Episode 4 — Attention

[admin 330]

Hey you! Look over here! Now that I have your attention, enjoy this week’s Love, Dad as the dads talk about attention! Dave & Jeff share their challenges of the week regarding being firm and fair, having patience, and balancing the amount of energy spent on how much attention is given to the kids. All this plus the clean joke of the week and a space saving tool of the week!

[kidkinetik 6]

Future dad here! Not, like, a dad from the future, but a dad with a kid on the way. I just wanted to let you guys know how much I look forward to this podcast every week. It's really helpful to hear you guys talk about it so calmly and rationally. It's incredibly reassuring. So thanks, Dads!

[jughead 189]

Another great episode guys! Not that you didn't before Jeff, but I think you now have a new found respect for mom's and dad's that choose to stay home with the kids rather than go to work. I may have said this before in a previous post, but work is easy compared to having to keep a child entertained for 8 hours. Keep an eye on how much sleep your getting Jeff because sometimes I do the same thing and stay up too late and have no energy to deal with the kids when it is needed. Even with no energy to do so, you still have to "perform". I still struggle with this even after a year now with having 2 kids. Dave is right on about temper tantrums. DO NOT let the child get you all wired up because they aren't listening or don't want to do what you want them to and throw a tantrum. There's really nothing you can do at that point to stop the tantrum so there is no reason to go off the deep end. What we do is put the child in their room or in an corner of the house and tell them that when they calm down they can join the rest of the family. Sometimes it takes awhile but eventually they will calm down and resume behaving normally as if the tantrum never happened.

 

I know you guys stated from the get go that the podcast would only be 30 mins but honestly I wish it would be more like an hour. I think some of the topics you guys discuss need to be drawn out a little more and it seems like you are a little rushed because of the time crunch. I mean I could talk about the topic of Attention for about 3 hours and to slice it down into a half an hour wouldn't do it justice. Anyone else agree?

[pongo 190]

I agree in having longer episodes, just go until you feel done with the episodes and not feel rushed to finish them in half an hour.

[Listing Listener 11]

Hey guys,

 

I am not Dad but could be one a few years down the road. I like the show anyway, it's interesting to hear what a challenge it is and plus you guys have a good honest communication.

 

A couple suggestions though-you could break the show's topics up into two part episodes or go ahead and take the hour so you don't feel rushed. Also I wonder if you will ever bring in any guest dads?

 

Anyway thanks for the enjoyoable, thoughtful listen. A tapestry of paradoxes is now in my vocabulary.

[Lukas Holmes 2287]

I wanted to weigh in on a few things here.

 

1) Jeff, you did not talk too much in the third episode. Stop being so hard on yourself.

 

2) I was listening to this while doing dishes and as my youngest daughter walked my I screamed "Gimmie your face!" She ran away screaming. Then I heard the rest of the point that story. I should have delayed a bit.

 

3) My wife and I are both stay at home writers (mostly because my wife is wildly successful at it and I am terrible jealous of her) and we ended up dividing up specific blocks for time with the kids. I have 5am-9am she has 9am-1pm, I have 1pm-3pm she has 3pm-5pm, we are together until 10pm, then she handles overnight. It has worked pretty well and we take off Wednesdays to spend the entire day together. I force myself to go to bed early so that I can wake up and be with them at 5 if they get up. I have a rule though that we don't turn on any lights until 6 so that they are calm and just hang with me.

 

4) I may be in the minority, but I am okay with the show staying at thirty minutes. I feel like if it goes longer that means Jeff is going to have to prep for it more and be even more stressed. Let's take it easy on the guy.

 

5) Oh! And my wife and I both use DropBox. We pay for that extra space per month too and keep everything there. You guys should get them as a sponsor for sure!

 

NOW GIMMIE YOUR FACE!!!!!!

[MichaelRains 0]

I really enjoyed this podcast. I was stuck in base traffic, on my way home, when I decided to listen to this one. I'm just really glad to know that dads are taking the time to discuss challenges and victories of fatherhood. My son is only 2 years old and really feel that I'm becoming a better father to him from listening to this podcast. Thanks again guys.

 

And Barry Cohen, that picture is a little scary. lol

[Eric C 13]

To echo Barry, being at home full time with the kids was so much harder than I thought it was going to be and much more difficult than a "real" job. The adjustment period took, honestly, about 2 years. And I'm sure I did irreversible harm to myself through late nights "rewarding" myself for a hard day's work with Xbox and movies. And beer.

 

That said, after just shy of a year in a "real" job, I still miss SAHD-dom terribly. After 6 years of being the primary caregiver, it's still far, far easier for me to focus on my kids and family than on spreadsheets and work. It all just seems so unimportant in comparison.

 

On the subject of podcast length, I'm torn. I would probably listen to longer, more breathable episodes, but my subscribed podcast list is already overflowing with more content than I can possibly listen to in a given week. Maybe splitting bigger topics into two-part episodes is a workable compromise.

 

Love the show! Love Earwolf!

[JAG 0]

Hey Jeff,

 

I know your daughter can't tell the difference yet, but we can... no more singing on the radio. It hurts. Seriously.

 

Love ya!

 

Joe