Parenting is a full contact sport and there is never a break or a half time. They should put potential parents through a boot camp to see if they are able to handle the task, but I think this would halt human reproduction. You never get a break while parenting. Well, I guess there is one when they sleep, but that’s when you need a break. Your body and mind will just go into recharge mode. It’s not the physicality of it that is what is tiring, it’s the mental, philosophical and societal factor as well. You are responsible for your kids and others judge you if it looks like you are doing it wrong. And if you are really doing it wrong, you will end up in jail or worse. But at the end of the day nobody knows if they are doing it right or wrong. All we can do is try to keep them fed, well, and “happy.” And happiness is a relative term here, for me and for them. For example, I am happy when we are running around with them playing games, when they are eating a meal I cooked, or w...

Cooking for kids is an exercise in camouflage, patience and restraint. Now that my daughter has started to go to preschool, she has started to have all the foods that I didn't really want her to have such as pizza, fried chicken, candy, pastries, cookies, sausages, sugary drinks, and much more. When she was at home, her mother and I would make everything fresh and she used to eat more vegetables. Now, if I had packed her lunch everyday, she would have been envious of the other kids anyway. I understand the lunch lady's position as well. They have limited resources and time to make food for many kids. They want to limit waste and they want the kids to be happy. The problem with this is that it develops the child's idea of what is "delicious" and "good." I think they also develop a taste for salt, sugar and, sadly, MSG. I don't really know what I can do except that I need to make the food at home better and tastier than what she has at school....

Life has been busy these days because I am a dad. The only person that gets a hot meal in my house is my daughter. It's all good though since she is so cute.

Hazell Dear Readers, Korea has been a trip and I think the big adventure is about to get started. 11 years ago I came to Korea with less than $500 dollars in my pocket, a mountain of credit card debt, a dream and not much else. I came to Korea because I had the urge to travel the world. After graduating university from the awesome University of Delaware  I had school loans out the wazoo and no real plan on how to pay them. I tried to get a "corporate job" but I was rejected because I had "no experience." For a few months I lived as a hippie artist writing and working as a barista at the Brew Ha Ha! Then when the bank loans kicked in I started working 7 days a week morning and night as a waiter, cook and barista at a number of different places because I was determined to pay off my school loan within a year. It was about 15,000 USD and I would go into the bank once a week reeking like coffee, grease and sweat dropping $300- $1000 dollars, whatever I could. I w...

My wife told me something something quite revealing today. She said, "Women are expected to sacrifice for their children. They should breast feed their babies, they are expected to make the baby food. They are expected to watch and take care of their children all the time from the cradle to the grave." Growing up in America, I figured that was both of the parents jobs. She told me, "In Korea, the burden of child rearing is mainly on the mothers. Fathers are supposed to support the family financially." On trips to the supermarket, I realized that most supermarkets do not have baby food. You know the little jars of peas, carrots, apple sauce and all the other stuff. Most women in Korea make their children's baby food themselves. My wife has a special machine (which I will have to show you later) that will steam and then mince the food into natural baby food. We are also very careful to have organic and pesticide-free products for our child. Since my baby was about...

The  Baby Hazel loved it because it was clean, the water was heated and there were lots of fun toys. They put the tube carefully around the neck and it helps her float. She swam for almost 30 minutes. #babyoftheyear #babyhazel #korea  This was over at Yongsan Station's Culture center. I believe it was the 4th floor.  via Instagram http://ift.tt/1PKPcOE