Jay Leno Pays Tribute to Steve Irwin

I’m still really sad about the death of the Crocodile Hunter.

Here’s a really neat tribute Jay Leno did to his friend.

Crocodile Hunter Killed by Sting-Ray

At first I hoped this was some sort of bad joke, but it appears that Steve Irwin, the Crocodile Hunter, has been killed by a sting-ray while filming an underwater documentary in Queensland.

I watched a lot of Crocodile Hunter with my kids, and have always appreciated the way he made learning about animals so fun.

This a real bummer.

Tags: crocodile hunter, steve irwin

Kids & Music: Are the Allman Brothers the New Vic Damone?

vicdamone Mike Miller at Be a Good Dad has a post today about kids and music. Specifically transitioning kids from kids music to non-kid music. He talks about a new CD that, he says, has Metallica songs done in a more kid friendly manner. I’m not a Metallica fan, but I have tried, and mostly failed, to introduce my kids to the music I enjoy.

When I was a kid, I thought most of the music my parents listened to was horrible. I remember records by Johnny Mathis, Vic Damone, Perry Como, etc. I still think that stuff is horrible, so it wasn’t purely a parent/child issue. So how do you expose your kids to your music in a way that minimizes the chance they will write all of it off as music for old fogies? In other words, how to you keep the Allman Brothers from becoming your kids’ Vic Damone?

I’ve tried a few approaches. Initially, I would occasionally call one or more of my kids into my study and play selected songs for them- Grateful Dead, Beatles, Muddy Waters, etc. Other than briefly making my oldest a James Brown fan, this plan didn’t work. They viewed it as a chore and couldn’t wait to be freed to resume playing, etc.

Then I bought them some “transitional records,” like any of the excellent records by former Del Fuegos frontman Dan Zanes. Dan calls his records “family music,” and that’s a great description. Other great transitional records include Jerry Garcia and David Grisman’s Not For Kids Only and Jonathan Edwards’ Little Hands. (Warning: if you have daughters, you better have a crying towel or two ready the first time you listen to the title track on Little Hands).

While I got some good new music out of the deal, that plan didn’t really work either, as my kids are much more interested in the Cheetah Girls, Hannah Montana, High School Musical and the other music they hear on the Disney Channel, etc. In other words, they are interested in music being made by kids- not so much music made by grownups for kids.

All of which led me to my current approach. Other than pointing out the occasional guitar riff or piano solo, I don’t try to teach them about my music. I just play it and hope they’ll come to appreciate it via osmosis.

Only time will tell if it works, but it’s the only chance I have to save the Allman Brothers.

Lawsuits Gone Wild: Meow Edition

First, a couple of kids litigate the case of the missing iPod. This case might be too small for Nancy Drew, yet somehow it is an appropriate use of judicial resources.

Even better, a court in Pennsylvania will soon determine whether cat talk is protected speech. I asked a random sampling of cats how they felt about this attempt to stiffle their expression. They all had the same answer.

And while I’m thinking about it, if the fact that “every time he sees me, he meows” is a problem, shouldn’t we also outlaw “hello” and “howdy”?

Mobile Phone and Kids

Brad Kellett has a post about that inevitable combination of kids and phones. He asks “when is too early,” and then goes through a thoughtful analysis of kids and phones.

He cites an article on C|Net that says that the average age at which kids get mobile phones is currently 8 years old- and that the average age is expected to drop to 5 years old next year. The only thing that dropped so far is my jaw when I read that.

I have three kids. One is 8, one is 5 and one is a baby. While the oldest is a dedicated landline phone user, she does not have a mobile phone and she has not asked for one. To my knowledge, none of my kids’ friends have mobile phones. And to my knowledge (every parent knows after a while never to make absolute statements) none of my kids will be getting a mobile phone any time soon.

In fact, I can only think of one phone carrying classmate my kids have ever had. When my oldest was around 4 or 5, one of her classmates started carrying around a cell phone. I and the other parents I talked to about it thought it was ludicrous. In my opinion 5 or 8 or even 10 is way too early.

Brad concludes that mobile phones are appropriate somewhere between the 5th and 7th grade. Another of my blogosphere pals, James Kendrick says his kids got phones in the 7th or 8th grade. That sounds about right to me.

My concerns about phones are partially the distraction resulting from the instant ability to call anyone you want, and even more so from the danger resulting from the instant ability for anyone to call you. Add text messaging and photo taking to the equation and it gets really scary.

On the other hand, there are certainly benefits to connectivity. My oldest has taken to calling me before bed when she spends the night with a friend. I look forward to talking with her, and it’s comforting to hear from her without having to risk her wrath by calling her at her friend’s house. I am certain that when my kids are older, the “one rule” in our home (never, ever lie to your daddy) will be supplemented by the “other one rule” (answer your mobile phone within 3 rings or prepare to be grounded for a very long time).

Also, I am intrigued by the GPS possibilities. It is my fervent hope that by the time my kids are out and about without daddy close by, GPS will have evolved to a point where I will always be able to track their travels via GPS and my computer. Redundancy via phone and car would be nice. It’s an open question whether they will know about that redundancy. Technology to enable “other one rule” compliance might also be useful to confirm compliance with the “one rule.”

I suppose I could be convinced that one of the specially made phones for kids might be appropriate at an earlier age. As long as I can control who they can call and who can call them, the benefits of connectivity become more evident.

Brad wondered about one thing I can answer for sure. When you have kids, you feel differently about most stuff- including phones.

But the answers are still not as clear as we’d like.

Tags: mobile phones, family life

One More Reason Not to Like

What passes for country music these days.

According to Reuters, Troy Gentry, of the country act Montgomery Gentry, has been charged with killing a tame bear named Cubby and then faking a video to make it look like a hunting trophy.

According to Reuters:

“After using a bow and arrow to kill the animal inside its pen, Gentry and the owner of the preserve tagged the bear and registered it with the state as if it had been killed in the wild. A videotape was edited to make it appear that Gentry had hunted down the bear.”

What kind of dude (I’ll resist using the P word) do you have to be to want to shoot a tame, caged bear and dummy up a video to make it look like a hunt?

What’s next, a big game hunting trip to the zoo?

I wonder how many more seconds the “Humane Society Approved” logo will be on the Minnesota Wildlife Connection‘s web site?

I grew up listening to country music, but to my knowledge I have never heard a Montgomery Gentry song. The stuff coming out of Nashville these days sounds more like recycled Dan Fogelberg than Merle Haggard or George Jones.

If he really did this, maybe he’ll have prison in common with Merle Haggard. That would be about it.

New Blog for Dads

Mike Miller, whose other blog I have read for some time, has started a new blog for dads called Be a Good Dad. I’ve just subscribed.

At the risk of sounding like a Hallmark card, if I could only do one thing right it would be to be a good dad to my kids. They make everything worthwhile.

Among Mike’s posts so far are:

10 steps to a happier mealtime with kids

Traditions as part of your kid’s normal day

Cheap fun with balloons

and my favorite, the optimistically entitled…

So You Want To Host A Great Toddler Slumber Party

This is good stuff. Go check it out.

I've Just Seen a Face

Delaney looking at her daddy

Blogging Frio

Cassidy and Larsen flying around Frio

We’re back on the Frio River, for our annual summer camping, tubing and fishing trip. 6 families, 11 very happy kids.

We tubed for about 4 hours yesterday. We’ll go back to the river today for some more tubing. Tomorrow we’ll go on a trail ride in the morning and find somewhere to fish in the afternoon.

Cassidy, Delaney and some of their friends got to ride around in the helicopter on Sunday afternoon.

Light blogging this week, as Verizon cannot hear me now from here- though people on Cingular have stong service.

Movie Recommendation: Monstertorsdag

monstertorsdag I didn’t get this great Norwegian film from Netflix- my TIVO recorded it for me. It doesn’t seem to be available at Netflix, but you should be able to find it on the Sundance Channel or the IFC. It is listed under it’s translated name: Monsterthursday (spelled as one word).

I generally stay away from foreign films, because the requirement of reading the subtitles makes it hard to watch them while you’re doing something else. I watch most movies in my study, where the ability to multitask makes it seem less like I am sitting around wasting time.

I figured I’d watch a few minutes to see what a Norwegian film looked like. I got hooked and watched the entire thing in one sitting.

The vibe of this movie grabbed me from the first scene- a surreal wedding scene where the ex-wife of one best friend marries the other best friend. The ex-husband/best man is in great dismay over the wedding, but after an uncomfortable toast, he soldiers on- mostly. It gets better and darker after that, as the new groom leaves town on an extended business and/or surfing trip and the bride and her ex-husband explore their past, present and future.

Surfing becomes the measure of success and monster waves the demons to be faced. This is in no way an action movie, feeling much more like Lost in Translation than your middle of the road Hollywood drama. And I mean that as high praise.

Surfing, relationships, drinking, and the hatred of golf all play important roles in this film. Pretty much everything required for a good movie.

It’s a pretty somber film, but not totally dark.

Highly recommended.