Three Ways to Strengthen Your Family
Rabbi Shlomo Slatkin doesn’t think your relationship should come second to parenting. Taking care of your relationship will make you a better parent. ____ As parents, we are constantly faced with new...
View ArticleRaising Compassionate Boys: Compassion for Racist
A racist confronts a 4 year old and teaches Kozo Hattori a valuable lesson about compassion and parenting. — My 4 year old son, Fox, wanted to play golf, so we went to the chipping green of a local...
View ArticleRaising Compassionate Boys: “Don’t Be A Pussy”
Kozo Hattori explains to his sons why to never use or react to the saying, “Don’t be a pussy.” — In the trailer for the film, The Mask You Live In, former NFL player, Joe Ehrman claims that “the...
View ArticleRaising Compassionate Boys: Dis-RESPECT
A 7 year old teaches Kozo Hattori that real compassion starts with a mirror. — My wife and I were yelling at each other while my sons were eating dinner. 7 year old Jett interrupted, “This is yucky....
View ArticleRaising Compassionate Boys: Responsible or Kind
Kozo Hattori questions the necessity for kids to “take responsibility” at the expense of kindness. In the second week of school, a friend of my son forgot his homework, so his mother called a...
View ArticleRaising Compassionate Boys: Compassion for Ray Rice
For the sake of his sons, Kozo Hattori challenges himself to find compassion for Ray Rice. ___ My first reaction to the TMZ video of Ray Rice knocking out his then-fiancée was not only horror and...
View ArticleRaising Compassionate Boys: Confessions of a Bad Father
Kozo Hattori confesses his biggest failure (so far) as a father. ——— I swatted my older son across the back of the head the other day—twice. One slap was so hard that I felt a soft throbbing in the...
View ArticleRaising Compassionate Boys: Why I Practice Compassion?
Kozo Hattori explains why he practices compassion above all else while raising his sons. ‾‾‾ After soccer on Saturday, we made plans with another family to eat at Subway. On the way to the...
View Article5 Ways to Keep Your Son Out of Prison
How Kozo Hattori is proactively keeping his sons out of jail. ¯¯¯ Reading about the locker room abuse in Sayreville reminded me of Steubenville and Saratoga, where seemingly “normal” boys from “good”...
View ArticleFear and Loneliness in Boys and Men
How fear and loneliness are wired together in boys and men. ¯¯¯ On Friday, I planned to attend a conference, but my son’s school had a staff learning day. So I arranged to have my son stay at my...
View ArticleLife Lessons From My First Car
Finding happiness by loving life like a used car: AS IS Every car I’ve ever owned was used. When I bought these cars, I often had to sign a contract with “AS IS” printed in large block letters...
View ArticleParenting Tips from a Homeless Man
What the homeless can teach us about raising children. —- On Thanksgiving morning, I took my sons to a feed the homeless event in downtown San Jose. We were assigned the roles of “table...
View ArticleThe 10 Scariest Kid’s Clothes Items for Dads and Moms
They warn you about all sorts of things when you become a parent, but often leave out the biggest hurdle: dressing your child. The Sunshine Dad, Mike Smith, offers you the list of 10 things that...
View ArticleWhy My Sons Still Believe in Santa Claus
Santa Claus will always exist as long as someone believes that giving is more rewarding than receiving. “He still believes in Santa Claus,” said the older sibling looking at me as if I were an ally....
View ArticleTen Easy New Year’s Resolutions for Fathers
My sons motivate me to be a better man every day. I’ve never been good at New Year’s resolutions. I can’t even remember what my resolutions were in the past because I stopped doing them by February....
View ArticleKnock On Wood: Secret Parenting Tips Found in a Redwood Forest
“The trick seems to be stay centered and grounded.” Whenever I take my sons into the redwood forests in Northern California they act like cherubs. We often visit a family who live amongst the...
View ArticleTeaching Our Children to Love Their Enemies
We can raise a whole generation of children who have the capacity to embody what all the great sages have instructed us: Love thy enemy. At a weekly meditation group, our hostess, Harshida Mehta,...
View ArticleLightening Our Children’s Karma
Practical ways to help our children with their baggage. ♦◊♦ One of my sons’ favorite songs is Karma Chameleon by Culture Club. When they asked me what karma meant, I gave them the basic definition...
View ArticleRaising Courageous Children
So how do we cultivate courage in our children, so they will stay true to their hearts when the rest of society tells them otherwise? Early Saturday morning I heard an interview with Michael Lerner...
View ArticleRaising Boys with the Power of Storytelling
“I’m slowly starting to realize that the best way to teach my sons is to role model behavior or tell a story. Better yet, tell a story that role models behavior.” “Come and look at the bike I’m...
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