Give her a nice backrub / foot massage
   
3. Run a bath for her and put some nice aromatherapy oils/soap in it
   
4. Cook or bake something for your partner that you know she really likes
   
5. Make her a card with photos / drawings from your kids

And don’t forget your own mum – send her a card or give her a call to say thank you for bringing you into this world and looking after you all these years.

Best Apps Review

Our DIYFather app is making appearances in App Reviews around the world - great to see dressify delivering results for dads around the world. Here's the story on Nine MSN's Today show:

If you haven't downloaded dressify yet - check it out ... it's free.

DIYFather.com

Survival Guide for Single Fathers of Tween and Teen Daughters

By Gretchen Gross

You’re a smart guy. You read The Perfect Storm and now you find yourself living it. Your daughter, who yesterday was happy to hang out with you at Home Depot, now cries for no known reason. Last week you were her soccer coach and ‘the best dad there ever was, really,’ and today on the way home from practice she turned away and stared sadly out the window and wouldn’t say a word to you. She’s hovering around adolescence and all of a sudden you’re flopping on the daddy-deck in a panic. What the heck is about to happen and how are you going to get through this? How can you help her get through these difficult years when honestly, you don’t totally understand it yourself? If you’re a single dad, it can get all the more complicated. You might not know who or where to go to for the real deal, the inside scoop. When did her body start to change? Where the heck do you buy a training bra, and when? Do you have to take her or can you pay someone else to do it? What about dating? Or the girl clique thing you’ve heard about. Can’t you just ignore it and raise her just like you would a son, just like you were raised? This book is for any man raising a tween or teen daughter, but particularly the single man who does or doesn’t have full-time custody. This is the definitive guide to helping dad and daughter get past ‘survive’ and onto ‘thrive.’ Written for any man raising daughters, the authors geared this book for the single dad who may not have a woman in his life with whom to confer about issues their daughters may be facing like sex, friendships, boyfriends, alcohol and drugs, and personal hygiene. This book covers it all, from what to keep stocked in the bathroom to how to talk about sex without being blown off. The authors help dads gain a better sense of what their daughters are going through, how their bodies are changing, how their relationships are changing, and how best to handle the ups and downs of these challenging years.

Here's an extract from our book "But Dad! A Survival Guide for Single Fathers of Tween and Teen Daughters":

Check out the brave people below who submitted their Dressify photo to us - good on ya! Download Dressify (free) and try it out yourself. Great fun for the whole family.

A dad's point of view - my little boy is going to college

I hate clichés. I love clichés. I just find it weird when I feel as if my whole life is one big cliché! Being a parent means you will undoubtedly experience any number of them. Here’s an arbitrary list of parenting clichés. Be honest, how many have you used?

• Like father, like son
  
• The apple doesn’t fall far from the tree
  
• There are starving children in Africa
  
• Money doesn't grow on trees
  
• I’ll start treating you like an adult when you start acting like one
  
• When you have children of your own, you'll understand
  
• If I've told you once, I've told you a thousand times
  
• Because I said so!
  
• Wait until your father (or mother) gets home
  
• When I was your age
  
• If God had wanted you to have holes in your ears (eyebrows, tongue, etc.) He would have put them there!
  
• Life isn't fair (this one is universal to parents and kids)
  
• When I was your age, I had to walk ten miles through the snow, uphill, by myself, to go to school

Daddy's Rules for Dating Daughters

Rule One
If you pull into my driveway and honk you'd better be delivering a carton of beer, because you're sure not picking anything up.

Rule Two
You do not touch my daughter in front of me. You may glance at her so long as you do not peer at anything below her neck. If you cannot keep your eyes or hands off of my daughter's body, I will remove them.

Rule Three