Every day I discover more and more beautiful things. It’s enough to drive one mad. I have such a desire to do everything, my head is bursting with it.
- Claude Monet
Dad Suggests was created to share with others the many different things that we have loved sharing with our own children.
Our hope is that - by reading or visiting our children’s bookstore - you will find something special to enjoy with your own family.
- Ryan
All in Dad Thoughts
Immersion is one of the best ways to learn a foreign language. If the best advice for building your child’s vocabulary and setting them up for success is reading to them, why would it be any different with another language? Start exposing your kids to foreign languages through picture books.
Dad jokes are the antidote we all need to protect us from the dangers of being too cool for school. After years and years of being exposed to the embarrassment of dad humor, our kids will fear nothing. The best gift we can give them is a role model who is unafraid to be himself. Bring on the groans!
Gone are the days where kids will see other kids and adults reading for fun all around them. Nowadays it honestly feels like even well-meaning, book-loving dads like me need to be even more intentional about reading in front of our kids than we ever thought.
The important thing to remember is that kids with good parents will almost always thrive despite a school’s obsession with standards, but it still begs the question - is it necessary? Let me tell you the #1 reason we decided to homeschool our first grader.
A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood is a collection of 75 songs from Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood. The songs are presented as a volume of poetry, and they’re beautifully illustrated and brought to life by Luke Flowers. And it’s basically the only parenting manual you will ever need.
Following your passions is vitally important. Khalida and the Most Beautiful Song is a picture book that teaches kids the importance of following your dreams and listening to your heart. It also comes with the added bonus of championing creativity and the arts in a world that tries to diminish their importance.
Can you make it through this list without shedding a tear? I think it’s important to cry every now and then. And I think it’s actually a good thing for kids to see Dad shed a few tears as well. So buckle up and brace yourself for the tearjerkers to come.
Even if science somehow definitively proves that screen time actually makes us measurably dumber, even more important than that is what we could have been doing with our time instead. There’s nothing more important than the time we spend with our family, after all.
There’s a very good chance you’ve said this line to your own kids at one time or another: “You need to apologize right this instant!” Apologizing, after all, is important in our relationships. But did you know that not everybody believes forced apologies are good for kids? And if forced apologies aren’t effective, how are we supposed to pass on the empathy we want to teach?
These are the benefits of teaching chess to kids. Chess is very good for a child’s brain. Playing chess strengthens their executive functions (cognitive control) at a time in their development when they need it the most, and when it can make the biggest impact on the rest of their lives.
Get kids to actually want to brush their teeth. Believe it or not, sometimes our kids don’t do what we’d like them to do. Occasionally, brushing teeth is one of those things we’d prefer that they did. This is how we change their mind.
Children should be allowed to believe in Santa. The magic of childhood should be sacred. But some people seem to be of the belief that believing in Santa Claus is harmful to children, and that you should tell them he doesn’t exist.
This is a positive way to calm down an angry child. What do you do when your child is so upset that their anger leads to bad decisions - like saying hurtful things or even hitting? Check out our special trick for calming down our kids in a fun way.
These are the best jokes for kids. Jokes are actually really good for us - both emotionally and mentally. And they’re particularly good for the growing brains of our kids.
Should you let your kids win in a game of skill? Is it better parenting to do your best when playing against your children, or to go easy on them? Have you ever had a despondent child state that they don’t want to play a game anymore because they never win? What should a parent do?
These are the best riddles for kids. Riddles and jokes are naturally appealing to kids. They're like little puzzles for their imagination that can boost their confidence and allow them to explore being silly with language for the first time.
Is it bad parenting to let your kids play with smartphones during dinner? Is it okay to occupy them with screens in public when they are bored and potentially disruptive? It’s certainly common practice these days, but are there drawbacks?
