Dad Stories: a multi-generational podcast about childhood and growing-up

Send a text EP 28: Study Abroad-College Kids On Their Own in Europe, What Could Go Wrong? College is, theoretically, a place of higher learning and represents a period of time where one might learn many things. For some, college includes an opportunity to travel outside of their home countries resulting in meaningful experiences and memories that last the rest of their lives. In this episode, we e...

Send a text College is a place of higher learning and theoretically represents a period of time where one might learn many things in the classroom. For this episode, we challenged ourselves to think about some of the best things we learned during our college experiences. As you might have guessed, none of them came from a classroom. We chat about Tom’s experience getting in trouble with a Sargent...

Send a text This episode continues our discussion of college and young adult years. This second episode discusses our unique experiences that occurred during our summers while in college. For Eden, the summers were all about internships.  For Tom, it was military preparation. In both cases, summer experiences were about preparing for the first job after college. Having the most recent experience,...

Send a text Heading into our summer season, we move from childhood stories to our college and young adult years. This first episode discusses our unique experiences learning about gender inequity through the lens of Tom’s experience in the first co-ed class at West Point, and Eden’s journey coming out as non-binary. We compare and contrast how our outlook on gender changed during our college years...

Send a text Welcome to our anniversary special! This episode looks back over the past year of Dad Stories. We share behind the scenes thoughts and experiences. If you are curious about what it costs to get into podcasting and how difficult it is, this episode will help answer those questions. We share how we got into podcasting and how we came up with the idea for Dad Stories. Both Eden and Tom sh...

Send a text This episode covers topics  surrounding childhood hobbies. We discuss examples of what inspired us to start some of our hobbies including parents, school, scouts and even television. We discuss some of the good things that came from our hobbies. We also discuss some of the bad things around doing hobbies like not knowing enough to get started, inability to overcome difficulties, motiva...

Send a text We have been spending a good deal of time on our podcast talking about our different experiences over the past 20 some years. Today we are going to talk about the experiences that we had together - mostly good but some bad. The discussion dusts off some memories that we both had forgotten! Once such experience is Dad taking over primary caregiver responsibilities for infant Eden. We al...

Send a text Most people either took some kind of musical instrument or singing lessons as a kid or knew other kids that took lessons. For a great majority of us, we went into music lessons with great expectations and excitement. Unfortunately, for most of us we eventually realized how hard it is to really become a good musical performer. In this episode, we share some knowledge we learned about wh...

Send a text How does taking your dog for a morning walk result in a podcast episode. When you see the early morning papers being delivered by an adult driving around dropping of news papers in people's driveways. Back in the day, newspaper delivery used to be the domain of paper boys and girls. It gets one to thinking, besides delivering news papers, what were some of the ways that kids made...

Send a text This episode was inspired by a recently read novel about a young girl who goes through a series of life events and meets people along the way with whom she identifies their superpowers. For this episode we identify the differences between millennial and boomer superheros and the perceptions of superheros  between genders. We debate the various superpowers and which ones to have and why...

Send a text Projectile Vomiting and other items off of the Family Dining Menu. Every family has a story or two involving a family meal. We cover many family dining topics such as informal meals,  vacation meals, meals during international travel, prayers before meals, meals with infants and small children, feeding the dog at the table and Christmas Eve meals. This somewhat irreverant trip through...

Send a text Whether it is the annual trip to grandparents or an epic trip to some forsaken corner of the world, family vacations are sure to bond, teach, test, fascinate and entertain everyone in the family. After a long break, which included a family vacation, we are back at it! This episode discusses family vacations from the annual trips to visit distant family members to more exotic trips. Une...

Send a text This episode discusses several important topics around the sounds of the holiday season. Pagans, kid’s parodies, the discomfort of Christmas caroling, picking favorite and least liked holiday music, and throwing mom under the bus are  covered. An air of academia is presented as both broadcasters actually did some research and do their best to summarize their findings in this episode of...

Send a text Most of us think of Thanksgiving as a day of eating and watching parades and football with friends and family. But there is so much more to this celebration that can be good and bad depending on your perspective. This episode covers some Thanksgiving history (we did our research!), traditions, financial motivations, imperialism, Black Friday, foods we like and dislike, the kickoff of C...

Send a text After 12 years of school the next step for many high school students is going to college. The only problem is you have to get a college to accept you and that requires submitting an application. For many parents and students, this process is far more stressful than anything that proceeded it with trips, tests, essays and references to name a few. This episode explores this process and...

Send a text  Halloween Stories. Is it us or does there seem to be more treating than tricking on Halloween these days? You can decide for yourself after listening to this episode that compares and contrasts Halloween over multiple generations. Our Halloween episode includes discussions on Trick or Treating, Halloween Costumes, Halloween parties, songs as well as cultural appropriation. Email us at...

Send a text Our fall series continues with an exploration of that important fall event, the halftime show of the Friday night football game. This episode presents a behind the scenes look at being in a Marching Band and what goes into preparing for and putting on a halftime show for a high school football game. How hard is it to walk and toot your horn at the same time? The anecdotes in this episo...

Send a text Our first thoughts of Fall are usually about going back to school. However, many of our next thoughts are about the more fun things about fall like playing in leaves, corn mazes, hayrides, apple cider and doughnuts, scary things and pumpkin-spiced everything!  We visit these subjects and the mischief that goes along with all that as we kick off season 2 of Dad Stories!  Support the sho...

Send a text Pets – Pets provide a lot of memories, stories and love. Stories that make you happy, mad and sad. So how do you pick just a few of your favorites? This episode attempts to do just that and along the way we discuss the age old question: Cat Person or Dog Person. Turns out you don’t have to choose! For this episode we have brought in our special guest – Bobby to not only share his thoug...

Send a text Baseball hasn’t changed over the years, has it? Turns out yes. This episode visits the nuances of Backyard (sandlot) Baseball including ballfields, arguments, complex negotiations, ghost runners, substitutes, equipment issues and something that no one seems to talk about – the incredible shrinking baseball field. We'll compare the backyard baseball experience to organized baseball...

Send a text Driver’s Ed – We all looked forward to getting our driver’s license but first we had to go through Driver’s Ed and then driving with our Learner’s Permit. Everyone has done it, it can’t be that hard right? Other than figuring out how to accelerate up a hill, break smoothly, and parallel park all while having a parent sitting next to you giving  “unemotional driving advice”, What could...

Send a text Baseball, hot dogs, Apple Pie, Parades and Fireworks, how can the 4th of July not be the best day of the summer? This episode explores the highs and lows of the U. S. Independence Day Celebrations and the time when three young boys find out that there is something even more dangerous than lighting a firecracker.  Music composed by Tom Knutilla or Brian Roberts and performed by Tom Knut...

Send a text Hurtling down a snow covered hill is thrilling, or is it? This episode covers the joys and sorrows of sledding and how sledding has changed over recent decades. We share the subtleties of the sledding culture and, more importantly, discuss the question: is it  as fun as it looks? To assist us in this conversation, we have brought in a guest speaker to share her memories and experiences...

Send a text Forts – What is it about kids and forts? This episode covers the successes and failures in making snow forts, sod forts and tree forts while trying to figure out why you’d make a fort in the first place. Music composed by Tom Knutilla or Brian Roberts and performed by Tom Knutilla. Comments and suggestions may be sent to DadStoriesPodcast@gmail.com Visit our website: dadstoriespodcast....

Send a text Carnivorous swamp creatures, quicksand, undead monsters and childhood songs are included in this thrilling episode.  Music composed by Tom Knutilla or Brian Roberts and performed by Tom Knutilla. Comments and suggestions may be sent to DadStoriesPodcast@gmail.com Support the show