A Father's Voice

Welcome to A Father’s Voice for December 2007. This month’s column is called This Year We re Going to DisneyWorld. It is about how chaotic this time of year can be - especially for our family - and our solution to deal with it. The exciting news this month is that two things I worked on and [...]

Welcome to A Father’s Voice for November 2007. This month’s column is called Fighting My Instincts to Help My Children. It is about how sometimes what we think is best for our kids can backfire in ways we never imagined and what we can do about it. I am so proud to announce this column marks [...]

Welcome to A Father’s Voice for October 2007. Remembering to Smell the Roses is a reminder that despite our best intentions to help our children achieve the goals we have for them (and even for themselves), we can’t afford to forget to enjoy the journey getting there. This was a big month. This month marks the first time North State Parent, a northern California parenting magazine, will be publishing A Father's Voice. Next month A Father's Voice will begin being published regularly in a south Florida parenting magazine. This week, though, I'm excited to report that A Father's Voice appears for the first time in an online magazine called, The Father Life. There is also a wonderful article/interview of me by Ben Martin, the editor of The Father Life. Please take a moment to support The Father Life and check it out. I also was quoted in a very interesting Education.com article about Raising A Sensitive Child that includes tips based on my suggestions. “The reality is that sensitive children have a gift," I explained, instead of a weakness like most people believe. As if that wasn't enough, a major parenting web site has asked me to write the father's perspective for their weekly pregnancy e-newsletter. By next month, I'll be able to tell you more about that. A Father’s Voice is my chance to share my voice with you about the challenges and rewards I experience trying to be a very involved father while having to work full-time away from our home. I write during the only disposable time of my day – my train ride to and from home. I hope you will subscribe to A Father’s Voice by visiting www.AFathersVoice.net. Remembering to Smell the Roses By Jeremy G. Schneider, MFT Sometimes it is too easy to forget why we’re trying to get our children to do certain things, to get so wrapped up in the goal that we forget we want them to do it because we care and love for them so much. I’m just going through another of those moments right now. The enjoyment of the process has turned something that seemed like it would be a chore, something I wasn’t sure we could do, to something I have begun to look forward to every night. My 4.5 (okay, four and three-quarter) year old little girl has decided she doesn’t want to wear diapers at night anymore. Over the past couple of months we have begun the push to get our twins out of diapers while they sleep. We decreased the amount of water in their sippy cups they kept on their night tables. Then we stopped the water at night altogether. We’ve even tried to encourage them to get up when they need to go to the bathroom and come to our room and we’ll help them to the bathroom. Unfortunately, that didn’t work out so well. Changing two sets of sheets at 3:30 in the morning was not a fun way to start the day – for any of us. Fortunately, Jordyn refused to give up. Much like her Daddy I am proud to say, once my little girl makes up her mind, she makes a commitment to achieving her goal. She has decided she only wants to wear underpants at night and she is doing whatever it takes to make that happen. And so am I. We decided, after talking to our pediatrician, that we should wake her up before we went to bed and take her to the bathroom. I took that responsibility on and for the past three nights I have woken my little girl up at 11:00 or so at night and taken her to the bathroom. You can hear A Father’s Voice in my voice below, subscribe to A Father’s Voice podcasts, check out A Father’s Voice archives, read the rest of this month’s column, and even subscribe to Two Okapis, my Digital Daddy Diary. You can always share your voice with me by commenting on this site or emailing me.Download Remember to Smell the Roses

Welcome to A Father’s Voice for September 2007. In Just 16 Minutes is a snapshot of how intense everything can be when your child wakes up in the middle of the night upset. This month I was interviewed again, this time for an article that will appear in American Baby about the baby blues and depression after a baby is born – except that it was focused on fathers and their experience. Why does it happen to dads, too, and how their partners can help them. I was very pleased that a national parenting magazine is covering such an important topic such as this. The other exciting news was that two more magazines have picked up my A Father’s Voice column for publication, Northern State Parent, in northern California, and Virginia. I look forward to growing this list of magazines even more in the months ahead. A Father’s Voice is my chance to share my voice with you about the challenges and rewards I experience trying to be a very involved father while having to work full-time away from our home. I write during the only disposable time of my day – my train ride to and from home. I hope you will subscribe to A Father’s Voice by visiting www.AFathersVoice.net. In Just 16 Minutes By Jeremy G. Schneider, MFT 4:00am That’s what the clock read. Is it raining? I should go look out the window to see if it is raining because if it is I can turn off the alarm and sleep a little later. But I can’t get up to go check…tooooooooooo sleeeeeeeppppppppyyyyyy… … “ELIJAH!” I heard myself scream. All of a sudden I am out of my bed so quickly that I forgot to get my glasses, running towards the stairs. I don’t know what I heard, but somehow I knew he was in trouble and he responded with a sound. I can tell from his voice he is on the stairs. Is the monitor working? He started crying loudly. I picked him up, halfway to the top of the stairs, and held him close to me, whispering soothing words, trying to calm and quiet him down. After a short period of time he was whimpering into my shoulder. “Let’s go upstairs and check on Jordyn,” I whispered to him. I thought I heard her stirring up there and can only imagine how our outbursts have frightened her. You can hear A Father’s Voice in my voice below, subscribe to A Father’s Voice podcasts, check out A Father’s Voice archives, read the rest of this month’s column, and even subscribe to Two Okapis, my Digital Daddy Diary. You can always share your voice with me by commenting on this site or emailing me.Download In Just 16 Minutes

Welcome to A Father’s Voice for August 2007. Best Part of My Life, Daddy is about the roller coaster ride of being a Daddy – how it can be wonderful, lonely and then glorious all in a couple of hours. After some time off last month, things have picked up with an intensity. I was interviewed by three different publications in an 8-day span – all of which will either be available in August or September. The first was a magazine in South Africa, my first exposure to the African continent. They wanted my thoughts on the challenges of new fathers. Then Best Life interviewed me on how to develop a close relationship with each of your children when you have more than one. That has the potential to be really interesting. But the interview that surprised me the most was with Psychotherapy Finances. They wanted to learn more about my workshops and writing as a way to help other therapists build their practice and develop multiple revenue streams. I will be sure to make all of these interviews available through my web site when they are published. A Father’s Voice is my chance to share my voice with you about the challenges and rewards I experience trying to be a very involved father while overcoming my childhood and having to work full-time away from our home. I write during the only disposable time of my day – my train ride to and from home. I hope you will take a moment to subscribe to A Father’s Voice by visiting www.AFathersVoice.net. Best Part Of My Life, Daddy By Jeremy G. Schneider, MFT On Sunday we went to the mall with my Okapis. While Elijah, my 3-year old son, got a haircut with Mommy and Abuelita, I got Jordyn, his twin sister, all to myself. And it was lovely. One of the biggest frustrations I have during the week is not only do I not get enough time with my Okapis, I don’t get good time with my Okapis. I get the worst time of the day with them, the time when they are their most tired and that is the most structured. They need to eat. They need to take their vitamins. They need to change into PJs. They need to get nebbied. They need to brush their teeth. They need to go to bed. They need to do it within 1.5 hours of me coming home. I just don’t understand why it doesn’t become a lovefest every single night. I also almost never get time alone with either of them. We keep meaning to change that, but keep running into challenges. Of course, the time I had with Jordyn was lovely; we even got a chance to look at some clothes for her. She is ridiculously smart, very observant and does wonderful things with her tone of voice – not only does she pick up new vocabulary very well, she is astute enough to mimic the tone, as well, appropriately. I don’t get to see that side of her enough at home, but at the mall with all of that stimulation and the fact that she has been there more than I have because she goes with my wife – especially when it is cold or wet – it really comes out. I was having a great time when Elijah, my wife and her mother met up with us. Then it was as if I had disappeared. You can hear A Father’s Voice in my voice below, subscribe to A Father’s Voice podcasts, check out A Father’s Voice archives, read the rest of this month’s column, and even subscribe to Two Okapis, my Digital Daddy Diary. You can always share your voice with me by commenting on this site or emailing me.Download Best Part of My Life, Daddy

Welcome to A Father’s Voice for May 2007. My Two Worlds Colliding is this month's column. I go to work every day, not because I want to, but because I need to in order to support my family. But my leaving is tough on all of us so I brought my children with me to work to see if it might make it easier on them. It seemed to make a positive difference for them, but made things a little bit harder on me. I am incredibly excited to announce my first ebook is now available. It is called A New Father's Voice, a compilation of articles specifically for expecting or new dads and includes 10 articles addressing issues many new fathers face. You can order your copy of A New Father's Voice for only $5.00. I am also happy to report my workshop on The Power of Involved Fathers in Long Island last month was very successful. Please feel free to read the research summary I prepared for the attendees. In addition, I was recently interviewed for an article on Education.com on highly sensitive children. When it is published I will post the link to it. A Father’s Voice is my chance to share my voice with you about the challenges and rewards I experience trying to be a very involved father while overcoming my childhood and having to work full-time away from our home. I write during the only disposable time of my day – my train ride to and from home. My Two Worlds Colliding By Jeremy G. Schneider, MFT I have written quite a bit about how hard leaving my three-year old twins every morning is for me. To sum up: I hate it. I hate leaving them every morning and feel there is something fundamentally flawed with a society that makes it so difficult for parents to stay home with young children. Yesterday that difficult experience took a surreal turn. Yesterday, I didn’t leave my children to go to work. Instead, I brought them with me! My wife and I and our children took the train and the subway together to get to where I work. I kept reminding them this is how Daddy goes to work every day and they seemed like they were trying to absorb it all. You can hear A Father’s Voice in my voice below, subscribe to A Father’s Voice podcasts, check out A Father’s Voice archives, read the rest of this month’s column, and even subscribe to Two Okapis, my Digital Daddy Diary. You can always share your voice with me by commenting on this site or emailing me.Download My Two Worlds Colliding

Welcome to A Father’s Voice for April 2007. This month’s column, Comforting Elmo, came about because once Gem told me about it, I couldn’t get the image of my little girl comforting her Elmo out of my mind. It was simultaneously adorable and heartbreaking. There is only slightly more than one week until my workshop on The Power of Involved Fathers in Long Island on Sunday, April 15, 2007 at 9:30am. If you are interested in attending, please send me an email. Nickelodeon's revamped ParentsConnect site is almost ready to be unveiled and will feature, among other things, parenting experts (including myself) answering questions from parents. Littlies, New Zealand's most popular parenting magazine for parents of young children, is going to publish an article they requested me to write this Summer on how dads can still bond with their children even if they are far away from them. A Father’s Voice is my chance to share my voice with you about the challenges and rewards I experience trying to be a very involved father while overcoming my childhood and having to work full-time away from our home. I write during the only disposable time of my day – my train ride to and from home. Comforting Elmo By Jeremy G. Schneider, MFT My wife and I were taking a few minutes to catch up with our days when she said, "Did I tell you what Jordyn did today during nebby?" "I don't think so." Nebby is what we call the nebulizer. We have to nebulize our two-year old twins every night to try and prevent asthma from developing and to decrease the congestion in their pulmonary system. "She was holding her Elmo in a blanket and patting him on the back saying, 'It's okay, Elmo. It's okay. It's almost over and then you'll feel better. You feel better, right?'" Tears were welling up in both of our eyes and we couldn't say anything at all. I had no trouble picturing my little girl doing that, hearing her voice in my head, seeing Elmo snuggled up in her arms. "That little girl has been through so much." My voice sounded hoarse, cracky and my wife looked like she hadn't heard me. "I know. I know," she said, her voice sounding far away. You can hear A Father’s Voice in my voice below, subscribe to A Father’s Voice podcasts, check out A Father’s Voice archives, read the rest of this month’s column, and even subscribe to Two Okapis, my Digital Daddy Diary. You can always share your voice with me by commenting on this site or emailing me.Download Comforting Elmo

Welcome to the March 2007 column of A Father’s Voice. This month’s column, Making My Time Away A Little Easier...For All of Us, was one of the first pieces I wrote and will always hold a fond place in my heart. It was the beginning of my writing and the beginning of my understanding what it meant to be a Daddy. It’s not surprising that they happened at the same time. This month Littlies, New Zealand's fastest growing and most popular parenting magazine, published a new article of mine called, First-Time Dads. Next month I will be conducting a workshop on the Power of Involved Fathers to help both fathers and mothers understand the benefits of involved fathers and how they can make that happen (if you would like to attend, email me). In the Spring, the new Nickelodeon-owned web site for parents, called ParentsConnect will be launched with a special section for Frequently Asked Question from real parents answered by experts...experts like me. Speaking of questions, if you have any questions about relationships, Clever Parents has featured me in their new Questions and Answers area so send me an email at jeremy@cleverparents.com. A Father’s Voice is my column to voice the challenges and rewards of trying to be a very involved father to my twins despite my childhood and working full-time outside of my home. I write during the only disposable time of my day; I write during my train ride to and from home. Making My Time Away A Little Easier...For All of Us By Jeremy G. Schneider, MFT You know how some parents look forward to going back to work to get a break from their children and spouses? I'm not one of them. I hate going to work in the morning. Absolutely hate it. I hate leaving my family - especially on Monday after I have spent so much time with them during the weekend. To make matters worse, my twin 19-month old children hate it, too. Sometimes they will cry and scream when I lean down to say goodbye. Other times they cling to me when I give them a hug and refuse to let go - as if I really want to leave in the first place. My children have developed different ways of dealing with my leaving in the morning. Jordyn, my little girl, has somehow learned on her own to keep her connection to me throughout the day. She will point to pictures of me and yell out, “Da-Dee!” Or, and this just broke my heart, she will pick up my sneakers, take them to my wife and say, “Da-Dee shoes.” When she started to do this, my leaving in the morning wasn't as hard on either of us. But for my little boy, my leaving was much harder on him. You can hear A Father’s Voice in my voice below, subscribe to A Father’s Voice podcasts, check out A Father’s Voice archives, read the rest of this month’s column, and even subscribe to Two Okapis, my Digital Daddy Diary. You can always share your voice with me by commenting on this site or emailing me.Download Making My Time Away A Little Easier

Welcome to the February 2007 column of A Father’s Voice. This month’s column, Parenting Is A Team Sport: Do You Back Each Other Up?, came about because I realized once again how hard parenting was, but that working together, as teammates, can make it just a little bit easier for all of us while sending a pretty powerful message in the process. The biggest news this month is I'll be appearing on the brand new Nicklodeon-owned web site for parents, called ParentsConnect. They are recreating their FAQ section, filling it with questions from parents...with answers from experts. One of those experts will be me. It should go live towards the end of March, but I will certainly let you know when. I am conducting a workshop on The Power of Involved Fathers in Long Island in April (if you would like to attend, email me). Littlies, New Zealand's fastest growing and most popular parenting magazine, is publishing one of my articles, First-Time Dads, in March. Clever Parents has featured me in their new Questions and Answers area, which hopefully will only grow bigger. DadLabs, a fatherhood web site, is publishing one of my pieces this month entitled, Parenting Never Ends. NY Metro, the largest New York area parenting publisher, has officially posted a number of my posts in their new Parents Blog Network. A Father’s Voice is my column to voice the challenges and rewards of trying to be a very involved father to my twins despite my childhood and working full-time outside of my home. I write during the only disposable time of my day; I write during my train ride to and from home. Parenting Is A Team Sport: Do You Back Each Other Up? By Jeremy G. Schneider, MFT “You do not speak to Daddy like that!” Gem scolded Jordyn, our four-year old daughter. She has just yelled at me out of anger and that is not acceptable in our house. We were all sitting at the dinner table and a standoff had begun. Jordyn was refusing to give an inch. “Jordyn, go to your timeout,” Gem reminded her. Jordyn knows screaming like that is a timeout, but she didn’t want to go. I remained seated and silent at the table watching my little girl figure out what her options really were. While observing this I was struck by something to which I have been giving a lot of thought. How often do you back each other up as parents? You can hear A Father’s Voice in my voice below, subscribe to A Father’s Voice podcasts, check out A Father’s Voice archives, read the rest of this month’s column, and even subscribe to Two Okapis, my Digital Daddy Diary. You can always share your voice with me by commenting on this site or emailing me.Download Parenting Is A Team Sport: Do You Back Each Other Up?

Welcome to the January 2007 A Father’s Voice. Happy New Year! A Father's Voice is my column to voice the challenges and rewards of trying to be a very involved father to my twins despite my childhood and working full-time outside of my home. I write during the only disposable time of my day; I write during my train ride to and from home. The New Year is starting off where the last one left off, fortunately. The big news this month is that NY Metro Parents, publisher of Big Apple Parent and several other New York area parenting magazines, has asked me to blog on their site. I'm guessing there will be a lot of crossover between Two Okapis and what I post over there, but I'll tell you more about it next month...when I know more. In addition, my Fatherville interview turned out extremely well and is available for your reading pleasure. I was also interviewed for an article, A Potty Training Plan, on helping children learn to use the toilet. In case you missed it, I have redeveloped the media section of my web site, now called Press Room, and have made my new Press Kit available online. This month’s column is called, More Than Just A Stroller, and also originally began life as a Two Okapis post. My Okapis just had a birthday and this article not only reminded me of what I was feeling when I wrote it earlier this year, but also what I feel now; With all of the joys and pride in our children’s new skills and accomplishments, there is always a little sadness at what we will miss. More Than Just A Stroller By Jeremy G. Schneider, MFT It seems like such a little thing. The double stroller for my children, 3-year old twins, is sitting in the basement taking up valuable space, but I just don’t know what to do with it. It has been in our family for over three years now and somehow shoving it in the garage doesn’t seem a just ending for this device that has been with us for so long. It used to live in the back of our Outback and was there when we needed it. It has been to Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, New Jersey, Florida and even Ecuador with us, not too mention the mall, the park and hundreds of other places. You can hear A Father’s Voice in my voice below, subscribe to A Father’s Voice podcasts, check out A Father’s Voice archives, read the rest of this month’s column, and even subscribe to Two Okapis, my Digital Daddy Diary. You can always share your voice with me by commenting on this site or emailing me.Download More Than Just A Stroller

Welcome to the December 2006 A Father’s Voice. It is my column to voice the challenges and rewards of trying to be a very involved father to my twins despite my childhood and working full-time outside of my home. I write during the only disposable time of my day; I write during my train ride to and from home. Once again, I am excited to be able to report several new developments to you. Last week, I was interviewed by Lisa Belkin, a New York Times columnist and host of Life’s Work on XM Radio on how to make the holidays more meaningful – especially incorporating giving to charity. It is to air Thursday, December 7 at 4:00pm on XM 155. Fatherville, an excellent online resource for fathers, is interviewing me this week. Next month I’ll include the link for you to check it out. eNotAlone has picked up both of my syndicated columns; A Father’s Voice and Hey Dads…You Matter! Speaking of which, the entire Hey Dads series is now available as an eBook on JGS.net. I also have redeveloped the media section of my web site so I hope you will check out my new Press Room and, in particular, my new Press Kit. With a couple of things in the works, hopefully the New Year will start off where this one has left off. I would like to wish all of you and your families a lovely holiday season and a New Year you all truly deserve. This month’s column is called, Pee and Poop…There, I’ve said it! and originally began life as a Two Okapis post. I realized I was writing about so many aspects of my life as a father – except dealing with my children’s bodily functions. The reason? I hated thinking about it, let alone talking about it. I’m better at it now and it all started with just saying the words. (This was the most challenging podcast I have done so far. It is one thing to write these words, Pee and Poop, but to say them out loud is still not the most comfortable experience in the world for me. Pee and Poop…there I’ve said it! By Jeremy G. Schneider, MFT While I have written many articles on what it feels like to leave my three year old twins to go to work or the challenges I’ve faced in helping them to sleep on their own during the night, I have been avoiding one particular subject that is a major part of our lives. The main reason I have avoided the subject is that I am so uncomfortable by the whole discussion. I have actually handled helping our twin 3-year olds learn to use the potty better than I thought I would – especially considering the issues and major levels of discomfort I feel, but that doesn’t mean I like talking about it. You can hear A Father’s Voice in my voice below, subscribe to A Father’s Voice podcasts, check out A Father’s Voice archives, read the rest of this month’s column, and even subscribe to Two Okapis, my Digital Daddy Diary. You can always share your voice with me by commenting on this site or emailing me.Download Pee and Poop...There, I've Said It!

Welcome to A Father’s Voice for November 2006. It is my chance to share my voice with you about the challenges and rewards I experience trying to be a very involved father while overcoming my childhood and having to work full-time away from our home. I write during the only disposable time of my day – my train ride to and from home. It has been another exciting month in the world of JGS. Ruth, my PR consultant, and I have put together a database of all of my articles – quickly approaching 100 – all organized by category or subject matter. This week we hope to have my press kit done. I will post it on JGS.net when it is completed so you can check it out. We also have been pitching writers in response to requests for “expert quotes.” South Florida Parenting is the first of those to publish, though it is not yet available online. They are quoting me in reference to helping children develop a sense of volunteerism early on in life. Two Okapis was also recently voted as one of the Top 50 blogs by the Bloggy Awards, called the BloggyList. This month’s column is called, Blazing A New Parental Trail. I’ve always believed it is hard to NOT be something, to make your own path instead of following the blueprint laid out for you. But sometimes – especially when your role models as parents were not good ones – parents find themselves blazing their own trail with no real way to tell whether what they are doing is the best for their children. ______________________ Blazing A New Parental Trail By Jeremy G. Schneider, MFT Without the possibility of turning to my parental role-models as a guide for what I want to give my children, I found that I looked externally for help in blazing a new parental trail. What I didn’t realize was that the answers were always inside me, revealing themselves only after my twins were born. Most people learn much of what they know about parenting from their own parents. This provides people with role models and blueprints for the kind of parents they want to be. For those of us with parents who didn’t do such a good job or who weren’t around, there are no role models, no blueprints, no way to know if we're doing okay or not. This is why I turned to external sources. It is why I always hoped there was a Parenting Handbook that would be given to me upon the birth of my children. Alas, when my children were born the only books I received were the kind with lots of pictures and pages that don’t rip (though they could still be chewed, I learned). You can hear A Father’s Voice in my voice below, subscribe to A Father’s Voice podcasts, check out A Father’s Voice archives, read the rest of this month’s column, and even subscribe to Two Okapis, my Digital Daddy Diary.Download Blazing A New Parental Trail

Welcome to the September 2006 A Father's Voice, the voice of a father overcoming my childhood to be the best dad I can be to my children, while working full-time outside the home. I write during the only disposable time of my day - on the train to and from work. I am incredibly excited to inform you I have hired a public relations consultant to handle press inquiries and to work on getting more articles and columns published. Their name is Mulberry Street Marketing, in part because of the book called, And to Think That I Saw It On Mulberry Street, and how this incredible event was created from imagination. Hopefully, incredible things will continue to develop with our new partnership. As a reminder, A Father's Voice is now a syndicated column featured in parenting sites such as Clever Parents and Fatherville. If you don't live in the Dallas area and didn't get a chance to see my article published in Dallas Child, please check out Sunday Sadness on my web site. For those of you who don't read Two Okapis regularly, I have shifted its focus slightly. I am now also writing about the challenges of overcoming my childhood to be what my children need me to be. I hope you will check it out. This month's column is called, Making Note of My Parental Power. Most parents complain about the sense of powerlessness they feel. But I was recently reminded that I have incredible power to influence my children's behavior as a parent. I just needed to make note of it. You can hear A Father’s Voice in my voice below, subscribe to A Father’s Voice podcasts, subscribe to A Father’s Voice via email, check out A Father’s Voice archives, and read this latest issue. You can even see pictures of what the notes look like.Download Making Note of My Parental Power

Welcome to the August 2006 A Father's Voice, the voice of a father trying to be the best dad he can be to his children while working full-time outside the home. I write during the only disposable time of my day - on the train to and from work. I am proud to announce two very exciting developments. The first is A Father's Voice is now a syndicated column. Specifically, Clever Parents is one of the sites publishing A Father's Voice on their wonderful web site. They also are featuring an interview with me on their site as part of the kick-off. I hope you will take a moment to check out their new A Father's Voice section. In addition to Clever Parents, A Father's Voice is now being syndicated on several other web sites as well, including Fatherville, which has added me as one of their columnists. On top of A Father's Voice, Dallas Child has just published an article called, Sunday Sadness, which interestingly enough originated as a Two Okapis post. This month's column is called, All About "I Love You." Having not really heard or especially felt those three little words growing up, I was committed to making sure my little boy and girl never had that problem. What I didn't realize in my quest to make sure they felt loved, was that I was also teaching them how to love. And that was a lovely surprise. You can hear A Father’s Voice in my voice below, subscribe to A Father’s Voice podcasts, subscribe to A Father’s Voice via email, check out A Father’s Voice archives, and read this latest issue.

Welcome to another issue of A Father's Voice, the voice of a father trying to be the best father he can be to his children while having to work full-time outside of the home. I write during the only disposable time of my day - on the train to and from work. The most obvious news of this issue is I have redesigned A Father's Voice and I am proud to announce the redesign of Two Okapis, my Digital Daddy Diary (blog). As you can see it features a picture of my Two Okapis and tells any visitor all they need to know - the whole blog is about my two adorable looking Okapis. I have also expanded JGS.net, making all of my articles that have been published easily available. Just click on my Article Library. In August, a Texas parenting magazine will publish one of my pieces called, Sunday Sadness. But I am most excited about the fact that I was interviewed for a CNN Podcast, called Digital Life. It is approximately 11 minutes long and includes the most complimentary introduction I can possibly imagine. I hope you will take the time to listen to it as it is the best interview I have ever had. It focused on the different ways I use technology to reach out to parents - especially fathers - including this column and the corresponding A Father's Voice Podcast. This month's column is called, I Am Their Daddy; Their Daddy Is Me. It came from my realization of what has probably made the most difference for me in terms of being an involved father. It is something many fathers struggle understanding. It is the new family math; what my children's Daddy says to them matters, and I am their Daddy, thus what I say and do matters. Once I learned this formula, many good things began to happen. You can hear A Father's Voice in my voice below, subscribe to A Father's Voice podcasts, subscribe to A Father's Voice via email, check out A Father's Voice archives, and read this latest issue.

Welcome to another issue of A Father's Voice, my monthly column giving voice to the challenges and rewards of being an involved father while working full-time. I wrote this piece, Second Fiddle, during the worst period for me in putting our children to bed, a little over a year ago. They were about two and only wanted to be with Mommy. It was after this experience that we decided to have me put them to bed myself and that changed everything for the better. You can hear A Father's Voice in my voice below, subscribe to A Father's Voice podcasts, subscribe to A Father's Voice via email, and read this latest issue.

Welcome to another issue of A Father's Voice, my monthly column giving voice to the challenges and rewards of being an involved father while working full-time. Because NBC's The Today Show segment focused on my birth experience, I thought this would be an opportune time to share my experience of the birth of our children. I wrote it because it is easy to see how some parents can be troubled by a difficult or scary birth experience and blame themselves for it. That is a tough way to start off being a parent. You can hear A Father's Voice in my voice below, subscribe to A Father's Voice podcasts, subscribe to A Father's Voice column via email, and read this latest issue.

Welcome to the April 2006 podcast of A Father's Voice, my monthly column giving voice to the challenges and rewards of being an involved father while working full-time. Before I became a father, I had no idea what it would be like. All I could think about was what I would lose becoming a father. I wrote this piece because I wish someone could've explained to me all I would gain as a Daddy.