My “Disney/Death and being a Dad” Dilemma

Disclaimer: Joe V. is one of our regular readers and supporters of the site. Joe reached out to us with an idea he had about Death and Disney and wanted to share it with us and we are sharing it with you. We think the timing of this post is great with Pixar's Onward coming out this weekend.

Have any conversation about Disney movies and it won’t take too long for someone to bring up a comment along the line of “Disney must be obsessed with death”, “- - - - was a great movie, but why did so and so have to die”, or “Walt Disney must have had a horrible childhood”.  Okay, obsession may go a little too far and It's not my job or place to psychoanalyze Walt. Come to think of it there was a movie a few years back that sort of did that.  Instead, I’m here to speak about my own experiences with Disney movies and how I have struggled with them as I became a father.

How do you define aging? #DadsDisruptAging

Disclaimer: The following post is sponsored by Disrupt Aging from AARP. All thoughts, opinions and body pains are my own. 

Have you ever thought about why you do the things you do? For me, it's trying to be athletic and show my children how athletic I am, but that has not always been the story. I was never much of an athlete when I was younger. I ran around with my friends playing games like freeze tag, and hide-n-seek, but never anything too strenuous. When I went to high school, I joined a few teams, but not being physically fit, my high school athletic career did not advance at all. After graduation, I started thinking that I passed my prime. I passed my time to be fit and to be athletic, but all that changed when I had my daughter.

One door closes, another one will open, eventually

So here it is again. That feeling of disappointment. That feeling that I let others down. I get this feeling every now and then, but today it just hit me at the worst time.

Today I was running late for work due to shoveling the March snow in the morning. Yeah. You read that right. Snow in March. Well, anyways I woke up early to shovel the snow and then I had to drive my children to my in-laws house and drop off the car and head to work.

The snow ensured that everyone would drive like they have never seen the powdery stuff before. The normal five minute ride almost tripled and I'm including the return trip home.

When I got to work I had a message from the recruiting department if I had a minute to talk.

Here's a thing about me; even though I post a lot of things for the Fandads social media pages, I try to keep some personal life moments to myself. There have been plenty of times when I would mention something to someone or post something online and it falls apart.

A few examples. I used to work for a marketing and promotion company once and sometimes I would be in charge of setting the itineraries up for artists that were coming to town. I would call the stores, set up times and pass it to my manager for approval. I would usually get "since you made the itinerary, you can ride along with artist "so-and-so" for the in-stores." I would let me friends know and then, either the artist cancels or something else comes up that I can't go.

There have been many other instances like that, but I don't want to bore you with my bad luck stories.

Ok, so what's the point in all of this and why was someone from recruiting messaging me? Well, since the week I returned from Dad 2.0 I had a few interviews with another department at the company I'm currently working for. This new position would be permanent and will help me in achieving my goal of providing for my family.

Well after a few weeks and constant prodding by co-workers I found out today that I did not get the position. I made a point of not saying anything to anyone in fear that I might jinx it. My wife obviously knew and just told me to let her know when I hear something. She knows I don't like talking about things like this until it's official.

Being told I wasn't getting the position stung. I had, what I thought were two pretty stellar interviews. We were laughing and intrigued  in what we were saying to each other, so I thought my shot was good. I knew not to get cocky though and just decided to wait and see what will happen.

So after all of this build up and receiving the news today I feel like I let my family down. I feel like this could have been the beginning of something bigger, but now it won't be.

Am I sad about this? Yes. Yes I am, but I know when one door closes another one will open. I'll let myself feel disappointed about this for awhile, but as soon as my train reaches my stop and I step out the door to walk home, those feeling of sadness will stay on the train and keep going. I'm not going to stop and will keep moving forward.

What Legacy of Loving Will I Leave for My Sons?

I have been to a couple of weddings in the past few months.  As one who has been married and divorced twice, I have felt myself wince each time when the couples have pledged to be together for life.

The wince registers on many levels I’m sure.  In part it registers an abiding sense of failure on my part, particularly with my second marriage.  I have two sons, now ages ten and twelve, from that marriage, and I share custody with their mother.  As I watch the boys go back and forth, with their own adaptive grace and resilience, I still think this is not the life I wanted for them and experience a sense of failure in not giving them the family life which I had hoped for them and which I worry, and sense, that they miss.

Enjoy a Local Museum for Free thanks to Frito-Lay

Just because the school year is coming to a close, it does not mean that the learning ends. Thanks to our friends at Frito-Lay and the Association of Science-Technology Centers (ASTC), children can get a free pass to any participating ASTC center throughout the United States until June 5th.

So how can your child get one of these passes? Pick up a Frito-Lay 2 Go package and look for the packaging that features a robot, an astronaut, or a dinosaur. These packages will give you the information on how to get the passes emailed to you.  Simply and easy. Isn't technology awesome?

The Tradition continues this December! #StarWarsMemories

I first saw Star Wars when I was five years old. Episode V was re-released in the theaters in anticipation for the next movie in the saga. I remember being mesmerized by the spaceships, the aliens and most importantly the lightsabers. At that moment Star Wars became an important part of my life, but it also started a family tradition.

What do you WANT???

Parents, we have all experienced this scenario: your child walks up to you, starts mumbling something, keeps going on and on about nothing then points to a candy bar or a fruit snack or an ice cream bar, etc, etc, and then it hits you: they're asking for something, but not being straight forward about it.

Every now and then when my little girl wants something she'll walk up to my wife or to myself and say "I wish I could have a (insert snack or toy here), I really wish I could have one" To which we both replay, "If you want something, just ask for it!" It might sound mean to say that, but she has to learn how to ask for what she wants.

This got me thinking about ways some kids don't ask for something straight out.  I started to wonder how creative other kids were so I posed this question to my fellow dad bloggers: "Do you kids beat around the bush to ask for something instead of just asking for it and how do they go about doing it?" and some of the answers I got were pretty hilarious.

We've Only Just Begun!

Hello friends, Fandad Victor here and we just wanted to thank everyone that has been supporting us on the website for the past three years.  As you can see, we have been a little behind with posts, but we are hoping to alleviate that situation within the next few weeks. To try to keep us on task, we have hired a new assistant.  So far she's been a great help answering phones, taking messages and it doesn't hurt that she has her own laptop.

Tears of a Clown

Today while going through names with my wife about what to name our mystery kid, (we are waiting for the delivery date to find out the sex) I started crying.  Now this wasn't a "I stubbed my toe and I think I broke it" cry, this was more of a "I am having a second kid and it's finally hitting me" cry.  Earlier this month I wrote about how I was freaking out about having another child, but tonight something hit me. Something that made me so happy and sad at the same time.

Push it to the Limit!

I hope that title has gotten the song "Push it to the Limit" by  Paul Engemann in your head right about now.  If you don't remember that song, think of the montage scene in Scarface with all the money laundering, the wedding and the tiger.  Ok, do you have the song in your head now? Good, let's go!

My Little Girl's New Word...Thanks, Jake!

Lately, my little girl's new favorite show is Jake and the Never Land Pirates on Disney Jr.  This is a cute show revolving around Jake and his friends: Cubby, Izzy, Skully the parrot and their adventures with Captain Hook and his band of bumbling pirates.  Like most kids shows nowadays, this show teaches counting, teamwork, problem-solving skills and catchy songs, but one thing it taught my little girl is a word that has become a bit of a nuisance.  

Happy Thanksgiving from Us!

Happy Thanksgiving from the Fandads.  We are very thankful for the exciting past few months.  We saw our first sponsored giveaway from Rockabye Baby and from the Chicago Toy & Game Fair.  We also want to say thanks to all our friends and family that have supported the site.  We have a couple of interesting stories coming soon, including my mini adventure with the Chevy Sonic I was given for three days through Klout.  Thank you all very much and enjoy your Thanksgiving with your families today.

Your Friends,
Gil & Vic
The Fandads

Five Favorite Things & A Giveaway UPDATED

Last month we did a post about the Dad Blogs we like and we promised we would do more posts in the future highlighting some of the things we like.  This month we decided to go with a mixture of things from video games to movies and even CD's that are great to have around when you're winding down with the little one.  Read on and let us know what you think of this month's picks and check out the giveaway we are doing with Rockabye to win one of their great CD's.

The Gimmies

Recently my little girl has gotten a case of the "gimmies".  Now it hasn't gotten to the point where she throws herself on the ground and has tantrums like Brother & Sister bear in the picture above, but it has become an issue that we are trying to curb before it gets worse.  Whenever she says, "gimmie that!" I respond to her "No, that's not how you ask for things.  You say, "Can I have that please"" and then she will repeat what I just said.  This process goes on a few times a day, so slowly I hope she is internalizing it to the point where she won't say it anymore. 

Are you children starting any habits that you feel might be an issue as they get older? Let us know what you are experiencing and how you are going about in correcting the issue.

Thanks for reading.

Training the Fandad way!

As many of you know by now, I am participating in the Warrior Dash on June 19th.  Now while I am not in peak physical shape, I am in decent shape and have decided to start working out so I won't embarrass myself doing the dash.  I thought of a few ways to get in shape and I decided to share them with you, our loyal readers.  Remember, I am not a professional trainer, I'm just a fandad.

The Accident

In video games when a character gets hurt they lose a bit a stamina or a bar of health.  The same could be said about comic book characters, they are usually well by the next page or last panel.  Unfortunately, this is not the case in real life, when someone gets hurt or has an accident there are bruises, crying and a lot of screaming.

Thoughts of an Evolving Fandad.

"I ain't no perfect man, I'm trying to do the best that I can, with what it is I have." Mos Def

It's a new year. It's that time where everyone makes resolutions, promises or lists of the things that they want to accomplish in the new year.  That time of year where everyone wants to start fresh and feel like they're actually doing something positive in their lives.  That time of year where we all want a new beginning.

Video Game Time 6/8 Edition Fitness Time

I'm going to do something a little different with this weeks Video Game Time, I'm going to focus on fitness.  Now I am not a fitness expert, but being a parent you do need to be in decent shape to be chasing your toddler around.  Sitting around all day playing video games kind of takes a toll on your health, so you need to be a little more active to be prepared for parenthood. So today's edition is going to focus on exercise games and real life achievements/trophies.