HOME

BOOKMARK

NEWSLETTER

Join our newsletter to receive news of offers and discounts

Search

AS FEATURED IN...


Lucy Siegle On Eithical Living: Sunday March 5, 2006 The Observer

Weight Watchers®.co.uk. Now with an online plan.

Navigation


Parening Books

Search Now:
Amazon Logo


Poker Parenting: 4 Ways Poker Skills Produce Parenting Thrills


Even as a busy parent, I'm sure you've seen a poker show on TV or at least heard your friends or relatives talking about it. You might even be someone who's caught up in the poker craze of the past two years, riding the wave of a steep learning curve. As an avid poker player and father of two, I realize more each day how my poker skills help me raise my kids. Want to know how? Here are four ways to turn your poker skills into parenting thrills:

Play the Hand You're Dealt
No Limit Texas Hold Em is exciting to play because any hand can win. And that's what separates a professional from an amateur -- the ability to win pots with bad hands.

The same is true for fatherhood. The "hand we're dealt" is the family environment we grew up in. Let's face it -- none of us grew up in an ideal environment, just as none of us gets dealt a pair of aces every hand. But the beauty of No Limit Texas Hold Em -- and fatherhood -- is that any hand can win; it all depends on how you play it.

Give Action to Get Action
In poker, you should occasionally play hands you wouldn't normally play, in order to "give action" to other players. Then when you have a good hand and bet, those players are more likely to give the action back to you.

So what kind of action are you giving your kids? Do you play games they like to play, even if they seem silly? Do you regularly attend their school events? Are you there during difficult times? Even if you're not interested in the activity, your involvement shows genuine interest in your children. They might not understand that message, but they will feel it, and that's much more important.

Look for Diamonds in the Muck
We're never quite prepared for the shocks and challenges that life deals us. Our daughter, Ashley, was only two when my wife and I discovered she had diabetes. Our lifestyle changed dramatically as we learned to control this disease.

What can parents do when experiencing a bad beat like this? Look for diamonds in the muck. In other words, look for the positive in a negative experience.

One of the positives of Ashley's diabetes is learning to be disciplined and have self-control. She can't simply follow her impulses to eat whatever she wants, whenever she wants. As a diabetic teenager someday, that discipline will help her when she is studying in high school.

The Thrill (and Chill) of Going All In
"I'm all in" -- three words every poker player loves to say. It's do-or-die when you commit all your chips. So what does going all in as a father mean? It means making an all-out commitment to your kids.

Dropping them off or picking them up from daycare or school. Eating some dinners together as a family each week. Helping them solve problems with their friends. What commitments do you make on a consistent basis?

Fatherhood brings lots of work and responsibility, so going all in can be chilling -- a daunting task with little reward. If you think of all the little ways you're building a relationship with your kids, going all in is thrilling -- and many of the rewards come years later. But that kind of sums up parenting doesn't it?

To learn more about relating poker to parenting, research on fatherhood, and fatherhood organizations, go to http://learninginterface.com/ and click on Tele-seminars. Treat yourself or a father you know to Mark's tele-seminar on June 16, a unique Father's Day gift.


MORE RESOURCES:

Swain County DSS denies records request on twin babies
Asheville Citizen-Times, NC - 15 hours ago
The newspaper will ask today for a judge to force the release of a case summary should the department have had any previous contact with the babies. ...


Afrik.com

World Briefing | Africa Nigeria: 34 Babies Killed by Tainted ...
New York Times, United States - Dec 2, 2008
The powder, My Pikin Baby Teething Mixture, was contaminated with the industrial solvent diethylene glycol purchased from an unregistered chemical dealer, ...
'Toxic' syrup kills Nigerian babies Aljazeera.net
Teething mixture kills more Nigerian babies Monsters and Critics.com
Nigerian Needs Antidote For Poisoned Babies ShortNews.com
BBC News - Daily Sun
all 113 news articles


Lots of eggs, but no babies for Galapagos tortoise
The Associated Press - 21 hours ago
QUITO, Ecuador (AP) — By this point in his long life, Lonesome George should be at least a grandfather. But even fatherhood appears to be eluding the ...


Phil Harrison: physical media to be obsolete, babies will want digital
MMORPG blog - 4 hours ago
A bold remark from former Sony boss, now-turned Infogrames prez Phil Harrison. He thinks that physical media will be facing some rather tough times within ...


TopNews

One in three babies born by caesarean
Swissinfo, Switzerland - 3 hours ago
Twice as many children born by caesarean are transferred to intensive care with breathing problems, compared with naturally born babies. ...
C-section ups asthma risk in kids Siasat Daily
Caesarean link to childhood asthma goodtoknow
C-Section Might Boost Baby's Asthma Risk U.S. News & World Report
NHS Choices - Bounty
all 25 news articles


Javno.hr

Belgians arrested over online surrogate baby case
Reuters - 1 hour ago
"We are looking into whether these babies were sold," the spokeswoman said. Such a trade could result in a two year prison sentence. ...
Belgian Internet 'surrogate mother' in fraud probe Canada.com
all 7 news articles


San Francisco Chronicle

Dead Babies Can Take Care of Themselves
OpEdNews, PA - 21 hours ago
The poisoning reemerged this time in infant baby formula manufactured in China. By the end of September 94000 infants have been injured worldwide. ...
300000 Babies Suffered From Chinese Melamine Scandal HULIQ
Safe Family: Baby formula warning KXII-TV
Gazette Opinion: FDA must ensure baby formula safety Billings Gazette
Examiner.com - InjuryBoard.com
all 209 news articles


Extra TV

More Babies for Brad?
Extra TV - 23 hours ago
Brad Pitt is busy promoting "The Curious Case of Benjamin Button," and tonight he's stopping by CNN to chat with Larry King. King questioned Pitt about the ...


CPS: Babies ‘cosleeping’ with adults is dangerous
Jacksonville Daily Progress, TX - Dec 3, 2008
By reviewing child death investigations conducted by Child Protective Services, the agency has found that 170 babies across the state died in the past year ...


Times Online

The Holtzbergs and their Tay-Sachs babies
transPARENT, FL - Dec 3, 2008
Among the many details that have emerged about the murders of almost 200 people in Mumbai, including Rabbi Gavriel Holtzberg and his wife, Rivkah, ...
When you break the hearts of babies Examiner.com
Tears For Mumbai From The Editor's Desk Five Towns Jewish Times Online
Love the victims, loathe their killers Jerusalem Post
all 3,048 news articles

babies - Google News