What IS a Father? The Definition of a Dad.

The featured image for "Forty Days to Father's Day #2": Casey Palmer holding his newborn son, with the title on a rose argyle background.

Last updated on May 20th, 2021 at 01:25 am

WHAT is a father, ANYWAY?

When people ask “what is a father”, that’s something I’ve struggled to adequately answer for years.

A photo of Casey with his infant son, with Casey asleep behind a very alert seven-month-old. (circa 2014)
I wish this were staged, but no — I was completely zonked when this was taken, and he was raring to go for the day!

Through my many years spent as a dad blogger, I’ve tried repeatedly to create work that explains how I see myself as a dad. I’ve floundered over and over again in the process, never seeming to find the right words to fit, but it’d eventually be my newfound love for search engine optimization that’d give me some guidance on the kinds of things that people want to know about being a dad. Not all the questions go super deep, with many just at the beginning of the journey, but those questions gave me the building blocks I needed to tell my story in a way that others would understand.

And I think it’s important that I do—we have this oversimplified idea of what a father’s supposed to be, force-fed to us by a society who saw the dad as one thing. The father as the silent, grumpy disciplinarian, meant to be respected and feared. The one-dimensional dad who can throw a ball or barbecue a steak, but has little to offer by the way of household or emotional support.

But in 2021, I think we want to strive for a new standard, finding ways to show the world what the #DadLife’s really about instead of the stereotype we keep clinging to.

I’m Casey Palmer, and I’m a dad. Let me tell you a little of what that’s all about.

Read More about what it MEANS to be a dad. It’s more than you think! “What IS a Father? The Definition of a Dad.”

Forty Days to Father’s Day: The Intro

The featured image for the first post of my Forty Days to Father's Day series, with a group of men of different ages and ethnicities looking at the camera.

Last updated on May 20th, 2021 at 01:25 am

Forty Days to Father’s Day: Why I Decided to Write a Fatherhood Series

With Mother’s Day come and gone for another year, I’ve started thinking about Father’s Day and everything around it.

Many might think it’s too early for that—especially since we’re only days after the marketing onslaught that Mother’s Day always brings with it and we’d all like time to recover—but let me tell you a bit about how fathers see Father’s Day and why I’m already talking about it almost six weeks out.

Casey Palmer and his boys sitting on the couch, circa 2016.

Compared to Mother’s Day, Father’s Day is a bit of a joke. Despite a growing number of men who are taking fatherhood very seriously, trying to change how the world sees us, there are a lot of past transgressions we need to overcome before dads are seen as people to be celebrated instead of simply tolerated.

It was something I’d notice as I started doing research for my book—a look at how the world saw its fathers:

“Why is my dad so angry?”

“Why do dads leave?”

“What is it like to have a dad?”

Compared to mothers, it feels like the world’s view on fathers can be overwhelmingly negative, and that has a whole lot to do with why Father’s Day feels like more of a concession than the celebration that we’d like it to be.

You hear it often, though, when it comes to raising kids—when faced with problems that feel so insurmountable because we see them wherever we look, there’s only one thing we can do to try and make things better:

We need to create the world we want to live in.

Read More about Forty Days to Father’s Day and What to Expect this Year! “Forty Days to Father’s Day: The Intro”

A Last-Minute Mother’s Day Gift Guide

A Last-Minute Mother's Day Gift Guide including a Union Chicken Mother's Day Brunch Kit from ChefDrop!

Last updated on May 5th, 2021 at 10:39 am

So it’s a week before Mother’s Day and much like every year, there are far too many people who leave their shopping to the last minute, failing to get the mothers in their lives the gifts they deserve for the occasion. I’ve heard far too many stories of  flowers bought in a rush at the local grocery store or gift cards to “that place she likes”, but even if you tell yourself it’s the thought that counts, here’s the problem:

One just needs a few clicks on a computer and the other you probably got ’cause you forgot.

What moms want this Mother’s Day is to feel appreciated, because as most parents can tell you, it takes a whole lot of effort to raise kids.

And that appreciation might need a little more than the carnations sitting next to the cashier at cash #7.

So that in mind, I wanted to create a last-minute guide for everyone out there who’s struggling to find a great gift idea this Mother’s Day. It’s a little challenging, especially somewhere where the COVID-19 pandemic is keeping us in our homes with a stay-at-home order in effect and in-person shopping just isn’t an option, but it’s not impossible—there are plenty of shops who offer virtual options, delivery or have plenty of great pick-up options available up to the day before Mother’s Day!

So without further ado, I’d like to welcome you to Casey Palmer, Canadian Dad’s Last-Minute Mother’s Day Gift Guide, full of ideas that’ll make sure to put a smile on Mom’s face when she opens it next Sunday! While some might not feel that a full week before Mother’s Day isn’t truly last-minute, that thinking’s what got us here in the first place.

Let me help you do better this year.

CONTINUE READING to learn what’s OUT there this Mother’s Day! “A Last-Minute Mother’s Day Gift Guide”

My Heart Matters: Dealing with Type 2 Diabetes

When it comes to Type 2 Diabetes, there are so many misconceptions about the disease and how to manage it that it’s important to get the right information about it. My Heart Matters put me to the challenge of learning all about it!

Diabetes—a disease that everybody’s heard about, but so few people understand. For Canadians living with type 2 diabetes, heart disease is the number one cause of death, with 50% of deaths due to some form of cardiovascular disease. Type 2 diabetes can reduce life expectancy by as much as fifteen years. You can help better manage combat diabetes through diet and exercise, sure, but if you have type 2 diabetes and a family history of heart disease, healthy lifestyle habits might not be enough to protect your heart. Through this post, I want to educate you all about diabetes (all opinions based on personal experience), and if you have type 2 diabetes, to inspire you to take an active role in protecting your heart.

Let me tell you some more!

Continue reading to learn more about My Heart Matters and why they URGE us to understand Type 2 Diabetes! “My Heart Matters: Dealing with Type 2 Diabetes”

TurboTax Self-Employed

An image of a Black man using a laptop, using TurboTax Self-Employed software to do his taxes.

Last updated on April 21st, 2021 at 11:53 pm

Many of us dream of owning our own businesses, being able to call the shots and feel like we’re working by our own priorities instead of anybody else’s. The idea’s appealing—there’s little in life like getting rewards that measure up to the amount of effort you put in—but you’re sorely mistaken if you expect it to be a cakewalk. You soon discover that owning a business comes with a lot of responsibility—keeping track of expenses. Paying wages. And it all comes to a head around this time each year when we have to account for it all and pay our self-employed taxes. But TurboTax Live Full-Service Self-Employed will help to guide you along the way and give your business the little lift it deserves this tax season.

Taxes Aren’t SUPPOSED to be Fun, but They Don’t Have to be HARD. Enter TurboTax Self-Employed.

Owning a business can seem overwhelming—you suddenly have to do all this stuff on your own that other people or entire departments would do for you if you were an employee. Paying employment insurance and Canada Pension Plan contributions for your employees. Keeping track of your business expenses and knowing which ones apply to your claims and deductions. It really challenges you to be as organised as possible so that tax time’s a smooth transition when you need to make sense of it all.

That said, my tax approach isn’t always the best it could be, but I’ve learned some things from it that I want to help you avoid when preparing your return.

CONTINUE READING to find out more about how TurboTax Self-Employed Can help you take command of your taxes! “TurboTax Self-Employed”
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