Tag: parenting

It’s Not Babysitting if it’s Your Kid.

The featured image for Forty Days for Father's Day #8 featuring Casey with his youngest son in a baby carrier.

Last updated on June 5th, 2021 at 12:49 pm

Why the World Has Fatherhood WRONG.

It took me until we had our second child to feel like I was getting a handle on fatherhood, much of the awkwardness I’d had from those early days with our first son melted away as I just sprang into action the second time around.

But I’ll never forget what happened a few weeks into being a family of four when Sarah and I decided to do some grocery shopping with our newborn while our oldest was away at daycare.

How Manulife Can Cover Me — Why Life Insurance is SO IMPORTANT — Newborn Little Man in His Carseat

Grocery shopping as new parents is always easier when you have two or more people do it together, because trying to manage a baby and shopping cart on your own ain’t easy!

(Putting a car seat on top of a shopping cart is a no-no, so how do you carry you baby and have room for your groceries, too? Do you get a second cart? Get a stroller with generous bottom basket like the Uppababy Vista and take smaller trips? You have to get very creative to make it work, but a parent’s gotta do what a parent’s gotta do.)

So, with two of us there to share the load, we decided to split up and have me walk our baby around the store for his nap while Sarah got everything we needed. And as I did a lap past the meat aisle, an older woman not much lighter in complexion than myself decided to strike up conversation about my baby and me.

“Awww—look at your baby! He’s so cute!”

“Thank you!”

“Oh, I miss those days—he looks so sweet while he sleeps!”

“Well, so far so good, anyway.”

“Where’s the mother? She let you take him out on your own?”

I’m sorry—what???

Continue reading “It’s Not Babysitting if it’s Your Kid.”

#BlackDadWorries

#BlackDadWorries (Featured Image)

Last updated on March 30th, 2021 at 10:21 pm

Yesterday, thanks to the advice from a friend to save my Instagram story to my profile, I came up with a new hashtag #BlackDadWorries that spells out how I feel in the face of all this death. And death isn’t even calling it what it is—murder, with Black lives continually cut short, and the message made clear: there’s nowhere out there where Black people should reasonably expect to be safe from a world that’s trying to get them.

#BlackDadWorries—My Two Boys in the Kitchen

My boys are still young, but they’re growing up quick, developing worlds and lives of their own. And while I’d love just to sit back and let them develop on their own so they can build senses of self in the truest sense of the phrase… the world we live in won’t let me do it. Yes, they’re six and four, but they’re six- and four-year-olds who hear they look “dirty” because their skin is darker. Six- and four-year-olds who hear they’re not white enough to play with other kids. I’d love to take things slow, but their world’s developing quickly, and it makes me wonder when I’ll need to sit them down and tell them what the world’s really like.

CONTINUE READING about my #BlackDadWorries and the things I know I’ll need to teach them in the not-too-distant future 😕 “#BlackDadWorries”

Why I Made The Corona Chronicles A Series

Why I Made The Corona Chronicles A Series (Featured Image)

Last updated on November 4th, 2020 at 04:25 pm

Casey's Corona Chronicles—How to Outlast Your Kids in the Midst of a Global Pandemic—Empty Grocery Store Shelves
Is this what the world’s end looks like? Credit to André Proulx.

What do you even write about when the whole world’s burning down? Multibillion-dollar sports empires ended their seasons early. The travel industry shut down in one fell swoop. I didn’t start talking about COVID-19 right away because it was all anyone could talk about, but as soon as we closed schools down for three weeks across Ontario, how could I not?

When I first published The Corona Chronicles on March 13th, though, I was so short-sighted. I called the three-week quarantine “March Br3ak”, thinking this would all somehow resolve itself by April. I didn’t jump on long-term prep right away, figuring I could do some catch-up once things calmed down a bit.

But then our businesses shut down on the 16th. Travel another four days later. We learned that this was no small thing—we needed to learn a “new normal” with a very uncertain future ahead. This was no three-week ordeal.

And as the days dragged on and I kept writing about the experience, it only grew clearer there was more going on than a single post could contain. I needed a full series.

So here, in week eight of The Great Quarantine, I’d like to welcome you to The Corona Chronicles: The Series, where we talk about life as a family in Toronto, trying to stay sane each day as we find new ways to adjust.

I, for one, look forward to returning to some semblance of normal soon, but until we do, you can expect me to keep writing about it.

Be well, everyone, and keep doing what you need to to make it in these times!

Until the next, I remain,

The second logo for Casey Palmer, Canadian Dad

Do Less Better.

The Life and Times of Casey Palmer — The State of the #BloggerLife, February 2019 — Do Less Better. (Featured Image)

Last updated on March 21st, 2021 at 02:36 am

Table of contents

One thing I’ve been particularly horrible at is learning to say “no”.

The Long Road to Becoming a Better Blogger

They say hindsight’s 20/20, and if my old report cards are an indication of anything, the people around me could see I was sowing the seeds to my destruction long before I could.

The Life and Times of Casey Palmer—The State of the #BloggerLife, February 2019—Do Less Better.—The Pile of Work

We all know there’re only twenty-four hours in a day, but I’ve been working to optimise every minute of my days since I was twelve. I could sleep when I was dead—I had too many ideas and a plethora of interests; it was all about the short-term pain for the long-term gain, and I was confident that I’d reach the day where I wouldn’t need to work so hard anymore.

But it’s been more than twenty years of sleepless nights and wishful thinking since, and I’m still not quite so sure when I’ll figure it all out.

I mean, the question is this—how do you succeed with your content when you can’t make it your everything?

CONTINUE READING to see how much of The 2019 200 I pulled off in January, and what’s yet to come! “Do Less Better.”

Jennifer Tammy | Life and Times of the Single Mom

Chatting with Casey, Episode 0009 — The Life and Times of the Single Mom — Featured Image

Last updated on April 21st, 2021 at 09:28 pm

And then you have the times where you fall off the wagon and scramble to find the way back onto your path.

Chatting with Casey 0009—The Life and Times of the Single Mom—The Palmer Boys

I never wanted to step away from podcasting as long as I did, but my life had other things in mind—summertime trips. An office workload dialled up to eleven. Things were piling up on top of the fact that the most recent episode didn’t have the crystal clear audio I was looking for, so I took a step back to try and figure things out while handling the rest of my life. But several months and a good listen-through later, I realised it wasn’t as bad as I thought! We’re bringing October to a close, and I’m back and ready to go steady!

CONTINUE READING to listen to Chatting with Casey, Episode Nine! “Jennifer Tammy | Life and Times of the Single Mom”
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