23 Jan

Dad and Buried Posted in Blogging 13 comments

Why Don’t Dads Read About Parenting?

When I look at my readership demographics, both for my blog and my Facebook page, the numbers are dominated by women. Seriously, it’s something like 90%/10%. This is obviously due in large part to my stunning good looks, but it’s also because of the subject matter.

Men don’t read parenting blogs. Or parenting anything. I mean, some men do; I am part of a Facebook community of nearly 1000 dad bloggers who definitely read parenting content (if only to steal ideas). But I dare say most men don’t. At the very least, most men don’t read much. And they certainly don’t read as much as moms. But why?

I don’t have a real answer for why dads don’t read about parenting, but I do have some sexist ones!

11 Dec

Dad and Buried Posted in Babies 21 comments

It’s Okay to Hate Your Baby

Not to state the obvious, but becoming a parent is kind of a big deal. One day you don’t have a kid and the next day you do and your life won’t ever be the same. It’s quite an adjustment. Even with nine months of warning.

I don’t care how much time you spend getting ready, how many books you read, how much stuff you buy: you can’t truly prepare for having kids because nothing prepares you for having kids except having kids. Being a parent takes some getting used to and it’s not always easy, especially at first.

It’s okay to admit your kid is an asshole sometimes. It’s okay to hate being a parent sometimes. And it’s okay to hate your baby.

14 Nov

Dad and Buried Posted in discipline 13 comments

Is it Right to Judge

I hate judgment, especially when it comes to parenting.

It’s presumptuous and self-righteous and, worst of all, it only serves to obscure – if not outright obliterate – the empathy that should be both the prevalent emotion and the primary response to seeing another parent struggling. We all live in the same huge glass house, surrounded by miniature, walking, talking, wrecking balls, and we’re all barefoot and bloodied, like John McClane.

Being given a hard time when your kid isn’t behaving is the last thing a parent needs.

It’s difficult enough being responsible for the safety and development of a brand new, slowly-developing, borderline-feral human being without someone explaining to you everything you’re doing wrong.

It’s never right to judge. So why do I want you to judge me?

Read more about Is it Right to Judge …

21 Oct

Dad and Buried Posted in stress 4 comments

Inclusive Parenting

Parenting is a nonstop merry-go-round of comparison, guilt and judgment.

We feel guilty when we screw up, we judge other parents when they screw up. We endlessly compare ourselves to those same parents, unaware – or, more honestly, unwilling to accept – that they are experiencing exactly the same trials and tribulations, and riding the same roller-coaster, that we are.

We pit ourselves against the world, against non-parents and other parents and even our spouses, eliminating the curve and grading everything on a scale of zero or 100, using extreme language in the service of unrealistic standards. In so doing, we isolate ourselves from each other.

It’s time we started using our broad assumptions and wild generalizations to be inclusive instead of exclusive. Here, I’ll get us started and give some inclusive parenting a try.

Take This Under Advisement, Jerkweed! – Vol. 10

Many people don’t like giving advice, but not me. I don’t like giving directions (the only person who has a worse sense of direction than me is Mr. Magoo) but I love giving advice. Especially when it’s unsolicited. Which, unfortunately, it’s not. Because I asked you to ask me questions.

Despite having no training or authority or expertise in any arena aside from Movie Pong and The Kevin Bacon Game, I think I’m pretty good at the advice game. I’m a good listener and have given some friends some pretty good objective advice in the past, helpful, thoughtful advice that has (presumably) improved their relationships and (obviously) elevated my status in their lives.

But that’s not what I do here, with my “Parental Advisories”. No, here I play God with other people’s families.

Come and join me!

Dad and Buried

Tag: advice

Why Don’t Dads Read About Parenting?

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It’s Okay to Hate Your Baby

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Is it Right to Judge

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Inclusive Parenting

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Take This Under Advisement, Jerkweed! – Vol. 10

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