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Community Corner

Waukesha Dads Share Joys of Day-to-Day Life

Family dinner, homework, recreation and support are the common thread.

Kyle Bedalov has found a group of dads who share the same core values he does, centering around close involvement with their children’s daily lives. While these men all work full time, they’re committed to staying active with sports, volunteering and honoring simple ways to be together, like Bedalov’s cherished family dinner time.

“I remember when I was growing up, dinner was a key thing,” Bedalov said. “It’s sometimes the only time you see each other all together. We try to eat together almost every single night. Sometimes it’s at 8:30 p.m. based on everything going on, but we do it.”

Bedalov and his wife Michelle have two children, Anna, 12, and Luke, 10. Anna attends Waukesha STEM Academy and Luke goes to Bethesda Elementary School.

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“During the school year, I am driving carpool two days per week in the morning, so I pick up two other kids in the subdivision, and then I go on various field trips and
activities at school,” said Bedalov, who is PTO president at Bethesda.

The Waukesha father said he loves taking part in the fundraisers, dances, games and other recreational activities at Bethesda. The family is also active at St. Luke’s.

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“This group of dads I know always steps up,” he said. “My life is busy but I know how important this is.”

Service manager at BPI, Bedalov coaches swimming at Waukesha North. To him, this group of guys is “extended family.”

They’ve been through career changes and school experiences together, he said.

Also coaching youth sports is Jim Mollet, batallion chief at the Greenfield Fire Department. His wife Lynn, said he’s very involved in their childrens’ activities.

 “He’s always coached because he knows it’s best to set an example,” Lynn Mollet said. The two were high school sweethearts who married in 1989. She graduated from Waukesha North and he from Mukwonago High School.

Jim Mollett said the couple have never used childcare services, which they considered a blessing.

“I had the awesome opportunity to be home with the kids,” said Mollett, whose firefighter schedule enables him to have 4 consecutive days off per week because he works three 24-hour shifts in a 10-day period.

The couple volunteers together at their daughter’s Girl Scout camp, where Jim teaches girls how to make a fire out of a battery and a steel wool pad, plus other survival skills.

For Paul Hetzel, parenting and marriage are a dream come true.

“I got married later in life, and I remember a time when I wasn’t sure I’d be blessed with children or a wonderful wife,” he said. This Sunday, he’ll celebrate Father’s Day with his wife Lisa, and their three children, Emma, 11, and the twins, Ben and Grace, who are seven.

“It’s just a joy to be able to do all this,” he said. “Some people have to travel and they are away. I think when I’m around it helps keep the kids in line, and on the right path.”

Driving the kids to sports practice, coaching soccer and helping out with baseball, plus daily homework review is what it takes, he said. And he doesn’t think he’s all that unique.

“There are a lot of guys just like me who do it for the joy of seeing these kids grow up and the smiles on their faces,” he said.

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