Tenth At-Home Dads Convention - Here's the program and registration for the Tenth At-Home Dad reunion (or as we like to officially call it, the At-Home Dads' Convention). The Keynote will be  Kyle Pruett who got a high approval rating from the dads who saw him last year. We held off on announcing him as he almost couldn't make it.  For those who have already gone you will be sent a postcard soon as a reminder. You may want to show up to this one as there's other possible big news on the convention.

Meet Mister Mom  NBC Aug. 2 at 8 p.m. ET - Watched the advance screening a few weeks ago but wanted to stick my 2 cents in before I go off on vacation again.  It's basically set on the formula where 2 moms go on vacation while the dads are left to manage their chaotic households. Since the dads only watch their kids for 7 days it won't win much sympathy from full time dads. Checking in with Rebel Dad he even called for a boycott of the sponsors, but not to worry, you can keep using your Clorox and Glad  this thing will be off the air after the first 6 week run.  This things is pure mainstream eye candy as the dads get projects like assembling a go-kart for a soap box derby (the kids don't even help) or caring for a  farm "pet" dropped off to the 2 dads houses (a llama and a pig) just to get a reaction. 

Sharon Jayson of USA Today tapped several blogs, at-home dad playgoups members, myself. and the National Center for Fathering several weeks ago looking for the perfect dad in the Maryland area. The search was tough as she was looking for one of the 98,000 dads who fit the definition of an at-home dad. Her frantic week-long search came up with Michael Paranzino of Bethesda who writes his Full Time Father Blog.  He got the full USA Today treatment in today's issue with a full day interview profile, a photographer who tagged along for the day resulting in a nice audio gallery show complete with Mike's narration. A sidebar was also added repeating the 98K number and comparing it to a staggering 5.4 million stay-at-home moms stat. She threw in a quote from Yale researcher Kyle Pruett who agreed that kids of at-home dads, feel loved, adored and treasured but says at-home dads will always be a small segment.... .I don't see us having mass societal shifts in that direction.... our society wants men working hard and making lots of money.  I agree to a point with Pruett as dads who don't make a penny will probably remain scarce.. However you can't ignore the increasing number dads who make a few bucks on ebay  to pay for the diapers.

The new foreplay - Cleaning the kitchen:

At the At-Home Dad message board there's been talk on house cleaning. During the discussion "Cliff" dug up this 2-year-old old research out of UCAL which I couldn't help but to share with all: Dad's that clean house likely to have better behaved children and wives who find them more sexually attractive

2 movies, 2 dads 2 bad - First off this weekend, we got a stay-at-home dad (laid off cartoonist) in Son of the Mask (it's basically Mr Mom meets the Dancin Baby). Then next weekend we got Hollywood's Mr. Macho himself, Vin Diesel taking care of the kids in The Pacifier: Prepare for Bottle. As you click on the official movie link, you see Vin Diesel with his hands full and the Diesel in the background muttering "you gotta be kidding me"  Not a good start here. The film is billed as the story of an undercover agent who, after failing to protect an important government scientist, learns the man's family is in danger. In an effort to redeem himself, he agrees to take care of the man's children only to discover that child care is his toughest mission yet.  What is fascinating to me, is both movie posters are nearly identical in theme. Both have dad in dead center with a baby (or two) in hand and mom standing on the side. The message is clear, involved dads (or dads trying to be involved) are in high gear and selling in Hollywood. It is encouraging to see the image of dad with their kids featured, but I'll wait for the full reviews to see if we have any improvement over Mr Mom or Daddy Daycare.

A Chip off the old blog - I'd like to welcome daddychip to the daddy blog block. He's a former stay-at-home dad who wishes he could have stayed at home longer. It's refreshing to see a dad still sharing his thoughts after his kids are in grade school. From reading his first posts he's a good dad in my book. Check out his neat post about the demise of his car. and his son's reaction to Mr Tow truck hauling it away. These at-home-dad-car-posts have gotten my attention as I was busy wrecking my Buick Lesabre last week in a harrowing accident with a semi. The guy just pulled into my lane (blind spot?) sending me spinning into an Escort which then hit a limo. (No injuries). Funny though, I remember countless movies of people watching the world go round when their car spins, but when I was whirling around, I can just remember one moment in time looking directly into the oncoming cars headed toward before a second back-side SMASH into the truck. The Buick probably saved my life, If I had a SUV I would have rolled over, If I had an escort I wouldn't be here. In any case my car was totaled so I am in the hunt for a new car.. Sorry, I don't think I will be buying athomedaddy's Escort as I will continue with a new Buick. (The Escort post should probably be posted in athomedaddy's dark side.)