Fatherhood Factor

For all the "dealings" of dads...

Fatherhood Factor Team

A Brief Overview of a Baby’s First-Year Milestones

By Leave a Comment

The smile is the first major thing a baby accomplishes during the first year of life. At first, it seems like gas, but rest assured, it’s a smile for you! Here’s a brief overview of a baby’s first-year milestones.

The Widest Smile You’ll Ever See

Let’s not forget about the smile! About 2 months into their life, a baby will take notice of your presence, face, and voice. When babies bond with a parent, sibling, or whoever else is around, they smile most at them since they feel closer to those individuals. Your voice, presence, and face make them smile!

Sleeping Through the Night

During the first three months, babies struggle to sleep through the night and adapt to a routine. As they’re adjusting to a new world, they may still struggle to sleep past 4 and 6 months. If this happens and they exhibit one of the signs they’re not getting enough sleep, try finding the reason.

Sometimes it’s the crib—the crib might not have the right mattress type, or your furniture’s severely outdated, meaning you’ll need to upgrade the crib to one made from natural, toxin-free materials, like wood.

That First Little Giggle

When babies cry, they could fill an entire amphitheater with noise. Don’t fret, though! Once your baby’s 4 months old, they start to laugh. The slight noise escaping their lips is nothing but the sweet sound of giggles! Whether you’re tickling them, playing peek-a-boo, or making silly faces, they won’t stop.

Say Their First Word

The first word is the best milestone! From first saying “mama” or “dada” to saying different animal names, the first-word stage is the most memorable. On average, babies start talking between 12 and 18 months but can start as early as 9 months.

Standing and Walking for the First Time

Where is your little explorer wandering off to? If they’re on their legs and slowly making their way toward you, then it’s definitely you they’re after! Between 9 and 12 months, babies begin to stand and walk on their own.

It’s completely normal for babies to walk later, at 18 months. As your little one discovers how fast they can run and finds any excuse to get up and follow you around, make sure you block off the stairs, kitchen, and bathrooms.

So, parent, now that you know what milestones babies accomplish in their first year, what one are you most excited about? It will be a breathtaking journey for you and your baby, and the first year is the most exciting.

What to Consider When Building an Outdoor Shed

By Leave a Comment

Building a shed can be a great DIY project when you know exactly what you want. Outdoor sheds are a great addition to the backyard because they can house many tools or act as a playhouse for your children. Sheds can also be a great home improvement project to boost the value of your home, especially if the shed has many custom features.

Before you start your new DIY project, here’s what to consider when building an outdoor shed.

Do You Need a Permit for Your Shed?

Before building a shed, your first duty is to find out if you need a permit. Even if your shed is small, your HOA or local code may require you to have a permit. It’s important to read the fine print to avoid penalties or fines.

You may find that you’re not permitted to build the structure, or you may be required to have your roofing a certain style. Be aware of any restrictions or rules that are in place.

How Big Do You Need Your Shed To Be?

It would help if you had an idea for your outdoor shed. You can transform a garden shed into an additional entertainment space, a workshop area, or a great hang-out spot for your kids. Sheds give you extra space to house tools or hobby gear. The size of your shed solely depends on its purpose, the space available, and your storage needs.

You should consider the architectural style, what material you want to use for the exterior, if you need electricity, and more. Think about the environment you live in before choosing certain materials and styles to ensure it’s compatible with the weather. If you live in an area where it rains often, a wooden shed may not be the best choice unless you use cedar wood.

Consider Your Roofing Style

You want your backyard shed to be functional and personal to you and your family. There are various styles of shed roofing to choose from when you’re building your shed. When selecting the roof’s material and style, it’s essential to consider your environment. If you live in an area with heavy snow, you should consider a metal roof instead of a shingled roof.

Think About Extra Features To Include

The last things you should consider when building an outdoor shed are the features you can include. Look for features that will help the functionality of your shed while enhancing the look. If you need a tool shed, think of great built-in storage options to optimize your space. You should also think about features to add to the exterior that will make your shed less of an eye sore. If you’re creating a space for your children, allow them to help by picking out exterior features and decorating the inside.

Mistakes New Drivers Make That Damage Their Car

By Leave a Comment

Driving takes time and practice to truly master. While the act itself is not overly complicated, bad habits or a lack of practice puts new drivers at higher risk for accidents. It is impossible to fully ensure that your child is driving in a way that won’t sprout gray hairs out of your head. But it’s good to inform them about the mistakes new drivers make that damage their cars to help keep them safe.

Accelerating Too Quickly

While accelerating and hearing the engine’s roar is as thrilling as it is enjoyable to hear, it strains the engine a lot. When delving into the vehicle’s inner workings, fast accelerations force the car’s engine to repeatedly pump the pistons very quickly. For standard vehicles, this is often strenuous to the engine and causes it to wear down faster. Before long, an expensive bill is the only thing that awaits this bad habit.

Experiencing Distractions

Teens are highly susceptible to distractions on the road. Distractions are easy to come by, whether they are checking a text message or jamming out a little too hard to their favorite summer hit. It’s wise to remind them to shut off any devices they do not want to be too distracting in the car. The last thing you want is for them to crash into the neighbor’s mailbox while simultaneously reversing the vehicle and fiddling with the GPS.

Not Respecting Weather Conditions

When it comes to harsh weather conditions, young drivers do not typically think about how it affects their car. Harsh winters kill non-active batteries fast, while hot summers expand the tires and overheat the engine. Both of these issues are common issues that stop a car from starting. Explain these conflicts between climate and machine as your teen learns to drive, and alert them to changing weather conditions. These small lessons stick with repetition and aid them in the future.

While they are still young and impressionable, young drivers also tend to think they are on top of the world. It’s great to see that vigor in your children but also a little worrisome at the same time. The mistakes new drivers make that can damage their cars are great lessons that many have learned on their own time. Sharing them with your teen makes them less likely to damage their vehicle or form dangerous driving habits.

The Best Foods You Should Incorporate Into Your Child’s Diet

By Leave a Comment

Keeping your children healthy is especially difficult as they love to eat candy, chocolate, and snacks that aren’t as healthy as leafy greens, fruits, and veggies. Yet, with that difficulty, you must still go out of your way to ensure that their diets are healthy, nutritious, and taste good. Read on to learn more about the best foods you should incorporate into your child’s diet.

Yogurt

Yogurt is something that everyone should eat because it’s both healthy and delicious. However, with that said, many child-oriented yogurts come with a high amount of sugar and fewer proteins and nutrients than they’ll need. You should look for more Greek yogurts full of probiotics, protein, calcium, and natural fruit instead of simple fruit flavors.

Leafy Greens

Leafy greens are great additions to any diet, both for your kids and your own diet as well. They are essential components for any diet, packed with essential vitamins, minerals, and much-needed fiber. Collard greens, spinach, and kale are also high in lutein and zeaxanthin, carotenoids that do wonders for eye health and vision. You can steam these greens and mix them into rice bowls or have them in salads, but you can also put them into smoothies!

Healthy Protein

Protein is essential in any diet, but it is even more important in children growing every day. Many children’s lunch meals will have highly processed meats, and while these do have protein, the foods are also high in saturated fats. You should consider healthier protein options that also have essential fats, such as beans, nuts, seeds, fish, and eggs.

Water

Water seems out of place on this list, but it is crucial to consider it a healthier option compared to other options like sugary juices, sodas, sports and energy drinks, etc. These drinks have a lot of calories and sugar with little to no actual health benefit, and they can lead to massive health problems down the line. That’s why it is so critical that you place great importance on drinking water above all else.

The best foods you should incorporate into your child’s diet may not be their favorites, but if you at least get some on the plate, you are doing your job. Of course, it’ll be hard to convert your children to eat this way immediately, but getting them on these foods early will significantly impact their lives.

Tips for Finding Your Family’s Dream Home

By Leave a Comment

Tips for Finding Your Family’s Dream Home

For a family, a home is often one of the most important things they need. They’ve got kids, got a spouse, maybe even a dog, and now they need to find the dream home that they’ll want to live in forever. Unfortunately, finding the right home is easier said than done. Read on to learn how you can find your family’s dream home.

Go Into the Process With a Plan

The first thing you must find when looking for your dream home is the style of home you want. You don’t want to look through every house to find the right one because that’s like looking for a needle in a haystack. Instead, you should create specific criteria for the home you want: style, price range, location, size, neighborhood, commute time, etc. Plan this out so that buying a home is simple and not a never-ending search.

Work With a Professional

Finding a home is a complicated process, and there’s not a lot that you can do to make it easier. However, there’s one thing that you can do, and that’s work with a professional. You may ask yourself, “Should I work with a broker or a real estate agent?” There’s not much of a difference between the two, other than that brokers have more official training and can make the process a little more streamlined. In addition, they can help you find the perfect home and take away the headaches associated with the buying process.

Think of the Future

In addition to a lot of prior planning to make the buying process simple, you must also consider the future. What will your family look like in five, 10, or 20 years? It’s necessary to make these considerations so that you don’t end up in a home that quickly turns into a nightmare. It will take a lot of difficult conversations with your family, but you can find the perfect home after coming to a clear picture of your future. That may be one with an extra room for an additional child, a mother-in-law suite, a big backyard for future pets, or something cozier if that’s how you envision your future going.

There’s a lot you must consider when buying a home, but with these tips, finding your family’s dream home will be a breeze. Of course, it will still be somewhat of a challenge, but you can rest easy knowing that at the end of the process, you’ll have a wonderful home where you can lay your head down to rest.

Greatest Father-Son Combinations in Baseball History

By Leave a Comment

You know you are getting old when you’re seeing baseball players you grew up loving have sons as the number one pick in the draft or as a runner-up in MVP voting. There’s still time for current stars like Vladimir Guerrero Jr. and Jackson Holliday to become one of the greatest father-son combinations in baseball history. However, until they make more of an impression, these are the four pairs worth appreciating.

Cecil and Prince Fielder

Some duos compiled better numbers than Cecil and Prince Fielder, but they are nowhere near as entertaining as these first basemen. Cecil peaked when the 90s began, leading the league in home runs and RBI in consecutive seasons, including smacking 51 bombs in 1990.

Prince was a better hitter than his pops, finishing his career with a .887 OPS. But Prince’s career came to a screeching halt due to multiple neck surgeries. Prince’s best year was in 2007 when he hit 50 homers, making them the only father-son combo to hit 50 taters in a season. Even more miraculous is that both Fielders finished their careers with 319 round-trippers.

Felipe and Moises Alou

The most underrated father-son duo in baseball history is Felipe and Moises Alou. Felipe played during the time of Roberto Clemente, Hank Aaron, and Willie Mays, among others dominating the National League outfield, so he’s hardly in the conversation as one of the best outfielders in the 1960s. Yet, Felipe led the league in hits and runs in 1966 and hits during the year pitching dominant 1968 season.

Moises, whose claim to fame is flipping his gourd when Steve Bartman interfered with him during Game 6 of the NLCS for the Cubs, put together a remarkable career, compiling a career .303 batting average, 332 home runs, and 2134 hits.

Ken Griffey Sr. and Ken Griffey Jr.

Before Junior, Senior was a key component of Cincinnati Reds’ “Big Red Machine” in the mid-70s; Ken Griffey Sr. was a three-time All-Star, finishing his 19-year career with a .296 batting average. While that’s a wonderful career, it’s only a fraction of what Junior did.

Ken Griffey Jr. is the only Hall of Fame player on this list with the help of his 630 career home runs. He was a mainstay of the 90s and a fan favorite of any kid interested in the game. If you are a child of the 90s, there’s zero doubt you tried to turn on a fastball with Junior’s follow-through.

Bobby Bonds and Barry Bonds

Even though Ken Griffey Jr. is the only Hall of Fame player on the list, there should be another player enshrined in Cooperstown. Barry Bonds, enhanced or not, compiled ludicrous numbers. Bonds is the career leader in home runs (762) and walks (2,558), and from 1992 through 2004, he never had a season under a 1.000 OPS.

Many might not realize that Barry’s father, Bobby Bonds, also had an incredible career. Bobby was a menace on the basepaths and at the plate, stealing 461 bags and hitting 332 home runs. When you combine their statistics, there’s zero doubt this pair leads the way.

Your aspirations of being an MLB player may have hit a snag. Thus, not making you and your kid one of the greatest father-son combinations in baseball history. But you can do everything in your power to keep their dreams alive as they progress in their lives.

Warning Signs To Look Out for in a Used Car

By Leave a Comment

Getting a reliable used car for your soon-to-be drivers is a tricky process that requires prior knowledge of what to look for. While it isn’t realistic to expect to suddenly become a car expert overnight, there are ways to help prepare you beforehand. Every vehicle tells a story when it comes to its condition. These are some warning signs for a used car to keep your kid safe when they get their license.

Available Records

The records and history of the vehicle are normally freely available to the potential buyer who wants to look into what the car’s been through. While this detail might seem trivial to younger drivers, this is crucial information necessary to get a good idea of the car’s current condition. If an owner keeps the records to themselves or refuses to show them for any reason, that’s a good red flag to indicate that the car isn’t likely a trustworthy buy.

Unreported Damage

Despite having your hands on the vehicle history and not noticing anything in the photos, it’s important to inspect the car yourself carefully. This is supposed to be a more thorough method of discovering any damage that wasn’t visible in the photos. In the case that you do end up finding unreported damage, you’re free to either take your business elsewhere or inquire about it. Regardless, it’s a good idea not to get confrontational if something does end up discovered.

Bad Drive Shaft

The drive shaft is necessary to transfer energy from your engine to the tires to get them to spin properly. With this in mind, taking the car for a test drive is a good idea to determine if the acceleration sensitivity isn’t out of place. It helps to know some signs that a drive shaft has gone bad to have a clearer picture of what you’re looking for.

Going through the chore of finding a reliable car and a reliable seller is tough. However, when it comes to your kid’s safety, nothing is too much work to guarantee they come home unharmed. While they’re hopefully not common, there may be dishonest traders. Knowing some warning signs to look out for in a used car will help you avoid problems.