Midway through January is a time when the YMCA parking lot is jammed pack, and sales of fitness equipment are setting new records. Men and women around the globe are working hard to meet their New Year's resolutions and shed the pounds they gained over the holiday season.

It won't be long though before the resolve fades into procrastination and discouragement, as the majority of people fall back into their old habits. Workouts become less frequent, the hand resumes stuffing the mouth more often… and inevitably the pounds return.

If you're like me, you may be living a similar parallel in your role as a dad. You may have set some aggressive goals for yourself to be "Super Dad 2007" – spend daily time with your kids, play games with them every day after work, take them out for daddy dates every Saturday morning, etc, etc.

Men, we have about one month to start planning a romantic experience for our wives.

Your mission, should you accept it, is to plan an event and gift(s) that will communicate to your wife that she's special and cherished by you. Yep, remember that part in your wedding vow long ago where you promised "to love and to cherish..."? It's time to step up to the plate and deliver.

Here are a few ideas to put on your planning checklist, and please leave a reply with any other ideas you have:

• Gift(s) - For Valentine's Day we'll need a gift that's romantic, meaningful, or intimate.
  

We live about 10 blocks from our kid's elementary school - just a little too far too walk, but too close to use the bus. So we drive them in each day.

Last week I started taking on the delivery honors. Imagine 3 kids and me crammed into my Ford Ranger extended cab, with my laptop and their backpacks piled up between two kids in the back. They love it!

There's nothing like "riding in Dad's truck"

For me, it's a great time to talk with each of them briefly before their day starts off... ask them what they'll be doing in school today (music, PE, special reports, etc).

It's also a chance for me to be "crazy dad" for a few minutes and get them laughing their heads off.

The familiar saying "Money isn't everything" is something most of us have heard many times - it's a reminder that there are things far more important than just money (family, friends, etc).

But we all still have to work in order to pay the bills, and the question has come up several times from my kids "why can't you come to school with me today?" or "why do you always have to go to work - why can't you stay home and play with me?". This last one came from my 5-year old just a couple days ago.

I think it's important for kids to understand that the house they live in, the clothes they wear, and the food they eat all cost money. But I don't want to stress them out either.

How many times have you heard your kids say "Dad, if you let me watch this show, I'll be extra nice to my brother today." Or on the flipside, "Dad, if you don't let me have a treat after dinner then I won't eat my dinner at all!"

They require no special training to develop this skill either. It seems to be wired into their very nature, although they can certainly learn to make better choices (and we give them plenty of guidance in that direction).

It struck me today that I'm just like my kids when it comes to God.

I mean, today on the way home, in the pouring rain, during rush hour - and on a day when I forgot to bring my cell phone with me - my 99 Ford Ranger decides to start misfiring on cylinder #4. I'm literally riding a black, bucking bronco in stop-and-go traffic... shifting in and out of Drive in order to keep it from stalling since it was idling so roughly, and getting more and more completely pissed off as each mile slowly crawled by!