Dad 101 is an experiment that started in 2018 and has carried over to today. Dad 101 lessons are basically lecture style classes that I give to my kids that end with something fun. Something fun is sometimes a treat, sometimes a visit to a place of their choosing like a restaurant or the children’s museum.
You may think I’m crazy for doing this, but here is why I believe it is benefiting my children. I was divorced in 2013 and due to my career in the United States Army, I was not able to gain full custody of my children. That is another story in and of itself, but God has a plan and I do everything in my power to see my kids as often as possible in accordance with my custody agreement – But back to Dad 101.
Hey Dad! Look at that cool car!
When you are with your children 24/7, it isn’t difficult to discuss things as they come up organically. For example, “hey Dad!, look at that cool car!”. This statement would be a great segue to a conversation about the car. Where it was made, what I think of that car, etc… These conversations do not come up organically or that often because as stated earlier, my children aren’t with me everyday. My answer to that was Dad 101.
Dad 101, captures topics that my children seem to be interested in, and I use those interests to expand the topic and allow for a open discussion. For example, my children had a military appreciation day at their school, and they both brought in pictures of me from deployments. I was honored and they were excited to tell me about it. One of the things that they both mentioned was how cool it was to watch the flag go up and the ceremony surrounding it when it happened. I believe it was overseen by some firefighters and Boy Scouts.
Open discussion doesn’t always mean we stay on topic. It is an environment where anything goes! I work to keep them focused, but it is often during these discussions where I get my next Dad 101 topic – Listening more than talking.
I used this common interest to create a Dad 101 class about the American Flag. We looked at the flags history in a kid friendly way (to the best of my ability), utilizing short YouTube videos, and historical data that would be interesting to kids that they may, or may not know. Like “so how many times has the flag changed?” Where my children would reply, “The flag hasn’t changed!” This allowed for a forum for me to have a conversation with my kids about things that don’t necessarily come up organically or things that I believe is appropriate for them to understand for their age.
Since starting Dad 101, my kids call me excited asking about any new Kahoot! tests I may have made or suggesting Kahoot! tests I should make. Since my oldest is 11 and my daughter is begun making YouTube videos, this summer we’re going to be discussing online safety and instafame so they can not only understand what it means, but how it relates to them. Like the conversations we would have with our parents about not talking to strangers, I can use Dad 101 to discuss the importance of online safety, and extend that to what people are doing online and some of the reasons why.
This venue allows for important conversation, a safe learning environment where my kids are not only encouraged to ask questions, but encourage me to ask them questions about what they know about the topic – This non confrontational space has made it possible for me as a dual parent to maximize the time with my kids. To simultaneously have a fun Summer vacation trip, and serious conversations about the difference between mutual funds and owning individual stock.
If you want more information about the Dad 101 Lessons feel free to reach out, as all of them are on my Google Drive, and the Kahoot! tests are public, but it would help if you had the name.
Leaders Check 