In Brazil, Father’s Day is honored during the second Sunday of August, and it’s common to have the celebrations throughout the whole weekend, offering parents and children an opportunity to enjoy each other’s company at length. In honor of Brazilian Father’s Day, here are a few black and white images of the important fathers in my life: my own dad, who can currently appreciate the physical proximity to his American-Brazilian grandkids, always on the move; my husband, wonderful father of our three children, and my husband’s dad, who’s become a second dad to me, unconditionally accepting me as part of his family, in a quasi-adoptive manner, as the daughter he did not have (and later this year will have two “daughters“, when my soon-to-be sister-in-law enters the family in the Fall!). Here, to all the dads out there, Brazilians or not…
For starters, the husband: the best dad our kids could’ve asked for. A lot of commitment and willingness to learn…
Following, my husband’s father, my second dad:
And here, my dad. The person with whom I share not only a total lack of coordination for sports, but also, an inexplicable passion for Science and numbers. The one who taught me how to count, is now counting my daughter’s little fingers…
3rdculturechildren 
Awww that was so precious! Your daughter looks a lot like her dad 🙂
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Thank you very much, Madhu… and thanks for your kind words… as usual! 😮 Take care!
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bwahahaha – cool and aloha 3rdCultureChild. me? how many kids? i am the kid. sometimes i have to teach myself to behave. fun, tho. too. yeah, age differences when young can be major – and close ages can be a challenge all the time. a little older and it’s not so much different, altho siblings often seem to know who is the older and who is the younger. then they also get to know who knows what in different areas and if they become friends, they really team up and help each other out – which is really cool to see. work on making good memories – which from your photos i think you do a lot of already. cool on that. have fun. aloha.
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funny… 😮 and liked this part of your comment: “work on making good memories – which from your photos i think you do a lot of already. cool on that.” take care!
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ha. i can understand calling up that extra spirit when needed.
yikes.
…i probably shouldnt say this… but sometimes.. when that fighting starts… i simply say to one or the other (and it isnt based on “who started it” – i just alternate which one or pick one and if i cant remember which one it was last then i just say, it’s this one this time) – so i say, okay, you can shadow me now for X amount of time (usually 20 minutes or half an hour – but age appropriate so less may be enough or sometimes 40 minutes etc. – 40 minutes is a LONG time) – or you dont even have to say how long – you can just say, okay, time for you to shadow me now, to one of them. once they get the idea you can actually shorten the amounts of time – or lengthen if you need to…
what shadowing is in this case and how it works:
The Shadow – this child now has to stay beside me (you) – within the same room is okay if it’s not a really big room – i generally say with in arms length (they are your shadow after all) – esspecially if i’m outside. it is not a time for you to interact with them as a treat. you get to go about what ever you are doing – if it’s household work, do it. if it’s writing at the computer, do that. if you finish one task then move to the next. your “shadow” simply has to stick with you. they do not get to go get a toy, although one book is okay – if they can read – or of course you can alter your own ideas on this how ever you want. they do not have to help you with your work, but they can if they want to (unless of course it is normally their place to be helping with what you’re doing). they do not have to talk with you but they can if they want to (you can invite it – or ask them if they’d like to talk about what happened etc. – but it’s not required) – i let them initiate the talk usually – and i try to stick to the topics they choose. sometimes it works out that you can talk about how fighting makes you feel when you hear your children fighting etc. they are not allowed to phone friends. or watch tv. etc. while shadowing you. altho you can watch the tv that you want to watch if that’s what you want to do and you can make phone calls if that’s what you want to do to.
The Non-Shadower – this child, can go where ever they want to go, do what ever they want to do – as long as it is behavior appropriate. the only place they can not be, is where you (and your shadow) are. YOU get to go where ever you wish to go – so if you come into a room where the non-shadower is, then the non-shadower has to leave the room and go some place else (unless you are just passing through the room with your shadow). there is no choose or discussion on this, it’s simply a case of where do you want to be yourself. the non-shadower can not go to another house – it all has to remain “in house” until the shadow time is over.
that’s basically how it works. it separates the two fighters for a brief time. and you do not have to do anything special with them other than see to it that they follow the idea of shadowing – which has two parts – shadow and non-shadow – and that you do not want them fighting. when the time period is up you can simply let the child know that they no longer have to shadow you. you dont have to reconnect the two. let them do it on their own terms. another fight, another shadow time – you do not need to warn them – just do it when you hear the fighting start (of course you can pop in and ask if shadow time is necessary, once they understand what it means – let them decide tho – yes, or no and then do it with no more warning) – they’ll catch on fast enough that its not really worth fighting at all. in the mean time, you continue to do what you need to be doing when it’s shadow time.
now you may see why i probably should not be posting this, or may be not posting it here. …so.. feel free to delete this comment (in fact i hope you do delete it – it really is not my business to say things like this. or of course you can copy and paste it some place else if you want to think on it or alter it to suit your own way.
i hope i have not offended you with this. i’ve never been a big fan of fighting. aloha.
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no offense at all… interesting to learn your thoughts… raising kids, especially the ones close in age, is no easy job…. 😮 thanks for sharing your thoughts…. i’ll leave your comment, and appreciate you taking the time to write it – that’s what it’s all about – sharing experiences… 😮 How many kids you’ve got? 😮
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aloha 3rdCultureChild – your view and take on family is terrific. i like this a lot. Happy Father’s Day to all of your Dads. …and to you too, i think there is a little bit of moms and dads in all people. even when we are usually one or the other. aloha
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Thank you for your very nice comments, Rick. I do believe that, as a parent, we have to be both mom and dad… right now, for example, dad is out traveling. My half, as a “mom” is way too tired to keep telling the kids to stop fighting, but my other half (“as a dad”) is going strong… 😮 hopefully, their real dad will come back, and release me… 😮 Take care!
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This touched my heart – your husband looks so happy being a Dad, his face and eyes glow, and your children are adorable. I enjoyed looking at all the photos. In this world where bad news seems to be the interest, it’s refreshing to also see the beautiful side of life!
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Thank you ver much for your kind words… Yes, my husband is a happy (and tired) father. I do appreciate your comments about the post images being beautiful and refreshing… It’s good to know people share our same impressions about life…
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