As a so-called influencer, I get all sorts of interesting things in the mail, products, gear, gadgets and other things that are interesting to open but ultimately end up in the box of unwanted toys. Think Toy Story 3, perhaps. Still, sometimes things show up that surprise me and prove to be far cooler than I realized when I first popped open the box. And so it was with the Babbleboxx that I received in…Read More
I get letters, often from other divorced men who are either full-time single fathers or part-time dads. All of them have one thing in common: they love their child or children and are trying to do the best they can while also trying to have a life of their own. The latest guy to write to me had this question: My question to you is about parenting first and secondly personal wishes. Two years ago,…Read More
A few weeks ago I had a chance to spend some time talking with psychologist and family therapist Robbin Rockett, who hosts the terrific Solo Parent Life podcast. Our conversation ranged all over the place but also included a history of this blog, Go Fatherhood, including how my divorce was — and wasn’t — reflected here on the site. We also talked at length about how judgmental other parents can be (and how hard that…Read More
I don’t feel like I’m an overly patriotic person, but I do feel quite strongly that it’s the right and responsibility of every American who can vote to do so, whether it’s for the next President, a statewide ballot issues or just a local issues of taxation. Does each vote matter? In some huge ballot initiatives, perhaps not. When something wins by significant percentage points, 70% to 30%, an individual vote might not be a big deal….Read More
I was reading an article in the Denver Post about current demographic trends that startled me. The article cites data from the latest US Census American Community Survey that indicates “34.1 percent of all 18- to 34-year-olds in the U.S. lived in their parents’ home in 2015.” Thirty-four percent. Now it’s possible that the 18yo and 19yo gap year students are skewing the data, but it’s still a bit mind-boggling that fully one-third of all young adults are…Read More
I’ve been reading about so-called trigger warnings for a year or two now, but have been in denial about their existence on college campuses and throughout academia. Unfortunately, they’re real. Before most professors now talk about anything graphic or potentially upsetting to a student, they warn the students that the topic will include certain “trigger” topics and then let the students have a moment or two to opt out and leave the lecture hall rather than participate…Read More
There’s a sense in our culture that if someone’s going it alone as a parent without the other partner involved at all, it’s the Mom and the Dad just split or was pushed away. And the reality is that’s true in far too many cases. According to that unimpeachable source Wikipedia, there are 13.6 million single parents in the United States [see also the graph below, from The Atlantic], 80% of them are mothers, and 45% of those…Read More
I bet you didn’t know that this Friday, August 19, is National Men’s Grooming Day! I didn’t even know there was such a thing, but if we can have Talk Like a Pirate Day and National Donut Day, then heck, grooming is more important than either of those for us guys, right? Thing of it is, a lot of guys pay almost zero attention to their appearance — as far as I can tell — and leave…Read More
It’s a bit hard for me to wrap my head around the concept, but the truth is staring me in the face, the calendar doesn’t lie and my oldest, A-, is heading off for college on Monday, a college that’s almost 1000 miles away from home. It’s been quite a journey for all of us to get here and in many ways she has borne the brunt of my divorce and the subsequent decade of living a…Read More
Parenting conferences are definitely unusual and when they’re not oriented around dads (like Dad 2.0) they end up being predominantly women. Mostly, but not all, moms. Still, when my friend Kelby Carr (@KelbyCarr) announced that she was going to split off her successful Type-A Parent conference into east and west, and that the first Type-A West conference was going to be in Santa Fe, New Mexico, I knew I had to go. I love Santa…Read More
Growing up in Southern California, I spent a lot of my formative years on the beach and grew to have an appreciation for longer hair on guys. All these years later, I still eschew a crewcut or super short haircut in favor of wearing my hair longer, but that involves some level of work and commitment so that I don’t look too much like a mad scientist when I leave the house. And I’m not…Read More
Got some interesting data from Facebook about Father’s Day. Check it out: on Father’s Day 2015, nearly 200 million people had 1.2 billion interactions on Facebook around the cultural moment. This year you’ll be able to use custom Father’s Day stickers too. If you’re into Facebook stickers, that is. Facebook Groups can also be a good resource for finding a “virtual village” to provide support and advice in this crazy fatherhood adventure. Facebook recently launched Groups Discover, which…Read More
I’ve carried a humble little pocket knife for a long time and when my Dad gave me his no-name blade, I then carried that one for many years until I recently lost it. A sad day, actually, but life happens. The good news is that it opened me up to considering what I’d want in a replacement blade and after much research, I identified what I believe are the essential features of what the industry calls…Read More
We live in a time when there’s no excuse for anything that happens, and where even when the community identified “victim” says the situation was part of a running joke, it becomes a cause célebre and fodder for plenty of angst-filled diatribes about how broken our culture is. You know, business as usual. This weekend, KTLA meteorologist Liberté Chan was reporting on the weather for the morning news, covering the 8-9am shift, and part way through her…Read More
The team at Dove Men+Care sent me a note with the findings of research they funded through Edelman Intelligence as part of their NCAA March Madness campaign about men and friendship, among other topics. Since I’m a quant, I wanted to know the research sample and it’s pretty solid, 1,000 US men ages 25-54 years old, of varying age, income, location and other attributes. My question when reading the research findings was whether what they…Read More
This is a sponsored post written by me on behalf of Gillette at Sam’s Club for IZEA. All opinions are 100% mine. I’ve been using an electric razor for more years that I can recall. It’s easy, and the fact that I’m compromising a really good, close, smooth shave for convenience is something I try not to think about too much. Maybe it’s laziness, but there’s no question that a real steel blade gets my…Read More
I’ve attended every Dad 2.0 Summit since the very first one, five years ago. Go team! In 48 hours I’ll be in Washington DC for the fifth Summit and I have to admit to being pretty excited about it. Every year it’s a solid few days with some of the best fathers and men in the online world (along with a passel of terrific gals and moms too). In previous years I’ve spoken on panels…Read More
A few days ago I received the following email from a reader, a touching plea for help: “I feel my twin 14 year old son’s deserve more than someone like me. I messed up my life and now I’m supposed to raise them not to make the same mistakes I have made????? What scares me is the fact that they love me and trust me when I don’t. They are everything to me and, I’m scared…Read More
I received this query email from a reader: Good morning. I’m a single Dad. I have three children 23, 21, and 19. My 21 and 19 year old are boys in college. One is a freshman and one a junior. Their Mom is remarried. I probably make about 1/3 to 1/2 of what my ex and her new husband make. The boys think I should contribute 50/50 on all things with my ex. This is…Read More
Ah the harsh voice of the populace. While writing an article about the popular teen voting app Wishbone, I couldn’t help but be curious about the results of a user-submitted question mom or dad? Here are the results: Maybe I shouldn’t be surprised since the user population for Wishbone are primarily teen girls. Maybe I should be impressed that almost 30% of the respondents picked dad at all. But I’m disappointed. We dads are fighting…Read More
For a guy who tends to wear sneakers or boat shoes most of the year, it’s a bit of a puzzle how I became a part of the Rockport Inner Circle, but it has given me a splendid opportunity to upgrade my footwear and thereby my image a bit. It’s the curse of the solopreneur: when you don’t have an office and don’t have a boss, you tend to forget that “the clothes make the man”…Read More