MANILA, Philippines – Like steamed broccoli beside a plate of ooey gooey mac and cheese, daddy blogs have been ignored for the longest time. More attention is given to mothers who have taken over the Internet.
For a change, we focus on dads. Our favorites, for your bookmarking pleasure:
Daddy Forever
www.daddyforever.com
Dad: Daddy Forever
Kids: Little Princess, 9; Spiderboy, 6; Little Monkey, 3; Little Disney, 3 months
Memorable excerpt: “What a big difference a couple of months can make. After one month, I wanted to return Little Disney for a full refund (minus a 15-percent restocking fee). After three months, I want my wife to have 20 more babies. He’s that cute. Little Disney can also talk now. Not with real words, but by cooing. When I talk to him, he coos back at me. I’m going to give him the benefit of doubt and assume he’s saying nice things to me and not talking back at me like my other three kids.”
Why you should read it: Because he’s funny and his kids’ pictures are adorable.
The Busy Dad Blog
www.busydadblog.com
Dad: Jim, The Busy Dad, a former muay thai and mixed martial arts fighter, now a full-time working dad
Kid: Fury, 7
Memorable excerpt: “If Jeopardy Were Written By Parents Like Me: I’ll take ‘4-Letter Words’ for $100, Alex.
Alex Trebek: Very well. And the answer is: ‘The opposite of Heaven, this word conveys eternal suffering.’
Contestant Linda: BUZZ! What is Hell?
Alex Trebek: Ohh... that’s not exactly the answer we’re looking for here. Anyone else? Eternal suffering...yes, BusyDad?
Me: What is DORA?”
Why you should read it: He can make reading about an afternoon in the park with his son entertaining.
Dad Gone Mad
http://www.humanwrites.typepad.com/dadgonemad/
Dad: Daniel Evans
Kids: Two—a son, 9, and a daughter, 6
Memorable excerpt: “This year was by far the worst photo session in the history of record Evans’ time. Barney’s Biggest Fan wouldn’t take her fingers out of her mouth and The Champ merely refused to smile, even when I tried to bribe him with candy and violent video games and the opportunity to live to see another day... At this point we couldn’t have cared less about them smiling; we just wanted them to look in the right direction so that recipients of our cards didn’t think the children were defiant or blind or holding out to see what presents they’ll get for Hanukkah before they decide to smile or smirk or, as the case may be, smear dung on their precious faces and scream bloody murder about not getting the Barney doll that wets itself and sings songs about rainbows when you squeeze his purple butt.”
Why you should read it: Because we can’t repost his entry “Why We Don't Talk About Sperm At The Dinner Table” and you really have to read it.
Poop and Boogies
http://poopandboogies.blogspot.com
Dad: William
Kids: Maxfield, 6; Wyatt, 3
Memorable excerpt: “I have been either thrown-up on, spit on, or peed on at least once, every day, for the past 16 days. It kind of reminds me of the time I used to work in an after hours nightclub.”
Why you should read it: Born to a family of nine siblings, blogger William says, “My dad and mom used to have some interesting ways of dealing with the nine kids. My personal favorite was when one of us would ask at dinner, ‘Mom, what’s in this?’ My father always replied. ‘Poop and boogies. Shut up and eat it.’" Not the same as ‘there are kids starving in China’ but we got the message.
Shotgun Daddy
http://www.shotgundaddy.com/
Dad: Hank, a bi-racial English teacher
Kids: Allison, who’s in second grade; Henry who is in kindergarten; and Kate who is in pre-school and is a complete drama queen
Memorable excerpt: “The biggest thing that all this homework has done is giving me an hour of uninterrupted time with my son every night, no small feat in a family of five. So whether we’re deciding if an airplane should be colored purple or red, sorting words by their opening syllables, or discussing the trials and tribulations of Curious George, we’re doing it together. I wouldn't have it any other way.”
Why you should read it: Because he can also be heartbreakingly sweet, like when he wrote this on his daughter’s ninth birthday: “As we sit here, balanced precariously at the midway point between her birth and her 18th birthday, I find myself looking forward as much as I look back. I can guess what the next nine years will hold—makeup and training bras, boyfriends and curfews, dented fenders and broken hearts. And even though there will be times when she won’t need me, secrets that she won’t tell me, and heartaches she won’t share, I hope that these first nine years have taught her one thing. Even as she’s pushing her limits and riding away from me, I will still be there running beside her, ready to catch her if she falls.”
Adventure Dad
http://www.adventuredad.com
Dad: Adventure dad is Swedish but has spent half his life in the US. He is a professional tennis player and finance professional.
Kids: Danie, 5; Annika, 2
Memorable excerpt: “Yesterday I had a five-minute phone ‘conversation’ with Daniel and it was fabulous. It’s so nice to hear him open up more and search for words. Now I can barely speak to Hot Wife because offspring wants to chat with me. He keeps on saying ‘pappa,’ ‘pappa,’ and then another thousand words that have no meaning unless you are related to Worf in Star Trek and actually speak Klingon. Daniel also called someone else on the phone and talked for a while. Who it was we don’t know. We are praying that it wasn’t an international call to China.”
Why you should read it: He doesn’t just write stories about his kids and his life as a dad. He discusses topics like car seats, raising multilingual kids and where babies should sleep.
Dear Spike, Love Dad
http://dearspikelovedad. blogspot.com/
Dad: He’s just known as Dad.
Kids: Spike, a little girl
Memorable excerpt: “Dear Spike, It’s because of the apparently hyper-contagious nature of your mother’s current ailment that we decided it would be best to keep you and her apart today. So it was that, for the first time in the two years that you’ve spent on this planet, you went a whole day without a hug or a kiss from your mommy.
It took a while, but you ultimately seemed to understand the funny new don’t-touch-mommy game we were playing—although you did attempt a few end runs around the no-contact clause of your contract today.
‘Mommy is very, very sick,’ you said.
‘That's right,’ I said.
‘She needs to go to the doctor,’ you said.
‘Could be,’ I said.
‘I’m a doctor!’ you suggested.”
Why you should read it: This series of letters from a dad to a daughter (which he began writing while Spike was still in her mother’s womb) is both entertaining and touching.
