LEAD DAD 101

Your Kids Might Tell You What You’ve Been Thinking All Along: Jamie Hopkins

As a son Jamie Hopkins had a shock that every father fears. He went to school one day and came home to learn that his dad had died, in a construction accident. “My dad was gone at my age,” said Jamie, about to turn 40. “I think about that a lot. I think about how […]

Parents Can Advocate for Reading As A Civil Right

What if we reframed children learning to read as a civil right? Would that change how schools teach our children, particularly the 1.6 million kids in the U.S. with dyslexia? On Friday, I went to the premiere of the documentary “Left Behind”. The documentary follows a group of mothers of dyslexic kids in New York […]

Learning What Can Wait Until Night Time – Tony Cotrupe

Realizing what parts of your work need to be when people are awake and what parts can be done when they’re asleep is one route to being a super-involved working dad. “What I do has two parts,” said Tony Cotrupe, who once worked “8 zillion hours a week for J.P. Morgan Chase” and now runs […]

How a Life Sprinter Changed His View – Jay Acunzo

Being a life sprinter can have tremendous career benefits but the best way to get through the mud of life with kids may just be to trudge through it. That realization has allowed Jay Acunzo, who advises executives on how to be better speakers and was once the ultimate life sprinter, to change how he […]

I Gave Up Complaining. Here’s A Better Strategy

This is my dog, Annie. She works with me most days. At night, she sleeps in my daughter’s room. She doesn’t ever complain. What she does[…]

Honesty With Yourself Goes a Long Way – Michael Iammarino

“It’s a whole mixed bowl of good, hard, sometimes poor parenting,” admits Michael Iammarino, our Lead Dad of the Week from Kansas City[…]

What’s Worth Waiting For – and What Isn’t?

At the holidays, there’s good waiting and there’s bad waiting. If you’re a kid who celebrates Christmas, waiting for Santa is good waiting. If your stove stopped working right after you pulled out the Thanksgiving turkey and the appliance repair guy keeps ordering parts that don’t actually repair it, and if he never shows up […]

Clean Dad Living, Literally – Sean Busch

Why can’t cleaning products smell the way a dad would want them to smell? Resist the urge to insert a cheap joke. Think sandalwood and…

What Grit Looks Like In A Kid

This is what grit in a kid looks like. Nothing forced. No tutors. No coaches. No overbearing parent. Just desire and opportunity. My youngest daughter has been an indifferent ice skater, content to slide around with a green-plastic frame. She doesn’t fall. She goes pretty fast. But she really isn’t skating. She’s sliding. And that’s […]

Honesty Pays – Nokware Knight

Here’s some work advice for Lead Dads: be transparent and honest with your employer – even if you’re starting a new job. That’s what Nokware Knight, our Lead Dad of the Week from Bridgeport, CT, did when he was hired to teach at a prestigious independent school in central Connecticut. He had been working as […]

A Reminder: Being Present Is Better Than Being Perfect

At dinner on our 17th wedding anniversary, my wife handed me a card and laughed. It was very sweet on the outside, and on the inside, it read: Happy Valentine’s Day. Our anniversary is in December. I smiled. It was the perfect card for us, two working parents with three kids and three dogs and […]

Doing What Makes Sense – Even If It’s Different: Victor Wong

It was a logical, even easy decision, for Victor Wong and his wife to decide that he would take up the Lead Dad role in their home. It…

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