My 10 year old has figured out how to get around pretty much every parental control I set up. He's spending 3+ hours a day scrolling through YouTube shorts when he thinks I'm not looking. I've tried limiting screen time with Apple's tools, taking his device away, negotiating with him. Nothing sticks...
Baby number 2 is due in 6 weeks and my company technically offers 6 weeks paid paternity leave but nobody actually takes it. Its a competitive industry and I dont want to fall behind or look like I'm not committed. My wife is going back to work after 3 months so I need to at least be home those firs...
My daughter had her school recital at 2pm today. I told my team I was leaving and got out of the office by 130. Made it there and she was so happy to see me in the audience. But now I'm sitting here stressed about the meeting I missed and wondering if my boss noticed. This shouldnt be this hard. A o...
Used to sleep until noon on weekends, hit the bars with my buddies, never had a plan. Then my first kid was born and everything just clicked different. At first I was terrified I'd lose who I was but honestly becoming a dad made me better. I still grab beers with the guys but way less, and I actuall...
Used to just grab whatever ice cream looked good. Now I stand there for 5 minutes because my daughter wants the one that 'matches her backpack' and my son needs to make sure we have something chocolate. Meanwhile other shoppers are just grabbing stuff and moving on. I miss being that person. But als...
Started a new role 6 months ago and the hours are brutal. Getting home at 7pm most nights, kids are already in bed, wife is exhausted from handling everything solo. I'm making good money but I'm missing everything. Thinking about going back to my old job even though it pays less. The stress is affec...
Been working from home for about a year now and my boss just told us we need to come in 3 days a week starting next month. I'm legitimately upset about losing that time back. The commute is 40 minutes each way which means I lose almost 7 hours a week. That's time with my family. Really considering l...
Started this project like 6 months ago and finally got it done last Saturday. Grabbed some cedar boards from Home Depot, mixed up concrete for the posts, and spent way too long leveling everything out. My 4 year old watched the whole thing and kept handing me tools he found in the garage. Worth ever...
Started the weekend planning to just replace some rotted boards on our back deck. Pulled up the first plank and realized the joists underneath were shot. Now I'm looking at basically rebuilding the whole thing. Not thrilled about spending another 2-3 weekends on this but my wife says it's better to ...
She's been working so hard this season and today it paid off. The confidence boost on her face after that goal went in was priceless. She ran straight to the sideline looking for me in the crowd. These are the moments you play it back in your head forever.
Fired up the smoker at 6am Saturday and kept that thing going for 14 hours straight. My kids were actually impressed which felt amazing. Temp management was way harder than I thought but it turned out pretty tender. The bark came out perfect. Definitely doing this again but I need to figure out a be...
Took me almost a year but I finally got my garage converted into a legit man cave. Got my old drafting table set up for building scale models, mini fridge stocked, and I hung up all my vintage sports posters. Put in some LED strip lighting and it doesn't look like a dungeon anymore. My wife even sai...
Planning to smoke my first brisket this Saturday for a small family gathering. Got a 14 pounder and I'm trying to figure out if I should trim it myself or ask the butcher to do it. Also wondering about the Texas crutch thing I keep hearing about. Should I plan for like 14-16 hours of cook time? I ha...
So I decided to tackle the treehouse project my 7 year old has been bugging me about for like 2 years. Spent most of Saturday watching YouTube videos on load bearing and safety, then Sunday morning we started. Used reclaimed wood from my neighbor's fence tear down and some 2x8s from Home Depot. The ...
I know this sounds stupid but it's literally never happened. Usually someone can't find their shoes or someone's crying about their lunch or something gets spilled. This morning though everything just clicked. All three kids dressed, fed, teeth brushed, backpacks packed, in the car by 7:45am. I felt...