Single Dads

On occasion you can run across some unintentionally hilarious articles on the Internet. Today’s entrant comes from ABC News, and makes you wonder: does anyone actually read and digest what they write? (more…)

Over at the excellent blog Boing Boing, Cory talks about the problem with homework for your kids today. (more…)

I stumbled across this purely out of luck.

2.5 million - The number of single fathers in 2006, up from 400,000 in 1970. Currently, among single parents living with their children, 19 percent are men.

Thank JournalNow.com for that little nugget.  They found it in the US Census. 

19%.  Wow.  That’s less than 1 in 5.

I wonder how low that stat was 20 years ago?

Somehow, I doubt that there are 4 single dads in five that don’t want their kids living with them.  Call it a hunch.  But you can create your own assumptions from that information, can’t you?

Learning something new every day should be a habit, not a surprise. Unfortunately, in today’s world, education is more of a shock than the norm… but not today. Why, you ask? Because a few weeks ago, I bought my daughter a new car seat, and since she’s soon to be using this car seat on a long trip to see her great-grandmother with her grandparents, I forced myself to learn about it.

My main source of car seat related education? (more…)

As we get closer to the Parent’s Days (Mother’s and Father’s), expect to see more articles in the mass media similar to this:  The Dad Commandments.

Fatherhood, you might argue, is too complicated to be reduced to capsule form. But complexity only adds intrigue to the quest for guiding principles. And do we need guiding principles. After all the emotions, all the yelling, and all the laughter, I have distilled the duties and demands down to a decade of Dad dicta. Herewith, on behalf of all God’s children and their male parents, the 10 Commandments of Daddy.

Courtesy of MSN.

Overall, it’s an informative read at first glance, and how can you not be in favor of information that could concievably help you raise your kids in today’s world?  What’s funny about a lot of these columns, however, is they tend to give both really great advice and completely conflicting opinions.  Here’s an example:

6. Save your money, big man

7. Spend your money, tightwad

How could one possibly do both?  Shouldn’t you be consistent?

Perhaps you could distill all of the information down to one idea; perhaps a commandment that isn’t so simple to do in practice, but one can perfect over time.  Something like:

1.  Give your children all the time that you can with all the respect, love, and guidance that a person that is much less experienced and probably less emotionally stable than you deserves.

Or:

1.  Do onto your children what you, after much consideration, wish had been done onto you, and be ready to grow in your considerations every week, because the minds of your children probably will change at least that often.

Not sure.  I probably have more, but it’s early in the morning for me.  Your mileage may vary. 

I was impressed with this line from the article, though.

10. Love their mother

Hug Mom. Often. In front of the kids. Sure, sometimes marriages end, but the obligation to a woman doesn’t. Be grateful to her. Speak to her with respect. Try to make her laugh. Listen. Even if you’re not married to her, figure out how to love her.

Although spoken like a person who’s never been through a divorce, the author has a point… even if it’s a bit overstated.  Alright, maybe a LOT overstated.  Somehow, though, I think that you intelligent people out there can see the point.  So dads, take that piece of advice and put it next to the pipe and brandy, as you wear the cardigan, and you’re reading the paper in your favorite chair in the sitting room.

I have a three year old.  It used to be that thinking about what to do to put her in a better position financially than I was - one of the goals of a lot of single dads and single moms out there - would keep me up at night.  Not anymore.  Here are a couple of things that I did:

1.  Joined uPromise.

From their website:

We believe that every child should have the chance to go to college. Upromise was established to give families an easy way to save - every day - and encourage them to start early by investing their own money for college on a regular basis. Our Rewards service offers money for college from America’s leading companies such as Citi®, ExxonMobil, McDonald’s and hundreds of others. And our relationships with top investment companies, including The Vanguard Group® and Columbia Management Group, make it easy to get started and adopt a long-term savings strategy with great tax advantages.

You mean to tell me that I can start saving money for my child’s future education simply by registering a few cards and shopping in certain locations?  I can register grocery cards?  And I can link a 529 plan to my child’s account?  I can even link public school donations to my child’s account?  Have you projected how much four years of college will cost in say, fifteen years?

 Sign me up.

2.  Got life insurance.

Everyone tends to think that if they are employed, their company’s life insurance policy is adequate to cover their children.  Please.  Go get at least a term life insurance policy to match your debt, and if you’re feeling really clever, tie yourself to a policy that has cash value for your kids, where you don’t have to necessarily die to give them a little extra money.

You’ll sleep better.

3.  Create a budget and set aside savings.

You have children now.  Do you really need that midlife crisis car, or the super-expensive jeans, or the enormous McManison in the suburbs?  Not likely.

Save a little money for your kid’s future.  The online services for some banks make it really easy to tell how much you’re actually spending on items - I know, I used one of those banks to help me do my taxes this year in a snap.  So you don’t have to log every single purchase that you make every day to come up with a reasonable budget with reasonable expectations.  Make it happen.  Then save.

These are but a few ideas.  There are a lot of other good ideas out there for the forwarding thinking parent on the go.  Feel free to leave yours in the comments.