Posts Tagged ‘single dads’
Studies have shown that most marriages will end in divorce. This means that countless dads will have to step up to the plate. Being a successful single dad isn’t always easy. Use the guide below to help. Will you be a successful single dad?
- Be supportive to your children. Divorce can be especially tough on children. Realize that just as you will struggle with the change, the change will be hard on your children as well. Be supportive to your children from the get go and accept the many emotions.
- Rearrange your schedule. As a single dad, you may have to rearrange your schedule at work to fit into time with your children. Explain to your boss the situation and he will likely be willing to work with you.
- Spend more time with your children. During this particularly emotional time in the lives of your children, it is essential that you spend more time with them. Why? They may feel that the divorce is their fault. Spend more time with them to help combat these feelings.
- Provide for them. A successful single dad provides for his children financially, regardless of who the children live with. Medical expenses, food, and clothing are just a few of the many needs that children will have.
- Don’t begin dating too quickly. Dating can negatively impact the relationship between you and your children. Give the children time to adjust to you being single.
- Get along with your ex. Becoming a successful dad will also mean that you have to get along with your ex regardless of what has happened in the relationship. While the two of you may no longer care for each other, the care of the children should be your number one concern.
- Work together for the good of the children. You and your ex will have to make important decisions to benefit your children. Working together is essential. Maintain a good relationship with your ex.
- Attend school functions. A successful dad will do his best to attend school functions and be a part of other activities. While you may not be able to attend every single one, making the effort to attend at least some of them will help your child know that you love and care for him.
- Put an emphasis on being successful in school. School is important. Your attitude towards your child’s school work will have a huge impact. Express to your child the importance of being successful in school.
- Don’t try to be your child’s “pal.” While you do want to be a friend to your child, being a parent should come first. Do your best to guide and direct your child in the right path.
- Set boundaries and guidelines. Boundaries and guidelines will help ensure that you are guiding your children in the right direction. A successful dad is one who provides guidance.
- Don’t undermine your ex. If your ex has rules, do your best to follow through with them. Remember that parenting must be a cooperative effort between the two of you.
- Don’t talk negative about your child’s mother. What you say about your child’s mother does matter. Regardless of how you feel about her, try your best to not talk negatively about her or other members of her family.
- Give your child the opportunities he needs to succeed. A successful dad will give his children opportunities to succeed. Whether it’s spending time with him or allowing him to participate in afterschool activities, success will come by you being involved.
- Realize that everything you do affects your children. Children look up to their fathers. What impression are you leaving for your children? Everything you do affects your children in some way. Be sure that your actions are having a positive impact in the lives of your children.
These 15 tips to becoming a successful single dad listed above can help you develop a good relationship with your children. Allow the tips to be a guide so that you can be the best parent you can possibly be. Will you be a successful single dad?
This article is written by Alex for Amazing Music Box – an online store for authentic musical boxes for kids.
Some kids are simply targets for bullying. Whether it is their small stature or their inability to communicate with others, children often know no limitations on how far is too far when it comes to bullying. Is your child being bullied? Listed below are 12 things that single dads can do to teach your kids not to get bullied. Be sure that your child is doing what he can to stay out of the line of fire.
- Be more social. Kids who are antisocial are often those who get targeted in bullying. Encourage your child to be more social with other children around him so that he doesn’t stand out or appear as the “odd” child. Look for opportunities to encourage him to socialize such as attending birthday parties and other school functions.
- Stay with a group of friends at all times. If you know that there is a bully in your child’s class, encourage him to stay with a group of friends at all times. Bullies usually won’t target kids who stay in large groups.
- Don’t be known as a tattle tale. Is your child a tattle tale? While this is no reason for a child to bully him, it can certainly lead to bullying. Try to correct behaviors that can make your child a target such as tattling.
Divorce isn’t an easy thing to go through. It’s hard on you, your ex spouse, and especially your child or children. As much as you’d like to just leave this experience behind you, that’s not going to happen because you have a child or children with your ex. I’ll do my best to give you some tips on how in spite of you being one of the divorced dads, you can manage this challenge quite well.
Spend As Much Time With Your Kid(s) As You Are Able
This will do you and your children a lot of good. If they’re little, take them to the playground, take them sleigh riding, take them to the park or out for ice cream. If they’re teenagers and not into spending time with their parents, just give them a call and make a date to meet them for lunch sometime at a place of their choice.
Don’t Inquire To Your Child About What Mom Is Up To
A lot of divorced dads do this and it’s not healthy at all. I know you’re just dying to know if she’s seeing someone else and such but keep the kids out of it. Doing this puts the kids in a very uncomfortable position. They’ll want to please you and tell you things but at the same time, they won’t want to rat on mom.
Do Your Very Best To Have a Civil Relationship With Your Ex
I know it may not be easy but do your best. It’s best to early on, have a sit down talk with your ex on being civil to one another for the sake of the children. If one thing positive came from your divorce, it’s that the children don’t hear mom and dad fighting in the house anymore. Don’t put them through more of it now that you’re gone from the home. If a conflict comes into play, you and your ex need to meet at a location different from the home and property that your children are present. I understand that you and your ex may have a lot of anger toward one another but fighting in the presence of the children is damaging to the children and yours and your exes relationship with them.
Don’t Talk Bad About Your Ex Around Your Children
Your ex is your child’s mother. I want you to think about your relationship with your mom when you were a child. You likely thought the world of your mom. Your child is no different. Talking bad about their mom (your ex) will hurt and anger your child. You may have a lot of anger toward your ex and it may be very justified but refrain from the trash talk about your ex around your children. No good can come from that.
If you’re one of the divorced dads in your town or city, do your best to shine above all the other divorced dads in the neighborhood. This will do you, your ex, and especially your children a world of good. Good luck to you.
Divorced Dads – While divorce is stressful for you and your partner, it can often be even more difficult for your children. They may not understand what happened and may even be carrying guilt or anxiety, thinking that they may have had something to do with it. It’s important to let your kids know that you love them very much and always will, and that they had nothing to do with the divorce.
Parenting following a divorce may feel like a whole new game, especially newly divorced dads. The rules are different now. You may not see your kids as often as you’d like, and when you do, there might be a lot of tension. Learning to “play nicely” with your ex can go a long way and help smooth things along as you all navigate through this new situation.
Dealing with an Ex
The person who previously shared your life may feel very much like a stranger now. This is normal, but when kids are involved, it’s important that you at least make an effort to communicate and be civil to each other. Follow these guidelines when dealing with your ex to help smooth over your interactions:
- Create boundaries and follow them. Your attorney can help you set these.
- Don’t bash your ex, either to your friends or online, especially when your kids can hear.
- Resist the temptation to behave passive-aggressively.
- Even if your ex behaves badly, don’t sink to their level.
- Treat an ex like you would a co-worker. You don’t have to like them, but you do have to work together. Read the rest of this entry »
Fancy dress up is no longer just reserved for Halloween, these days the industry is booming with fancy dress costume parties becoming more and more popular, as Dads we aren’t complaining, fancy dress is a great way to get their imaginations going into overdrive as they dress up as their favourite characters whilst looking their very cutest! In this blog post we’ll be looking at some the most popular children’s costumes, great for inspiring Dads who are not quite sure what to dress their child up as for their next fancy dress party or for World Book Day 2012. This is especially useful for newly single Dads or stay at home Dads who may not have previously organised their children’s costumes.
Harry Potter – Since J.K Rowling published the 1st book back in 1999, children have been going wild for the adventures of Harry and the rest of the students at Hogwarts academy. With that in mind it is hardly surprising that Harry potter fancy dress costumes are amongst the most popular, especially for World Book Day when children of primary school age are encouraged to attend school dressed as their favourite fictional character from literature.
Super heroes – Like the above, there’s no surprises with this choice. What little boy doesn’t love dressing up as his favourite comic book adventurer and re-enacting their favourite stories? The popularity of certain characters changes depending on film releases, Spiderman costumes are likely to be huge this year due to the release of the new film which stars Andrew Garfield playing old spidey but overall the officially licensed Marvel costumes are consistently popular.
Disney – Disney costumes have been popular for decades, mainly due to the huge range of different characters who have appeared in the films. In recent years costumes from the Disney princess franchise have been very popular with girls allowing them to transform themselves into some of the most popular female characters from Disney history including Ariel from The Little Mermaid, Belle from Beauty & The Beast and Princess Jasmine from Aladdin.
Pirates – Children’s love for pirates goes back years, from the old classics featured in books such as Treasure Island to the immensely popular Captain Jack Sparrow from Pirates of The Caribbean, they simply love the idea of pretending they are sailing the seven seas and travelling the world on one massive adventure. Once they are in their pirate costume they’ll more than likely be running around the house yelling “Walk the plank” and “Ahoy matey” whilst looking their very cutest.