Maximumble: Toy for Jimmy
There’s no doubt about it. Becoming a parent opens the Jurassic Park doors of childhood fun. Between introducing your kids to things you grew up with and getting current with the coolest new toys and technology, it’s pretty awesome how much parenthood has to offer. I mean, yeah, the love, compassion and responsibility and […]
Maximumble: Hot Tails
Sometimes, we tell our kids things for the sake of humor or because we don’t know. It’s kind of fun to re-imagine things and tell a story to our kids. But I’ve had it backfire on me. My brother, for example, tells me that I told him a story growing up about mayonnaise. Apparently, […]
Maximumble: Monster Under the Bed
It’s easy to dismiss kids and their amazing imaginations. Sometimes they are off in the stratosphere when it comes to reality. But isn’t that something we want to encourage to some degree? If we can ground our kids in the nature of what is real, but give their dreams, and not their nightmares, the […]
Maximumble: Play with Food
I can’t tell whether the thing my sons do with food could be considered playing with it, but they sure do mess around with it. Is there such a thing as food bullying? In an event, distracted eating seems to be a universal theme. ““ Join Maximumble’s Facebook page: GO HERE! Check out his […]
Maximumble: Baby Brother Toys
As a brother myself, I have some idea of how hard things are for Finn. A new, smallish person invaded his life and he was forced to share his parents. It’s brutal. But nothing says brotherly love like seeing his younger brother, Arden, grab for one of his toys. Did you have a sibling? […]
Maximumble: Band-Aid Parent
Sometimes I walk into work and it’s like everyone knows I have kids. Maybe it’s the stains on my clothes or bags under my eyes. I can feel the child-free eyes boring holes into my soul. And then I remember that these things are badges. They’re my contribution to those without children. Scaring them […]
Maximumble: Dessert
Obviously, Chris Hallbeck has been to my house before. Or many times. I literally could not get my older son, Finn, to eat anything even if I were dying of a gunshot wound or some disease that could be cured by eating new foods. But I like Chris’ style. I, too, wouldn’t be able […]
Maximumble: Pajamas
Listen, having an imagination is serious business. We enter into this bond of pretend play with our kids, and its easy to lose sight of the fact that this fiction is FOR REAL. Ask a kid. Sometimes, they won’t be able to discern truth from the invention. And its a beautiful thing. As long […]
Tough Little Guy
Since I was a kid I had a problem with the concept of “being tough.” I’m sure some meathead out there will explain to me this is because I was a total wuss and then crush a beer can on his forehead. As I grew up though, my understanding of “toughness” slowly evolved from the […]
Maximumble: Germs
Kids seem to fall on one of two sides when it comes to being gross. Intentionally gross or accidentally gross. Some of us would dump agent orange on our homes if it meant no one would ever come down with an illness again. But we all know kids will keep bringing their microscopic stowaways […]