This Week in Fatherhood

Friday, October 4, 2013

This Week in Fatherhood

Posted by Unknown

on 10/04/2013

Here's some of the fatherhood-related posts/news items/Facebook updates found this week (more or less). I'll try to make it either a weekly feature, or turn it into the newsletter I will finally get out. As soon as I'm done procrastinatin'. I'll be happy for any feedback about this feature!

News

This week, Dan Zevin won the Thurber Prize for American Humor, for his book, Dan Gets a Minivan: Life at the Intersection of Dude and Dad. I've written my own review of the book a year ago, and said it was the funniest book I've read since Three Men in a Boat. I'm glad the Thurber people finally caught up!

I met Dan in Vegas, during the Toyota Sienna "thing," and since that guy couldn't be nicer, I consider him getting the award a positive thing for fathers, writers, and people in general. Worldwide.

Now, is this really news that Wendy Williams said a stupid thing? Jason Greene was invited to a Nick Mom event, where Williams was speaking about seeing "that guy" at a kid's birthday party. Here's what Jason says on his post, Wendy Williams, Tampons, and Mr. Mom:

"As the discussion moved along, Ms. Williams asked the mothers about their feelings when “That guy” shows up with the kids to a birthday party. In slightly mocking terms, she referred to the dad as “the Mr. Mom type.” She inferred that she doesn’t like Mr. Moms because she’s a baby boomer and that’s not the kind of man she is used to. She also mentioned that she doesn’t like having a man around when she wants to “sit at a table and talk about tampons,” and noted that it would be weird to discuss feminine hygiene in front of a guy. As she talked, I wondered how many people in the room were looking at me out of the corner of their eyes."

So yes, Wendy Williams doesn't like to see dads at kids' birthday parties, because it makes it uncomfortable for her to talk about tampons. Sorry, Dan, for putting you and Wendy in the same section.

Fundraiser

Chris from Dad of Divas let us know about this fundraiser. I've written about fellow blogging dad Marc Block before. His friend Hilary Ratner is participating in the Los Angeles Out of the Darkness Community Walk, trying to raise funds for the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention. Read my post about the fundraiser, or better yet, just go to her fundraiser page.

Music

John, a member of our Dad Bloggers group, has a new kids' CD out. You can listen to some of the songs from the "Block Party" album here, and if you like it, click around the site and get to know his band, Poochamungas. Then buy the CD when it's out October 8th. Here's the Amazon link. (It's an affiliate link, because that's how I roll.)

Video

Charlie from HowToBeADad.com found this amazing 30 year old video of his dad being interviewed on a local TV channel, about his decision to stay home with his kid. Many of us stay-at-home dads feel like we're the first generation to stay home with the kids, so watching this video, complete with a psychologist warning mothers about the consequences of leaving home, is fascinating. You can watch the video below, or read more about it on HowToBeADad.