Author Archives: Kevin Delp

Dads in the News–Barry Bonds

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Barry Bonds is on the brink of tying and then surpassing the greatest record in all of sports: the all time home run record. This should have been a feat uniformly celebrated and revered, but instead it is ensnared in controversy. While he tries to make baseball history, Barry Bonds is currently being investigated in relation to testimony about his alleged use of steroids. The controversy has cast a long, deep shadow over what would otherwise be happily remembered by generations of baseball fans. Some fans continue to stand and cheer as Bonds approaches the record. Other fans boo Bonds … Continue reading →

It Hardly Seems Fair

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My wife works very hard. We have five children all under the age of 8, and we have chosen to homeschool them. (We can’t afford private school, and the public schools in our neighborhood are on the scary side of abysmal.)She is on call from before sun-up to late at night, because our children are a hearty mixture of early risers and night owls. During the course of a day she is a wet nurse, chef, diplomat, teacher, chauffer, maid servant, coach, and personal assistant; and this is all before the kids’ mid-morning snack. She works very hard all day, … Continue reading →

Bonding With Your Girl–Paper Dolls

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My oldest daughter is eight years old. One of her favorite hobbies is making paper dolls. She has been doing it for a couple of years now, and as she has grown, she has gotten more and more skilled at it. Now there are several “levels” to the involvement that I can have with this particular activity. It can range from her showing me her work that she has completed already, to watching her design and cut out and make a single outfit, to creating an entire line of clothes for a season with her. (This last one is the … Continue reading →

The Best Movie Ever

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My wife and I certainly have our hands full. Between our jobs and raising five state of the art sleep interference devices, we find that we have very little time just for ourselves. As I’m sure you very well know, parenting is a 24/7 gig. Anyway, last night we had finally gotten the kids off to bed, and were enjoying a rare, quiet, adult conversation in the living room. An actual real live conversation were there were no paper dolls, Transformers, My Little Pony, or Little Einsteins mentioned at all. Suddenly, our conversation was interrupted by sleep interference device #2, … Continue reading →

Bonding With Your Son–Ode to Popsicle Sticks

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Is there any better way to bond with your son than building stuff? The answer is yes. Breaking stuff! My wife recently bought a very large box of Popsicle sticks to do crafts with my daughter’s club. After the club was over, there were several hundred of them left. My son has recently begun showing an interest in construction, bridges, and skyscrapers. We thought it would be fun to build something together, and he decided that he wanted to build a skyscraper. We had a great time doing it. The first night we just got out paper and pencil and … Continue reading →

Chuckin’ the Kids

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My wife and I needed a new chair for the living room about a year ago. In a moment that can only be described as temporary insanity, my wife agreed to my suggestion that we buy an enormous bean bag. Now when I say enormous, I mean ENORMOUS. I’m talking leave-a-trail-of-bread-crumbs-to- find-your-way-back enormous. The east side of the bean bag is on Eastern Time, and the western side is on Central. All my kids can plop on it for a DVD with room to spare, and I have a LOT of kids. The only downfall to owning this behemoth is … Continue reading →

Why Daddy? All About Scorpions

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My family took a trip to the zoo this week, and my son was really excited that we got the chance to see a scorpion. The scorpion was in a glass tank, filled with sand, rocks, logs and other things from its natural environment. Immediately underneath the scorpion’s tank was a glowing red square, which you were obviously meant to push. My six year old son looked into the scorpion’s tank as he pushed the button, wondering what was going to happen. When he pushed the button, the light in the scorpion’s tank went out and was replaced by a … Continue reading →

Family Time at the Zoo

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What could be more fun for a family with young children than a trip to the zoo? My family is lucky that we live only a few miles from the Bronx Zoo. It makes it very convenient to visit the zoo for a couple of hours or an afternoon. In fact, my wife and I decided to become members of the zoo so that we wouldn’t feel obligated to make an all day excursion out of a trip to the zoo. One thing that I would suggest is that you only consider going to the zoo when your children are … Continue reading →

A Most Unusual Puppet

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I was walking down the hallway past the bathroom when I heard a strange voice. It was a child’s voice that was trying its best to be kind of low and gravelly, and I paused outside the door for a moment to listen. After a minute, I heard the same voice answering. (This time without trying to sound low and gravelly) It was my four year old daughter. I couldn’t understand the words through the door, but I could hear the tone and pace of what was being said. It was clear to me that my daughter’s gravelly voice was … Continue reading →

Bonding With Your Girls

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As everyone knows, every child is different. I have twin girls, and although they have been raised in the same house, under the same circumstances they have ended up with very different personalities. It would be impossible for anyone to come up with one foolproof way for all dads to bond with all daughters. The purpose of this blog is to give a few simple, practical ideas to help you grow closer to your girl. Many girls are content to bond through simple conversation. My own daughters would be happy to just sit and talk, tell stories, sing songs, and … Continue reading →