http://www.freakedoutfathers.com Fri, 12 Mar 2010 06:17:34 +0000 http://backend.userland.com/rss092 en Been a busy year. Bet you know the feeling? Amongst the busyness I've been: Trying my hand at short story writing, with 3 'rejections' from magazines to my credit and one 'maybe, we'll have our editor take a look at it' Negotiating, negotiating, negotiating - with community groups and business to find the right ... http://www.freakedoutfathers.com/2010/comings-and-goings/ My son Jack and I (official team photo here) are joining the Melbourne City Romp, part of the fight to save lives and we need your support! Help us raise $1000 to go directly to the Burnet Institute's research team. Up to 20,000 Rompers from across Australia are expected to ... http://www.freakedoutfathers.com/2010/were-romping-and-we-need-your-help/ The first section of a report in one of  this morning's  newspapers (Melbourne, Aust) reads as follows: A DECLINE in the number of male teachers is being blamed for rising youth violence. Just 28 per cent of state schoolteachers are men, down from 32 per cent 10 years ago. Youth crime has ... http://www.freakedoutfathers.com/2010/declining-role-models-rising-teenage-violence-totally/ Once again, folks, I'd love to endorse the wonderful work the Fresh Air Fund folks do with urban kids.  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, ... http://www.freakedoutfathers.com/2010/fresh-air-for-great-kids/ http://www.freakedoutfathers.com/2010/spinal-tap-and-lil-sandwiches/ As hard as I try to be cool calm and collected, there are moments where the kids just seem hellbent on pushing the anger button - that big red button that sets my blood to boil, that big red button that says "DO NOT PRESS" written on it in a font ... http://www.freakedoutfathers.com/2010/the-big-red-button/ Recently Carole Dissendorp asked a bunch of facebook friends a question that I will shamelessly regift here. WHAT WERE / ARE THE CHILDREN'S BOOKS MOST POPULAR AT YOUR HOUSE?  My answer was: Younger years: Mr Men and Dr Seuss 7-10 y.o.: Roald Dahl and Winnie the Pooh (actually, I was the only one who enjoyed Pooh Bear, ... http://www.freakedoutfathers.com/2010/wednesdays-whats-what/ All you Melbournites saw Sunday's horrendous crash that took 5 young lives and shattered dozens of other lives, right? The police urge parents to step in and find out where their children were going and how they were getting there. I gotta tell ya, at 16, 17, 18, 19 - if you don't have ... http://www.freakedoutfathers.com/2010/enough-is-enough/ This post was originally published here on FoF at the end of March 2009. It's one of the many that was lost during the Malicious Code Attack of August 09, but thanks to my great friend Leah Maclean, we've found it and am republishing it here. Almost a year down ... http://www.freakedoutfathers.com/2010/rites-of-passage/ Sigh. Well, I'm freshly back from 5-day road trip with my two boys. (My long-suffering wife kept working, enduring lonely nights at home with nothing to keep her happy but having the TV, the bed, the popcorn all to herself. Poor thing.) Most important lesson I learned from this trip was not to ... http://www.freakedoutfathers.com/2010/vacation-vacation-vacation/