I didn't get spanked as a kid. I got the crap beat out of me, beaten until I cried, and then beaten for crying. I'd never put my daughter through that. Not that she's never gotten a measured response of a swat to the butt, but I've found that linking consequences for behavior to saying no to things she wants takes longer to get the message across, but does work. Thankfully, she's at a stage in development that she can communicate and comprehend, and I for one am glad our relationship wasn't founded on violence.

If someone wants to use a measured response of corporal punishment as discipline, that's their choice, and not really my place to say right or wrong.

The closest thing to a fairytale ending I ever got was to be a father after wanting to be one for more than a quarter of a century. Everyone else comes second to my daughter, who will inherit everything I have, which translates to a prenup being mandatory.

I chose younger by 17 years some time back and had simple standards back then and a goal of forming a family. I was reasonably content to finally become a father, but at the point that my future and by extension my daughter's was threatened, it was time to move on and evaluate my choices. Today, I'm happy to be a single for years to come instead of being with someone not healthy for me or my daughter. I'm not eager to have another dependent in this home and certainly don't want a situation that makes me an enabler. My next choice, irrespective of age, is going to be either a true partner in life or no partner at all.

You might well be surprised. I normally don't stay active on this site, but we've met and I've had wonderful opportunities to be of help to you and your family.

I've had years that I've had a relationship on Valentines and years I haven't. This year, I'm acknowledging valentines day as the day I spend part of the day to preserve my happiness as a single father. It will begin by going into court to ask that the charges not be dropped and the CPO be maintained. This Valentines day will be about spending time with family, the parts I can love and protect.

Kids visit our home pretty often. It's like going out except you don't have to go out to go out, at least for my daughter. More than 2 kids in my house gets a bit crazy, but she's got a best friend who sleeps over sometimes. I doubt anyone without kids would want to launch into that kind of chaos, but I also don't think that kind of chaos is a bad thing. It's you and your family, and if they can't handle it, there's the door. Dating isn't high on my list of priorities. We're already complete and comfortable. I'm mainly just here for the parenting threads.

Wow. Let's simplify it a bit. As a single father, anyone who considers my daughter baggage is baggage and should be left at the baggage claim aisle for someone else who can handle that level of selfishness.

It should. Being a single dad means geographic restrictions without having to go to court and getting the other parent to sign off on it. It also places limits on long distance relationships for similar reasons. Also, the best way to know how they're going to treat your kid(s) is to see how they treat their own, before getting too emotionally involved. I'm not really in that race to replace the mother. It's really about Daddy daughter time first, and adult relationships last.

Some years back, before I became a father, a woman on this site said she would only date people who were parents. Becoming a parent is a game changer, and today, I fully understand why that woman had the attitude she did. She wanted someone who understood first hand what parenting was about and didn't want to have to deal with the selfishness. I've been a single parent since June and would be perfectly fine if I was for years to come. For whatever relationship comes my way, if my daughter suffers because of it, I'm doing it wrong. There are several posts in this thread I agree with, because it's really about the kids being safe and happy too, and adult relationships secondary.

While I have done things that cost money and have become an attraction for other kids, such as a 15' trampoline, the majority of free forms of entertainment for my daughter I located through our local convention and visitors bureau's website and by asking for ideas in local facebook groups.

Government can not be expected to be the solution to the problems it creates. At least locally, I'm working to build a people owned cooperative of manufacturers, first by sharing excess resources (machine time), and with that success, to build up to encourage others to also work to that end. There will be no solution that helps the average American other than working together for mutual success, for one simple reason. Governments and corporations have considerably more in common with each other than they do with the rest of America.

1) What's not fulfilling about being a parent? Because of my chosen profession and lifestyle, I don't miss a day with her. I will remind her later in life that she kissed not only a politician but another girl too, but the whole parenting this is just plane awesome, with or without a mom in her life.


2) Both sexes think about sex. It's natural. Get over it.

As far as this opposite sex with kids thing goes, Attraction is the last thing on my list. First would be to watch how she treats her kids. If I don't like how she treats her kids, there's no reason to invest emotionally into a relationship that will ultimately involve my daughter. She gets he choice I never got as a child, veto power.

Sooner or later, the Gallagher look will be in, at which point, I'll be ready.

I don't even know that I like the term custody as it implies someone else has the right to take my own right to be a father from me. When the situation arises, and it will, I'll be making it very clear to child protective (abduction) services that their services are not needed. My daughter is well cared for and protected, sometimes, even from her own mother.

Anyone who has the courage and convictions to be the guy on the far left.

The fence is getting higher. It wont be long before people are squeeling like pigs, having gotten too lazy to work for their own survival. Note that I'm not talking about employment. I'm talking about survival.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K0zacaIard0&hd=1

5% of what you feel about your situation is factual. The balance is perceptual. When you see your illness is truly a part of who you are for its strengths and weaknesses, it will become as commonplace for you to tell others as it would be to let someone know a booger is hanging off their nose.

Have you found the strengths that come with your illness? If not, explore..

I think there's a pretty heavy smokescreen of lies about just who owns the fed, but definitely, it needs to be seized for the ponzi scheme that it represents, and put to a well deserved end. It has been used to kill and swindle millions of people of their wealth and is probably more evil than any government thought of being.

For acts of terrorism against Iran, I assumed it was the MOSSAD simply because they can't do anything without leaving easter egg clues behind. It's like batman vs the riddler.

For the attacks against Syria, I assumed CIA from the beginning, at least. For the most part, residents would not be interviewed because they knew even the Al Ja was lying about them. The Iranian Ninja women propaganda fooled me for at least a minute.

Most will never wake up, in spite of Orwellian drones flying over US air space. In fact, many never even saw the movie that created the term, "Orwellian". On a positive note, we are at a timing point. More than 1 in 8 people are awake, at least to the concept that something is wrong.

I've already stated where the mom is, although there is good news on that subject and she'll likely be returning home tomorrow and while it will take a good deal of time to repair our relationship, our baby will have her mother back, which is the most important issue.

What makes you think I'm on welfare? In fact, what makes you think I've had to work for anyone in the past decade? No amount of money will mean anything soon and each of us will find that our only wealth is ourselves, and what we have to offer to our communities. From your attitude, you seem pretty bankrupt.