The first wave of back to school sickness has crashed down at Alex’s house. Sick, fussy kids, and a sick Alex made Dad Life a little more difficult this week. The youngest has learned how to throw a tantrum, which he used while being “abandoned” as he was dropped off at daycare in the morning. One of the Twins repeatedly used his tantrums to refuse to get dressed and go potty all morning, which of course, the other brothers quickly followed suit.

Beav and Alex answer some of your #ASKTBG questions, like “What to expect beside the sleepless nights as a new dad”, “Recommendations for Car Seats and Strollers”, “How long to wait to announce a new pregnancy” and a whole lot more.

If you have any questions you would like for us to answer, send us an email to [email protected] , #askTBG on twitter, or message us on Instagram and Facebook at @TacticalBabyGear

We are going to have some major guests on in the next several episodes of the Tactical Baby Gear® Podcast, so be sure to subscribe! Sit back, relax, and enjoy the show.

Embracing the suck is just a part of being a parent.

We are dealing with a lot of suck this week! Alex is working on a new morning routine for his 3 boys. The twins have started to get up early and destroy their room, waking up their little brother in the process, to add to the madness before the sun even comes up. Beav makes sure to let him know that is always going to happen, as his oldest daughter will still do the same thing to her room. It now becomes a situation of picking your battles, and saving your sanity. 

The thought that you are failing as a parent is easy to come by when you start to compare your kids development and skill sets to other kids in the neighborhood. Whether it's removing training wheels, swimming on their own, or running a production line, does it really matter where your kids stacks up? You may have to put off work to make sure your offspring is getting the training they need to grow and learn new things. Beav vents a little bit about some disrespectful kids that were over at his house this summer demanding drinks and making a mess of bathrooms. He makes a great point that teaching your kids to be respectful and polite at other peoples houses is extremely important. It doesn’t just benefit Mom and Dad when the kids act like responsible little people, it can make a huge impression on how other people see your children.  All of this and a ton of great conversation and stories on this weeks episode of the Tactical Baby Gear® Podcast.

After a week of being evacuated for Hurricane Dorian, Beav and Alex are back in the office and they are jacked! We are pretty sure they both drank at least 4 cups of coffee each before the podcast.

The damage from this hurricane in the Bahamas was absolutely devastating. It his as a Cat 5 and stalled for days over the islands. Given we are on the coast, at the boarder of South Carolina and Georgia, the path of this hurricane was headed right for the TBG office. Once the hurricane started moving again, and it was certain the path is headed up the coast, the families were loaded up, the office was secured and the mandatory evacuations began. Beav and Travis headed to our brothers in Columbia, while Alex and his crew went to west North Carolina in the Ashville area.

Luckily the hurricane stayed off the coast just enough to not destroy Hilton Head, and the Tactical Baby Gear offices. Monday was a great break from the break as getting back to work is what Beav and Alex do best. All play and no work makes Beav a grumpy boy.

And speaking of working, we have some great stuff lined up for the podcast in the next couple of weeks. Amazing guests, traveling, and some cool videos will be coming out till the end of the year. More on this later this week as we will want to get some questions from you guys for these big guests. Make sure you pay attention on Instagram and Facebook for more info.

All of this and more on this episode of the Tactical Baby Gear® Podcast

This week on the Tactical Baby Gear® Podcast, Beav sits down with his personal trainer, John Duberley (@run.johnny.run) John is a Navy veteran, and a low key bad ass. In the Navy, John had to keep fit to ensure he could complete missions and duties while out to sea. He developed a passion for fitness, not only for him self, but his team mates and fellow sailors. That passion has continued into John’s civilian career. He is now a personal trainer under the PULSEology flag, as well as a professional runner, representing local and national brands like LuluLemom, SlayRx and Salty Britches. Specializing in 5k and 10k races, John has become accustomed to winning races, like the NineLine Foundation annual 5k/10k, multiple times.

After a few years of patiently waiting on Beav to make the mental shift to get back into the gym, John has helped Beav for the past 60 days to get rid of his dadbod and break the routine of sitting at a desk and then eating Moes and Oreos for dinner. The biggest drive for Beav on his fitness journey was the need to take care of him self so that he could then take care of his family and business.

Hear Johns philosophy on getting people started with his training regiment, not setting them up for failure, and some basic nutrition advice that can get you pointed in the right direction. The most basic work out of pushups, situps and squats can be enough to get you started and motivated, especially if you have friends or a group to go with.

Hear all of this and a ton more on this episode of The Tactical Baby Gear® Podcast.

They are gone! The kids are finally back at school, and Beav’s wife couldn’t be happier. They survived a long summer at home, but just barely. Alex has another week before he can pass his 3 boys off at day care to give his wife a break from chaos.

Do you realize how much Day care costs?!?! Its amazing how it feels when the day care bills end and the kids are off to actual school. But on the other hand, the reality of the youngest going to a real school for the first time, and seeing them walk off through the school halls with a backpack on can be a hard thing to come to grips with, especially for Mom.

Speaking of hard things to deal with, the guys discuss todays kids growing up in a soft society. The fact is, the young population has much less to harden them, whether its from not having 40lbs of text books to carry, or participation trophies, to giving credit to kids that haven’t earned it. Reality is, easy times don’t make hard people. How will that effect the future? Entitlement is at an all time high, and work ethic seems to be on a downfall.

How do we balance supporting our kids athletic and scholastic goals, while still letting them lose and fail to learn those lessons on their own? We want our offspring to do well, and to continue to doing what makes them happy. Leaving a gymnastics competition crying can be discouraging, but is it better than giving them false hope and expectations on what it means to compete and follow through with tasks? Some great conversation and child hood stories in this episode of the Tactical Baby Gear® Podcast, so sit back, relax and enjoy the show.

Booth is here! Booth is the owner of Armordillo Concealment, a holster company that was formed in his garage around 2011, and continues to be an industry leader with in the gun community. He is also a full time Firefighter in Florida, as well as a father of 5. Yes, 5! If you want to talk about a juggling act, this is one of the best.

Booth is in town as part of a 2 week vacation and road trip with his family of 7. They jammed into a minivan, packed luggage like a Tetris level, and hit the road. With ages ranging from 10 to 1 years old, it has been an interesting adventure. From keeping all 5 kids entertained, to using gas station restroom with multiple kids at a time, and having to change diapers on 3 of them at one time. There is nothing easy about a trip out with all of them.

As the child of a single, teenage mother, Booth learned some hard lessons at an early age. He spent a lot of time with his Grandmother, who put him to work in the kitchen as soon as he was able to reach the stove. This created the passion for cooking that Booth still pursues everyday, not only for his family, but also for the Fire station when he is on duty 24 hours at a time.

The guys wrap up this episode with a great discussion on how much technology they expose their kids to. Is screen time a bad thing, and at what ages did they allow iPads and smart phones to be used. What does the future hold? Are they limiting their kids by making them play outside in a technology driven world? Find out at the end to hear what they have to say.

All of this and more in Episode 15 of the Tactical Baby Gear® Podcast.

https://www.armordilloconcealment.com/

https://www.instagram.com/armordilloconcealment/

Ep. 014 - BEAR!

The summer is coming to an end, and the final trip of the season is happening for Beav and Alex at the same time. Alex is headed to North Carolina for a wedding and family trip, and Beav is headed to Tennessee, both for a quick three day weekend trip. Beav’s older brother, Matt,(from episode 010) is also in the mountains with his family of 6, and sent a video of a large black bear hanging out on the porch of their rental house. An unsettling sight when you have 4 kids running around and playing all day. As it would turn out, Beav had an encounter with a bear in Tennessee when it attacked the trash can in front of the cabin they were staying at. You should hear more about this in an up coming episode. If you follow along on instagram, you probably saw the pictures and video in Stories. (@tacticalbabygear) All of the travel previously and coming up brought in the discussion of how traveling with the kids has changed over the years. Going from pack and plays to suit cases, and how Beav and Alex pack a Daypack Vs their wive’s multiple suitcases for a weekend trip. There are some great tips in here about traveling with kids and getting them to calm down as you drive down the road. #ASKTBG is still coming as its own series. We are working on nailing down the look at format, so until then we answered some questions in here, ranging from starting a business and being a new parent, to what to look for in a car seat and stroller system. All sorts of good info in these answers, so make sure to listen till the end. All of this and more on Episode 14 of the Tactical Baby Gear® Podcast.

Tactical Baby Gear Podcast Episode 13 - Dealing with other people's Kids

Tyler Merritt, CEO of Nine Line Apparel joins Beav and Alex for episode 12. As an Army Captain, Tyler was assigned to the 160th Special Operations Aviation Regiment. Tyler was a special forces Apache helicopter pilot(yes for real) his unit was deployed more than any other special operations unit to this day. This gave Tyler a unique experience trying to build and keep moral with in his overworked team. Moral shirts were just the beginning as Tyler “fell” into the t-shirt business, and started Nine Line Apparel while still at war in 2012.

The Nine Line Foundation, a Non-Profit organization, was started in 2013 as an effort to give back to Tylers friend and West Point classmate, Captain Edward Klein, who lost three limbs while deployed in Afghanistan. The Foundation built CPT Klein a new home that is wheel chair accessible, as well as helping with the enormous rehabilitation costs. This would take Tyler and Nine Line down a path of passion to help those in need within the Military community.

Based out of Savannah, GA, The Nine Line Foundation has now started a community of 74 tiny homes called the Veterans Village. A place for homeless Vets to transition back into civilian working life. Not only are they given housing, Nine Line provides work training and skill building for the Veterans. All of which is volunteer based, meaning 100% of the donations go straight to those in need.

Among all of this, Tyler is also a father and husband that has struggled to find that elusive Work/Life balance. The guys get into what its like to be a deployed husband and father, VS now being a busy CEO and Non-Profit Founder.

All of this and more, on Episode 12 of the Tactical Baby Gear® Podcast.

Beav has tried several times in the past to get into a regiment of "healthy" eating and working out, but with a busy schedule, 2 kids, and a second broken leg late last year, going to the gym has not been a priority.

There is an old segment Tactical Baby Gear used to do called #askTBG, that answers viewers questions. We are bringing that back in a big way, so be on the look out on Instagram and Twitter if you have questions that you want to ask the guys.

Have a suggestion for a topic on the Tactical Baby Gear® podcast? Email us at [email protected]