Thanks for making me feel like the Richest Man in Town
Even better than this!
A few big milestones for FWF this week. Thank you all for making them happen.
First– WE DID IT!!!! We’ve reached, and far exceeded my goal of 100 blog followers through email, twitter, and wordpress by the end of the year. We’re currently at 158, shattering the goal (and this doesn’t even count the 52 who have liked the brand spankin’ new Fathers, Work and Family facebook page).
As a result of this success, as promised, I am donating $400 to the National Fatherhood Initiative, a well-established, national not-for-profit whose mission is to: “To improve the well-being of children by increasing the proportion of children growing up with involved, responsible, and committed fathers.” They provide resources, training and skill-building workshops for fathers all over the country, and pay special attention to helping military families and those in low-income communities. After all, the point is fathers helping fathers.
Second, tomorrow, my sixth article will be published at the Good Men Project, a great online men’s magazine that I’m proud to be a part of.
Third, we have reached 4000 page views for the blog! This is more traffic in the first 3 months than I ever anticipated. I am truly grateful.
Finally, I was recently asked to write a guest article for another blog- my first guest post! (here’s the link, but I am also reprinting it below). It is part of Father Factor’s 12 Dads of Christmas series. Enjoy:
Even Better Than Being Santa Like virtually every child, I LOVED Christmas, especially when I was young enough to believe in Santa. After growing up, Christmas is still special, but it is no longer magic. That is, until you have kids and can now pass the magic along to them- and even better YOU get to be Santa. As a dad, it is never more true than during Christmas that it is better to give than to receive. However, my favorite Christmas fatherhood moment came not when I gave, but when it became clear to me that my son, Nick, learned the joy of giving. Two Christmases ago, when he was 5, I had taken Nick to an art center a few weeks before Christmas—you know the kind, where kids can paint ceramics or make mosaics. He chose to make a small mosaic for his mother. I helped only a little, and the mosaic turned out great. Both the woman at the art center and I complimented his work quite a bit. He was very proud. As Christmas approached, Nick kept talking about what he made for mom, and became increasingly excited about giving it to her. I had to keep reminding him not to ruin the surprise. Of course, he was excited about presents, too, but he was really focused on giving the mosaic to mom. On Christmas morning, Nick wakes up, gets us out of bed and runs downstairs to the tree. There’s a tree full of presents, including some big impressive-looking boxes and a bike with a bow. But Nick hardly even noticed. He dug through the presents to find his gift for mom, and proudly gave it to her. For me, this was a precious fatherhood moment, and was even better than getting to be Santa. At such a young age, my son learned the true meaning of Christmas.
I hope all my fellow Santas out there have joyous holidays!