Life Hacks For Single Dads

This is a special episode. Earlier this year, as we were gearing up the show and handling the millions of details that go along with setting up a podcast, Doug and I were asked to be interviewed on the Parenting Then and Now podcast, hosting by our friend and fellow single parent, Sam. We talked about our plans for Life Hacks for Single Dads, and also about how our parenting philosophies were the inspiration for doing the podcast. We thought you’d like to hear that interview on Parenting Now and Then, and so here it is.

Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder is one of the most difficult challenges any parent can face, so it’s particularly hard on single parents. And just imagine how difficult it is for the children themselves! We go over the essentials of the condition and suggest the best ways for single dads to handle it. Listen and learn!

Reading the same books that your children are reading in school is a great single dad hack that helps you get closer to them. It provides a good opportunity to model good behavior, and shows them that homework isn’t just a chore -- it’s worthwhile. Most kids start to read “young adult” fiction in late elementary school and middle school. Reading “along” with them is our hack for this week. Listen to the show and you’ll understand what we mean by “along.” It’s different from what you might think.

Transition days are often the most stressful parts of your life as a divorced parent, and they’re certainly one of the most stressful parts of your children’s lives. In this episode we talk about how to handle them well so that they’re not damaging to your parenting and to your kids’ emotional well-being. Dropping them off at your ex’s house, welcoming them home to your house, and the general principles of good transitions are the subjects of this episode. Please listen!

Hand-made personal cards, for birthdays, holidays, and as expressions of thanks, are wonderful to receive. They’re also wonderful to make, and provide us an excellent parenting opportunities. It’s a simple craft, only involving construction paper, markers, and whatever stickers your kids like. It’s hands-on, and also gives us good teaching moments. Our kids can learn more about their distant relatives, learn about different parts of the country and world where their relatives live, and also learn about the postal service and how it works. It’s a great quiet time activity, and we can’t recommend it highly enough!

One of the best ways you can spend genuine quality time with your children is to start collecting things with them. Stamps, baseball cards, coins. It doesn’t matter what it is, but we happen to have found great parenting value in the State Quarters that the US Mint has been issuing for a long time. Each side of these Quarters is packed with great, teachable information that can all kinds of great conversations. Listen as we explain it all.

This episode is about core values and the benefits single dads can reap from defining them and living them out on a daily basis. The benefits that come from knowing our values, and applying them consistently in the decisions we make and the interactions we have with our kids, our ex, other family members, lawyers, and especially ourselves, are numerous. Living out our core values is only something we can do to the best of our ability. We’re no Marcus Stewarts after all. We will always remain frail and faulty human beings no matter what, and we will probably always make mistakes. The goal here is to stay ahead of that reality as best as we can, so that when our kids are grown and we are old we can look back on the job we did as parents, and the life we lived as men, with minimal regret.

One of the most troubling and stress-inducing aspects of life these days is that we seem to be multi-tasking all the time. At work we have our phones and other devices beeping at us with social media updates, texts, and voicemails. Bosses nowadays seem to want all our projects worked on at the same time, and all finished yesterday. Is it any wonder we’ve become conditioned to do the same at home?   Break this habit. Set an absolute time to concentrate completely on your children and house. Put away all distracting devices, portable computers and other screens. Stop all work and don’t be tempted to do two things at once. Don’t multi-task. Embrace single-tasking. For the vast majority of us, multi-tasking has simply become a habit. We’re not getting any more done than when we single-task, and trying juggle homework supervision, dinner prep, and finishing a few final things from the office is just asking for more stress.   Here are some beneficial effects of single-tasking:   You won’t be frazzled. Everything i

Hello there everyone, and especially you single dads out there. This is what’s called “episode zero.” That’s podcasting slang for a promotional episode that starts things off.   Life Hacks for Single Dads helps single fathers become better parents. We take big and important parenting concepts and explain how we can apply them to our lives as fathers. And, of course, we give you hacks that help you start taking a better approach to being the best single dad that you can be.   The show’s all about you: what we can do to make things a little easier for you; and what we can do to help you build better relationships with your children. And we want to help you do all this is manageable ways. That’s what the hacks are: small, practical things that you can implement today to make this week, this month, and this year more successful as a dad.   In the first few episodes, we talk about such things as:   Single Tasking Applying Life Values Getting Everyone Involved in Chores Handling Transition Days Dealing with Homewor