I wonder how long we can keep saying no before they then just stop asking. I now my wife is much stricter than me when it comes to food and often if I tell the kids to go ask mum they automatically say ‘she will say no, she always does’.
I think is important to let them experience things and make mistakes, except for boys those must be daddy approved. LOL
I will do that, if I can wrestle it away from my daughter. We have the back yard inspection today, so hopefully that is a pass and then we just have to wait a couple more weeks. I’ll be sure to add some pics on here so everyone can enjoy the cuteness.
FWIW (as someone who doesn’t have kids, but was one not somewhat more recently)
My dad gave me a TON of freedom growing up. I didn’t hear “no” often. Sure, if I was misbehaving or something like that, he shut it down, but he gave me a lot of room to try things on my own.
Some examples may explain better. I spent most of my childhood running through the woods behind our neighborhood with my friends. Making forts, fishing, playing with a BB gun, whittling sticks with my pocketknife (never into anything, I think young boys just like to cut things).
I tried tons of sports. Never any that cost a lot of money to be fair, they were all through school, but I was free to try whatever I wanted. Same with clubs, or any other extra curricular things.
Growing into my teenage years, I had a lot of freedom with my social life. As a result, I can honestly say I never snuck out of the house, or lied to my dad about what I was doing. One of the farthest examples, but when I was 17 a girl I knew had too much to drink at a party with some older guys, felt unsafe, and called me at 0100 asking me to give her a ride home. I woke up my dad, told him what was going on, and said I needed to handle this. And he said okay. Gave me some advice about being smart about it, and to call him if I felt I couldn’t handle the situation. I got the girl, dropped her off at her house, and came back to my dad just sitting at the kitchen table, staying up to make sure I was alright. Maybe it’s not that big of a deal, but it made an impact on me as a teenager that my dad trusted me like that, and I felt that he was proud of me for being that type of kid others would call in a bad situation.
Now, he did say no sometimes. If I wanted to do something too dangerous? Hard no. (Like my attempt at 16 to buy a motorcycle.) If I got a B on a report card? Hard no, he would be making sure I worked harder. (Which I do credit for my straight A’s. My school gave sort of “progress reports,” and a lot of B grades turned into As by the end of the semester because dad wouldn’t accept anything else.) And he never really said it out loud, so I’m not entirely sure how this is true, but it is, he made it very clear that if I ever mistreated a girl I was dating he would end me lol. All of which I think is pretty fair.
But the freedom he did give me gave me a lot of opportunity growing up to learn the kind of person I wanted to be, to challenge my sense of capability and responsibility in an environment that wasn’t entirely parental controlled (though again he had his limits with me on risk), and really fostered a relationship between my dad and I that was based on him trusting me, and me honestly valuing that trust as something I didn’t want to mess up.
Now, I don’t have kids, so god knows I have no idea the kind of parent I’ll be, and every situation is different, but I like to think I ended up alright, and I really do credit a lot of that to the controlled freedom my dad gave me as a kid.
This is an awesome story mate and I thank you for sharing. Your dad sounds a lot like me mum (and I mean that as a compliment to both of them). My dad was always working when I was a little kid so mum did most of the parenting. My mum was so calm and was always happy to let us kids do our own thing and learn the hard way. That meant I was happy to tell mum anything even when I did stupid stuff.
I remember being 11 years old and getting the bus to secondary school (high school). It was about an hour ride home after school on a public bus so not just school kids on there. The bus used to stop in the center of town to let people off and on and this particular stop was always busy which meant the bus stopped there for a little while. Kids would run off the bus to the store to but lollies and chips and stuff and run back on before it left. Whomever did the run would buy stuff for themselves and the other kids on the bus. One day I decided to do the run, but low and behold the bus stop wasn’t so busy that day and the bus started leaving before I got back on. I had so straight up sprint a mile to the next bus stop and was lucky enough there was enough traffic slow the bus down. I was so scarred I would miss the bus and get stuck in town, the other kids on the bus obviously thought this was hilarious.
When i got home from school I was so traumatized that I told mum what happened. Pretty sure I cried like a baby. Mum just smiled and said, best not to do it again, but remember if you do miss the bus another comes along 20 mins later. I literally had no idea there was other bus, mum managed to make me feel better and learn something at the same time. Legend
Friday 7 March - week 3
Back was sore so dropped the squats and did some leg extensions instead
Leg ext
40 x 15
60 x 15
80 x 10
60 x 15
40 x 20
Intense quad pump
Bench press
Bar x 10 - warm ups have band around the wrists to force me to pull the shoulders apart.
60 x 5 - band
80 x 3 - band
90 x 1 - no band
100 x 6 x 5 sets (220 lbs) - RPE 8, 8, 9, 9, 9.5
Not too bad for an old fella.
Low cable row
160 x 12 x 3 sets
Lower back was pretty sore from deadlift so switched to the cables. I do like these, great lower lat stretch.
Lat pull downs
86 x 3 sets - 9, 9 8 Drop to 68 x 6
Bit of body movement here but using the heavier weight to really get a stretch. Big pump after.
Rolling tricep extension
17.5KG dumbells x 3 sets
15, 12, 9
@rugby_lifting when you start the Big arm club, sign me up
Rotator cuff work
Very Good Friday session and great end to week 3. Much needed deload next week.
I’ve started doing a day a week arms btu might take a while for them to get bigger.
Puppy Update :
We had the yard inspection on Friday and passed with only a couple of minor things to do. We have now been told we will be getting a Black boy puppy from the ‘O’ litter. We don’t know his name yet but we know it will start with the letter O.
They have booked the collection in for Wednesday 19th March. My wife will go and pick him up and probably take my middle daughter with her.
What type of dog is the puppy?
The Australian Border Force dogs are all Labradors
Monday 10 Mar - deload
Squat
Bar x 10
60 x 5
80 x 3
Sleeves
100 x 3
Belt
120 x 3 x 3 sets -(264 lbs) paused reps
All slow easy reps. Bit of quad and hip pain but not too bad.
Bulgarians (weight is KG per hand)
25 x 3 sets -
8, 8, 8
Legs a little sore but all good.
Dumbell bench (88 lbs)
Top 4
20 x 4
40 x 4
45 x 4
50 x 4 (110 lbs) - happy to move these for a good 4 reps.
50’s were good, had a couple more or could have gone a little heavier but capped it there, it is a deload after all.
Dips - BW 3 sets
8, 8, 8
Dumbell row
40 x 6 x 3 sets -
Rotator cuff work
Good little deload session. Legs are a bit sore but I am sure I can work through that this week
I’ve got two daughers myself, 5 and just about to turn 3. And the 5 year old says this to me all the time followed by Dad you are the best and I may cave 
I see a glimpse of my future right there haha
Easy conditioning session.
30 mins on the rogue echo bike. Odd mins Arms and legs, even mins legs only.
Total 210 cals.
FIFY
Nice work!
Wednesday 12 March - deload
Deadlift
Bar x 10
60 x 5
100 x 3
140 x 3 x 3 sets (308 lbs)
Didn’t feel light but it’s deload so I don’t really care.
Leg curls
32 x 3 sets
8, 8, 8
Hammer row
40 x 10 x 3 sets
Pull ups - wide grip, thic bar
4 sets -
5, 5, 5, 5
Easy reps
Dumbell curls
12.5KG x 3 sets
10, 10, 10
Shoulder rehab
Nice easy deload session. It was 35c today so the gym was a little sweaty. Glad I had an easy day.
Puppy update for all those interested.
We are still on track to pick up the puppy on Wednesday 19th March, so less than a week now. The ABF (Australian Border Force) sent though all the fostering information packs and videos for us to watch. I forgot how intense the program is and the number of rules and expectations they have of the carers. We basically get weekly check lists to complete with a list of activities and caring requirements that need to be completed. I had the children watch a bunch of videos last night as I am hoping that can all be a lot more involved in the activities now that they are a bit older.
The dog kennel arrived yesterday and my son put it together when he got home from school, he was very proud of himself when I got home and showed me his handy work. My middle daughter s beyond excited and wont stop talking about the puppy. My eldest daughter seems very indifferent but that just seems to be how she is with everything these days. Must be a 15 year old thing.
Yay puppy! I hope you get the best one of the bunch and this kids help a ton.
Yes.
Source: was a 15 year old girl once.
Funny you say this because her mum was one of those too, but she seems to remember not being like that. At 15 my wife had the roles of big sister and mother due to her mum leaving when she was 10 and her sister was 5. Don’t think she had the opportunity to be apathetic.
She had to grow up fast, that is rough.
I am the baby of the family and my parents were worn out by the time I arrived, so I had plenty of room to mess about.
Me too, I did a fair bit of mucking around.