This week's roundup includes a thorough study about the way dads are shown in advertising, with some surprising results, a call for submissions of fatherhood stories for a new book, a new web series about fatherhood from Hank Azaria, parenting lessons, and more.
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Advertising / Dadvertising
For years, I've been calling out brands that ignored dads or presented dads as incompetent fools. As late as November last year, I've called out Vicks for their acommercial, showing a dad who can't comb is daughter's hair, alongside a mom who can't take a day off to be sick, because the family unit would collapse if left in the hands of the father (
"When You're a Mom, There Are No Sick Days"?). I believe ads showing incompetent dads (or ads that ignore dads) are not simply offensive, but they are harmful to men as well as to women, who still can't escape the guilt they face when they dare to get a job and leave what many still consider their "realm."
Well, good news. Zach from 8BitDad has watched and ranked 140 commercials from 2013, reaching the conclusion that the vast majority of ads show dads in a positive light. It's a fascinating study from Zach, who started ranking the videos to prove the point that dads had a long way ahead of us, but while watching the videos, had come to realize we were more than half-way where we needed to be. Read about his research and about the results, and watch some of the videos he mentioned here: Observations on Dad-Bias in 140 Commercials from 2013.
Blogging Dad
The most recent addition to my
Blogging Fathers page is Bill from the blog
ihopeiwinatoaster. Bill's blog is very "old school," which for me, means the rare example of writing for the sake of writing. Many bloggers (me included) often work with brands and with marketers and with PR people, trying to strategically get worthy guest post slots, thinking about ad placement and SEO... And this is all fine, don't get me wrong, but it's also refreshing to stumble across that rare blog without a special design or even a domain name, where the honest writing comes through with nothing else to obscure it. Read my introduction of ihopeiwinatoaster here: Bill.
Fatherhood Stories
Do you have a fatherhood story? Al Watts and Hogan Hilling, both from the
At-Home-Dad Network, have secured a deal for a book of fatherhood stories. That's the good news. The even better news is that they're still collecting stories, especially more success “aha moment” stories. If you're a dad with a good "aha moment" story (or if you know a dad with a good story), head on to the Dads Behaving Dadly website and click on the Submission Guidelines page. If your story is picked, you can get a percentage of royalities, and more importantly, you will see your fatherhood story in print. The deadline is March 31, 2014. (
Dads Behaving Dadly)
Fatherhood Web Series
Hank Azaria started filming a web series where he interviewed his dad-friends in an attempt to try to understand the foreign, strange phenomenon known as fatherhood. Then, of course, his (then) girlfriend became pregnant during filming. There are two episodes out so far, and it's a real "You'll laugh--you'll cry" series, with a lot of funny people telling funny fatherhood stories, mixed with truly emotional bits. Guests include Bryan Cranston, Kevin Bacon, Mike Meyers, Tim Robbins, parenting experts, and random dads on the street. Watch the first episode by following the link below, and then catch a new episode every Wednesday on Mom.me (
Hank Azaria's Fatherhood)
Instagram
Did I mention I had an Instagram account?
Click here for our lives in square pictures. This one is a new favorite, showing a typical family trip to Nordstrom.
Music
James Hudyma from the DadsRT site was recording a song for his YouTube channel, when his son started chatting in the background. Determined to finish the song (but not to upload it, because of the interruptions), James continued recording, catching a nice little parenting moment right at the end... (
Dad’s Recording Doesn’t Go as Planned, But it Works Out Perfectly in the End)
Parenting Lesson I Taught Myself
In this post, written a few months ago, I tell the story of a time I tried to make my girl strong and independent, instead of whiny. Now, I won't lie. Trying to stop a 3-year-old kid from being whiny is an exercise in futility. Whine is what they do best, after all. It's their thing. But at least now I have something to turn to when she whines. At least now she can have the tool to empower herself if she feels like doing it. Most of the time, when faced with that choice, though, she still prefers to whine... Hey, at least she has a choice. Read the parenting lesson I taught myself here: The Day I Turned My Daughter into a Mountain.
Worst Parent of the Week
I found this on Reddit, with the title, "Over-parenting vs regular parents," which is actually a pretty good title, grammar aside. Basically, it comes down to this: it's great to push your kids to be the best they can be, but if you push them too hard for too long, they won't be able to push themselves. (
Over-parenting vs regular parents)
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