Sunday
For the past few weeks now, I take turns holding each child’s hand as we submerge into the warm water to retrieve torpedoes from the pool bottom. Both kids keep their eyes clamped shut.

Lael quickly retrieves her orange torpedo from the lowest step on the stairs. Seth holds his nose with one hand as I guide his other to the blue torpedo that’s about 3 feet below.

Both then exit the pool and run 50 feet to dry their faces off on towels that I purposely keep far away. Every day I encourage them to try goggles, but they refuse.

For some reason, I decide that today I want to push Seth and Lael to the next level. My idea: I want them to swim a couple feet from the steps to me.

Although I do not believe in bribes as a motivator, I’ve made an exception when it comes to swimming lessons. Learning to swim is an essential skill, as far as I’m concerned, and if the kids want to partake in other water activities.

While chocolates persuaded my kids to dunk their faces, I needed a stronger motivator for the next step. I use my trump card: I’ll only let them watch a new Little Einsteins video if they swim out to me. (I don’t know why, but both kids love that show.)

Lael flat-out refuses, with much crying. She insists on the video without swimming to me. Seth desperately wants the video, but fear wins.

I now have two crying children and every pool denizen accusing me with their hostile stares of drowning my kids. Sigh.

I need to reset the mood, so we switch to swimming around the pool on noodles. Seth and Lael calm down.

When we get back, I offer another deal: If they twice retrieve the torpedoes with open eyes underwater, they can watch Little Einsteins. Lael dunks her head and says “Done.” I’m not really sure if her eyes were open.

I talk Seth into getting his goggles. We put them on, and he goes for the torpedo with my usual help. Seth surfaces with a touch of excitement. “I could see the torpedo!” I persuade a still-not-convinced-it’s-safe Seth to go down the second time. Shortly afterward we go home for the day.

Monday
After futzing with Seth’s goggles, we go for our first underwater dip. Seth quickly retrieves the torpedo three times for his maximum-allowed three chocolate kisses.

Unlike Sunday night, I don’t go down with Seth. Instead, I hold his torso and push him into the water so he can find and retrieve the torpedo.

Next thing I know, Seth is going, “Again! Again!”

So we put the torpedo on the bottom step and Seth, one hand on his nose, starts swimming down! Lael and I get splashed horribly as Seth kicks and kicks and kicks, but has trouble getting his buoyant body to go down.

Seth retrieves the torpedo on his for the first time. Within minutes, he’s going down over and over and over. Soon, Seth is retrieving three torpedoes at once from 3-feet deep. He even tries 4 and 5 feet a couple times.

In fact, for the rest of our evening at the pool, Seth is diving/competing with another, more experienced boy. The light switch, after years and years of trying, finally switched on. (I promised to buy him a nose clip, btw.)

And because Lael is so competitive, I’m sure it’s only a matter of time before she follows suit. I am both relieved and ecstatic.

Like most of my readers, I live in a fairly insulated community where it’s difficult to “see” what is happening to large swaths of America. We read about unemployment and poverty, but you have to know someone or drive around nearby neighborhoods to really feel the effects of the housing crash.

Statistics only tell part of the story, but they do provide some guidance. A record 33.8 million Americans received food stamps in April, reports Bloomberg. That’s a 20 percent increase from last year and a 1.8 percent climb from the month prior.

Considering that official unemployment is at 9.5 percent, it’s not surprising that the number of families needing food stamps has been increasing. Keep in mind that many economists believe the unofficial unemployment rate – people who are no longer eligible for benefits are excluded from official numbrs – is closer to 20 percent.

It is estimated that about 18 percent or 13.3 million of America’s children 17 and under were living in poverty in 2007, writes The Washington Post on the recently released report titled America's Children: Key National Indicators of Well-Being, 2009. The numbers are expected to be worse next year.

In Colorado, the number of kids in poverty rose by a whopping 85 percent from 2000 to 2007, reports the Denver Business Journal. That translates to 412,000 Colorado children living in poverty.

In Phoenix, the number of homeless students has increased 18 percent in the last year, reports The Arizona Republic. That means 25,000 children might be living in a hotel, campground, shelter, car or friend’s home. Arizona has the seventh largest student homeless population in the nation.

Many states also are cutting education funds, child care programs and health coverage for kids. It’s likely things will soon get worse, providing all of us with a better understanding of what this nasty economy is doing to Americans.

Additional

• Time for Legislature to Show They Care About Kids
• U.S. Sees Homeless Numbers Fall in ’08, Report Says, (but is expected to rise soon)

While working on a blog post about video learning sites, I came across How To Make A Burning Laser Flashlight on VideoJug. Now, you may be confused during the first minute of the video or concerned the project is too complicated, but I urge you to watch it until the end for the punch line. Can you say shock and awe? Can you say totally irresponsible yet strangely fascinating?

Additional

Make The New 007 Laser Weapon

“That’s odd,” I think. “Lael doesn’t like going into the garage alone.”

Then I hear the bathroom door close. “Okay, so Lael was coming out of the garage. Maybe she was looking for a toy in the car?”

Figuring Lael would be in the bathroom for a while, I call my mom. A few seconds later, I hear the garage door slam again.

With my mom chattering in my ear, I open the door. There, with her back to me, Lael’s shoulders rise as her arms bend inward toward the torso; it’s a classic guilty-body reaction.

From my high vantage point, I can see there is an open roll of Smarties in my little girl’s hands, which she is now trying to shove into her mouth. Several fall to the ground. I snatch the remaining ones from her little fingers, which I later eat when she’s out of sight.

Open on the floor is a green, party-favor box, which is one of several left over from Seth’s birthday. About a week ago, I moved the extra boxes into the garage because Lael had been merrily pulling the candy and cookies out of them. At the time, I warned both kids to save the boxes for Lael’s upcoming birthday party.

“Lael! You little thief!” I say in a menacing voice. She smiles at me.

“Um, mom? Let me call you right back.”

Bringing Lael into the house, I reward my girl with a long time out. I realize the punishment is never going to deter my daughter – when she wants something, she gets it – but what else can I do?

Seth was already into Battleship, Backgammon and Monopoly, but we were decidedly lacking other traditional games at home. So one of Seth’s birthday presents was Sorry!

While we knew Seth would love the game, we were surprised at how much Lael got into it. She’d set up the board, calling out, “Daddy! Seth! I’m ready to play Sorry!” Oh, and she decided which colors we’d each get.

Keep in mind, Lael is not quite 4 and doesn’t fully understand the game. Lael can actually count to 20, but there is some funky wrist motion going on when she moves her piece: a 3 card might result in 15 spaces and a 12 card might result in 2 spaces.

Of course, the real reason Lael loves the game is to force us to spend more time with her. Smart girl.

We held the party at our community park, which comes complete with water sprinklers, pool, open field, gym toys and park benches.

For the first time since we started throwing birthday parties, little parenting was needed. The kids ran from the sprinklers to the playground equipment to the field, where they launched Stomp Rockets.

After grilled hot dogs and chips, the kids did some arts and crafts arranged by my wife. The entire birthday was a pleasure from start to finish.

(Face blurred to protect identity.)

So it came as a surprise to me that manufacturers are working hard to make energy efficient incandescent light bulbs, reports The New York Times. While these new bulbs don’t save quite as much energy as the two competitors, there seems to be room for significant improvement.

Philip’s is already selling Halogena Energy Savers at Home Depot and on Amazon. The bulbs go for about $5 a piece, but it takes time for new products to come down in price. But researchers are working on a variety of improvements that may soon find their way into homes.

Just the thought of an efficient bulb that doesn’t use mercury and puts off decent light brightens my day.

The recall was sparked after the USDA found salmonella in Dairyshake powder. The FDA subsequently found food equipment at the Plainview plant contaminated with salmonella.

In response to the recalls, Dunkin’ Donuts announced it would stop serving hot chocolate and Dunkaccino drinks because it received the mixes from the Plainview Coop, reports WebMD. Contamination was not found in Dunkin’ Donut prod ducts.

Additional

Companies Recall Products Linked to Milk Processor

After signing up for a class at Scottsdale Community College, Anne realized she needed a magnifying glass. As you can see, Lael loves mommy’s new toy.

While in the hospital, the doctors offered me a painkiller laced with acetaminophen to help me sleep. My symptoms worsened throughout the night.

I complained to the medical crew about the reaction, and they told me it was simply not possible. Although my hospitalization occurred on 2003, I didn’t write about the incident until 2006 because that’s when reports of high doses of acetaminophen causing liver damage finally came out.

Fast forward two years: a panel of health advisers are asking the Food and Drug Administration to “lower the maximum dose of over-the-counter acetaminophen,” reports HealthDay. The panel recommends dropping the 1,000-milligram pill in favor of a 650 milligram maximum.

The health panel also recommends a ban on far more potent prescription drugs Percocet and Vicodin, reports The New York Times. The drugs combine a narcotic with the acetaminophen.

The reason for the recommendation? High doses of acetaminophen can cause severe liver damage and even death. Besides repeatedly popping more of the pills in their mouths than they should, Americans often don’t realize cold remedies and other products contain acetaminophen. This can result in accidental overdoses.

Whether the FDA will follow the panel’s recommendation is anyone’s guess.

What many people don’t know, is that okra is a handsome plant with attractive flowers. After all, okra is related to hibiscus.

So while this picture reveals some height, consider that I had to chop out the bottom three feet of the plant from the picture!

Like last year, Lael didn’t want to stay out on the lake for more than a few minutes. Unlike last year, my wife, Anne there to take our daughter off my hands. At least Anne was able to shoot a few cute photos.

Seth and I enjoyed time together in the kayak, exploring coves and watching dragonflies skirt the water’s surface. We even saw ponies on the trail.

After eating, we walked to the far side of the small lake where Seth and Lael played in the water. After a while, we started collecting rocks for grandma, who has a penchant for such things.

The trip made for a great Father’s Day that was more about family than just dad.

The cookie is so potent that former Food and Drug Administration chief Dr. David Kessler decided to write “The End of Overeating: Taking Control of the Insatiable American Appetite,” which is reviewed in The New York Times.

Restaurants and food makers long have been taking advantage of our human weaknesses. Writes The Times:

When it comes to stimulating our brains, Dr. Kessler noted, individual ingredients aren’t particularly potent. But by combining fats, sugar and salt in innumerable ways, food makers have essentially tapped into the brain’s reward system, creating a feedback loop that stimulates our desire to eat and leaves us wanting more and more even when we’re full.

While Kessler apparently focuses on human addiction rather than corporate blame, consider this:

Foods rich in sugar and fat are relatively recent arrivals on the food landscape, Dr. Kessler noted. But today, foods are more than just a combination of ingredients. They are highly complex creations, loaded up with layer upon layer of stimulating tastes that result in a multisensory experience for the brain. Food companies “design food for irresistibility,” Dr. Kessler noted. “It’s been part of their business plans.”

Did I just read that a former FDA chief is accusing the food industry of intentionally making addictive foods? Gee, the world is full of surprises.

After all, I was a fiercely self-sufficient young boy with a strong sense of awareness at a very young age. On the day my dad died, I mentally took on the role of “oldest male” in the house and never really saw his death as a negative. I suppose that’s strange, but I’ve always been the type who rises to meet adversity.

Of course, there was a touch of silliness to it. I didn’t get a job as my grandfather did when his dad died. I didn’t take over the role of raising my brother. And in actuality, I didn’t know squat.

But, I did grow up a lot on the day my dad died from an embolism caused by a metal plate used to mend a broken leg. My sense of responsibility was immediate and immutable. In many ways, I acted as adult-like as my immature mind could muster.

It wasn’t until my kids were born that I started to realize something had been lost. Consider:

From the age of 9, I did not have a male role model in my life. Sure, both of my grandfathers were alive, but they never really took over the father role. One grandfather played catch but rarely talked about anything substantive and the other grandfather did nothing athletic but loved to argue politics. Yet neither became mentors or surrogate dads. My mom never married and never brought boyfriends home.

In some ways, I was a very self-confident boy. I did well in most sports I tried. I was fairly successful in school. On the other hand, my mom did not provide the male perspective to competition. I was told it was “okay” to lose rather than it was “okay” to win!

In academics, my mom was always supportive and generally accepted whatever I wanted to do. She encouraged me when I needed it. What was missing, perhaps, was the enabling that dads can provide. For example, Seth is fantastic in school, but easily falls into the “I-don’t-have-to-work-hard-because-it’s-too-easy” trap. I know from personal experience that such an attitude will cause problems down the road, so I compliment when Seth does good work, but remind my boy that there is room for improvement when he rushes through his math problems and makes sloppy mistakes.

Of course, I also missed out on a lot of rough-housing, spirited arguments, male bonding and the reassurance that dad would be there if I fell. I believe that I’m much less risk averse as a person because I never had that backstop.

Perhaps the biggest missing piece from my life involved dating. You see, I was completely clueless in high school and clearly well behind my peers in social matters. I was fearful when a girl would develop a crush on me, because I didn’t have a dad telling me this was a good thing!

My wife doesn’t mind. Had I been given the male perspective when I was younger, I might have married before I met her. On the other hand, I would rather my children enter their dating years with some male perspective.

I am writing these words, of course, because today is Father’s Day and I think the message that dad’s are essential to bringing up children is often forgotten. While plenty of children without fathers have grown into highly successful adults, studies consistently reveal that having a dad provides a huge advantage.

“I say this as someone who grew up without a father in my life,” President Obama recently said according to The New York Times. “That’s something that leaves a hole in a child’s heart that governments can’t fill.” And it’s that hole that I’ve only recently discovered as a man in his 40s.

The good news is that I embrace my role as a dad. I try to bring confidence, stability, education and balance to my children. Oftentimes, I feel like I’m failing at my mission, but my wife assures me I’m doing okay.

Recently, I’ve reached for past experiences to solve various parenting problems I encounter and come up blank. The information I need simply is not there. I suspect this will become more problematic as my kids reach the age I lost my father.

Sometimes I turn to the blogosphere, most frequently A Family Runs Through It and The Blue Sloth. Sometimes I turn to neighborhood friends. Other times, I rely on parenting books.

Of course with parenting, it’s hard to measure success when you’re peeling one kid off the other. But I keep trying. And perhaps that’s the one lesson all dads need to keep in mind: Don’t give up.

I’m not entirely sure why the news producer thought I’m one of the funny dad bloggers – I tend to be a bit sober as far as writers go – but I recently had done a post about my daughter cutting her own hair. Certainly, I’m not as funny as massively popular Danny Evans of Dad Gone Mad, who was the other guest.

I’m glad the audience couldn’t see me while I was on air. I couldn’t stop smiling! Is that a normal reaction to being on radio?

At one point I was incoherent, and at another I was dropped from the show, but neither incident put a damper on my mood.

If you want to listen, go here. Danny and I are on during the last half hour of the show.