Dad's Workbench: A Dad Blog

1 month down, 1 month to go.

It has been a month since I broke my leg and I have one more month with my cast on. The worst part of it all is that it is so hard to do anything or go anywhere.

Before I just wanted to sit around the house on my days off. After a full week of work it was nice to just sit and not go anywhere. And now that I am almost glued to my couch I now want to get out. My plan is to go for a hike somewhere and take about 100 photos once the cast is off. Any photo from a view point other than my couch would be nice.

I have to say the one thing I miss most is being able to chase after my daughter and play with her. Chasing her with the crutches is not exactly fun to her.

From the couch, however, I did manage to get a good shot of my daughter. She loves crayons. She doesn’t color with them. She just takes them out then puts them back in…. or walks around with them…. or dumps them out then puts them back in again. She is obsessed with picking things up and putting them a way. I hope it stays that way.

I love my daughter and even a little thing like breaking your leg makes you much more thankful for the fact that it is only a temporary discomfort. There are people I know who will never walk yet have learned to enjoy life.

I want to be more thank for everything. I want my daughter to see  an example of an attitude of thankfulness, excitement  and just enjoying life no matter what circumstances may come. Life is more that these little things that appear to set us back or slow us down. I want to be the cheerful bright red crayon.

Follow The Leader

The Path

Summer is going so fast. It has been a great one. One that I won’t forget.

My daughter has gone from crawling and riding in the stroller to walking with us. Probably one of the must fun things to watch is how she is learning to play.

She is no longer just batting and grabing at things but it is talking, dancing and figuring out how things work. Riding and watching is no longer good enough. She wants to walk with us. She grabs our hands and puts them on toys to say play with it.

It reminds me of something I heard about leadership. Real leadership reproduces leadership and not just followers. The relationship starts at being a leader with followers but becomes a leader walking with leaders along the journey.

The followers (under successful leadership) become leaders and rather than just following the leader that walk with the leader.

Our little girl has stumbled and fallen many times. She has watched us and even other children walk. Now she herself can walk.

I hope we as parents can just as successfully teach her everything else she needs to know!

Baby Steps

Baby Steps

My Daughter as just begun taking her first steps. After cheering her on, she gets so excited that she keeps trying to walk. It is amazing how just a little cheer and hand clap can help her accomplish so much.

It makes me that about how we see and treat others. It is easy to get upset or frustrated when people miss up on the little things, when we think they should know better. It is easy to say things in a negative tone or action. How much more would people be able to do if we encouraged them in even the small things?

There is a lot of potential in people that we often miss. We have the power to enable each other to do things far beyond what we could imagine. Our wife, children co-workers and even bosses could do a whole lot more if we looked at things more positively and encourage one another.