SillyDad.com!

Shooter is an excellent movie and one I thoroughly enjoyed. Of course I love action movies, suspense, and nobody messes with Mark Wahlberg. These 3 factors made this movie a great hit for me and I probably will own it. I rented it on Netflix this week and have already seen it 3 times.

Check out the movie trailer:

-sillydad

Modern Day Dad finds an article about a recent study which determines the first borns get all the brains. I have heard this before and never thought it held too much weight even though it did seem that way. My older sister was a whiz kid and graduated 2nd in her high school class, then off to Stanford University. Me, well I didn’t get much for brains but I like to say I got all the looks, or the athletic ability. My sister now is an Attorney at a law firm in Florida.

I scan all the people I know, and it’s funny how the older children always seemed to do better academically.

Well besides just plain observation the study also found:

First-born children possess IQs that are 2.3 points higher, on average, than their younger siblings, a new study contends.

This finding held true even when first-born children didn’t survive and a younger child was reared as the eldest, scuttling the idea that genetics determines the difference in IQ among siblings, according to the Norwegian researchers who authored the report, published in the June 22 issue of the journal Science.

“This study really puts to an end a debate that’s been going on for more than 70 years,” said Frank J. Sulloway, a visiting scholar at the University of California, Berkeley, Institute of Personality and Social Research, and the author of an accompanying commentary in the journal. “The theory of biological differences is pretty much dead as a doornail.”

So whether you think it has to do with genetics think again. There is something that is learned by the first born that pushes them to excel. Could it be they are more independent as they don’t have an older sibling to look after them? Could it be they are the first child to discover things on their own, rather than being shown by an older sibling?

One theory:

“Indirectly, it supports the theory that social support and attention within the family explain the difference. First children will not have to share this attention at first. The more children, the less attention will be provided to each child if parental resources are limited,” he added.

Another:

Sulloway noted that there are several theories that might explain the difference in IQ between first-born and younger siblings. Among these is one that says that more money is spent on the oldest child, and, as family size increases, less money is available for other children, leaving them with less opportunity. “But this doesn’t intuitively strike me as the explanation,” he said.

And:

Another theory holds that the first-born child gets more of the parents’ attention, but Sulloway also discounts this theory.

Another theory shotdown:

Still another explanation is that older children teach younger children, and the act of teaching raises the IQ. “The problem with this theory is that teaching has to raise the IQ of the first-born more than it does the IQ of younger siblings, in order to produce a birth order difference,” he said.

How about niche partitioning? Sulloway seems to like this theory:

A theory that Sulloway likes is called “niche partitioning.” This theory suggests that once a role in the family is filled, others have to find roles that help them compete for attention in the family.

Sulloway noted that first-borns are judged to be more disciplined and more hard-working and more intelligent than their younger siblings. “The explanation for this is that first-borns occupy the role of a surrogate parent in the family,” he said. “It is a great way to get brownie points from parents.”

Because older children already occupy that niche in the family, younger children have to find other roles to play, Sulloway said. “So, younger siblings look for other things to be good at,” he said. “It may be that that extra 2.3 points in IQ reflects an investment of time to get that, and the later-born is investing that time in something else and is getting 2.3 extra points in something else,” he added.

Given that each child is finding his or her own niche, the difference in IQ is nothing for parents to worry about, Sulloway said.

No matter what theory we go with, I wouldn’t necessarily put all of our eggs in one basket. Maybe the combination of all of these factors intertwined into which ones seem to weigh more heavily depending on situational factors will probably determine the overall outcome of a child. But either way, it doesn’t tell us the future of the child, just the predetermined capabilities of them.

sillydad

My wife and I just celebrated our 8 years of marriage. Though I was sick, hacking up phlegm, and sneezing all over the house, we managed to cook up some scallops wrapped in bacon. Makes a nice ordourve.

It was not only us who celebrated a wedding anniversary on the 21st of June. The only man, at the Only Man of the House blog celebrates 10 full years.

Here they were 10 years ago:

Congrats!

-sillydad

It’s amazing how children think and formulate their thought patterns. It’s never something that struck me as fascinating until the day my wife and I started having kids. Kids are simple, but are really intuitive. They take complex things and can really simplify them for us. Though things seem chaotic at times, kids can really simplify your life and just make you stop and chuckle.

I have gotten to the point now that if I need a new slogan for my business or a website I am designing I will ask my kids and see what they come up with. It will surprise you. And who do you think would be better at thinking outside the box? Kids are less influenced by society than adults and can think more literally than us big people.

What really was the straw that broke the camel’s back for me and made me realize this fact was a few years ago when my oldest child and I were peeling a cucumber. She loves cucumbers and we ate cucumber after cucumber for a long time. Peel it up, slice it into circles on a large plate, and then sprinkle salt on them.

Well I was in the middle of peeling our cucumber for an afternoon snack when my daughter said, “Dad I don’t want a cucumber.” I was absolutely shocked as she had always loved them and actually were somewhat obsessed with eating them. What I didn’t realize at the time was she was setting me up. She was 4 years old at the time and I came back with, “Well too bad, this is what we are eating.” She persisted, “But Dad, I really don’t want a cucumber.”

I was so stunned by this. So I came back strongly, “Well too bad, you are eating a cucumber whether you like it or not. You have always liked cucumbers. There is no reason to stop liking them now.”

She then got this grin on her face and said, “But Dad (giggle), I don’t want a cucumber, I want a Y-cumber (giggle).”

I busted out laughing. That did it for me and I realized how kids are so simple and can really think outside the box. She was learning her letters and therefore the emphasis all along was on the letters. As an adult you begin to look past all that stuff. You begin to just accept things for what they are.

So if you need original ideas get your kids involved. It may surprise you. So think outside the Q-cumber and think more like a kid.

-sillydad

Are you interested in going?

Darth Daddy a stay at home dad is hosting a very first DADSTOCK event. It is considered a nationwide event and make sure to let him know if you want to attend. Details so far:

Saturday June 30, 2007
1:00 PM to ??:?? (Since a few will be travelling longer distances you are welcome EARLY or LATE…)
Where - My House… PM me for Address and info.

“Dad’s Beer Party” - Everyone brings some interesting beer (Lets try to avoid bringing the same thing. No Miller Lite/Bud/Old Milwaukee…)

Food - I will Grill up Burgers and have all the fixings. Everyoune bring a Snack/Side

Dads Attending…

1. Darth-Daddy (Host) - Bringing Costco Burgers and Beer from Trader Joe’s
2. Cubfan - Quality Suds and either Guac or Smoked Meat…
3. cjbart - Taco Ring, Guac?
4. mopar-daddy: Chips and Home Made Salsa…
5. woodchuck: Bringing Some Firewood, A bean/beef/chili sort of dish..Possible Berry Dish
6. Trevor57 - Fruit Salad..Yummy yummy..
7. Steve (From a local SAHD meetup board) dvldg1109 New Member on Forum…
8. Jeffus Pony Boy is COMING!!!!!!
9. Indy Driving Up With Sao
10. Sao Carpooling with Indy
11. Wils Dad? Thinking about following Pony Boy…

Post what you want to bring and I will EDIT this post to add that information.

This should be a BLAST!!!

-sillydad

Kids absolutely loved the movie Flushed Away. We watched it the other day and the kids sat through the whole thing. Great part about it is that I found it entertaining too.

have you seen it?

It’s about a little mouse who lives all alone in a nice fancy home. The owners leave on vacation and he actually gets flushed down the toilet and ends up in the sewer. His mission is to get back home but as you can imagine there are all kinds of adventures, people he meets, good guys, bad guys, and even a love interest…

Fun for the whole family

-sillydad

After reading Aaron’s post at Dadvisor it occurred to me how hypocritical the statement, “Do as I say and not as I do” is. I have heard that a million times but never thought much of it. I even joked around on that phrase for most of my life. But when you become a parent you look at the world in a whole new light.

Most people will read this and wonder what the big deal is but I find that the best parents are ones who lead by example. Also see my article: Actions Speak Louder Than Words. If you want your kids to not drink alcohol then you, yourself, must not drink alcohol. If you want your kids to grow up not using drugs, then you need to not do them yourself. If you want your child to respect their mother then you need to respect your wife. If you want your kids to grow up without swearing then you, as a parent, seriously need to not swear.

You can’t tell your kids to do something, or to NOT do something if you can’t even live up to those standards. And why is it fine for adults to do bad things and make bad decisions and not kids? My point is this… kids need to learn from us by example, and we, as parents, need to start learning from our kids. One way to start is to look at hypocritical statements that were once fun sayings and take them a little more seriously. The future is at stake here.

-sillydad

A dad, a beer drinker, home brewer, and yep, a stay at home dad that I met over at Dad Stays Home has just started his own blog at Brew Dad. He is passionate about good beers and brewing so I am glad he is finally starting this blog.

You can learn a lot from Tony and some interesting facts about beer and brewing. So go visit him at Brew Dad and help get his new blog off the ground.

-sillydad

Well we had a real busy weekend. We all headed up to the lake today and did some playing by the water. The kids were excited to start catching fish again. This was the 2nd time this year they have been. We caught lots of sunfish. I caught a pickerel. There were some white perch that were caught too. But I snapped some photos and thought I would share.

Here is a picture of that pickerel I caught. It was actually about 17 inches long. I lost my hat on the catch. Also Emma is caught wearing a diaper as she went swimming earlier and got completely soaked. We weren’t planning on swimming until after we got there so we tossed her in a diaper and called it good.

Here is Sammy showing off his big catch of the day.

The following is Elizabeth checking out her line… making sure it isn’t all tangled up in the hook.

Emma watching the fish we caught swimming around in the pail.

Isobel having a good ol’ time as usual.

The fishing was a lot of fun but we actually realized the water was real nice and we were getting hot. So we took a break and swam. Snapped a few pictures of the kids playing in the water:

-sillydad

And why do we care?

-sillydad

The following is something that will probably get me in a lot of trouble. But heck I think I will post it up anyway as it was forwarded to me in an email and I didn’t write it.

The Thinking Problem

It started out innocently enough. I began to think at parties now and then — just to loosen up.

Inevitably, though, one thought led to another, and soon I was more than just a social thinker.

I began to think alone — “to relax,” I told myself — but I knew it wasn’t true. Thinking became more and more important to me, and finally I was thinking all the time.

That was when things began to sour at home. One evening I had turned off the TV and asked my wife about the meaning of life. She spent that night at her mother’s.

I began to think on the job. I knew that thinking and employment don’t mix, but I couldn’t stop myself.

I began to avoid friends at lunchtime so I could read Thoreau and Kafka. I would return to the office dizzied and confused, asking, “What is it exactly we are doing here?”

One day the boss called me in. He said, “Listen, I like you, and it hurts me to say this, but your thinking has become a real problem. If you don’t stop thinking on the job, you’ll have to find another job.”

This gave me a lot to think about. I came home early after my conversation with the boss. “Honey,” I confess, “I’ve been thinking…”

“I know you’ve been thinking,” she said, “and I want a divorce!”

“But Honey, surely it’s not that serious.”

“It is serious,” she said, and her lower lip began to quiver. “You think as much as college professors, and college professors don’t make any money, so if you keep on thinking, we won’t have any money!”

“That’s a faulty syllogism,” I said impatiently. She exploded in tears of rage and frustration, but I was in no mood to deal with the emotional drama. “I’m going to the library,” I snarled as I stomped out the door.

I headed for the library, in the mood for some Nietzsche. I roared into the parking lot with NPR on the radio and ran up to the big glass doors. They didn’t open. The library was closed.

To this day, I believe that a Higher Power was looking out for me that night. Leaning on the unfeeling glass, whimpering for Zarathustra, a poster caught my eye, “Friend, is heavy thinking ruining your life?” it asked.

You probably recognize that line. It comes from the standard Thinkers Anonymous poster. Which is why I am what I am today: a recovering thinker.

I never miss a TA meeting. At each meeting we watch a non-educational video; last week it was Porky’s, the week before, it was Animal House.

Then we share experiences about how we avoided thinking since the last meeting. I still have my job, and things are a lot better at home. Life just seemed… easier, somehow, as soon as I stopped thinking.

I think the road to recovery is nearly complete for me.

Today I made the final step. I registered to vote as a Republican.

Truthfully, I am actually registered as a Republican.

-sillydad

As much as I hate the word “skank” and the way it simple rolls off your tongue, I have to say the way some of our parents allow our children to dress is absolutely unacceptable. Stop dressing your daughters like SKANKS. And your sons… give the poor kid a belt whether they want the pants worn around the crack of their ass or not.

Most parents don’t seem to give two rats asses about the way their kids are dressing. It is blatantly obvious just standing at the bus stop. I also live right next to a school where 4th and 5th graders come and go. So from my window I see kids go to school and come home from school. They trample over the neighbors lawn and head to their destinations wearing nothing but skank clothes. Sometimes I wonder if this part of the town is called Skankville to be honest.

It isn’t just the clothes these people wear. Look how the boys present themselves these days. They slouch over, wear pants around their butt crack (if it makes it that high), and can’t fully pronounce their words. And this rant is coming from a 31 year old who just not too long ago was in college. I mean we don’t need to toss ties around our necks and wear polished up shoes, but sheesh… let’s show a little dignity and respect towards not just others who have to look at the crack of your ass but to yourself.

Kids used to want to be perceived as a real man. Look at the older pictures of the kids 100 years ago who were not only 8 years old and how they puffed their chest out, stood tall, and had a belt on. They were proud of who they were, walked nobly, and dressed nice.

Now I can’t stand to see the skanky skirts on 8 year olds, the make-up that makes their eyes look all dark like they just climbed out of the great depths of hell, and the boys… well.. have some self respect and dignity and get pants that fit. Turn your ball caps either forward or backwards and stop this sideways crap. After you buy the hats take the stupid tags off them. And please… please… stop walking like you got a limp. Seems as though all the boys have a limp leg. Not sure what they are doing that’s causing it. They probably tripped over their ipods getting to their Xbox.

Here is a picture of Jesse James and Gang Member back about 100 years ago. This is how gangsters used to dress:

Today, 100 years later we have this:

I rest my case!

-sillydad

I sometimes entertain the thought of what it would be like to be the parent of a kid who could spell better than myself. The other night I watched the annual Scripps National Spelling Bee on T.V. It amazes me to see kids who have yet to reach puberty spelling words I never knew existed. Ever play Balderdash? Almost reminded me of the type of words you would find in that game and instead being asked to spell them.

Latin to Greek origins. Italian origins. Even Hebrew origins. This of course would prompt clues into letters of the word and how they were spelled.

I remember 15 years ago words these kids had to spell were words like: gorgeous, accomodate, acknowledgment, acoustic, and so on. The words these kids had to spell were absolutely unreal. Almost impossible in my eyes unless they had some how come across the word before and happened to remember the spelling. Here is a list I got from here:

abseil
acariasis
aniseikonia
apocope
apozem
araneiform
beccafico
biwa
bouleuterion
burelage

Sorry but I don’t even know what these words are. Abseil I think I may have heard before. The others… well… I never knew they existed.

But the winner this year was Evan M. O’Dorney, age 13, of Danville, California. He even said the Spelling Bee was not his favorite competition and enjoyed math and music much better. He likes Math because of the logic behind it. Well for someone who doesn’t care for the spelling bee he did a pretty good job wouldn’t you say? Nothing against the kid but the parents should clue the kid in and at least have him pretend to enjoy it. It is just more respectful towards those other kids who have a passion to win.

The kid is obviously gifted and I can’t imagine raising a kid with such talent.

Anybody else watch the spelling bee??

-sillydad

You are not gonna believe this. I took the 3 older kids to the annual Free Fishing Festival and didn’t snap one photo. I brought my camera, I had charged batteries, and everything was working fine but I spent all day untangling fishing lines, showing the kids how to cast, and putting new worms on the end of the hooks.

95 kids showed up and registered for the day and 45 parents. It was a better turn out than last year due to torrential downpours. See last years pictures and story here.

Even though I didn’t get any pictures, my dad shot a few. Here is one of Sam who is the closest casting. Elizabeth is behind him sitting on the rock waiting for a fish to bite. And you can barely see Isobel behind her watching.

Check out full story and photos of the event here.

Normally what we do is drive 3 hours to my parent’s camp where we meet them, pitch a tent, roast marshmallows, and attend the Family Fish Day only 2 miles down the road. Then we come back after the event and cook hot dogs, marshmallows, and catch up on old times and get some good visiting in while the kids run around.

The weather held off and was great up through the event and into Saturday night and then the rains came. It rained so hard it drove the kids from the tent. They were perfectly dry just the sound of the rain hitting the tent and the nearby tarps created a real loud noise it was hard to hear people just next to you. They all wanted to come in and sleep in the loft in my parent’s camp. So that’s where we all slept.

More pictures coming soon.

-sillydad

Some of you may not be aware but I own and run a blog network at Skinny Moose Media and we are looking for more bloggers.

Skinny Moose Media has progressed from hunting and fishing blogs to outdoor sports… to sports. We are looking for bloggers to start their own blogs on the following topics:

NFL
NBA
MLB
NHL
Nascar
Golf
Soccer
Volleyball
Beach Volleyball
Tennis
and others…

If you want to blog about any of these topics and keep people up to date with what’s happening with the sport please contact me at steve@skinnymoose.com

-sillydad