Thursday, September 30, 2010

Drew Griffin is a Dick

Drew Griffin

In the past year, many good bad and ugly people have tried to define me. "Hey, everyone else is writing a story about stay-at-home-dads! Get on it!"

And they did. We were poker-playing monkeys for these journalistic zoologists. And what offended them most was our presumptuousness. How dare we try to define ourselves? Don't we know there are people who are paid to define us?

Marie Claire called us trophy husbands and status symbols, Dr. Laura said we destroy marriages, David Brooks said we weren't nurturing, and The Atlantic said we simply weren't necessary.

But finally, Josh Levs from CNN let a few blogging fathers have their say. Finally, fathers get to talk about daddy-blogging in particular and about modern parenthood in general. Unfortunately, what should have been a positive piece has turned into a ridiculous attack on blogging fathers and on stay-at-home fathers.

Here's some of the video.


Now, I'm saying the video above is some of the video because the actual CNN video includes a great line from Drew Griffin, CNN's own mustache-free Ron Burgundy. The three CNN hosts talk about the bad economy, and Griffin says, "Fortunately, we haven't been turned into stay at home dads just yet."


Other than this keeper, there are enough comments from Griffin to warrant the title of this post. He suspects, for example, that fathers don't read these blogs. Not sure where he gets that one from. Oh, and stay-at-home-dads shouldn't waste time writing and reading blogs, because they should spend their time watching their kids. Well, actually I have some spare time and I spend it reading and writing blogs. Or as I said on Twitter:

Thursday, September 23, 2010

Jim


So the other day I talk to a mother in a playground, and the conversation turns to blogging (because she has a great blog), and she mentions reading some stuff written by fathers. I ask her to name one of the blogs, because "maybe I read it too," and she says, "Sweet Juniper."

"Ahh," I say, "The one with Lone Wolf and Cub on the header!"

There's something about this blog that automatically pulls you in. Maybe it's the great photos, or maybe it's Jim's unique, independent voice, or maybe it's the rather obscure movie reference to one of the greatest fathers in movie history, but as soon as you land on the page you feel the blog has a soul.

I wish I knew what made a great blog (so I could). Other than good writing, good photos, and an involuntary, subconscious feeling of connection brought about by a movie reference on a header, what makes this blog stand out? What made it stand out for my playground friend?

This is some of the best the Internet has to offer. For you to decide what makes it so, you'll just have to visit the blog and start reading.












BloggerFather

Monday, September 13, 2010

A Family Hobby


I don't think I'm alone there. I think everyone grows up with some memory of a hobby that a parent was unable to transfer to the next generation. In my case, it was stamp-collecting. I think my father used to collect stamps as a kid, and then stopped, only to get inspired again while teaching me about stamps. Unfortunately, I wasn't inspired, and my father stopped when I did.

The other side of that comes when a parent finds a hobby he's able to share with a child. It's too early for me to search for a hobby to share with my young kids, but I guess I have to prepare for some successes and some failures. (For now, we have our shared love of Wonder Pets.)

Jason, a father from my SAHD group, found out about my blog(s), and emailed me a few links. One is a photography blog of his professional work, another is a more personal blog, with photos of his daughter, and the third is a foodie blog written by his 9-year-old son, Eli.

Since starting his blog, Eli has been interviewed on local radio, featured on Examiner.com, and has been getting a few free meals, too.

Maybe Eli will work as a food critic when he's older. Maybe he won't. But so far, this blog is a success, and not just because Eli is featured on the radio and on the Internet, but because he shares his hobby with his parents. His parents help him with the blog, taking pictures of him eating in the restaurants he's reviewing, and give him the moral support every kid needs, and definitely every new blogger needs.

Visit Eli's blog, Adventures of a Koodie, and be inspired to find your own family hobby.

(By the way, I met Jason on Twitter, using a different account. I have a few of those. In fact, most of my Twitter followers are my other accounts.)

Wednesday, September 1, 2010

Basanta


As much as I appreciate meeting so many fathers through this blog and on Twitter, finding and introducing blogs written by fathers outside the circle of friends I've recently made is a real privilege.

Her World, Our Words is a blog written by Aryaa's parents (although I could only finds posts written by the father), and its focus never shifts away from the girl. But along the way, every post reveals a little bit about a culture I know nothing about. I wanted to write "almost nothing," but who am I kidding?

Basanta's family has recently moved from Japan to Nepal. (There's no About page, but if I understand it correctly, the family started in Nepal and moved the Japan, and is now back in Nepal.) Reading this blog is a treat, because it reveals the way fatherhood in other cultures is similar to my own experience here.

There are funny posts and more serious posts, all full of love and an honest wish by Basanta to understand his daughter's world. Like most parents, he seems to search for the balance between guiding his daughter and simply standing by and observing as she finds her own way.

Come for the anthropological curiosity, stay for the cute girl.

Her World, Our Words











BloggerFather

    Instagrams

    Featured On...

    Get widget