Chris will continue to write articles about fitness for dads, as well as share his experience and thoughts about what it means to be a good dad.

Here’s some additional information about Chris:

Chris Lopez, BSc HK, CSCS is a fitness expert, writer and personal trainer. He is an occasional contributor to the Globe and Mail, Maximum Fitness and Men’s Fitness Magazines and has been helping get Busy Dads in shape for 10 years since the birth of his first child. He and his wife live in Toronto, Canada with their 4 daughters.  You can also read his Spotlight on Dads feature to get some more personal insights into this great dad.

Please join me in congratulating Chris for becoming a Contributing Writer for Discovering Dad!

If you want to learn more about Chris, check out his Fit and Busy Dad Blog or website.  You can also follow him on Twitter @fitandbusydad.

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Some say this path will be filled with obstacles and challenges that no one leader could ever overcome; others say that a new era of prosperity and peace will be upon us within the next four years. Either way, things are going to change and it is the result of all of you exercising your right to vote.

The following Discovering Dad readers were randomly selected to win the Pledge to Vote Prize packs from Hachette Books:

Clark
PG
Lee McKusick
Roger
Daniel

All five of you will receive 10 politically-oriented books from Hachette Books USA.

Thanks again for taking the time to pledge and vote! Now, it is important that we all stay engaged and informed as to the new direction Obama decides to take America.

Feel free to share your thoughts about the results of Election 2008!

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I live in Southern California. There are a LOT of people here, and the population grows exponentially every year. Traffic worsens, smog thickens and violence increases. Why don’t I just come right out and say it? It is packed full-o-people. One would be hard-pressed to find an Angeleno who would actually sign their name to the statement “Yeah, I think LA could handle a few more. It’s kind of boring and quiet here, really. Plus, I’m tired of getting to work so fast. I need the extra time in my car to think!”

Yet I continue to witness people having more and more children, and can’t help but wonder why? I myself have one child, but would be more than happy with two. After that my wife and I will call it quits. I’m not suggesting that two kids is the magic number, but I am saying that the birth rate in LA needs to be brought under control.

There are a number of personal reasons for my belief in this issue which I believe apply nationally, if not globally, as well:

1. Financial. In my own personal situation, I would simply not be able to support any more than two children and provide for my family the lifestyle and opportunities that I wish them to have. I believe that we are all responsible for evaluating our own financial situation and balancing dependents against what’s fiscally possible. If you are a billionaire, have at it, at least as it pertains to this particular point. But if you will knowingly need financial support from outside parties and entities, would it not be better to wait until you can provide the resources necessary to give the child a fair shot and the best possible opportunity in life.

2. Environmental. Can we all at least agree that global warming is at least partly a reality now? I don’t need Al Gore or the Internet to convince me. I can see it. I can see it happening all around me. We are slow to react to this phenomenon because of its gradual nature. If, when I moved to LA 15 years ago I had awoken one day to find that the air quality, crime rate increase and population increase seen over the last 15 years had happened overnight I would have high-tailed it out of here in a split second. Overcrowding and overpopulating is the primary factor contributing to the rapidly-increasing degradation of our forests and environment in general. If you think that having ten kids in Detroit can’t possibly affect the Amazon Rainforest, click here. Global warming is simply the Earth eliminating toxin from itself the way our bodies eliminate a virus. Even if we all have 10 kids each, sooner or later at that rate good old Mother Earth will cure herself of the “human flu.”

3. Philanthropic. Its easy to argue that you do have enough money to support a large family and that you use compact fluorescent bulbs in your house and drive a Prius to work every day. But there’s another factor that I believe is much less tangible than the ones listed above. Human charity. I live in Los Angeles, yes. We have a severe homeless crisis. Our public schools are typically in the Top 10 worst in the country in national test averages, drop out rate, gang violence and illiteracy. The picture is pretty grim, right? Wrong. LA is Easy Street compared to other areas in the world. Bangladesh. Pakistan. Ethiopia. The list goes on and on. These countries represent our future. Imagine a human race that was able to sustain itself globally, rather than nationally. Imagine if, when deciding whether or not to add another child to the family, we stopped to think about how much resource could be contributed to people suffering in OTHER parts of the world first by opting not to. In theory, the human race would be able to regulate itself, instead of panicking when Mother Nature decides its time to do it herself.

I thought a long time before writing this post and, to be honest, I almost didn’t do it. My concern is that it may erupt into a hotbed of criticism and negativity. This is not my intention. No, this post was born out of a sadness I feel within from time to time. A sadness that comes from hearing that my neighbor’s oldest son (one of many) has no hearing in his left ear because he was gang-beaten to within an inch of his life in an LAUSD school when he was eight. EIGHT. Two or three less kids and a safer, private school would have been an option. Or, even better, two or three less kids and perhaps a teacher or parent at this school may have had just a bit more time in his impossible schedule to spend with the kids who administered the attack, maybe preventing it from happening in the first place. Two or three less kids in more than one of the families with students that attend that school and perhaps the parents would have had a bit more time to spend on their own children, preventing not only this brutal act, but others as well; potentially breaking the chain and leading to a safer and more eco-friendly existence, as well as benefiting the human race as a whole.

What do you think is the right number of kids to have? How many are too many kids per family?

Matt Pfingsten is a Contributing Writer for Discovering Dad. His personal site is The Playpen. You can also connect with Matt via Twitter @mattredsparks.

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As a dad, it is important to me that I role model civic responsibility to my kids, and the first and most important way that I do that is by exercising my right to vote.  The second way I do this is by getting informed and understanding the issues and candidates positions on them.  The third way I do this is by getting involved.

You can involved too.

Discovering Dad Pledge to Vote Contest

All you have to do is leave a comment with your pledge that you will go to the polls and vote on Tuesday, November 4th.

Now, I would strongly recommend taking the time over the next week to dig deeper into the issues that are important to you and your family.  Where do the candidates stand on each of these issues?  Which one of them will best represent your position?  What can you do between now and November 4th to get involved?

I pledge to all of you that I will be informed and voting.  I encourage all of you to join me!

Hachette Book Group has agreed to send 5 random pledgers a package of 10 books related to politics, including The Revolution by Ron Paul, From Hope to Higher Ground by Mike Huckabee, Hard Call by John McCain and Mike’s Election Guide by Michael Moore.

I’d love to see at least 100 dads/moms/readers pledge to vote!  Thanks for voting!  The contest runs through Tuesday, November 4th.

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As promised, the Grand Prize winning entry is published below.  Congratulations to Mishi from Secret Agent Mama!!!  The thing I really liked about Mishi’s adventure was that it was about self-discovery, courage and personal transformation.  Here is her story entitled My Greatest Adventure:

I was really still just a kid; a kid that needed to become an adult and just cut those apron strings already. I didn’t realize that by telling my new husband to look for a job anywhere, that he would actually listen. He listened to me, though, and searched for a job. Where else would he look first other than New Orleans? It was the place that I fell in love with him, all over again, after our initial love trip.

The day he told me that he had an interview, on the phone, with a guy in New Orleans for a job, is a day that I won’t ever forget. The butterflies in my stomach danced around so much, so quickly, that I felt nauseous. There was no turning back. I couldn’t take a perfectly good job away from him, especially after he’d been looking for one so diligently. I wasn’t going to be that wife.

And so, it happened; he got the job. I was able to transfer with my job at the portrait studio, too. It was too good to be true. It was perfect. Then [we] had to tell my parents, the apron-wearers. The knot in that apron was so tight, and so binding, that it was a chore to get it undone. Such a chore that scissors made of platinum were needed. Somehow I found the right tool, and I used it.

They were so angry, with such a seething anger, but it had to be done. I had to go grow up. It was time. This was it.

The adventure began. We packed up what little belongings we had—which included the world’s heaviest sectional—in a small U-Haul, packed up our new puppy, Sadie, said our sad-drawn-out-goodbyes, and drove off towards the Big Easy.

I don’t believe, for a minute, that it was easy for me. Quite possibly, for the whole two years we lived there, I cried daily. Phone calls were an emotional roller coaster. I’d be fine the whole day, only to [come] home, to answer the phone, and to be thrown into a pit of guilt and overwhelming sadness. I know I was their only daughter, but, damn it, did the guilt have to be so tragic and crushing.

Daily I would realize, though, that I was flourishing. My mind was becoming its own and I was making decisions for myself. Sure, I had Michael, but I was not relying on anyone else. There were no other eyes peering at me. There was no audience. There was only a new realm where I was in control; I could choose to go certain places without any explanation or any trepidation. I held the reigns. This was my time.

This great adventure set the stage. We’d move back to the place of my birth two times, but ultimately we’d move away thrice. This last time, here, is going to stick. Strangely I am more myself in a place that is other than that of my upbringing. Sometimes I think about why that is so, and I cannot seem to formulate the thought completely. I guess the closest way I can describe it is like this: Growing up I was a caterpillar. Slowly I made it through life under the careful eyes of parental caterpillar units. They tried to keep me safe, tried to keep me from falling prey to those cannibalistic ones, tried to keep me comfortable in my caterpillar skin. But, it wasn’t right. The metamorphosis was inevitable. Somehow, someway, I was destined to fly off with my pulchritudinous wings.

Free.
Destined.
Bold.
Venturous.

Mishi’s Grand Prize includes:

• Complete Box Set Books #1 – #7

• Copy of the 10th Anniversary Edition of ‘Sorcerer’s Stone’

• Collectible Harry Potter Gold Pin

Congratulations also to the 4 First Prize Winners who were randomly selected from the Discovering Dad e-mail subscriber list:

1.  Brillig

2.  WeaselMomma

3.  Julian R.

4.  Eric R.

First Prize Winners all receive:

• Copy of the 10th Anniversary Edition of ‘Sorcerer’s Stone’

• Collectible Harry Potter Gold Pin

Thanks again to all those who entered the contest, as well as our sponsor Scholastic Books.

The next contest on Discovering Dad will be centered around the importance of exercising your right to vote.  Stay tuned for more information to come!

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