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

This episode continues the discussion about events that led us to becoming an Adult or, more accurately, becoming more like an adult. From when we were in our twenties going into the thirties, we both experienced a lot of growth based on being exposed to ‘adult life'. In this episode, we discuss topics centered around family situations such as partners, marriage and babies. We take a look at some of our more enlightening experiences as well as some sad and somewhat tragic experiences that come with married life and the culture of married life, buying a house, seeking parents' permissions for marriage, the why, when, and what of having a baby including risks of pregnancy, and when does a baby go from being an ‘it' to being your child. These topics are raised from the point of personal experience and not one that covers every aspect of every topic. While this episode does contain some more serious topics it follows the spirit of openness, compassion and, in some cases, curiosity. Hope you enjoy!Email us at DadStoriesPodcast@Gmail.comVisit our website at DadStoriesPodcast.comDownload our podcast from where ever you get your favorite podcastsMusic written and performed by Bobby Knutilla

Eden turns thirty! Recently Eden celebrated their 30th birthday. In light of that momentous event, we thought we would discuss events that led us to becoming an Adult or, more accurately, becoming more like an adult. From the twenties into the thirties, we both experienced a lot of growth based on being exposed to ‘adult life'. This will be a two-part series. In this first episode, we discuss topics centered around work and society. Our second episode will focus on family situations. We take a look at some of our more enlightening experiences as well as some sad and somewhat tragic experiences based on situations such as addressing work conflict, developing the ability to be flexible as well as when home situations affect the working world. While this episode does contain some more serious topics it follows the spirit of openness, compassion and, in some cases, curiosity. Hope you enjoy!Email us at DadStoriesPodcast@Gmail.comVisit our website at DadStoriesPodcast.comDownload our podcast from wherever you get your favorite podcasts.Music performed by Tom Knutilla

This is the fifth and last episode on our elementary school years. With this episode, we share memories about starting school academically behind, coping with overcrowded schools and the changes that caused, senseless vandalism and other shenanigans, working for lunch money, being on safety patrol , spelling bees and school assemblies as well as other topics. Lastly, we talk about become aware of some of the social upheavals that were happening. We do a short recap of how the content of our topics changed during this series as is appropriate but were pretty thrilled to see the obviousness of our youthful development.  As usual, all topics are covered with humility, personal experience and tenderness.   We have also continued to use Eden's Kantele music at the start and end of our episode. It is fun to see how their music continues to change and grow. It is as beautiful as it is unique. Hope you enjoy!Email us at DadStoriesPodcast@Gmail.comVisit our website at DadStoriesPodcast.comDownload our podcast from where ever you get your favorite podcastsKantele Music written and performed by Eden Knutilla

This is the fourth episode on our elementary school years. With this episode, we share memories about our first memories of experiencing the natural world as well as realizing diversity in the classroom. We also discuss our special school pressures when it came to dealing with math especially math competitions and the pros and cons of counting with your fingers! We also talk about childhood role models.  An unusual topic covered is our memories around childhood illnesses including unexpected consequences of taking medicine. Lastly, but not least, we talk about Eden getting their first dog in the fourth grade and where that fit into Eden's emerging awareness of the world.  As usual, topics are covered with humility, personal experience and tenderness.   Hope you enjoy!Email us at DadStoriesPodcast@Gmail.comVisit our website at DadStoriesPodcast.comDownload our podcast from where ever you get your favorite podcastsMusic written and performed by Eden Knutilla

This is our third episode on our elementary school years. Unsurprising but just like our first episode, on First Grade, we covered several areas that were not part of the script! The review of our report card revealed to us that we were both under a more focused attention on books we were reading'. It was interesting giving how topical books and schools are in the US right now. Nevertheless and  as you might expect, Eden was a far more accomplished reader than her ‘Old Man'. We also uncovered our memories of our first experiences with standardized testing which were the same but different at the same time. We do get back on script to discuss our introduction to Social Studies and specifically learning about the United State's 50 states and the impact that had on our future selves. Lastly, we spend time discussing traumatic events that occurred in the Third Grade that would be the start of our experiencing significant emotional and physical pain and how to deal with it.   As usual, topics are covered with humility, personal experience and tenderness.   Hope you enjoy!Email us at DadStoriesPodcast@Gmail.comVisit our website at DadStoriesPodcast.comDownload our podcast from where ever you get your favorite podcastsMusic written and performed by Tom Knutilla

This is our second episode on our elementary school years. To keep us honest, we invited Mom back to join us for this episode.  Just like our first episode, on First Grade, we covered several areas that were not part of the script! The review of our report card would suggest that we both had school in the second grade figured out. Our report cards indicated very little about little Tommy and Eden. However, that conclusion soon is modified as we dive into our first tastes or creative writing, dealing with bullies, working through school solutions to overcrowded classrooms, explore how corporations work to get their products in front of kids, among other topics that seem more adult related than something that a second grader would have to confront. The good news is that we also experienced some wonderful and unique things like our favorite teacher and split classrooms and all of the benefits that come from those experiences! As usual, topics are covered with humility, personal experience and tenderness.   Hope you enjoy!Email us at DadStoriesPodcast@Gmail.comVisit our website at DadStoriesPodcast.comDownload our podcast from where ever you get your favorite podcasts.Music written and performed by Eden Knutilla on a Kantele, a Finnish five string lyre, which Eden is learning how to pla y.

We have decided to go back further in time and explore stories from our elementary school years. We were a little worried that our memories couldn't go back that far. After recording our first episode, on First Grade, we realized our worries were for naught. In this episode we explore our experiences from First Grade. As luck would have it, our moms had saved our report cards from our elementary school years. We start with a review of our report card highlights. That gets us going on other topics such as teacher relationships, learning how to do arithmetic, issues with learning how to read and forms of punishment among other topics. By now, no one should be surprised when Eden compares first grade punishments to our modern problems with criminal justices. As usual, topics are covered with humility, personal experience and tenderness.   Hope you enjoy!Email us at DadStoriesPodcast@Gmail.comVisit our website at DadStoriesPodcast.comDownload our podcast from where ever you get your favorite podcastsMusic performed by Tom and Bobby Knutilla and written/arranged by Bobby Knutilla and Brian Roberts.

This episode takes us back to our original model of comparing and contrasting our childhood experiences. In this episode, we discuss a question that adults frequently ask children, “So, what are you going to be when your grow up?”. It turns out that we had a lot to talk about. While Fireman, Policeman and Nurse were the most common jobs for children in the 60s, it turns out that a lot has changed.  For us, future job considerations i included Gas Station Attendant, Politician, Veterinarian, Journalist and others. We discuss how our situations influenced our career pursuits, things we did (or didn't do) to figure out if we really wanted to be that, why we changed our minds and influences from family members.  As usual, we had some things in common and, also, not.  Hope you enjoy!Email us at DadStoriesPodcast@Gmail.comVisit our website at DadStoriesPodcast.comDownload our podcast from where ever you get your favorite podcastsMusic performed by Tom and Bobby Knutilla and written/arranged by Bobby Knutilla and Brian Roberts. 

This episode takes some unexpected turns as we start out discussing our experiences travelling in the Pacific Northwest and end up spending most of our time talking about Eden's experience working at Animal Shelters in Michigan and California. In this episode we discuss Eden's time in the woods of the Olympic Peninsula and Tom's experiences while on a sea kayaking trip in the San Juan Islands. This discussion quickly turns to the issues of traveling especially after not having traveled much during the pandemic. One of the biggest issues we had to deal with was what we do with our pets given that our old support mechanism for dealing with this problem may no longer exist. This conversation morphed into a very detailed experience regarding working at an Animal Shelter. Topics covered include the kinds of tasks you might be expected to do, what do new volunteers get to do with the animals, what are the animals like, do you risk getting bitten or scratched, among other associated topics. We even get surprised to hear about Eden's award while working there! This episode didn't go the way we planned but we still had a lot of fun.  Hope you enjoy!Email us at DadStoriesPodcast@Gmail.comVisit our website at DadStoriesPodcast.comDownload our podcast from where ever you get your favorite podcasts

After taking a few months off we are back with a new season! During part of our time off we spend some time travelling and being out in the woods. In this episode, we discuss some ideas that bubbled up while we were communing with nature including some stories about our experiences with bears and inconvenient places to sleep. We share experiences regarding running into bears while camping and bike riding. We also discuss how we tried to prevent bears from getting into our food. Since we were on the matter of inconvenience, we some how segue into discussions on our experiences trying to sleep mostly while camping but we also discuss falling asleep just before jumping out of an airplane … unbelievable as that sounds. I am sure that many will see themselves in at least some of these stories. As with all of our episodes, you do not need to start from the beginning to listen to our episodes. Each episode stands on its own. Hope you enjoy!Email us at DadStoriesPodcast@Gmail.comVisit our website at DadStoriesPodcast.comDownload our podcast from where ever you get your favorite podcasts Music performed by Tom and Bobby Knutilla and written/arranged by Bobby Knutilla and Brian Roberts. 

This episode is an old fashioned BS session. It has been awhile since we spent time discussing exploits from our past. For this session, we unintentionally focused on some of our lesser stories from our travels in Europe. We share such experiences as seeing John the Baptist's Skeleton, driving tips and tricks while on a long drive,  taking up-close pictures of the pope, and getting in an accident while driving an formula race care in Belgium. While none of these stories were significant enough to become their own episode, it was fun to see how several of them flowed into each other as you would expect while sharing a casual conversation with others. The result is a complete episode. A nice way to end up the summer and ease into Fall. By the time you finish this episode, you will have the answer to our title question! Hope you like it.  As with all of our episodes, this is a standalone episode, which means that you don't have to listen to any other episode to enjoy this one. We hope you find this short conversation interesting. If you would like to share your comments and questions please Email us at DadStoriesPodcast@Gmail.comVisit our website at DadStoriesPodcast.comDownload our podcast from where ever you get your favorite podcastsMusic performed by Bobby Knutilla and Tom Knutilla 

This previously promised episode compares concerts and dancing between Boomer Parents and their Millennial Children. If one were to think that this topic is ripe for discomfort between generations or that participants would be talking right past each other due to complete unfamiliarity with each generation's music and dance preferences, they would be partially right. If one were to suspect that this might lead to angst and anger resulting in argument and emotion, they would be totally wrong. This episode serves to show how people with two different perspectives on a topic, can have a mostly civil conversation (all profanity has been deleted) and still come out with the same level of love, respect and confusion about the other's generation. One missing topic that was cut due to a lack of interest is a discussion about our Proms. Turns out, no one really had a bad time or a great time, the stories just weren't that interesting. At any rate, hopefully this episode with conjure up memories of your own concerts and dance experiences. Hopefully, that is a good thing. Enjoy.  As with all of our episodes, this is a standalone episode, which means that you don't have to listen to any other episode to enjoy this one. We hope you find this short conversation interesting. If you would like to share your comments and questions please …  Email us at DadStoriesPodcast@Gmail.comVisit our website at DadStoriesPodcast.comDownload our podcast from where ever you get your favorite podcastsMusic performed by Bobby and Tom Knutilla. Music written by Bobby Knutilla and Brian Roberts. 

This episode covers stories about the oldest members of our family that we personally knew, Eden's Great Grandparents. This episode brings to light some of the most interesting personal stories of our family tree. As appropriate, mom joins us for this episode to represent her side of the family.  It turns out that both mom and dad's ancestral folks that grew up in the early 1900s had experiences that rivaled anything us youngsters could ever contrive. We learn about our glamourous ancestors, divorce, The Depression, gun play, hunting and fishing stories, quirky sayings and ways they all made their way through life's challenges. Many of these stories are about how they overcame obstacles, found ways to survive, and manage to make things better for their future generations. And, upon reflection, we some insight into how life was for people back in the day. Hope you enjoy it. As with all of our episodes, this is a standalone episode, which means that you don't have to listen to any other episode to enjoy this one. We hope you find this short conversation interesting. If you would like to share your comments and questions please …  Email us at DadStoriesPodcast@Gmail.comVisit our website at DadStoriesPodcast.comDownload our podcast from where ever you get your favorite podcastsMusic performed by Bobby and Tom Knutilla. Music written by Bobby Knutilla and Brian Roberts. 

With all of the excitement that happened in Washington D.C. this year, it reminded us of our time living in Washington D.C. To us, the most important thing was that is where we started our family. Of course, we were no D.C. movers and shakers, we were just working stiffs trying to raise a family. However, upon reflection, we were able to take advantage of quite a few opportunities to float amongst the ‘powerful and famous’. We just qualified as ‘fly’s on the wall’. In this episode, you will hear some of those stories of our experiences with Members of Congress which included a personal tour of the capitol among other experiences. We also visited with Members of the Executive Branch which resulted in a personal tour of the White House where we got to see the bowling alley and, of course, a visit to the door of the Oval Office as we weren’t allowed into the Oval Office. We also include our experience with president’s including shaking Jimmy Carter’s hand just before he entered the bathroom and going to Bill Clinton’s inauguration where we froze. In hindsight, I guess we didn’t completely waste the time that we lived in Washington D. C. and in this episode we tell these stories and others to show you why. Hope you enjoy. 

Spring is right around the corner. For some of us that means bicycling is back. This episode was made in hopes of conjuring up your own memories of learning to ride a bike and the independence that cycling brought you. Do you remember your first bike? This episode discusses the difference between people that remember their first bike and those that don’t. We also discuss our personal evolutions with the bicycle. As we discussed our cycling experience we were surprised as we both realized that we had both experienced a love/hate relationship with bikes over the course of our lives. Some of the reasons for that relationship seem trivial and others were definitely not. Yet, they were all real. Included is a discussion about falling off bikes and other bike safety concerns. While this episode was definitely not intended to be a love story about bicycles, I think in the end, for better or worse, richer or poorer, that is where we end up. Hope you like it. As with all of our episodes, this is a standalone episode, which means that you don’t have to listen to any other episode to enjoy this one. We hope you find this short conversation interesting. If you would like to share your comments and questions please …Email us at DadStoriesPodcast@Gmail.comVisit our website at DadStoriesPodcast.comDownload our podcast from where ever you get your favorite podcastsMusic performed by Tom Knutilla and Queen

If you ever reflected on your childhood and wondered why your parents did certain things, this may be the episode for you. If you are a parent of adult age children and you wondered how certain misadventures impacted your kids, this may be the episode for you. Mom and Bobby make what has become a regular visit to participate in the discussion. For this episode, we have taken the gloves off to discuss several sensitive topics that occurred in our family’s past. Topics like ‘why did you make me do this” and “why did you always interrupt my tv shows”, among other topics are discussed. As you might expect, all topics are discussed with great sensitivity, love and humor. It is our suspicion that all family’s deal with a lot of similar idiosyncrasies, this is just a snapshot of some of ours. Hope you find the conversation interesting and use it to bring up your own memories of your relationship with your parents or your kids. Hope you like it. As with all of our episodes, this is a standalone episode, which means that you don’t have to listen to any other episode to enjoy this one. We hope you find this short conversation interesting. If you would like to share your comments and questions please Email us at DadStoriesPodcast@Gmail.comVisit our website at DadStoriesPodcast.comDownload our podcast from where ever you get your favorite podcastsMusic performed and written by Tom Knutilla and Bobby Knutilla

With winter here and lots of time by ourselves due to the pandemic, we realized that we were listening to a lot more music than we usually do. Just like with streaming video, we are expanding our music interests so we thought this would be a good time to do the music episode that we have threatened to do for quite awhile. Given that this is another family discussion, we invited Mom and our own music man, Bobby, to join the discussion. With this episode we discuss the changes to the music listening devices we have used over the years from stereo consoles to our phones. This conversation gets expanded to discuss our relationship to listening to music while in the car. We also discuss our personal favorite genres. We compare and contrast how we have acquired music over the years. Dad reveals himself to be a poser by pretending that he knows the music of Billie Eilish. All this and more is discussed as we end up realizing that the evolution of music shows some significant differences between Boomers and Millennials. It is all good fun. Hope you enjoy it.As with all of our episodes, this is a standalone episode, which means that you don’t have to listen to any other episode to enjoy this one. We hope you find this short conversation interesting. If you would like to share your comments and questions please …Email us at DadStoriesPodcast@Gmail.comVisit our website at DadStoriesPodcast.comDownload our podcast from where ever you get your favorite podcastsMusic performed by Tom Knutilla and written by Tom Knutilla and Brian Roberts (brianrobertsguitar@gmail.com)

With this episode we go back to our pattern of talking about things we know very little about. For this episode we focus on our memories of the US Space Program. We will review memories about the “Race to the Moon” that occurred in the 60s and early 70s. The danger and consequences of travelling to space are highlighted. We also discus everything we know about space garbage which turned out to be more than we thought. In this episode, you will also get a chance to learn what to say to an astronaut when you happen to be sitting next to one at a Charity Casino Night event. We also mention a few other memories when we were up close and personal with current and future astronauts. Naturally, we slip in a few words about social issues surrounding how earthlings are interacting with space. Last but not least, we ask the age old question, “Really, why do we need to walk in space anyway.” Hope you enjoy the episode and that it reminds you of your own memories about Space. As with all of our episodes, this is a standalone episode, which means that you don’t have to listen to any other episode to enjoy this one. We hope you find this short conversation interesting. If you would like to share your comments and questions please … Email us at DadStoriesPodcast@Gmail.comVisit our website at DadStoriesPodcast.comDownload our podcast from where ever you get your favorite podcastsMusic performed by Bobby Knutilla and written by Bobby Knutilla

With this episode we add another generation to our multi-generational podcast! Because we have not been able to get out and visit friends and family, we have mostly been staying in touch by phone and video calls. We decided that we would add some spice to our phone calls to grandparents by recording a podcast with them. We convinced Eden’s grandparents to participate in a podcast where Eden could ask them questions from their past. Questions like how did you meet each other, what did you do to earn money, what was living in World War II like and, most importantly, what was mom like when she was a little girl. Both grandparents were good sports and we had a lot of fun. We later realized that we may have set a record for having a pair of the oldest guests ever to appear on a podcast as Grandpa is 96 years old and Grammy is 91 years old. As with all of our episodes, this is a standalone episode, which means that you don’t have to listen to any other episode to enjoy this one. We hope you find this short conversation interesting. If you would like to share your comments and questions please … Email us at DadStoriesPodcast@Gmail.comVisit our website at DadStoriesPodcast.comDownload our podcast from where ever you get your favorite podcastsMusic performed by Tom Knutilla and written by Brian Roberts (brianrobertsguitar@gmail.com)

Most of us have gone to Amusement Parks during our college years . In this episode, we share our memories and opinions of Amusement Parks based on our individual and shared experiences. While there are many similarities in our inter-generational stories one of the things that was definitely different is that Eden and Bobby had some of their college year Amusement Park experiences with their parents. In this episode, we discuss our many experiences both as a family and with our friends while at several of the different amusement parks available today. We explore, through our experiences, some of the more subtle aspects of being at an amusement park like: Foods we ate, meeting Cast Members (or not), losing things while on the roller coaster, where we stayed, favorite rides, being stuck at the top of Space Mountain, what to do while standing in line and others. The hardest part of this episode was figuring when to stop! This episode will surely kindle memories from your own experiences at amusement parts. Have fun!As with all of our episodes, this is a standalone episode, which means that you don’t have to listen to any other episode to enjoy this one. We hope you find this short conversation interesting. If you would like to share your comments and questions please … Email us at DadStoriesPodcast@Gmail.comVisit our website at DadStoriesPodcast.comDownload our podcast from where ever you get your favorite podcastsMusic performed by Bobby Knutilla and Tom Knutilla

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 explore the experiences that we had with our college aged international travel. We don’t spend much time talking about the Louvre, Eiffel Tower, Prague’s Charles Bridge or the Crown Jewels of Germany. Instead, we discuss getting sick, running out of money, and where we slept. We also discuss the impact that a plane crash in Chicago may have on a college student traveling on a tight budget in Germany! In the end we both agree that the experience of living over seas for a period of time in college played a significant part in our growth and development. As with all of our episodes, this is a standalone episode, which means that you don’t have to listen to any other episode to enjoy this one. We hope you find this short conversation interesting. If you would like to share your comments and questions please Email us at DadStoriesPodcast@Gmail.comVisit our website at DadStoriesPodcast.comDownload our podcast from where ever you get your favorite podcasts. Now available on Amazon!Music written by Tom Knutilla (intro) and Brian Roberts (outro)Music performed by Tom Knutilla

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 Major and Eden learning about what happens when you ask for help. Hope you enjoy!As with all of our episodes, this is a standalone episode, which means that you don’t have to listen to any other episode to enjoy this one. We hope you find this short conversation interesting. If you would like to share your comments and questions please … Email us at DadStoriesPodcast@Gmail.comVisit our website at DadStoriesPodcast.comDownload our podcast from where ever you get your favorite podcastsMusic performed by Bobby Knutilla and Tom Knutilla

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, Eden also shares information about internships in general including difficulties in finding an internship, internships as a conduit to a full time job and the value of an unpaid internship. Tom shares experiences gained while learning how to be an Army Paratrooper, a Drill Cadet and a tank platoon leader in Germany. By comparing and contrasting our experiences we uncover a very surprising observation about our college summer experiences and how our careers panned out after leaving college. As with all of our episodes, this episode is standalone, which means that you don’t have to listen to any other episode to enjoy this one. We hope you find this short conversation interesting. If you would like to share your comments and questions please … Email us at DadStoriesPodcast@Gmail.comVisit our website at DadStoriesPodcast.comDownload our podcast from where ever you get your favorite podcastsMusic performed by Bobby Knutilla and Tom Knutilla

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, and discuss how this impacted our understanding of systemic oppression and our anti-racism work as white people. We also share thoughts on what we think it takes for a person to be able to understand and challenge their own biases. This short episode was the hardest one to record and edit which reflects our intent of moving our conversation from our childhoods to our current lives. As with all of our episodes, this is a standalone episode, which means that you don’t have to listen to any other episode to enjoy this one. We hope you find this short conversation interesting. If you would like to share your comments and questions please … Email us at DadStoriesPodcast@Gmail.comVisit our website at DadStoriesPodcast.comDownload our podcast from where ever you get your favorite podcastsMusic performed by Bobby Knutilla and Tom Knutilla

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 share which episodes were their favorite and least favorite and why. We also discuss responses from our listeners including the overall favorite and least favorites from the listening audience. Statistics on where our listeners come from including the cities and states with the most listeners are also discussed. We also discuss the future of Dad Stories as we move from child hood stories into college and young adult years. As with all of our episodes, this episode is Greenleaf which means that you don’t have to listen to any other episode to enjoy this one. Although, this episode may inspire you to go find out exactly what does live in the swamp! Email us at DadStoriesPodcast@Gmail.comVisit our website at DadStoriesPodcast.comDownload our podcast from where ever you get your favorite podcastsMusic performed by Tom Knutillla

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, motivation to maintain a hobby, and reasons why we didn’t continue our hobby into adulthood. We surprise ourselves when we realize what lessons from our childhood hobbies carried over into adulthood. This carries over into a discussion about what hobbies that we did as kids that we still do as adults. Hobbies discussed included insect, coin and clock collections, sewing, and art. We also discover that some of our childhood interests that we never considered to be hobbies were, in retrospect, hobbies! This enjoyable discussion of hobbies is definitely a fun journey into a fun part of understanding our childhood interests and activities.Email us at DadStoriesPodcast@Gmail.comVisit our website at DadStoriesPodcast.comDownload our podcast from where ever you get your favorite podcastsMusic by Brian Roberts and Tom Knutilla and performed by Tom Knutilla

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 also talk about our times with the jogging stroller and early morning walks our first dog. Other experiences inude the first shooting star that we saw together, the time we got skunked, our rookie backpacking adventure in the Smokey Mountains, training to ride a tandem bicycle for a multi-day cycling/camping trip, our first business trip together and our train trip to Chicago. Through this discussion we observe quite a few things that we hadn't really acknowledged as being cool and unique. We are calling this episode Eden and Dad's Excellent Adventure!Email us at DadStoriesPodcast@Gmail.comVisit our website at DadStoriesPodcast.comDownload our podcast from where ever you get your favorite podcastsMusic performed by Bobby Knutilla and Tom Knutillla

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 when music lessons are good and when they might be bad. Also, this episode explores our musical lesson experiences and our opinions both then and now. We cover everyone's experience with piano but also other instruments were learned along the way. Topics discussed include early lessons, lessons with siblings, music teachers, music camps, and adult music lessons. While we all agreed that we didn't like music lessons at some point as a kid, it surprised us what we thought about the experience as adults. This provides some background and color to EP 12: Music and Mishaps on the Football Field. As an added bonus, we perform small segments of some of the music we learned growing up on three different instruments! We hope you enjoy this episode and promise that we only blame ourselves for mistakes made. Email us at DadStoriesPodcast@Gmail.com'Visit our website at DadStoriesPodcast.comDownload our podcast from where ever you get your favorite podcastsMusic performed by Bobby Knutilla, Eden Knutilla and Tom Knutilla. Bobby performs the intro and outro on a piano. Eden plays a segment of the first french horn concerto they learned. Tom plays a mashup of the first two pieces he learned to play on the piano but with his guitar.

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 money. Also, what other changes to kids jobs have occurred over the decades (other than adults taking over the newspaper delivery business). This episode will cover some of the ways kids get money both earned and not earned. Babysitting challenges like whether or not sleeping on the job is ok and where in the job description does it say that having a bag of dog poop thrown at you is included? Allowances, tutoring, janitorial work and career preparation jobs are also discussed. Given the wide range of jobs available to kids, not all opportunities are discussed. The hope is that listening to this episode will inspire memories from your own experiences about the benefits and drawbacks of childhood jobs.Email us at DadStoriesPodcast@Gmail.comVisit our website at DadStoriesPodcast.comDownload our podcast from where ever you get your favorite podcastsMusic performed by Bobby Knutilla and Tom Knutilla. Music written/arranged by Bobby Knutilla and Tom Knutilla .

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. Lastly, we discuss our own real-life heros including why they were our heros. Ironically, we are also able to discuss the time when we actually were able to meet some of our heros and what our reaction was when that happened. Not surprisingly, some of real time heros are also family members which pops up unexpectedly in our conversation. By the end of this episode, perhaps you will ask yourself what are your superpowers and what superpowers would you like to have?Email us at DadStoriesPodcast@Gmail.comVisit our website at DadStoriesPodcast.comDownload our podcast from where ever you get your favorite podcastsMusic performed by Bobby Knutilla and written/arranged by Bobby Knutilla .

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 family dining provides suggestions for the times when you might ask yourself questions like: Would you like your fish, with or without the head? What do you do when you forget the silverware on a camping trip? How do you get around having to eat your squash and lima beans? What to do when your grill goes up in flames? How do you save Christmas Eve dinner when your house lost its power and, exactly, how long should it take to say the dinner prayer? Since no discussion about family meals would be legitimate without the chef, we have invited Mom back to give her insights and memories to the conversation. During our converation we were surprised at how many interesting and differnt experiences we witnessed at the dinner table. While not all stories had a good ending, they certainly were memorable. We hope that they will invoke memories of your family meals. Hope you have fun listening!

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. Unexpected events, how to stand in line, food and using our rudimentary foreign language skills are discussed. We hope this episode will rouse memories of your family vacations both recent and the distant past. Enjoy!Email us at DadStoriesPodcast@Gmail.comVisit our website at DadStoriesPodcast.comDownload our podcast from where ever you get your favorite podcastsMusic performed by Tom Knutilla and written/arranged by Tom Knutilla and/or Brian Roberts.

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 Dad Stories. This is a not to miss episode for anyone who has ever heard Christmas music.Email us at DadStoriesPodcast@Gmail.comVisit our website at DadStoriesPodcast.comDownload our podcast from where ever you get your favorite podcasts Music performed by Tom Knutilla.

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 Christmas Season, field mice and other topics once considered taboo as we wrap up our Fall Season Series. Email us at DadStoriesPodcast@Gmail.comVisit our website at DadStoriesPodcast.comDownload our podcast from where ever you get your favorite podcasts Music performed by Tom Knutilla and written/arranged by Tom Knutilla and/or Brian Roberts.

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 includes some things to make the process easier as well as some things that didn’t work out so well. What happens when we don’t get accepted is also discussed. This episode is the most volatile of our series and should not be missed. To add credibility to the discussion, we bring back mom to share her insights, experiences and results.Email us at DadStoriesPodcast@Gmail.comVisit our website at DadStoriesPodcast.comDownload our podcast from where ever you get your favorite podcasts Music performed by Tom Knutilla and written/arranged by Tom Knutilla and/or Brian Roberts.

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 DadStoriesPodcast@Gmail.comVisit our website at DadStoriesPodcast.comDownload our podcast from where ever you get your favorite podcasts Music performed by Tom Knutilla and written/arranged by Tom Knutilla and/or Brian Roberts.

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 episode answer some of those nagging questions which have been on the back of our minds ever since we went to our first high school football game.

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!

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 thoughts on the topic but also to keep us honest

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/softball to see just how much baseball has changed.Music composed by Tom Knutilla or Brian Roberts and performed by Tom Knutilla.Comments and suggestions may be sent to DadStoriesPodcast@gmail.comVisit our website: dadstoriespodcast.com

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 go wrong?Music composed by Tom Knutilla or Brian Roberts and performed by Tom Knutilla.Comments and suggestions may be sent to DadStoriesPodcast@gmail.comVisit our website: dadstoriespodcast.com

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 Knutilla.Comments and suggestions may be sent to DadStoriesPodcast@gmail.comVisit our website: dadstoriespodcast.com

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 – Mom!Music composed by Tom Knutilla or Brian Roberts and performed by Tom Knutilla.Comments and suggestions may be sent to DadStoriesPodcast@gmail.comVisit our website: dadstoriespodcast.com

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.comVisit our website: dadstoriespodcast.com

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

This episode is about getting along with your neighbors, going to the dump and the time when two young boys experience, for the first time, the flight of a well struck golf ball. Send any comments, questions or ideas for future episodes to dadstoriespodcast@gmail.comMusic written by Tom Knutilla or Brian Roberts and performed by Tom Knutilla.

This episode covers the mixed results that come when youngsters take on a new hobby, participation trophies, and the fateful first flight of the Icarus-C.Music written and performed by Tom Knutilla

Was there ever a time that your grandparents gave you a gift that your parents never would? This episode discusses a new bow and how it started a neighborhood movement resulting in an ambush with unexpected consequences.Music written by Tom Knutilla and Brian Roberts and performed by Tom Knutilla.