5 things I learned in 2011

1. Sleep is under rated! To keep a high tolerance for constantly spilled milk, chest hair being ripped out in clumps, ubiquitous Cheerios under foot and sounds pumped up an additional 10 decibels, sleep is absolutely a necessity.

2. TV is not family friendly. Commercials, news, and television show trailers with inappropriate scenes, actions and language infiltrate even the most innocent programming. Even when trying to put on Brainy Baby from On Demand, you have to see trailers to all the two-bit R rated movies in the preview pane. When watching mild Sunday morning programming, you will be inundated with gory news updates. The bottom line—TV is not for kids, unless you limit your channel surfing to the kid-only channels like Qubo or Sprout.

3. Time flies. 2011 came and went in the blink of an eye. It has driven home point that every day is precious and worth the added effort required to make it special.

4. The most valuable resource is attention. Kids like toys, but they love attention. And grown ups are no different. We seek it out on Facebook, we schedule it during the holidays, and we are disappointed when we miss it. So it is important to make sure that we are not just sitting in a room together, but instead, are giving our undivided attention.

5. Being a dad is really f'n cool. That one speaks for itself.

I'd love to hear what others have learned in the past year. Please share your thoughts in the comments.

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