Clean as a Whistle

This shop has been compensated by Collective Bias, Inc. and its advertiser. All opinions are mine alone. #MySignatureMove #CollectiveBias

I don't get out much.  I take the kids out to the bus stop, maybe go to the grocery store, drop off my wife's dry cleaning, really not much else.  I'm not one to make plans with other stay at home parents, so the only person that I am really trying to impress is my wife... and my wife travels a lot.  When she is out of town on business there is NO REASON for me to take a shower.  It's not that I don't want to, it's just that if my stench gets too bad to where even the dog won't go near me, I'll just load up on some deodorant and I'm good for another day.

Some days my smell is too much and the boys plug their noses

If I know that I am going to run into someone, or I have to go to the kids school for an extended period of time, or my wife is coming home, THEN I will jump in the shower.

I always have a hard time figuring out what brand of soap and shampoo I should buy. I don't want something too girly that I am going to smell like rose petals, I don't need anything peachy, and I certainly don't need to smell like an ocean breeze.  More often than not I'm grabbing whatever my wife uses and I will smell like lavender for a few hours until my natural smell takes over.

These are usually my choices. Who wants to smell like a fluffy cupcake?

I get weirded out buying shampoo and soaps.  It's like if I make the wrong decision then the cashier is going to judge me.  She will give me that weird stare like she's asking me if I'm sure that's the kind that I want. Buying them is kind of a big deal.  I mean, this is what you are deciding that you want to smell like for the next month at least.  One wrong purchase and you could end up smelling like someone's 95 year old grandfather instead of a clover filled meadow.

I usually head to some big box retailer like Wal-Mart and get my shampoos. Since I am so concerned what people will think of me about my soap purchase, I will buy 15 other things that I don't need to disguise that one thing.  I never walk out of there spending less that $100 and the only thing I went in there to buy was shampoo. Fortunately today I knew what I was looking for.

I went in looking for Irish Spring.  Every now and then I get that old jingle stuck in head.  The old commercials are classic.  It's usually some guy walking down a dirt road in the middle of Ireland whistling and then someone whistles back.  That was me today in Wal-Mart, except nobody whistled back.  They kind of looked at me like I was nuts.  Irish Spring could not have been easier to find.

Since my wife is back from her business trip to Florida, today is the day that I had to shower. Between you and me... I hadn't showered since Saturday, but nobody else needs to know that. So I grabbed all of my soaps including the exfoliating scrub and the signature body wash.

To the shower I went.  

This wasn't any normal lathering.  I grabbed the "man sized" exfoliating scrub and dumped a half gallon of the 3-in-1 Signature Body Wash on me and it seemed to do the trick.  My boys were no longer holding their noses and the dog actually wanted to play with me.  Most importantly though, my wife enjoyed the smell.

Clean as a whistle!

Not that I would ever force you to buy a certain body wash over any of the others... I know how picky we can all be, but I think I have found one that works for me AND my family.

Purchase one of the new Irish Spring Signature products and get $5 off a VUDU purchase! Take a picture of your receipt and then go to http://cbi.as/3boj to upload your receipt.

So how long can YOU go without showering before you can't stand being around yourself?

John Willey - Daddy's in Charge?

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My Most Treasured Map

I've always had a fascination with maps. Ever since I was little I can remember unfolding them and just staring at them wondering about the places that they represent. My grandparents had a lot of maps, they came as inserts in the National Geographic magazines that they collected. Places on earth that were so foreign to me, I could spread out on a table and imagine what took place in that little part of the world.  I could look at a map for hours perhaps wondering where they will lead me.

They are nothing more than a bunch lines and symbols, but to me they've always meant so much more. Whenever I look at a map I wonder about the people. Who are they? Where they might work. What route they might take to get to that job. How far they might have to go to the grocery store. I like to explore a map and let the stories unfold in front of my eyes. You see a piece of paper... I see the greatest story ever told.

A map is my Harry Potter, it's my War and Peace, my To Kill a Mockingbird all folded into one. The stories that can be told in a map are endless.

I’m reminded of all this as I stare out of an airplane window at 35,000 feet.  The snow covered ground below looks like a white tile floor from up there. What will be a stream or a river in the spring time after the snow melts are just little lines meandering through endless valleys.  Roads run off into the distance, where they end I do not know, but I'm sure there is a story there.  From 35,000 feet the Earth looks like one big beautiful map.

This past weekend I feel like my maps came to life.  Dads from all of the world — places that I have only dreamt about — came together to share their stories with me. No longer did I have to imagine what the people and places were like.  I didn’t have to take out a map of Canada and wonder. I got to actually talk to people from Ottawa, Calgary, and Fredricton. Sydney was no longer foreign to me. Ireland was sitting across the table sharing a beer. New Mexico, Florida, Los Angeles, Chicago, Indianapolis, Portland… every single place had a story, and every single place was just as I imagined, which is to say, not much different than where I live.

The Dad 2.0 Summit was like giant map of the world that I could unfurl.  In one corner you get a story about a guy who has been on the road with his family for the past year. Along a fold  there is a dad who struggles daily with depression, and from somewhere in the middle is a stay at home dad with twin boys who battles with the feeling of being isolated. I knew these stories going in, but I really didn’t know the men behind them.  Like places on a map, I knew where they were from, but I had never actually visited.

The world is a little smaller now than it was last week.  I may not physically know the places each dot on a map represents, but I no longer have to imagine what it's like to live there.  I can look at my map now and know exactly where John lives, where Lorne lives, where Bill lives, where Jeff lives.  The maps no longer tell me where I want to go... they tell where I've been.

John Willey - Daddy's in Charge?

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Your Dog Might be Better Than Mine

I sometimes feel like I am failing as a dog owner.

How much am I supposed to be doing with her? She gets to go out for walks, fetches toys that I throw, and gets treats when she sits or rolls over, but I feel bad that I am not doing more. Should I be enrolled in a puppy and me class? Should I be setting up doggy playdates for her? I can't really take her to a park and let her go on the playground, so what more am I supposed to do?

There are no doggy museums that we can go to. Movie theaters are off limits. I can't take her to the mall. Grocery shopping? I'm pretty sure unless I am blind, they don't look to kindly upon a dog walking through the produce section.

She's three months old now, but I am concerned that all of the other dogs are passing her by.

Certainly I am missing out on something. I see all of these dogs on TV doing flips, walking on tightropes, and catching frisbees. My dog doesn't do any of those things. She chases the same toy that I throw over and over and over and can never get enough of that. I've seen dog shows on TV where dogs march in perfect unison with the most perfectly groomed fur. Mine always looks like she has just woken up with a sever case of bed head. Give her a bath and she looks like a rat, not quite up to Westminster potential.

Drying off after a bath.

A video posted by @jdubs44 on Feb 7, 2015 at 6:56am PST

Maybe I'm over-reacting to things, but it seems that everyone's dog can do so much more than ours.  Your dog might be better than mine. All our dog does is constantly lick our faces and curl up on our laps to fall asleep.

John Willey - Daddy's in Charge?

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The Simple Way to Change Lego for the Better

My family is a huge Lego loving family.*

Since my oldest was 2.5 years old he has been putting together Lego sets geared towards much older kids.  His (my) obsession began simply with a few Lego City Fire Truck sets.  We would spend hours putting them together and playing with them and hopefully not breaking them.  He's 10 now and while he doesn't play with Lego as much as he used to, he still enjoys them... we all do.*

I had never really given much thought to how Lego was marketed.  As far as I was concerned they were just the perfect toy to play with, with my kids. It never concerned me that Lego seemed to be very much a boy toy and not something that was marketed to girls.  I have two boys, so seeing things from a parent with a girl's perspective was just not something on my radar.

Then the Friends line came out and everyone seemed to be in an uproar.  Why was this new pink and purple packaging marketed directly to girls showing characters running a beauty salon or a frozen yogurt joint?  It still didn't dawn on me why people were upset.  A lot of people questioned why there were different Lego sets for seemingly different genders.  Why couldn't the normal (let's face it, the Friends line looks weird) sets appeal to boys AND girls?

Sure there are female characters in a lot of sets like Hermione, Wonder Woman, Batgirl, and Poison Ivy; but there aren't any sets where there are female police officers or female astronauts... but there can be pretty easily.  Here is what I propose for my (kids) favorite toy. Instead of just having one head and one hair piece, why don't they offer two?  Include a male face and hair and a female face and hair.  They don't even need to make two heads just have one side painted like a girl and one side painted like a boy that way the child can choose the gender of their mini figure.  I have plenty of head pieces that have two faces on them depicting different moods, why not two different sexes?  Then the only thing that you would need to add is ONE hair piece for every mini figure... including the bad person that robs banks.  Because if a girl wants to be a police officer, she has to be prepared to be in jail too.

Criminals

Police Officers

Motorcycle Cops

Kid Soccer Players

What do you say Lego?  Can we make this happen?

*not my wife

John Willey - Daddy's in Charge?

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15 Things That Need to End in 2015

Happy New Year

It's amazing how much changes when the calendar flips from December 31st to January 1st.  Everything is fresh and new and we can all start over with our lives. No more do we have to think about how horrible the past year was and we can all look forward to the exciting things that lie ahead. Or something like that.  The truth is the new year really doesn't mean that much.  Sure it's a good time to reflect and think about what you want to change going forward, but in actuality not much really does.  Everyone goes to the gym for a couple of weeks, they lose a few pounds, then they fall of the wagon, stop going to the gym and gain it all right back.

It seems everything is like that though.  We all talk about how much we want to change in the new year, but things usually end up pretty much the same as in years past.  But there are some things that HAVE to change in the New Year.

1. People talking on their cell phones in public. Don't do it in the line at Starbucks. Don't do it in line at the bank.  DO NOT DO IT ANYWHERE.  I can't tell you how many times I've seen someone chatting away on their phones as they are checking out their groceries or ordering a cup of coffee.  Please give that person standing in front of you your full undivided attention.  It's beyond rude.  With that said...

2. People that talk on SPEAKERPHONE.  Seriously?!  I don't want to hear both ends of your conversation.  It's bad enough that I have to hear what you are saying and now you want me to hear what your Aunt Shelia is saying too.  Next time I see you I hope it's at Home Depot so I can smash your phone with a hammer.

3. People that autopost from Twitter to Facebook.  There is no reason.  It's two different social mediums; treat them as such.  Never should an @ be found on Facebook.

4. Chewing gum in public.  It's disgusting. Have you ever driven past a cow pasture and seen all the cows just sitting there chewing?  That's what you all look like.

5. Arguing politics online.  Has there ever been a political argument online where one side realized the error in their ways and completely flipped their opinion.  The next time it happens will be the first.  Everyone has an opinion and everyone is wrong.

6. People not getting vaccinated.  It's stupid.  I just got my dog shots so that she wouldn't die of distemper.  Why wouldn't you get a shot to prevent your kids from dying of a potentially fatal disease?

7. Racism.  I know that this is impossible.  As long as two people don't look like each other there will always hate amongst the races.  It makes no sense to me though.  Look at a group of kids playing with each other.  None of them care about what the other person looks like, they just want to play.  Why can't adults be like that?  So stop teaching your kids to hate each other.

8. Gun violence.  I don't want to take away your right to have a gun, far from it.  If you want to carry one that's fine.  I just want to make sure that you are doing it in the safest way possible and that a person who shouldn't own a gun doesn't.  There is no need for someone to be carrying a gun in a Walmart store so that their two year old can kill them with it.  There is no need for you to walk into an Arby's with an AK-47.  I will never understand why people say that the only way to stop a bad guy with a gun is a good guy with a gun.  It seems we hear too often about the bad guys and not enough about the good guys.  More guns is NOT the answer and instead of not talking about things and sitting behind the Second Amendment, lets have a human discussion.

9. Cops shooting unarmed people.  I've heard too many stories like this.  I know that being a cop is not the easiest job in the world and that their next shift could possibly be their last, but we hear about these types of stories far too often.  I don't know how cops are trained to handle certain situations, but pulling up to a 12 year old in the park and killing him in two seconds is not the way to go.

10. People shooting the police. Stop it.  It does nothing to further your cause.  The only thing that it does is make things exponentially worse for everyone.

11. Poverty/ War/ whatever other unattainable goal.  We can try, but this is never going to happen.  Seven billion people living on a rock in space where two thirds of it is covered by water?  There are just too many people and too many of them want to be in charge.

12.  Talking about Stay at Home Dads as if Working Moms don't exist.  I'm a stay at home dad for no other reason than my wife is a freaking rock star.  Sure there seems to be more of us SAHDs every year, but that would also mean that there are more households with the working mom as the sole breadwinner.  Lets hear some stories about them and their struggles for a change.

13. My dog pooping on the floor.  It might not rank up there with some of the others, but it's something that really needs to stop.  She knows where the door is, she knows how to let me know she has to go, she needs to stop dropping deuce on the dining room floor.  Newborn puppies are harder than newborn babies.

Help me out puppy

14. Group texts. Please don't include me in one.  I barely care about your original text and I am certainly not going to care about seven one word responses from people I don't know.  The only way to truly put an and to this is for people to stop hitting "Reply All."  You have that option, use it.

15.  List posts.  They are lazy ways to write things and they are oversaturated in our society now.  I get it that people will invest their time though when they know they only have to read 15 things.

John Willey - Daddy's in Charge?

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The Day the Sound Went Out

I was at a complete loss.

I was trying to watch a Syracuse Basketball game online and stream it to my television but for some reason I was not getting any sound.  I guess I could have just sat there with no audio, but that just seems weird to me.  A big part of watching the game is being able to hear it.  Sometimes I would rather watch a game at home than go to it live, because I like to hear the announcers.  But here I was, five minutes until tip off and I wasn't getting any audio whatsoever.

Enter the TuneIn Radio app on my phone.

I've had this app on my phone for a while now, but I have never really gotten to use it.  I occasionally listen to a friend of mine on the radio in Buffalo but I never really needed it to listen to a Syracuse game until this one.

It couldn't have been any easier to find the game that I was looking for.

When I started the app I saw that I could browse a bunch of different categories including sports.  From there I found the page for Syracuse University and much to my surprise there was the local radio feed for my beloved Syracuse Orange.  They are one of 85 college basketball broadcasts that TuneIn will carry this winter.  So unless you are a fan of the Geneseo State Blue Knights, it's a safe bet that you will be able to listen to your team online.

I used to get the Syracuse radio feed at my house in Central New Jersey.  I would have to slowly go through the radio dial and find it between all of the static.  You think you found it, but then it turns out to be Rush Limbaugh or Dr. Drew Pinsky.  It was a pain in the butt.  Now, it's just a few taps on my phone and I can hear the beautiful voice of Matt Park and the sweet sounds of the Carrier Dome.  Technology is utterly amazing. No longer do I have to listen to the annoying Dick Vitale.

*I was compensated by TuneIn and Life of Dad for my thoughts on this.  All opinions are my own, unless my wife tells me otherwise.

John Willey - Daddy's in Charge?

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11 Things I've Learned About Christmas in 11 Years

Its' hard to believe that this is going to be the 11th Christmas that my wife and I have spent with kids. We are still in the grasp of Santa Claus, but I fear that this will be the last year the jolly old elf gets all of the credit for the big day.  Tyler is in the fifth grade now and I am shocked that he still believes in Santa or is at least still playing along.  I suspect that he has known for a couple of years now, but just won't come out and tell us.  He's a smart kid, perhaps smarter than us.  Some fourth grader told Carter on the bus that Santa isn't real, so who knows what he thinks.  He's never really been into the whole holiday as much as his older brother.

I've noticed some things in 11 years.

1. No Christmas is as exciting as when your kid is two years old.  Christmas peaked that year.  The first couple of years the kids have no idea what is going on, but at two they expect something will happen and Christmas morning when you are two is an explosion of excitement. Tyler dressed up as Santa to go see Santa that year.  Walking through the mall that year is something I will never forget.

2. The first Christmas really is a waste for the kids.  It's nothing more than a photo opportunity with a new "Baby's First Christmas" outfit.  Kids can't open anything at that age and they really have no clue what is going on.  just give your kid a box.

3. The first Christmas is anything but a waste for parents.  It might be a photo opportunity, but never again will your kid wear the "Baby's First Christmas" outfit.  Christmas changes when you have a kid.

4. Kids react differently to Christmas.  Our oldest loves everything about Christmas, our youngest is pretty indifferent.  He makes a list, he checks it twice; he'd be happy if a big box was delivered on a random Tuesday afternoon with a bunch of toys and games.  He could do without all the Christmas trimmings.  The first couple of years Carter was fine with Santa, the next few he was scared to see him.

5. Christmas turns into a game. Part of me just wants to spill the beans about Christmas.  The kids find random presents that were supposed to be from Santa.  They see our browsing history on the computer.  Presents have to be switched from Santa to Hanukkah.  It's not easy nowadays hiding everything.

6. Every Christmas special on TV talks about not believing in Santa. It puts doubt in their heads.  Why would a young kid have any reason to not believe?  Yet, every show starts with some kid questioning the existence of Santa only to be convinced in the end that he is real.  Maybe it's the parent in me that wants to make it last as long as possible and I'm thinking about it too much, but I can almost see the wheels turning in my kids heads whenever it gets brought up.

7. It's not easy to shop anymore. We used to be able to get the kids anything and they would love it.  Throw some Legos or Star Wars stuff under the tree and the kids would be thrilled. Now?  They love their tablets and they don't really play with toys that much anymore.  It's all about video games, but you can't have EVERY present be a video game.  They just don't NEED as much stuff, but they WANT a lot of stuff.

8. Whatever they want they will no longer play with by New Years.  Like a lot of kids last year, Tyler had to have a million rubber bands last year for his Rainbow Loom kit.  Two days later they were forgotten about.

9. Christmas lists can't be made out until Thanksgiving.  Sure kids can wish for things throughout the year, but I learned my lesson with Pokemon two years ago.  It's all Carter wanted in October, so we bought a bunch of them online.  By mid November he wanted nothing to do with them.  We still have those cards and he actually is starting to play with Pokemon again, but that wasn't a fun holiday.

10. It is indeed the most wonderful time of the year.  Amazingly I'm happy not getting anything for Christmas.  Seeing my kids open all their presents is good enough for me.

11. The moment after all the presents are opened is the saddest time of year.  You have no idea what Christmas is going to look like the following year.  How will the kids change?  Will they care about Santa anymore?  How much Christmas magic will still exist? Every year the kids are less and less excited about the holidays. A lot changes over the course of a year's time.

Who knows what next year will hold, but I suspect I will learn a little more.

John Willey - Daddy's in Charge?

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My Son's First Phone. It's not a Toy Anymore

**I have been paid by Tracfone and Life of Dad LLC for the following post.  All opinions are my own.

I have been toying with the idea of getting Tyler a phone for a while now.  I didn't have a phone until I was 25, partly because I felt I didn't need one and phones just weren't that big of a deal back in the dark ages when I was growing up.  I suspect that even if phones were in wide circulation when I was a kid, that I probably would not have owned one. I was either in school or I was watching TV in my bedroom.  My parents knew where to find me.

Tyler isn't that much different than I was.  He doesn't spend his hours rotting away in front of the TV like I did, but I kind of know where he is all the time.  He is either at school, or he is sitting right in front of me.  He does head over to his friends house from time to time, but for the most part he hasn't really needed a phone.

But he starts Middle School next year and I suspect a lot of things are going to change.  He will be joining clubs, meeting new friends from all over town as a opposed to our development that we live in, and probably will need to be in contact with us out of the house a little more than he is now.  It's just not the same world that I grew up in, and a phone now kind of seems like a necessity.  I hate to say it, but I wouldn't want him to be the only one of his friends that DIDN'T have a phone.  As much as there is a need for a phone, there is an even bigger need to fit in... especially in Middle School.

I wasn't sure what kind of phone we should get him.  Like a lot of kids he has a tablet that he uses, but he can't make phone calls from it and it doesn't really fit in his pocket if he is heading over to a friends house.  Right now he has to rely on wifi and with a cellular connection it makes communicating with us that much easier.  This is where Tracfone comes in.

With the launch of their new SpongeBob SquarePants bundle I was asked to help promote it by having Tyler test it out.  I don't think we would have gotten him one for Christmas, but their LG Optimus Fuel™ Android™ phone just might be the perfect starter phone to get this holiday season.

It's time to graduate to a better phone

Something like this

It's perfect for his little hands

The main thing that I like about it is their award winning NQ Family Guardian™ parental control app.  Not that Tyler would ever be up to no good, but this gives me the ability to see where he goes online, what apps he is downloading, where he has been, and basically everything that he does on his phone. Safety has always been one of my main concerns with a phone, and this app helps calm any fears that I might have.  The GPS tracker also lets me know that his isn't somewhere that he is supposed to be.

You can zoom in closer 

Another one of the things I like about this Tracfone is that there is no contract to sign up for.  I know that with my plan it's $70 a month and that just seems silly for a 10 year old boy to talk and text with his friends.  With Tracfone you can get a prepaid talk, text, and data plan for as little as $19.99 for 90 days.  For a kid, that makes so much more sense.

The phone is available for a limited time at Kroger, Target, and Walmart stores nationwide for $29.99* (usually $79.99)** and includes a year of the Family Guardian app for free, which is a $39.99 value.

I don't know what kind of phone my son will end up getting as his first "official" phone, but it's nice to know that there are phones like this one that can put my mind at ease.

Also, thanks to the guys at Life of Dad you can track Santa on social media.  Just follow the #TracSanta hashtag... Have fun!

*Plans and phones are sold separately... check coverage and availability at Tracfone.com
** Limited from 11/29/14 to 12/31/14

John Willey - Daddy's in Charge?

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The Tale of Two Tailgates

I don't get to tailgate much.

My favorite teams are a five hour trip away from my house so loading up the car with food and beverage and schlepping to a stadium is something that I am not going to do that often.  I did get the chance earlier this year to see my Syracuse Orange take on Notre Dame at Metlife stadium, but that really is a once every few years sort of thing.

I really wish I had the chance to do it more often.  It sucks when your alma mater is so far away and they don't visit your area more than they do.  I really wish I liked a team like Rutgers which is only about 20 minutes away.  Then I could take the kids all the time and tailgating would be something that we do every weekend.  But I hate Rutgers, I hate everything about them, and I really can't stand their bandwagon fans.  These red "Rs" I see on everyone's cars when I live really gets my blood boiling.

So it was surprising that the first tailgate party that I would take Carter to was a Rutgers game in New Brunswick, New Jersey.  I swore I would never visit the place unless Syracuse was playing them, but when your son loves football and his Mighty Mites team is going as a whole, then you have to make exceptions.

You will notice though that Carter is the only one not wearing some form of red.  Taking him to the game was one thing, actually cheering for the home team was another.  I will say though, that while I dislike Rutgers, that Carter had a great time playing with his friends and the food and beverage made the whole day a lot easier to swallow.  This day was not my typical tailgate.

My usual form of "tailgating" now involves me sitting on my couch with a six pack of beer and easy access to my refrigerator.  Since my Syracuse Orange Men's Basketball team is on TV quite often, this type of tailgate is commonplace.  Just last weekend they had a game against Holy Cross.  Since it wasn't THAT big of a game, it was relegated to ESPN 3 which of course you can only watch on your phone or by streaming it to your television.  It's not the easiest way to watch a game, but it's better than not using it at all.

I had an issue though.  While the picture was OK, I wasn't getting any sound.  Rather than fiddling with the TV I decided to fire up my TuneIn Radio App that I downloaded onto my iPhone.  Browsing through different categories I was able to find the Syracuse University radio call of the game.  I was able to sync up the sound with the video on my TV and instead of sitting in silence for two hours, thanks to the TuneIn Radio App I had audio to match my video.  Not living in the Syracuse area, without this App I would not have been able to listen to the game, and it couldn't have been any easier.

So while the rest of the family and friends were busy with their board games, I was busy with my six pack and my beloved Syracuse Orange, who won by the way.  It would have been nice to watch them in person... but this was the next best way.  You too can #TurnTheGameUp this winter with your favorite team and TuneIn Radio.

Disclosure: I have partnered and was compensated by Life of Dad, LLC and TuneIn for this promotion.

John Willey - Daddy's in Charge?

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Friends

One of the saddest things about the boys growing up is that they look at the world differently than when they were little.  Back then they didn't look at people think about what race they were or how old someone was; people were judged on whether you played with them or not. There was no talk of whether someone was Asian, black, or white.  You were a person and that was it.

Somewhere along the way that changed.  I can hear my kids talk about "black" kids or whether someone is gay or not.  It's pretty upsetting actually, especially since that is not the way that I talk around them.  I stress to them all the time that it doesn't matter how someone looks or whether they are gay or straight.  What matters is what type of person someone is.  Are they someone that they would like to be friends with?

Everyone is different, and that is what makes everyone and everything AWESOME.

John Willey - Daddy's in Charge?

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The Polar Vortex and Your Car

BRACE YOURSELVES!

What we used to call winter weather is finally on its way.  Nowadays we have to use fancy terms like "Polar Vortex" and "Bombo Genesis" to describe what we used to call cold and snow.  Cold and snow is boring and unsexy.  Polar Vortex?  Now you have me listening.

Everything has to have some sort catchy title, so I will call cleaning my car out to prepare for winter, "The Cleanse."  I really should do this more often, but when you have kids cleaning anything is like dumping a bucket of water on a forest fire.  You might be able to slow the spread of the mess, but it's really just a temporary band aid that won't really do that much.

I choose to clean my car out four times a year. Not surprisingly that coincides with the start of each season.  In the spring I can vacuum out any remaining salt, in the summer any mud gets cleaned up, in the fall all the beach sand goes away, and in the winter I prepare our car for the cold and snow.

To read more about this please click on over to Trusted Choice.  It's vital we all survive this winter unscathed.

https://www.trustedchoice.com/insurance-articles/wheels-wings-motors/winterize-your-car/

John Willey - Daddy's in Charge?

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Celebrate 5000

Let's face, we all want a reason to party and not something stupid like announcing the gender of your child.  That is NOT a thing.  What I am proposing IS MOST DEFINITELY a thing, but most of us don't even know when that thing happens.

When our kids were little we always talked about how old they were in terms of months.  Someone would ask you how old your kids were and you always responded with some number between one and 23. Then their second birthday happened and months became fractions like 1/4 or 1/2.  Some time around their fourth birthday you dropped the fractions and their age became a whole number for the rest of their lives.

Why should we only celebrate every successful loop around the sun?

There is one unit of measure that seems to be forgotten about.  A day.  I would argue that a day is every bit as important as a year but we just don't seem to give the day the respect that it deserves.  The fact that the earth completes a rotation every 24 hours is just as amazing as going around the sun every year.  But since there are so many days and not as many years we choose to celebrate that latter.

No more.

I think we should celebrate a collection of days and not just 365 of them.  Sure we can continue to celebrate yearly, but why not throw another number into the mix... 5000.  You can pick your own number of days, but any multiple of 5000 seems like something we should be popping champagne over.  Why not?  This is only a day that you need to celebrate every 13.7 years or 13 years 255 days.

I'm not one to walk around telling people that I am X amount of days old.  I would never want to change the way that we celebrate birthdays... I just want to add to it a little bit.  I just had my 41st birthday last month and while 40 was a big deal, 41 isn't something that I can get excited over.  A number like 5000?  That sounds like WAY more of a big deal if you ask me.

Who's with me on this?  Let me know when your next big milestone is or how many days old you are on Twitter using the hashtag #Celebrate5000.  It's time to make this the next big thing.

Oh, by the way.

  

John Willey - Daddy's in Charge?

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Like Riding a Bike? HA!

Learning how to ride a bike shouldn't be so freaking hard.

There is a phrase "It's like riding a bike" for a reason.  Once you get on, you start to pedal, and you go.  It's pretty simple; in theory anyway.  I like to think that I am a pretty good teacher when it comes to certain things like riding a bike, but it turns out I am horrible at it.  It took me over two years to finally get my oldest son to ride a bike and my youngest... well he has the basics, but I just don't have the patience to teach him.

I get more frustrated trying to teach them, than they get by trying to learn.  I think there are seven phases that parents go through when they try to teach their kids how to ride a bike.  From excitement to annoyance, our emotions run the gamut.

Find out more in my latest installment for the Trusted Choice Blog.

https://www.trustedchoice.com/insurance-articles/home-family/teach-a-child-to-ride-a-bike/

John Willey - Daddy's in Charge?

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How I Made My Toilet the Coolest Toilet in Town

The other day my son locked me in the bathroom.  It was a rare moment of peace on an otherwise crazy morning.  Sometimes I go in there to escape.  I might not even have to go to the bathroom, but unlike a lot of other parents my kids actually leave me alone in the bathroom.  I will let you draw your own conclusions as to why.

I don't know what it is about the bathroom that turns all of us into readers.  I never read anywhere else in my home, but as soon as my butt hits the toilet seat, I will read ANYTHING. It's not even my phone or a magazine, sometimes you just pick up anything with words on it and give it a glance.  Have you ever actually read the side of a tube of toothpaste?  I have.  Those little inserts in magazines?  Sometimes you get desperate.

Whenever I go to the bathroom I have this irrational fear that a snake is going to slither up the pipe and somehow find its way into the bowl that I am sitting on top of.  I know that the likelihood of that happening is extremely rare, but I have seen pictures... and it literally scares the crap out of me.  I know that others have the same fear of spiders lurking down there, but we learned a song in first grade called "The Itsy Bitsy Spider" that easily puts those fears to rest, at least for me.

Most people probably don't give their toilet a second thought.  The only thing that they care about is whether it matches the decor of the rest of the bathroom.  I was the same way, because I thought all toilets were the same.  You put the seat down, you do your business, you push the little handle down and everything gets taken away to the sewage treatment plant.

That was before I knew Kohler made something better.

Kohler Touchless Toilet

My toilet doesn't have a handle.  I kind of wish that my kids were younger and still believed in the type of magic that opens those automatic doors at the grocery store.  Because this would be the coolest way make sure that they flush the toilet.  As it stands now, they flush it most of the time and the idea of a Touchless Toilet is one that they just don't seem to care about.  My kids only use the bathroom to actually go to the bathroom and all of that other stuff is lost on them.  They don't read, they aren't looking for a moment of peace (they have never created a moment of peace) and the bathroom is the last place they want to be.

But I think it is the coolest thing EVER.  And in five minutes time I could install it in my existing toilet!

The idea that I can just wave my hand over the top of my toilet and everything goes on its merry way makes me feel like David Copperfield every time that I go to the bathroom.  I know it's not that much effort to push the little lever down, but when you can get your hands on something that makes an otherwise boring technology a little more "exciting"... it's just something that you have to have.

But wait... there's more!

As you get older you have a tendency to get up in the middle of the night and use the bathroom more and more.  The problem with that is that either you turn on all the lights to go about your business which causes you to wake up more than you want and you can't fall back asleep, or that you leave the lights off and hope that your aim is really good in the dark.  More often than not I try for the latter, but for some reason, even though I am standing directly over the bowl I don't hear the stream hitting the water in the toilet.  Either it gets all over the toilet or a big puddle forms on the floor.  I put a nightlight in the bathroom to try and alleviate this issue but there just isn't enough light cast in the bowl to give me a good target... until now.

     
Kohler makes this really cool nightlight toilet seat that can be retrofitted on your existing toilet. It took all of about two minutes to remove my old one and put this new one on.  The "task" light stays on for five hours at a time, so all that you have to do is set the time you want it on for and there will be no more yellow stains surrounding your toilet in the morning.  I have woken up more well rested since the day we installed this in our bathroom. I'm almost to the point where I want to wake up in the middle of the night just to see the cool blue glow of my toilet bowl. A toilet with its own lighting system, how cool is that?

Who knows what they will think of next?  Perhaps a wifi enabled toilet that we can flush using our phone?  Or one that acts as its own sewage treatment facility giving you clean drinking water as you flush?  Whatever it is, I'm getting it... because I want the coolest toilet in town and you should too.

*Kohler supplied me with both of these products for review.  All opinions are my own, unless my wife tells me otherwise.

John Willey - Daddy's in Charge?

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How Did We Survive?

When I was a kid this is how I was punished

Remember the days when there weren't any school buses and it snowed all the time? And instead of living right next to the school your grandparents decided to live at the bottom of a hill about 10 miles away?  Why would they do that to my parents?

They must have had it so rough.

When I was a kid they invented school buses and everyone decided to live on flat ground. While it did snow a little bit, thanks to global climate change more often than not we didn't have to worry about slogging through the snow to get to school.  But we didn't have computers and all the various video games.  I had no phone that I could put in my pocket and text my friends.  If I wanted to get in touch with them I had to call the operator and have them patch me through.  Or I had to send a smoke signal to let them know that I wanted them to come over and play.

We had it rough.

Kids today have everything at their fingertips and don't even have to get off the couch to watch a movie.  They can just dial it up on their iPods and stream it to our giant TV that hangs on the wall.  When I was a kid our TV acted as a piece of furniture.  It was built into a wooden box.  If we wanted a movie we all hopped into the back of our station wagon and went to the video store.  That took at least 10 minutes. 10 FREAKING MINUTES... can you even imagine?  And if we didn't rewind that movie they charged us something like two dollars. Two whole dollars.  Thats like two songs on iTunes.

How did we survive?

I can only imagine what my kids will talk about with their kids.  Fast forward 30 years and my kids will think that THEY had it rough because it took them two hours to fly to Florida (when my grandparents were kids it took about a month in their covered wagon to go that far).  Kids in 30 years will be able to get there in the amount of time it takes to walk down the block nowadays. They will also complain that they would sometimes lose their wifi connection... the horror!  

Can you even imagine how rough my kids will think their childhood was? The worst thing about their lives is that they won't have any good stories about how hard life was when they were young.

What will be the equivalent of walking through snow to school in 30, 60, or 90 years?

John Willey - Daddy's in Charge?

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Hall of Fame Advice for a Seven Year Old

Our trip to Canton was filled with so many once in a lifetime opportunities, but there was one that topped them all.  We all had the ability to meet the 2014 Hall of Fame Class in person at an autograph signing.  Everyone who was there had various balls, helmets, or other memorabilia for the inductees to sign, but nobody there brought a video camera.  We were supposed to only take pictures of the inductees as they signed the items put in front of them, but that didn't stop my wife from getting exclusive advice for our aspiring young football star Carter.

It's not everyday that this kind of access so we made the most of it:

The odds are highly against Carter making the Hall of Fame, but at least he has a leg up on his competition.

This was made possible by our recent trip to Canton as part of #DaddysFordJourney sponsored by the Tri-State Ford Dealers.

John Willey - Daddy's in Charge?

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