I took my 4 year old to a UT Football game last season, great seats, 50 yardline, 25 rows up. We had to leave well before the kickoff because my son was freaked out by the crowd and loud noises. The next sporting event I decided to try..........wait for it............Monster Truck Racing. You can guess how that went over. Anyone else out there as thick headed as Daddy Brad? Do your best. I'm off to a chess match.

No help for the crowds, but for the loud noises... If HE actually enjoys the trucks, then just get some of those mega headphone-like ear protectors. (The kind used for shooting. I'd bet they sell licensed versions at the event even, for double the price of course.) But does he really wanna watch college football? Seriously, especially UT!? I just can't compete with Texas-thick. HA! Just kidding guys.

Nope Daddy Brad- you win!!

You have to try, try again on some things. That being said.... going from loud football stadium to louder truck event might be the wrong way to do it. Perhaps from loud football to quieter soccer game. Then you can work your way back up and to the Monster Truck Racing in the year 2015!

Okay, I am going to confess this. Recently, I'm taking Coop to the daycare. He throws a fit in the driveway saying he wants his mom to take him. So I send him back in the house to find his mom, and I storm away to the office. Unbeknownst to me, mom and two other kids have slipped out the back door to go to basketball camp. Wife calls me a few minutes later on the cell from the daycare. Where's Coop?<br><br>At home, watching Blue's Clues.<br><br>I should really start a parenting website.

Daddy Brad,<br>I must admit, I am probably setting myself up for something similar, because I am planning on taking my kids to our State Fireworks display this 4th. I don't know how loud it will be exactly but my Spidey-sense is definitely tingling.

I'm planning on taking my 2 year old son to an airshow this weekend.<br>He's scared of thunder and lightning, I wonder if this is a wise decision now?

Did your son like the airshow? Also, wondering if you are in Ottawa? With the name of dadnorth, thought you might be close by because we had an airshow here this weekend.<br><br>Robin

Five year old girl in full blown asthma attack. How long was she like this? 7 hours according to mom with a clogged up nebulizer. Blue lips the whole 9 yards, barely able to get a breath. Battle with dad over which hospital we're going to. Get to closest facility, father denies use of steroids. (So they knocked her out and tubed her until the good stuff had a chance to work.) Twenty minutes later I call the State. 30 minutes later, State shows up. Explain situation and have 2 officers to back me up. Sign statement. State takes custody of little girl. She spends 2 weeks in a chemically induced coma to rebuild the tissue damage, or at least some of it. I visited her and she looked just fine to me. The state still has custody of her. Five years later. That was perhaps one of the worst i've seen relating to the generalized lack of caubc. (Condensed and usable brain cells.) Otherwise known throughout the industry as the type of call known as a one-david-ida-ocean-tom call. (1.D.I.O.T.) Sad fact is they knew she was in distress, and did nothing. What REEEALY pissed me off about this call is the first thing mom said to me upon walking in the door was this. nice parking job. Sh*t lady, you've GOT to be kidding me. I replied with, thanks ma'am. where's my patient. My only request is that they stay the hell out of my gene pool and/or stop wasting my oxygen.<br><br>Bri-

Well, in defense of the parents, when we got to the hospital, his reason for denying steroids was simple yet complex. He thought they were the type of steroids that would make her grow hair on her chest and have 98 inch biceps. It wasn't the fact that he didn't care, he flat out didn't know. That alone told me that her condition was not intentional, but is there really any difference? I learned one thing and one thing only from that entire affair. What not to do.<br><br>Bri-

Recently, Milwaukee had another infant casualty in regards to inept daycare staff leaving them in a locked van all day. I don't know about where you are, but this seems to be more and more common, went from once, to well, once about once every three months. You see a kid left on a bus, found 4 hours later or an infant left here or there. Why is this so hard? What does it take to do a head count or have accurate attendance information? I'm not sure if this really fits into this catagory but it can't get more idiotic than leaving an infant in a van in 90 degree heat all day. There need to be laws with a little more bite and a little less bark to them in regards to kids safety when in others hands.<br><br>Bri-

I'm originally from Milwaukee (now in Madison) so I find this stuff quite scary. Some people just don't realize that having kids is a job and you have to pay attention to them, they don't just magically go away when something in YOUR life comes up, and they are not something just to be pawned off on someone else. People want the joy without any of the sacrifice, and then they end up negligent and stupid. /end of rant<br>---<br>However then there's tragedies that happen that could happen to everyone -- the accidents. So I guess just be sure to know the whole stories before you get too judgemental...

Oh believe me I heard it on every channel for three days, we all did out here. What i'm primarily hot at is an issue like this gets less media attention than say oh the weather. Prevention is the key, not hindsight, as much clarity as it does provide. In all realities, one doesn't have to know the entire story, but I do anyway. Anyone that leaves a kid in a van to die is a moron and should be punished accordingly. Milwaukee has an overabundance of residential/non-qualified commercial day care centers. We have had for some time. The same way it is with group homes and facilities that care for the mentally challenged. I had a multiple poisoning about 5 or so years ago when a nurses assistant decided the coffe pot was dirty and took the initiative to clean it with liquid plumber. Well, after burning the throats of 9 people, we finally figured it out. It's THAT kind of people that im pissed about. Whole story or not, that person is a moron, why? They can't read. They can't read the label with umpty billion warnings and all sorts of what not to do with its. If this person has the where-with-all to put on their pants in the morning, they had enough common sense to drive themselves to work. BUT then the common sense went along the wayside and idiot mode kicked in. They had their license pulled and were banned from the healthcare field. Serves them right. 99 percent of the time, I don't have to know the entire story, i've been there, done that and cleaned up the bloodstains of those with the lower end of the grading curve bestowed upon them. Trust me, i'm not mad at any of these people for doing what they did, it's their actions that make me want 5 minutes alone in a room with them, not 10, just 5. For 15 years I did this, every night and day, then it was enough. I've got my own to take care of now but rest assured, I learned once again what not to do.<br><br>What happened to that child was no accident. It was the combination of GROSS negligence, not caring, ignorance and stupidity. You from Wisconsin should know that the laws protecting kids have about as much bite as our drunk driving laws. None whatsoever. Yet Jim Doyle raises my taxes and the registration fee for my license plates. Yeppers, it costs me 40 bucks more than a civilian to have firefighter plates, every year. What do they do with that 40 bucks? Probably not background checks or laws that make sense. Still think you have rights? Habeus Corpus is gone. Don't believe me? Read the Patriot Act, it may surprise you. Every time a tragedy occurs, we are given a chance to pass legislature to make sure it never happens again. Wisconsin, for being so bloody conservative, underneath it all has the common sense approach of my left shoe. Without the right it's no damn good and it'll never tie itself up without the help of big brother, the fed grants.<br><br>Bri-

I've put a sticker on my dashboard to help prevent me from ever becoming one of those absent minded parents that I(we all) despise so much. Well, 2 stickers actually. One reads Patience and the other reads Indy in car. Helps keep my driving in check, even when he's NOT in the car, because every other driver out there is in my way and out to trash my Subaru. I ain't havin' it! Now, if only I could find my keys...

There as many conservative idiots as there are liberal idiots, ideology aside. Let's stay on topic here.

I practice daddy learning exercices all the time. For instance, laying clothes out for a six year old that are actually the four year old's clothes and going out like that. Two years later an the girls no longer let me pick thier clothes. I'll wait for mom. they say. Mom's not going to be back for a couple of hours.I say. Few seconds pause. Yeah...that's o.k.<br><br>I also have learned not to underestimate the competitive spirit of my six year old. I never knew that losing at Uno could sting so bad. Apparently smack talking is genetic. Draw two Eden...Uh no Dad you draw four...No you draw six....Yeeeah, no you draw eight...Dangit!!!

I'm not really sure where you're going with this, Sean, but I see you and raise you a five spot. Selfish culture and oxygen starvation? We're not having a home birth to burn incense and sing kumbaya and pat ourselves on the back.<br><br>No, we're having a home birth solely to have a more natural and safe experience for mom and baby (with a certified midwife) the way God and millions of years of evolution intended (yes, I can reconcile both).<br><br>Getting the kid out as quickly as safely as possible by inducing labor with synthetic drugs, injecting the mother with painkillers and antibiotics (if necessary), or agreeing to a c-section because the labor is slow the bed isn't going to be turned soon enough in the hospital is not in my opinion looking out for the best interest of the child or mother.<br><br>And what's wrong with the emotional needs of the parents anyway? That all plays into a healthy baby as far as I'm concerned.<br><br>We're creating a human life, not a tickle me Elmo on an assembly line.