modern day dad

Stay-At-Home Dads Going Back To Work in the Wall Street Journal

There's a good article in today's Wall Street Journal about At-Home Dads trying to get back into the work force. There are as many different reasons for staying at home or going back to work as there are At-Home Dads, but the article does a good job of illustrating a few different situations. Whether Dads decide to go back to school to give them a competitive edge or keep themselves in their industry with freelance work, the smart Dads play the hiring/interview game without discounting their time as primary caregivers.

In a world that pays a lot of lip service to those who "think outside of the box," I can't think of anything in my life that has made me do so more than staying at home with my kids. As featured father David Hallowes says, the "challenges and self-reflection of the past 2 1/2 years will make him a better manager."

Daunting Task for Mr. Mom: Get a Job - WSJ.com

[And for the record, shame on whomever wrote the lazy "Mr. Mom" headline.]

"Is That $50,000-a-Year College Worth It?" Uh, maybe.

With the baseball season started and the tax season finished, it is time for the final rite of spring: Where to send the college deposit check.  That is the dilemma facing many families of high school seniors who have been accepted to multiple places.

via blogs.bnet.com

This is a question I know I'm going to have to tackle eventually - twice. What this article basically comes down to is - if you can get into a truly elite school, then it's probably best to go. If it's between an expensive middle tier school and a public university, the cheaper public option might be better.

The most interesting point to me was that if you can get into an elite school in the first place, then actually going might not make you any better off. UNLESS you come from a low-income family.

Of course measuring "success" is kind of difficult, but my advice? If you live in a state with great public universities, stay put.

via @deantsouvalas

Modern Day Dad At CES 2010. Oh. And Lady Gaga Too.

Well, I did the quick calculation this morning, and this is officially the 7th CES I've been to, and while some were fun (the first few) and some were really underwhelming (last year), this year's is proving to be a little better, if only for the fact that I pretty much kicked it off by going to a Lady Gaga press conference at the Polaroid Booth.

You see, she's now a Creative Director at Polaroid for a special line of New Imaging Products or something. In the conference she made it very clear (while she tried her best to hide her face with her bizarre hair-hat), that this wasn't a typical endorsement deal, and that she and "The Haus of Gaga" (I couldn't make that up if I tried) were going to be very involved with new products.

Hey, that's great I suppose, and I know that Polaroid who haven't had anything exciting going on with them in about, oh, twenty years or so, are probably thrilled with the association. But all that stuck out to me during the whole thing was, there's a guy who works for Polaroid, one of the last great brands in photography, up on a platform saying "Lady Gaga" as if it were the most normal thing anyone ever uttered. Maybe I'm old or something, but it was kind of funny to me.

So anyway, if you're interested in my posts about stuff I'm seeing at CES this year, check out my posts over at Babble.com's product blog, Droolicious.

Can We Please Stop Praising The Baby Dangler?

Enough of the Michael Jackson tributes already. Almost every morning I turn on the Today Show on NBC, and today was the first morning since his death that the news has been at least fifty percent something other than Michael Jackson related. On Saturday morning I even switched over to a business show on Fox News (to get a break from the wall-to-wall "king of pop" coverage on NBC), and what do you suppose they were talking about? Michael Jackson's money.

Sure, I loved (and love) Thriller as much as the next guy, and no one can deny he was the amazing performer everyone says he is. But at what point do we separate the art from the artist? I think it's safe to say that most people believe, including myself, that the guy was a (albeit never convicted) pederast.

And even if you're one of the people who believe he never touched a child in an improper way his entire life, he's the same guy who DANGLED HIS INFANT SON OVER A HOTEL BALCONY. And now I have to listen to Al Sharpton on the Today Show tell me what a devoted and amazing father he was.

Is this the person we need a moment of silence for in Congress?

Leveraging? Collateralized Debt Obligations?? The Crisis of Credit Visualized

I think it's safe to say that most of us, if not all of us, are a little confused as to just how the hell things got so bad with the economy. Check this video out by Jonathan Jarvis. It does a rather good job of explaining things visually without over simplifying.

The Crisis of Credit Visualized from Jonathan Jarvis on Vimeo.

[via perpendum.com via bitterkenny]

Stay-at-home Dads are going to hell? I guess I'll see you there!

A friend of mine sent me this clip from YouTube of a crazy Christian preacher saying that, and I quote, "You call yourself Mr. Mom, God calls you a bum."

I think my friend wanted me to join in her shock and anger, and although I appreciate the sentiment, honestly my first reaction was laughter. And then I kind of got bummed out because there were so many people in the congregation agreeing with him. It's just odd to me (but not surprising) that people actually think this way. And it's funny that someone would preach it.

If choosing to stay with your kids because you can afford it and you'd rather do that then send them to daycare makes me a bum, then feel free to send me a hand-out via PayPal.

Or at least click an ad.

Seven fewer Father's Days.

I thought I had read every lets-find-a-new-angle-on-Father's-Day-so-we-can-justify-another-news-blurb article there was on the internet, then I read this story on stuff.co.nz (which apparently has nothing to do with Stuff Magazine even the typeface is pretty similar). According to them, Dads in New Zealand will have seven fewer Father's Days than "Mums," mostly because Dads have kids older than women and don't live as long as women. It's kind of interesting, and I'd bet probably equally true here in the US.

And apparently in New Zealand Father's Day is this Sunday (September 2), so Happy Father's Day you Kiwi freaks.

Dads loose out on Father's Day [stuff.co.nz]

More Mattel toy recalls.

Hot on the heels of one of the Chinese executives in charge of the lead paint debacle killing himself, Mattel has announced even more toy recalls. This time it's not just for lead paint, but also for some magnetized toys. According to the Wall Street Journal, Mattel could be seriously damaged over this, and I for one am glad.

Check out the video message from Mattel's CEO Robert Eckert on their "Voluntary Safety Recall Facts" page (by the way, "Voluntary"? I hate these euphemisms. Some marketing d-bag must have decided "Mandatory" sounded too negative). It's a video of a guy doing everything he can to save his (and his company's) ass. Oh, and he's got kids himself, which is supposed to make me feel like he really knows what it's like when you have to explain to a two year old why he can't play with the favorite toy he got for his birthday last month.

As a parent of four children myself, I know that absolutely nothing is more important than the safety and well being of children.

(Well, that is not if you count cutting corners in China to help the profit margin of the company I run. But besides that nothing is more important. Seriously.)

See the video for yourself here. "Voluntary Safety Recall Facts: because your children are our children too" (Thank god that's not true.) [Mattel.com]

Mattel CEO Announces He's A Dad! Also, That They're Recalling 10 Million More Unsafe Toys [daddytypes.com]

Mattel Does Damage Control After New Recall [WSJ]

Fisher Price lead paint recall.

Fisher Price, like pretty much every other company, manufactures their stuff in China. This time however someone decides a little lead in the paint might be a good idea. It's a wonder this stuff doesn't happen more often.

But you know what I'm even more pissed about? Information about the recall ISN'T ON THE TOP PAGE OF FISHER-PRICE.COM. Don't you think inadvertently poisoning kids might be reason enough to put information about the recall in the easiest place you can think of online?

Check out this web page to see if you've got any stuff you've got to send back. I've got a few things actually (sorry Chef Dora, your days are numbered).

Here's the link again for official info about the recall.

At Toy Stores, Recall Casts Doubt On Trusted Friends [Washington Post]

First-born get the brains.

Don't tell my younger sister (because I'm going to the second I post this), but according to a new study, the first-born in a family has, on average, a 2.3 point  higher IQ than their younger sibling. 2.3 points supposedly amounts to a 30% increase in the chances of getting into an Ivy League university.

Do they do these studies just for people like me to blog about?

To the First-Born Go the Smarts [HealthDay.com via NPR]