I’m sure that in this day and age we’ve all seen, or at least heard about, the prank videos on YouTube. So it shouldn’t be a surprise that Jay decided to prank me, his father and best friend.

Before we get to the pranks though I just want to point out that I haven’t let my son watch the prank videos that you’re probably thinking of. No, the prank videos he’s seen are the ones where the prank occurs in the world of minecraft. On servers where several people play together it’s quite common for the gamers to prank each other, usually in non-violent ways like covering an entire area with slime blocks, or moving their entire house to a different place. read more

Recently SO (my wife) and I were talking about her nieces and nephews (she has 10 of them) and I was reminded of an incident that occurred shortly after we moved to Jakarta. For a little background, SO and I met and got married in Australia while she was studying there, and then moved to Indonesia shortly after.

Anyway, back to the story. H (name withheld to avoid embarrassment for H and any possible harm he may do me if he reads this) is now in his late teens and studying at university, but at the time he was around 2 or 3 years old. read more

One of the questions we need to answer when we adopt a child is whether or not you should tell your child they’re adopted. Each parent will answer this in their own way, deciding what’s important to them and how they feel about it. I don’t think it affects the way we treat our children, I know for myself I love Jay as much as if he was my own. But it will affect the child in some way or another.

If you adopt a child from a different country, or more specifically of a different race, the answer (I think?) is obvious. You wouldn’t fool anyone for long and the child would put it together faster than the latest Lego set. For children the same or similar to the parents though, it’s a question that needs to be asked. For my family, I’m white, SO (my wife)is Chinese, and Jay is Javanese, so we look as though he may be our biological son and many people actually think he is. read more

It seems an apt time, after last week’s post, to talk about how my son got me addicted to Minecraft. I’m sure you’ve heard of it, even if you don’t play, it’s one of the most popular games around now, being available on pretty much every electronic gaming device out there (eg. PC, MAC, Linux, Android, Apple IOS, PS3, PS4, PS Vita, Xbox360, Xboxone, and even the WiiU).

Like so many others though, I’d never really considered playing it. It wasn’t the sort of game I’d played in the past, and what I’d seen of it (it’s just big square blocks) it didn’t look at all interesting. And so, when Jay first asked me to get it for him, I brushed him off saying I’d think about it. Which in Daddy Speak means “we’re not getting it”, and I tried to dissuade him from wanting it whilst I was “thinking about it”. read more

Disappointment is one of those things that we all go through as a child. Whether it be a small thing or large, we’ve all been there and gone through it. As an adult though we see it in a different way. A lot of the time though we’ll brush it off as something insignificant, but for the child it could be devastating. And when you’re close to your child seeing the look on their faces, as the lips tremble and the eyes well up, it can break your heart.

One such occasion happened to my son Jay just this last week. read more

Our family is what one may call multicultural, my wife (SO) is ethnically Chinese, our son is Javanese, and I’m a plain old regular white guy. On a day to day basis these labels are irrelevant to us, we are a family and that’s all that really matters.

Occasionally though something comes up to remind us that we are, in some ways different to each other.

One such occasion came up a few months ago when SO was dying her hair. Being Chinese her hair is, of course, black, but she’s starting to get a few grey (white?) hairs coming through. As such she’s taken to dying her hair every few months. read more

This is a question I think most parents ask themselves at one time or another, especially in what we call the electronic age. What effect does early exposure to these gadgets have on a developing mind? Does it prevent an active lifestyle? Should our kids spend more time running around outside playing with their friends like we did? Or do the benefits that using these things early in life bring outweigh the negatives?

I’ve owned and played with computers for almost 30 years now. I had a Playstation 1, and Playstation 2 and now have both a Playstation 3 and Playstation 4. Both SO (my wife) and I both have smart phones and our household has 3 iPads, and iPad 1, iPad 2 and iPad Air 2. read more

As a parent one of our concerns is what our children are exposed to, especially in the internet age. It’s no longer just what they see, or allowed to see, on TV, but the availability of just about everything, good and bad, on websites is a cause for concern. Even the most tolerant of parents are, or at least should be, concerned about what their children are exposed to.

I’m not different.

From an early age SO (my wife) and I have tried to expose our son to what we feel are positive messages. We watched educational and entertaining programs on TV and DVDs and of course in this age quite a few videos on youtube. read more

One of the things that happens when you study psychology is that people will have the tendency to ask for help with things that they think you should have the solution for. Of course that happens for a lot of different occupations, doctors, plumbers, electricians, bankers, you get the idea. Friends and family will come looking for answers or advice because it’s what you do for work.

One of those things that people seem to keep asking about is when their child has just started school and seem to be having some problems with their classes. I’ve personally had family, friends and even friends of friends come to me with this problem. read more

As parents we all have our favourite stories we tell people. This isn’t one of the stories I like tell, although SO (my wife) and I have told it a couple of times, it’s actually a story that J, our son, likes to tell people. And he’s told it to pretty much everyone who’s not a complete stranger.

Considering he was less than a week old when it happened I don’t think he actually remembers it happening, but he does find it highly amusing.

And so sets the scene. He was, if I remember correctly, and SO would probably say I don’t, but she’s not writing this, I am, so I shall for this time ignore her voice in my head and say that J was all of five days old at the time the story takes place. read more