If this chapter of our lives had a title, it would be:

Something Smells Terrible.

I mentioned this to my wife who added a subtitle:

And Why is This Wet?

I’m a dad of 5 kids – the oldest is 8, the youngest will be born later this spring.

I’m an adoptive dad.

I’m a biological dad.

I’m a dad of a multiracial family.

I’m a dad of a kid who continues to experience the consequences of early childhood trauma.

I’m a dad who doesn’t know what he’s doing.

We dads need to be able to talk about this. There’s lots of mom blogs about the struggles of being a mom of a big family or a mom of a traumatized kid. Something Smells Terrible is my effort to balance protecting my kids with adding a voice for dads to the discussion.

Fathers play an irreplaceable role in the development of kids. Men experience things differently as parents. This is true, whether you think it’s biological, theological, or cultural.

It’s really hard for a dad to admit that he doesn’t know what he’s doing. That he doesn’t know how to effectively discipline — or disciple his kids. I’m starting this blog in an effort to put a dad’s voice out there to lead to encouraging and helpful discussion with other parents – dads and moms.

I need to wrap this up – something around here smells terrible.