Donald Trump has his word on at-home dads:

I’m impressed with these men and with their patience and dedication to their families, but I don’t think I could do what they do. I love my children but really like the world of business. I’d miss being in the middle of big-time deals too much if I gave up the boardroom for the playroom.

Yea but aren't those great big boardroom tables great for changing diapers?

P.S. Mr Trump, here's the latest info on the At-Home Dad Convention if you do decide to go.

                                        [ref: The Trump Blog ]

Those that know Jay Allen's  zero boss blog would be surprised to see that yesterday's post on his new blog goes something like this:

C# 3.0: Getting Dynamic  - Since I hyped a Ruby feature in my previous post, I should acknowledge the ways in which C# 3.0 is making itself a more dynamic language.......The C# team is definitely going the extra mile to mimic many of the trends in modern languages, and get C# at least a little closer to NBL.

Well you get the idea:  Jay Allen is back, probably not in the way you  are used to but it's the way he wants.  He's living in Oklahoma, (by choice he writes) and is getting back to the life he wants. So from now on you can expect more of  Collections in .NET: Coding to the Highest Level of Abstraction. 

We are in the midst of a daddy ad war with Verizon sticking to their stupid dad ads in one corner, and Ford taking a realistic view in another . You may have remembered the ad aired shot 3 years ago by Verizon when they showed a confused looking dad helping his daughter do homework when his wife marches in and tell him to "leave her alone".  I had written how this commercial that had been airing for months with no complaints suddenly got the boycott treatment by Glenn Sacks, the host of his radio show His Side. AP's David Crary did a piece on it giving it  wide coverage.  Verizon finally caved in to the one-article week long media assault and pulled the ad.  Since then Verizon and Ford have been back and forth in an on-air daddy war. 

In the Spring of 06, Ford started their "bold moves campaign" where their research by JWT Detroit by showed  a reassessment of what people think of us today. What are our weaknesses? What are our strengths? Our research confirmed for us what we knew in our hearts. Ford's strength and identity are defined by three words: bold - American - and innovative.  Out of JWT's research comes this controversial spot shown below with dad spending a nice day at the beach with the wife & kids. Turns out we find out that the couple is divorced when she drops him off at his place the end of the day. He hugs his kids and mutters to his ex, thanks for inviting me this weekend, and is left alone until he sees his kids the next weekend.

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Verizon came back in May of 06 with this this funny, but easily mis-interpreted "Daddy got Hosed" ad shown below. The play of words may not be as obvious as the Meet The Fockers Movie, but I'm sure the ad agency knows we might have done a double take upon the first viewing. Judge for yourself.

 

Ford, continuing with their "Bold" campaign actually gets it right with a dad actually caring for his from toddler to driver's license age. nicely done.

OK Verizon, Ford has one up on you,  you're next... lets see if you can show a little class too.

 We bought Jenga blocks a while ago, then lost a few of the original 54 pieces that came in the box (I finally found them after dusting under baseboard heater next to our kitchen table),  Then my wife bought another set at a yard sale for a buck, and we lost a bunch more. If you are missing some they are under your sofa, TV hutch and the refrigerator. Don't do the ruler thing under the refrigerator, there's too much dust, just pull it out and get 'em.

Then we got a third set for fifty cents, and kept piling them to the ceiling and losing a few more pieces. After getting sick of picking them up we started  knocking them over dominoes style, and the kids went nuts for the next two weeks. Now and then in an off moment I put a pile in front of them. Kids love this stuff.

                                    [deleted scenes below]

I was poking around last week to check out the some new dad blogs and came across one dad who broke two records at the same time, The fastest at-home dad web site ever made .. and the worst. 

In short, the site contained a picture of his wifes ultra-sound, a short video plea for 60,000 to pay his student loans so he could stay home with his soon to be born son, and a little donation tab for you to bail him out.


I couldn't help myself it and checked back this morning and found that he had added some of the response e-mails positive and negaitve:

Update: I originally had posted some of the responses here (with the bad stuff beeped out) but It was still too much, so I took it off. I agree with one readers response that he put up this site just for a reaction, so I have removed his referral link.

[ref: home-maker man ]

Google Fight re-visited - a year ago  I noticed the term "At-Home Dad" finally edged out "Mr Mom " 484,000 to 452,000 in google search comparing the two.  I've checked back now and then and have noticed this morning check shows Mr Mom being outnumbered 350 to 17. (Different search criteria I know but the ratio is there)
 

My new UK contact, Edmund of Daddy's Dinner is having trouble watching the news these days "due to the constant Pokemon at the moment", but he did happen to share with me the latest madness to be announced in the UK tomorrow by England's Health secretary Alan Johnson.

He tells me the English government is planning to give pregnant women (29 weeks) a £200 ($406 US) payment to encourage them to eat more healthily. Ed says he "really doesn't see that working." A look around the UK news show this idea is not getting a lot of support.

BBC News tracked one spokeswoman (National Childbirth Trust) who stated "...the logistics of the scheme need to concentrate on ensuring that the funding directly benefits women and their babies nutritionally."

Or in layman's terms: More cigarettes and booze! Hooray!!  (posted in the largely negative comments section of the article by "Chester")

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

At the beginning of each school year, my two boys hand me the always-fun-to-fill out "school  health and emergency form". I always scribble in at-home dad as my occupation.

Yesterday's The Scotsman (UK) noted that Alan Whyte of Scotland did the same thing when he got his birth certificate for his son Logan, by writing in "house husband".

They told me I had to put in a paid profession, but I was determined my son would know that this was my job and eventually I persuaded them," he says proudly. "I think I was the first bloke in central Scotland to be recorded as a house husband.

The article is the standard story we see here in the states, with "problems" of isolation, how this is a "growing trend" and of course a sample negative reaction from one dad who needed some public vomit help.

Struggling to mop up vomit from his child, himself and the surrounding walls, he called out to passing neighbours for help, only to hear them soothe: "There, there, it's all right, mummy will be home soon."

The story also  notes a "new" (released May 07, possibly reflecting 2005)  stat of 20,000 at-home dads in Scotland, up from 10,000 two years earlier (2003?) and 5,000 1996. The research is said to be from homedad.org.uk/ a UK support group. That site showed the numbers are actually from from Office of National Statistics which reported 200,000 UK dads at home..

Nearly lost in the article is Edmund Farrow's  fabulously retro DadsDinner daddy web site complete with a Housdad's Handbook. His site has the best tag line ever: Leaving a man in charge of children doesn't always mean a dogs breakfast.

I added Ed's creation to my blogroll and took off  Jay's Allen's "The Zero Boss site" who shut his blog down this summer with no explanation.  Jay had abandoned his blog once before due to personal problems. Rumor has it he trekked out west to breath some of that fresh non-blogger air.  If you were a Zero Boss fan don't rule out his return to virtual reality again.

How's this for a new novel idea, man has job, man has baby, man writes book about taking care of baby. or in PR speak   It's the battle-cry of a red-blooded male thrust into a world he always thought was for someone else. Adam Keeble of New York City is the latest guy/dad to take this topic on: His working book title? I Got You Babe

Filmmaker Dana Glazer has had quite a summer.  It started off with a stunning 431,868 hits on his youtube video on dads (It was featured by their home page on Father's Day) and gave a nice plug to his upcoming Evolution of Dads documentry.

Since then he has ramped up his work schedule for his movie and sent me his account of his adventures below, expect to see these folks in his movie.

1. Sociologist/auther Scott Coltrane - Visited NYC a couple of weeks ago and and we interviewed him extensively.

2. State Trooper/SAHD Kevin Knussman - who has been a focal point in the media due to how he sued the State Troopers of MD on account that they wouldn't allow him to paternity leave when his wife became very ill and he was forced to be the primary caregiver for their newborn. The case lasted 10 years and garnered national exposure, including a mention in a book by Hillary Clinton as well as a radio address by President Clinton.

3. We also got some footage of the DC Rally on August 18th that revolved around some angry dads who feel that the court system is working against them regarding custodial battles.

4. We also filmed more on-the-street interviews with people in and around NYC asking questions that pertained to perceptions of what a father should be, SAHDs and peoples' relations with their own dads. Some of the findings I mentioned in our blog.

5. We're currently planning a trip to Kansas City, MO to film the SAHD  convention as well as profile the National Center for Fathering.

6. We are also planning on hopefully interviewing Senator Dodd, who is  currently pushing some legislation to expand paternity leave.

7. Below is new video of SAHD Dallas Hayes who pulls no punches on the "Mr Mom Crap"

If he gets half of the heavy-hitters in fatherhood and a-list celebrities he is lining up (I promised not to mention them here) he is on the way to a first class documentry on par with films such as Supersize Me, Spellbound, and Sicko. As usual I will keep you updated.

- Pete