Saturday, March 31, 2007

Reasons To Homeschool #2

Reason To Homeschool #2
A parent is different than a hired hand.

If God commands us to instruct our children, where do we draw the line? What is our area of instruction and what is the teacher's responsibility? More importantly, how can we expect other people, even paid professionals, to take as much of an interest in our children as we do? Teachers do care about their students, but as a parent, it’s different. This difference comes through in a parable that Jesus taught in John 11.
"I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep. The hired hand is not the shepherd who owns the sheep. So when he sees the wolf coming, he abandons the sheep and runs away. Then the wolf attacks the flock and scatters it. The man runs away because he is a hired hand and cares nothing for the sheep.”
Many teachers are teaching from the moment they graduate college. They have no children of their own right away. They don’t have as much experience raising children, despite the fact that they are around children for up to 10 hours a day. Often, the teacher can overlook the cruelty that one child may visit on another. Additionally, they have no ongoing interest in a child. A teacher has a student for a school year, maybe two, and then they’re gone, off teaching a new batch of students in an assembly line of schooling. They may care for a student or all of their students, but the students are not their children, nor can they treat them as such. This leads me #3 of the Reasons To Homeschool.

Thursday, March 29, 2007

Reasons To Homeschool #1

Almost from the inception of Walden's Wits, I have had it in my mind to start an ongoing series on reasons to homeschool. I'm going to start it today. Without further ado...

Reason To Homeschool #1
Home-based education is closer to the Biblical model of education. Shortly after he gave the Israelites the Ten Commandments in Deuteronomy, Moses instructed the people to do the following:
These words, which I am commanding you today, shall be on your heart. You shall teach them diligently to your sons and shall talk of them when you sit in your house and when you walk by the way and when you lie down and when you rise up.
There is clearly a Biblical mandate to the parents of children to instruct their children. Further scriptures supporting this include
  • Ephesians 6:4 - Fathers, do not provoke your children to anger, but bring them up in the discipline and instruction of the Lord.
  • Genesis 18:19 - "For I have chosen him, so that he may command his children and his household after him to keep the way of the LORD by doing righteousness and justice, so that the LORD may bring upon Abraham what He has spoken about him."
  • Deuteronomy 4:9 & 10 - "Only give heed to yourself and keep your soul diligently, so that you do not forget the things which your eyes have seen and they do not depart from your heart all the days of your life; but make them known to your sons and your grandsons. Remember the day you stood before the LORD your God at Horeb, when the LORD said to me, 'Assemble the people to Me, that I may let them hear My words so they may learn to fear Me all the days they live on the earth, and that they may teach their children."
  • Deuteronomy 11:19 - "You shall teach them to your sons, talking of them when you sit in your house and when you walk along the road and when you lie down and when you rise up."
  • Psalm 78:4 - We will not conceal them from their children,
    But tell to the generation to come the praises of the LORD,
    And His strength and His wondrous works that He has done.
  • Proverbs 22:6 - Train up a child in the way he should go,
    Even when he is old he will not depart from it.
God assigned parents the task of teaching the important things. It doesn't mean that parents are the only ones to instruct their children. This is where a lot of people don't understand the concept of homeschooling. Under the Biblical imperatives above, the parents, and to a lesser extent the extended family, are the primary instructors. They are responsible, no matter what provisions the state may make or otherwise relieve them of the burden to educate. This is why every parent must be actively involved in their child's education, no matter the method--public, private or home--for schooling.

For us, however, the method that is closest to the model above remains at home. The Bible does not directly instruct us to set up school districts, school boards, sport booster committees or truancy officers. At best, these are hired hands recruited to do the work of education for us. This leads me to #2 of the Reasons To Homeschool.

Wednesday, March 28, 2007

Time To Vent - Liberals Are Self-Serving Sycophants

UPDATE 4:30 PM: I just came across this Op-ed piece from the WSJ. Apparently someone in Baghdad agrees with me.

I try not to go political, but this really gets my dander up.

The Liberals don't realize that we are in a life and death struggle. Clinton's cruise missle diplomacy didn't stop 9/11. It only delayed it. Yet they believe that they can use such tools to defend our nation. We put more boots on the ground and it is working. Pelosi, et. al. don't want that to succeed because it would restore Bush's credibility. The would rather put us all at risk if it means more money and power for them.

Tuesday, March 27, 2007

Barbarians All

After Little Imitations, it seems at best incongruous for me to post the following recommended reading, but Dennis Prager has his ducks in a row on why we have not yet won in Iraq. In a word, barbarism. To quote the column,
No one, right, left or center, could imagine a group of people so evil, so devoid of the most elementary and universal concepts of morality, that they would target their own people, especially the most vulnerable [children], for murder.
This is assuming that the people responsible are actually Iraqis and not Iranians or Syrians. It's much more plausible to this western mind to believe that Iran and Syria are sending their own trained "insurgents" who have no compunction about dispatching Iraqi civilians, even little children. Why would they have any problem with it when
Ahmadinejad appears in public in his Basiji uniform. During the war [with Iraq], he served as one of the Basiji instructors who turned children into martyrs.

He would like to bring about a renaissance of the Basiji culture of the 1980s – in order, among other things, to combat the burgeoning Western-oriented youth movement (1)
He clearly believes that using children is an acceptable military tactic in his Muslim mind. Were we westerners to do the same thing, we would be condemned around the world, and rightly so. The world cannot tolerate such barbarity, yet it has for over 20 years now. How much longer?


1. Ahmadinejad's World, Trans-Atlantic Intelligencer: Are 500,000 Keys to Paradise Enough?: Germany "Confronts" Ahmadinejad by Matthias Küntzel

Little Imitations

My soon-to-be four year old daughter has been pulling out an unusual number of zingers lately. For example, yesterday, when I was out on the back porch, she pointed at the fence and said, “I’m going down there with a dolt.”

“A what?”

“I need a dolt to go down there.”

“Oh, an adult.”

“Yeah, I need a dolt to go down there.”

This morning, we learned that she pays close attention to her mother. She was found scribbling on post-it notes and sticking them to her computer monitor. I’m not sure, but I think I can make out, “3:00 PM – Snack on goldfish.”

Our kids pick up everything. They imitate our every move. Lord, let me set a better example.

Monday, March 26, 2007

See Spot. See Spot...Slither?

Yesterday, my dad, my son, Bubba and I all took a drive. We set out to let Bubba do some target practice, but it didn't turn out that way. We came across a road closure and while we stopped to watch the work crew, one of the guys on the crew points to the base of a telephone pole. We get out and look at what he's pointing at and we discover over a dozen garter snakes slithering around and getting warm in the afternoon sun. At this point, my wife would probably be back in the car, but since she wasn't with us, we all studied them closely.

Then Grandpa gets an idea...or maybe it was mine...I'm not saying. The idea was presented that one of them would be a cool pet for Bubba. I snickered at the thought and said, "Yeah, right. I'd be in the doghouse just for thinking that." Well, Grandpa and Bubba had no regard for my sleeping arrangements and Grandpa dug out a bag from the back of his Jeep. The next thing I know, they're both up at the telephone pole and my baby boy, nearly 8 years old, is leaning over a viper pit...garter snake pit...whatever. Anyway, I scarcely had time to fear for his life when Bubba seizes the snake by the tail and holds it out to Grandpa, who is struggling to get the bag open in time. Grandpa closes the bag and walks back to the Jeep while my son, looking like the Croc Hunter, is all smiles.

We drive back home, create a makeshift place for him to stay and we head off to the pet store. Around $30.00 later, We walk out with the new home for our “free” garter snake. How was I able to leave the snake at home without alerting my wife? Very simple, she was out shopping with Grandma. We get the snake all settled in complete with sun lamp, water dish, rocks, hiding place and a fresh supply of crickets. When mother came home, we had been watching him for close to an hour.

Now, normally I wouldn’t stoop to such trickery, but in this case I had little choice other than subterfuge. Mom is still not thrilled, but she is slowly warming up to the concept. At least I think she is… she’s still not talking to me, at least not normally. She keeps mentioning something about Eve, heads and heels.

She had a slightly better reaction than Grandma, who took some convincing to get out of the car when she got home and heard about our new pet. Bubba has decided to name it Spot. A close runner-up was Doghouse.

What is it with women and snakes? Oh, did I mention the store sells frozen mice?

Sunday, March 25, 2007

GI's Kids May Get An 'F' For Spending Time With Their Dad

This is proof once again that schools do not have the families' best interest at heart. An unsympathetic principal turns what should be a joyous reunion Into an administrative nightmare. Instead of looking forward to time with their father, these children have to wonder if they’ll pass their grade this year.

Thankfully, we don’t have to worry about this happening to us, because we educate at home. For example, we decided to take off this week so we could concentrate on other efforts. Next week, we plan to do a special project focusing on the constitution, government and our country’s unique role in the world. All of it counts as school time, and hopefully, our children will come away with a deeper appreciation for what God has done in and through our country.

We don’t have to worry about attendance sheets, averaging test scores or sick days. We find that our children learn much better under the home education model anyway. Not having to sweat some principal’s order is just the icing on the cake.

MKH on Gore's Supposed Carbon Neutrality

Mary Katharine Ham sheds light on how Gore can justify his lifestyle as "carbon neutral."



HT: MM

Tuesday, March 20, 2007

MEMRI: Muslim Jihad Extended To American Online Forums

I found this little bit by the Middle East Media Research Institute fascinating.
As part of the campaign to foster anti-war sentiment among Westerners, and more specifically among Americans, a member of the Al-Mohajroon Islamist website with the username Al-Wathiq Billah instructed mujahideen in how to infiltrate popular American forums and to use them to distribute jihad films and spread disinformation about the war.
I suppose the left is not doing a good enough job for them, since we're still over there protecting Iraqis. Maybe there's some things even the radical left won't stoop to... Nah, who am I fooling?

This tactic is a favorite one used by our enemies, be they physical or spiritual.
For such men are false apostles, deceitful workmen, masquerading as apostles of Christ. And no wonder, for Satan himself masquerades as an angel of light. It is not surprising, then, if his servants masquerade as servants of righteousness. Their end will be what their actions deserve.
The enemy likes to get inside our heads. He scores nearly every time he can mask his voice to match our own internal voice. If the Holy Spirit can speak through us why wouldn't the enemy seek to use us in the same way? We always have a choice, however. I have been at pivotal points in an "aggressive discussion" with my wife and gotten so upset that when the enemy whispered a particularly inspired crusher that would demolish her emotionally, I would take it and use it. Such woundings have taken hours, if not weeks to heal sufficiently. How many days have passed since the last one? I don't know. I pray I never let such words slip over my lips again. But so many things go Satan's way at the right times. He attacks when I'm frustrated, like some of those people who count the hours until the troops come home. He attacks when I'm tired, like some who are tired from hearing of the car bombs and casualty reports. "Woe is me! Who will deliver me from this body of death? Thanks be to God, through Jesus Christ our Lord."
...but those who hope in the Lord
will renew their strength.
They will soar on wings like eagles;
they will run and not grow weary,
they will walk and not be faint.
Hope in God. Believe in freedom. Trust the voice of the Shepherd.

Monday, March 19, 2007

Gathering of Eagles Cherry-picked By MSM

If you haven't caught Hot Air Films' coverage of the Gathering of Eagles in Washington D.C., take some time to view it. Malkin & Co. paint a good picture of the counter-demonstration held against Cindy Sheehan and the anti-war radicals that marched with shrill voices and blind rhetoric (and more than a few curse words).

Did the "dinosaur" media (as Malkin calls the Mainstream Media) treat the counter-demonstrators as fairly as the radicals? If you call selecting awful pictures of patriotic Americans and favorable pictures of the demonstrators fair, sure they did. Malkin is doing good to point out this unfair coverage and hold the MSM accountable for the twisted and high-RPM coverage. She's not the only one seeing an amazing amount of spin.

Needed: Real Men of Principle and Conviction

I greatly admire and support General Peter Pace for taking a stand on his convictions about homosexual activity and today's military. I'm not the only one to do so, either. General Pace has found a hailstorm of criticism for his remark, but he has also found the strength of conservativism. Conservatives have a well-earned reputation for having a spine and sticking by their convictions. It's written into the definition. Liberals, conversely, have a tendency to adopt a number of positions on a single issue over time. After their failed attempt to dismantle objective truth in the 80s and 90s, the current liberal movement has run aground on its shoals. It's a break-up that few have any ideas of fixing. Were it not for the ongoing war in Iraq, liberals would have very little to rally around.

God has not abandoned the United States or its leadership. God chooses leaders for his purposes and uses them to accomplish his will. Pace is clearly on course by standing up for what he believes is best for his nation and his military. Yet, we have a lot of corruption in both. As a friend of mine pointed out, we have fallen a long way from when the vice of cursing and swearing was a great concern in our nation's military, as evidenced by the quote of Washington below.
The General is sorry to be informed that the foolish, and wicked practice, of profane cursing and swearing (a Vice heretofore little known in an American Army) is growing into fashion; he hopes the officers will, by example, as well as influence, endeavour to check it, and that both they, and the men will reflect, that we can have little hopes of the blessing of Heaven on our Arms, if we insult it by our impiety, and folly; added to this, it is a vice so mean and low, without any temptation, that every man of sense, and character, detests and despises it.
- General George Washington
August 3rd 1776
According to another source, a retired officer in the US Air Force, his quote was once memorized by cadets. This practice has discontinued, and such an absence of such moral training has contributed to the horrors of Abu Ghraib and the rape and murder of civilians. Oddly, liberals will point to this immorality when they themselves fight against the moral instruction for today's citizens and soldiers. One can only hope we can reverse this trend and reinstate such training and moral discipline. Only then can we retain "the blessing of Heaven on our Arms" and the hope of prevailing in future conflict.

Saturday, March 17, 2007

Father-Daughter Purity Ball

There's been a lot of talk about the growing father-daughter purity ball movement. Watch the clip on MSNBC for more information. I'm interested in hearing what other fathers think about the purity ball and what daughters think too. I'll chip in with my opinion in a follow-up post in a few days. In the meantime, click that comment link to tell me your thoughts on it.

Wednesday, March 14, 2007

God Is Not A Bigger Us

My wife shared with me a quote of Chris Tomlin tonight. She said that at one of his concerts he prayed, "Lord, show us that you are not just a bigger us."

I think that's what we tend to do. We can't conceive of God very well and so we just make him a bigger version of us. We tweak his image a little bit and make him a little more petty or a little capricious. We ask questions like, "How could God love me if I...?" fill in the blank. Or conversely, we ask, "Why would God take my loved one away?" While I think it's true that God knows us intimately, knows each one of our hearts and catches every tear we cry, I don't think we have a complete sense of God's heart or that we hear his most intimate thoughts. Otherwise, we wouldn't be asking those questions, would we?

We trundle along in our daily lives and, like the self-centered children that we are, we can't conceive of his plans or intentions. We only see that first God does this and then he does that. We don't understand the reasons so we call him capricious. We don't understand why we stand ankle deep in blessings all around us and so we suspect that God will correct himself and rain down the iron shards of his wrath for our sins at any moment. We are children. The scripture calls us sheep! Both have no concept of purpose, timing or seasons. We suspect God because we suspect ourselves. And all the theology in the world can't correct that.

We need to sit back, watch and learn how He works. We don't do that by busying ourselves with objects of fascination or fretting about something that He seems to have forgotten. We sit back and we watch the Master at work in his garden. He plants a shrub here, removes another tree there. We stop to wonder why but He's already off to the next thing. We watch a Master at work and we sit still and try to hear His voice as He works. We watch with our eyes, we hear with our ears and we perceive not a bigger us, but rather a smaller part of Him. O, magnify the Lord!

Maybe then it will be easier to trust Him. Isn't that what this life is all about?

Sunday, March 11, 2007

You Are My Hero

I wrote the following letter to my father in 1999 shortly before my now 7 year-old son was to be born. It's a little long, but it's something I need to put out there. If there's a way for me to sum up what it means to be a dad, this is it.
Dear Dad,

I’m writing you to let you know something I know I’ll choke up saying in person. A few months ago, we decided to name our new baby boy after you. The reason simply being that you are my hero.

From the earliest times I can
remember, you have always loved me. Even when I tried your patience countless times by leaving your tools to rust in the yard or deliberately disobeying you, you never stopped loving me. When I needed you the most, coming into adolescence, you were there just for me to talk to. You will never know how much those hours travelling in the car meant to me. As it turns out, I thought talking to you helped the miles go by quicker on our way to wherever we were headed. But I always ended up feeling better on the drive home, that all the huge problems I had weren’t quite as big as I thought. You sank thousands of miles into me because you loved me and didn’t want to lose me.

It’s not just the trips I remember, although I enjoyed those immensely. I remember you teaching me how to build a model rocket, how to bevel the fins just right to make it fly true...or at least keep it from taking off after us -- there’s something to be said for being the second son. I remember your telling me you build things “strong, almost to a fault,” and then having the patience to tell me, the walking dictionary, what that meant. The first time you told me that was when you were building the table for the HO railroad in grandma’s basement. It would take a fire or flood to ruin that table and even then, I think we could still use it. The second, and hopefully last time you told me that was shortly after a highway patrolman set flares out for us on I-70 down from Floyd Hill. You had to explain why the home-built trailer you had built nearly killed us, fish-tailing down the road with too much rock and not enough vehicle. I cannot pass that spot without marking the place where the tire blew and your fervent prayers were answered.

We also used that trailer to tow our dirt bikes up to the mountains. I can’t say which I enjoyed more: the time the Honda Trail 90 flipped over on me in the middle of an icy cold stream, or the time the brakes went out on me on the Tote Goat. The former scared me, the latter scared you. Here I am in the middle of a stream, fresh after nailing a rock and flipping sideways, wondering if getting swept downstream is worse than getting drowned by a bike with a searing hot tail pipe. The Tote Goat always had a mind of its own and when the belt finally slipped off its pulley at precisely the wrong time going down that hill, your only thoughts were of getting me to get off the bike before it plunged off the side of the hill. When I ditched it, I knew I’d averted a catastrophe, but I also had not listened to you in an emergency. To my knowledge, that was the only time I did.

I had the opportunity to listen to you on Longs Peak. Then again, I had no choice. Looking down between my legs at where my next foot plant would go was a new experience engraved in my brain by hypoxia and adrenaline. I’ll never forget how your clear words and instruction guided me down and your willingness to go below and before me, risking your own neck to possibly save mine. I never slept as hard as I did that morning at the hogan.

Well, maybe once or twice, but you somehow managed to get me out of bed and on my way, even if it meant prying me from my warm mattress. Somehow sleeping in wasn’t so much fun as it was active physical resistance to an irresistible force known as “dad.”

Speaking of irresistible forces, you were the first to get me turned on to logic and philosophy. You turned me on to chess and other games. You interested me in orienteering, survival skills and primitive camping. You interested me in skiing, no matter how painful the boots were or how cold it got. It got plenty cold ice fishing too. Has no one in Colorado heard of a fishing hutch? I’ll never forget the time I had something to do with every fish we caught out of Elevenmile, from then on becoming a bit of a good luck charm. I still remember the trips to Allen’s Basin, Crosho, and Yamcolo; more recently Ivanhoe, Catamount, and the Arkansas in the Gorge. Passed into lore are the words “Mount Princeton,” “Klynkies Cabins” and “Hey, I know a shortcut!” Realizing I should just say no to that last one took one or two midnight drives in the mountains. More foreboding are the words “Would I lead you astray?”

One of my earliest and pleasant memories is of you and I taking the Cumbres and Toltec Scenic Railroad. All those hot hours in the gondola car and I was still entranced with the steam engine and all things railroad. Letting me see the firebox filled me with terrible fascination. Through all of it, you embraced the Rio Grande with almost more abandon than I. Taking the RGZ to Glenwood and only later realizing the historic impact of that last run makes me kind of proud and it certainly remains one of my favorite trips with you.

You spent all that time with me to show me you love me.

But in the last 5 years, I’ve seen a marked change come over you. Your ability to express and show love has grown even more. Your desire to see us draw closer to God has been a passion in you. From the PK rallies to the books you’ve given to the simple advice and prayers you’ve poured out, you have fervently desired for us to know more of God and His Love. You’ve helped us find more freedom in Him than we’ve ever known. Even a few months ago, when Karen and I were desperately fighting the prince of darkness, you looked beyond my shame and sought to heal my wounds with God’s touch. Dad, you are my hero.

One translation of our son's first name is "passion.” I pray that God grants a double portion of that same desire that you have to Keegan, that he will have a passion to draw all men to Jesus. Should Jesus delay, I want the love you have been showing us to live on with us long after you are gone. Though you’ve never stood behind a pulpit, you have shown me what it is to be a man of God. You’ve shown me that it is bravery to be vulnerable and still be strong. You’ve demonstrated care and compassion while never wavering on the truth. Most importantly, you have shown me how to love my children, even when your own parents fell short in teaching you. Truly, you are a miracle. And dad, you’re my hero.

A few months ago, you praised me, and God’s work in me, in front of someone who is not only my highest boss, but a national figure. I still don’t fully realize how much that really meant to me. It touched me deeply to know how proud you were of me. It still does. And through that, you taught me another aspect of love: respect. Your respect of me has been a silent steel beam in our relationship. I now know I have nothing to prove to you, even though the enemy constantly made me feel I had to prove my capability and be as good as you were at something. And knowing that I have nothing to prove has shown me the unconditional love with which God looks on me. If there is one thing any man has to overcome in his nature, it is his inability to know, accept and give unconditional love. You have done that. Dad, what is left to be said except You Are My Hero.

Your son,

Steve Walden

Saturday, March 10, 2007

K-R-A-F-T Mac and Cheese

Ugh. Some stomach bug has reared its ugly head, changing our diet to Sprite and crackers. Momma, Glasses (my 10 year-old daughter) and Sunshine (my 3 year-old daughter) and I are all in it to varying degrees. The weather is just as awful too. This makes my FMS act up. I get painful back spasms that cover large areas and make my gait and movements very awkward. The only one seemingly unaffected is Bubby (my son) who is about to turn 8. He has miserable company.

When I was a little older than him, my folks went on a trip to Israel. It was a great experience for them. Unfortunately, both my sisters came down with a stomach flu the day after my folks left and they had it about as bad as it gets. The whole house smelled awful too. I was untouched and I survived on macaroni and cheese.

Fast-forward to tonight and what did I grab while I was out at the store? You guessed it, K-R-A-F-T. This was frustrating to my wife, who says the kids like an organic brand we've tried. Oh well, guess all I'm eating is Kraft Mac & Cheese for a while. Funny, I thought I was making life easier by getting something easy to fix.

I've been working on a post for a while now. It's nearly finished. I wanted to do something that looked special and cool, but it looks like I'm just going to have to settle for Blogger-esque. Hang in there. That's what I'm doing anyway.

Friday, March 9, 2007

Parents Billed For Student Absences - "If You Play, Please Pay"?

Proof yet again that nobody loves their students (or their money) as much as the public school system. You don't owe anything when you put them in, so why should you when you take them out? Unfortunately, the public schools are a government-funded monopoly, meaning this sort of lunacy is bound to continue.

Tuesday, March 6, 2007

Good Video For a Mid-term Homeschool Pick-Me-Up

My friend Gena Suarez over at The Old Schoolhouse Magazine put one of her slide presentations on YouTube today. It's a powerful reminder of why homeschooling is so important. The music is beautiful, but not necessary if you don't want to disturb anyone. It is worth 3:30 of your time. By the way, if you want it to play here on Walden's Wits, click the lower left play button and not the big, fat play button in the middle. Good ol' YouTube.

Carpe Dad-em

"Daddy, will you come and play trains with me?"

Those were nine words spoken to me the day before by my 3 year old daughter, asking me to peel my eyes from the screen in front of me for a little time together with her. I had a few good excuses to postpone her invitation. My back hurt, for one. It was not a good day for me with my fibromyalgia that day either and moving would hurt more. But about then, my daddy-sense picked up and asked me,

"Do you want to put this off until she's too old to play? How many more times to play trains with her will you have?"

There really wasn't any response to that question except carpe dad-em. I got up and I clambered down the steps and grunted and ached as I built a railroad for her. Was it worth the pain? I only need to look into my daughter's eyes to know that it was. Like my pastor says, "Love is spelled, T-I-M-E." My relationship with her is richer and much more capable of withstanding the trouble it encounters through the day when she does what all 3 year-olds do sometimes and needs correction. We can recover much quicker when she knows that she matters to me. Kids instinctively judge what value they hold with us as parents. Don't ask me how. They just do. It's part of the way kids bond with us.

I want my kids, all of my kids, to remember that I was there for them, that they mattered to me. I don't want my kids saying, "My dad loved us, but his disability kept him from doing anything with us." Do I mind that I can't go rock climbing with my son or teach my daughter to ski? Yeah, I mind a lot. That doesn't mean I give up or stop trying to get better. I'm going to find ways I can connect with them more. I just have to look harder and think creatively.

That's what dads like me have to do.