"Parents just don't understand", "Kids these days with their music and tv" and many other phrases we have all heard countless times. Bridging the gap between generations and more specifically between parents and children is hard. Throw in entire media cultures that seem alien and mutually exclusive to both parties and your asking for misunderstanding. "Man, I sure do love Space Jam, LeBron was great in the movie". "LeBron? don't you mean Michael Jordan?!" etc. etc. etc. But what if instead of letting the cultural divide, divide us from relating with our children and parents we instead use our media experiences to form lasting memories and shared cultural touchstones. Today we jump into this topic and try to see if this path is viable based on our own experiences. whether or not it works at least we will have the memories, right?

Sometimes where you end up is not where you thought you were going.... and funny enough that's exactly what happened this episode. We wanted to alk about how fatherhood has changed us as men, and somehow, we ended up wandering through our past and making connections to our present. There is probably some deep philosophical point there about the cyclical nature of life and how to know where you're going you need to know where you have been, but were just two guys speaking off the cuff so well leave the deep thoughts to you to sift through. I will say though that when you start talking about memroies and somehow end up realzing you want to live your life using an analogy about two wolves living inside of you, well then that was a good conversation worth at least a listen.

Now see here, I know we spoke about discipline before..... but lets be honest we all knew that one episode is not enough for such a complicated topic. Today with the help of special guest "CK Preparatory" we hit the metaphorical dance floor to talk about discipline once again, this time though we'll home in on the giant red stomping elephant in the room that is anger. We all experience it, we all know it, and we all fail to control it on occasion, so what part if any does anger play in how we discipline. Is it a positive, a negative, neutral, or a non-factor? I'm not sure anyone in the world knows the definitive answer but we're sure as hell going to pick at it until we're at least satisfied with the points we make. With that being said, if poking the big red angry elephant in the room results in it being even angrier, well we're going to poke it anyway for our amusement and yours. So, sit back, relax grab a drink and wander down this winding trail with us.

Welcome to the Maze of Masculinity: do you go left, right, forward, backward, up or down? Truth is, no one knows the right direction. Men have been trying to navigate their way through this maze since the beginning of time, and if you're a dad don't worry there's a whole subsection of the maze specifically for you known as the Dungeon of Dad-ness. The problem with the maze is we're all stuck in here, and most of us don't realize it. Everyone's trying to find out what it means to be a man using advice from others in the maze, but we all just wind up being the blind leading the blind. Spoiler alert, your two faithful hosts here are in the maze too so don't expect a path to the exit from us. Just maybe though, we can help map out these cantankerous corridors a bit so that one day someone will find the exit and let the rest of mankind know how to get there.

The towering totem pole of testosterone looms large over all men and fathers. It is the measuring stick we stand on our tippy-toes up against to try and be that much more masculine then the next guy. We all do it even if we don't realize it, but why? No one is asking us to be the apex man standing atop all masculinity like a silverback gorilla on top of the mountain, are they? We have decided to tackle this topic and examine ourselves and how the tower of testosterone affects our self-image and our parenting styles. So join us on this trail and maybe we'll find some jokes and insight along the way.

....Well that umm...... that got kind of dark there, but i think it took us to an interesting place we can learn from. With that said episode 6 Part 1 is in our rear view and this spaceship is taking off without looking back to take us to Episode 6 part 2. Were on the look out for new type of geometry to fit our new thoughts on expectations into, new ways to arrange the expectations we have and finding ways to fit those oddly shaped unexpected aspects of life into our accepted paradigm. All this to say that having seen the dark side of expectations lets emerge into a more hopeful part of the conversation and learn to accept the unexpected in ourselves and our children.

We all have expectations of ourselves, of others, of our kids. Your probably expecting me to make this description a little wacky and funny, this time around though I will be subverting those expectations. The conversation tonight centers around an anecdote that Frank the Tank tells. This one gets a little heavy and will challenge you to really take the topic to heart. This is also a two part episode as we had another story to tell about expectations and it would be too much for just one episode. So please, join us on this journey as we tackle the topic of expectations and how they can affect both parent and child.

Its time to discuss the elephant in the room. The glowing cathode ray tube (or LED or Plasma screen) of moving pictures that parents trust their kids to watch and in turn watch their kids. The famous third parent of the modern age, the TV and its slanderous and hurtful depictions of fathers through the years. In reality how often can media depict a father as a bumbling ball of idiocy before children start to believe dads are certified 100% grade A dumb-asses. All i know is we grew up watching these dumb ass dad and it makes you wonder how much those depictions affected us in the end. So in conclusion....... wont some one think of the children and their TV soaked eyeballs.

Crash! Boom! Splat! This is all you hear before running into the kitchen to find your child has somehow opened the fridge and pulled out a shelf. Now your kitchen is covered with the remains of an unidentified leftover over meal. Now, here is the fun part do you: A. Grab the belt and let fly the justice of a good ass whooping B. Place the child in time out C. Calmly explain to the child what they did was wrong, and let them go without any punishment D. Weep quietly in the corner, realizing this is what your life has become. Who knows what the right answer is? We don't, and im guessing neither did our parents. We're sure as heck going to try and talk it out though, and maybe find a spark of genius or two along the way (maybe). Either way, it's time for the age-old argument: Spare the rod and spoil the child or grab your implement of choice and let fly the corporal punishment.

Ahh the big box hardware store, we have grills, tools, lawn equipment, and all the building materials a dad could ever want. Its pure distilled fatherly happiness in a warehouse............ or is it. Why do fathers find their happiness in these "dad" things, is it some intrinsic trait of fatherhood? Or did we just trick ourselves into believing that the traditional "dad" stuff is what makes us happy? Well I can tell you one thing this description box wont have the answer. Maybe the actual episode has the answer though, or maybe we just tell some funny anecdotal stories and try to piece together a working theory on fatherly happiness. Only way to find out is to listen..... so um... yeah why are you still reading this go take a listen. :)