Currently they urgently need sponsors. They write:

The Summer of 2010 is almost over, but The Fresh Air Fund still needs loving host families. We are looking for families in the following areas to host THIS summer Red Hook, Columbia County, Saugerties, Delmar, Guilderland & Altamont, Latham and Rensselaer, NY.  If you or someone you know is able to host, please sign up now.

In 2009, The Fresh Air Fund’s Volunteer Host Family program, called Friendly Town, gave close to 5,000 New York City boys and girls, ages six to 18, free summer experiences in the country and the suburbs. Volunteer host families shared their friendship and homes up to two weeks or more in 13 Northeastern states from Virginia to Maine and Canada.

For more, or to help, visit: http://weneedfreshairfundhosts.com/

I suspect when we were kids, many of our own Dads left us to our own devices in holiday times (or sent us to camp). So we may not have a lot of role modelling to refer back to, as in how did my dad stop us from being bored?. We came up with our own ideas for fun…

And there-in lies a strength of the Gen X and Boomer father: we are inventive. I think – before I get into specific suggestions – that the way we draw our kids into a delightful activity that doesn’t cost money or involve a games console is this: it HAS to be engaging, and WE have to sell it! By that I mean, we have to be enthusiastic and silly and joyful and we might have a shot at drawing them in.

Okay. Ideas. I’ve tried occasionally to tweak a well-known game. The stupidity of my new premise will often be enough to engage my boys.

Exhibit A: Pumpkin Rugby. (Or football for you Americans – it’s a similar enough game). The title IS the game. You play rugby. With a pumpkin.

Exhibit B: Zombie Tag. Look up the old post. It’s not hard to get your head around the rules of this game.

Exhibit C: Silly Scrabble. This is one I invented on the spot three days ago and played with a 10 and 14 year old. You might have tried something similar before. Basically, all words are allowed especially invented ones. The only rules are the word must coply with normal English spelling rules (as in moggrinder rather than mggrinder) AND you must have a definition for your word.

Then there are always the old favorites:

• Pooh Sticks (for the Winnie the Pooh fans),
• kicking or throwing the footy or soccer ball,
• having your own round robin or World Cup of various games complete with trophy,
• taking the coloring books to the cafe so you can get your hit and they can see a different place than home,
• backyard picnics,
• skimming stones,
• card games: gin rummy, snap, canasta…
• prank phone calls – hey, why not?

And finally, consider this thought from cyh.com:

Sometimes saying “I’m bored” is another way of saying “I want you to play with me”…

Any ideas to share with us Dads?

***

Related posts:

• Breaking Routine
• Fear of Fun? Or Fear of Failure?
• Get Ready to Rumble!
• Games for Car Trips
• Mm. Chocolate.
• What I Learned from Vacations
• A few Dad Jokes that your Kids May (or may not) Like

“My wife/partner tells me off for wrestling with the kids. She says I’m teaching them to be violent…”

“My wife/partner won’t let me wrestle with the kids…”

“My wife/partner makes me feel guilty for wrestling with the kids, so I try not to do it anymore…”

And then each time the fella finishes his comment much the same way:

“…but I feel like it’s ok. So is it?”

My answer:

“Yes. It is.”

I could finish this there. But. Every answer has to be qualified. And then when you’re writing (or speaking), you feel like adding more of your opinion as well. So here it is…

It’s a very very healthy thing for a Dad to play-wrestle with his kids. (Notice I added play there?) We’re not talking about molestation. We’re not talking about Dads beating up on their children or pushing them around. We’re talking about play.

Kids NEED to be physically touched by both parents. And at various ages and for various reasons, it becomes uncool to kiss or cuddle with daddy. So then what’s a dad to do? And what’s a kid to do? Shake hands? Nahhhh, you grab each other around the shoulder and start rumbling.

One of the other things this achieves, particularly with boys, is that it’s a way of teaching them boundaries, of when they’ve crossed the line and getting too rough. For boys to pit their strength against a bigger stronger male is a valuable way of learning to empathize and control-self.

Alright. So you’re saying (or your missus is reading this and saying) “Who are you Pete? What do you know about it? Why should I believe you? What makes you the expert?”

Okay, if you don’t trust me, go read these articles below. Then google dads wrestling with children. Or you could meet my sons and see the real life effects of a decade of Dads and Sons play-wrestling. Yes, I’ve gotten a couple of fat lips and a fair few bruises (and they’ve gotten virtually none!), but my 13 year old still gives me a hug. They’re both empathetic human beings (except with each other!). And they both play rough games with their mates without it ever escalating… Anyway, go read these other articles.

And feel free to share your stories and objections and here-heres in the comments area.

• http://www.pacthawaii.org/images/hcdimages/HelpingDADSgetmoreinvolved.pdf (look at #3)
• http://www.dadmag.com/archive/060100mrsdad.php
• http://innerself.com/html/parenting/general/creating-a-happy-home.html (look at #20)

Slightly Related Posts:

• Covering All Bases parenting program
• Dads Influence Their Daughters’ Interest In Math
• Fear of Fun? Or Fear of Failure?
• Lord of the Love Languages

Some info below. Please have a good look and consider some way you can help. Watch this video. Great story. Easy to skim over things like this in a world of need, but doing something about this could change someone’s else’s life … if not yours too.

Pete out.

***

Posts from the Past for New Readers of FoF!:

• Even Dads Need to Defrag
• A Happier Home-life?
• Lord of the Love Languages
• Teacher v. Parent?
• Wednesday’s What’s Worse
• Lightsaber Safety Announcement

WHAT WERE / ARE THE CHILDREN’S BOOKS MOST POPULAR AT YOUR HOUSE? 

My answer was:

1. Younger years: Mr Men and Dr Seuss
2. 7-10 y.o.: Roald Dahl and Winnie the Pooh (actually, I was the only one who enjoyed Pooh Bear, so let me change that to Narnia)
3. Pre-adolescent: Captain Underpants series, Diary of a Wimpy Kid series, and anything by Andy Griffiths 

And I’d happily read Captain Underpants any day.

How about you? What say you?

**

Slightly related posts:

• Boys and Reading
• Wednesday’s What’s Worse?
• Wednesday’s What’s Worse IX

Most important lesson I learned from this trip was not to pack too much in.

Second most important, boys eating lots of junk food and being cooped up together in a car and motel rooms = lots of farts – live with it.

Third most important was, if you’ve travelling to another city, get a real map. a handful of google map print-offs won’t do. Canberra is the most bizarrely laid out city on earth. You literally drive in circles, under one cross streett and over the next until you are heading in the opposite direction you think you are. In fact, oldest son came up with the best advice: “Dad, just drive opposite to what you think.” It worked…

Anyhoo. It was definitely worthwhile, and I’m so glad I took the time out to do it, and grateful to the wife for helping me plan accomodation etc. Left to me, we’d be doing the Mary and Joseph thing, roaming around a town after dark looking for an inn…

Without boring you with anecdotes and too many slides, here’s some photos…

Youngest Son (pretty much the only Aldin willing to be photographed). Here you see said youngster posing by a vehicle of destruction at our War Museum in Canberra, probably dreaming about hotwiring it…

This is one of the amazing sets of models at the Museum depicting famous scenes from the Great War. Absolutely breathtaking.

Constable Pete putting his son in the tree-trunk jail for farting  in the car. 

In 2010, we are putting on the most outrageously good-time retreats for Dads and their 11-13 year old sons where we can share some tried and tested strategies for building the kind of bond our sons need from us Dads while actually DOING THE BONDING! And everyone will be having so much fun they won’t even realise it’s happening.

See our Events page  here for more.

Tell me if you have corporate contacts who can help us take  this to the highest level and quality possible. I truly believe 2010 will see dozens of families with restored relationships, with an unshakeable bond between father and son, and with preventative meaures in place to save young people from the slippery slope of substance abuse and violence that’s plauging their generation.

Here’s a few happy snaps and some thoughts to follow. Will also bore you with shots from wifey’s cell phone once I get it hooked up to the PC…

Youngest Son riding the waves…

Youngest Son with the one that got away…

The view from out of our apartment living room window.

Ten  Point Summary of holiday:

1. 13 year old males need to either take a friend up with them or be taken out and entertained every second of every day or else their testosterone levels take the fun out of the holiday for everyone else. (Lesson learned for next time)
2. 13 year old males can also be trusted to take their brother for the afternoon around the theme park so Mum and Dad can play on the slides. (That was a GOOD day).
3. Movieworld sucks mainly because they won’t let you take food into the park and you have to pay ridiculous prices for their food.
4. Dreamworld suprised me by having the most (and best) to do of any of the 5 main theme parks up there.
5. My bad back survived the Superman ride, the Tower of Terror (twice), the Motorcoaster and LOTS of waterslides.
6. Ten year old boys are fun to take on holidays because everything’s exciting and fun.
7. On the Gold Coast you get burnt in the morning and tanned in the afternoon. Wierd.
8. Very little customer service exists on the Gold Coast. Don’t expect it and you won’t get annoyed.
9. Fold up magnetic games are a lifesaver on plane trips with kids.
10. Highlight last time was firing 50 rounds with a Glock. This time it was simply sitting on the patio reading a novel and staring at the surf. Must be getting old…

September 19th be Talk Like a Pirate Day. And I be the kind of scurvy dog that drags his kids into the fun!

My boys and I will be swordfighting with rolled up towels and addressing shop assistants as “Me Hearty”.

How will you celebrate it?

Bonding by chocolate. Is there anything finer for father and son to bond over than an obscenely rich chocolate dessert using 3 kinds of chocolate?

And yes, the bigger of the two boys had a very messy face  and hands afterwards.