modern day dad

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]

Send old toys to Iraq.

Keeping a handle on reducing the clutter of toys was tough enough with one kid, but with two it's twice as hard. And now that my smallest is outgrowing some toys, I've got to find something to do with them. I could try to garage-sell them, but the other day on Parent Hacks I found a better solution: donate them to kids in Iraq.

A member of the Army Corps of Engineers is over there giving away stuffed toys to children who have literally nothing, With all the devastation, I can't think of a better thing to do with some of the stuffed animals we have that are no longer played with.

Check out the post about it at Parent Hacks, and mail your stuffed animals, toys and school supplies (now through November 2007) to:

Edmay Mayers
USACE - GRS
APO AE 09331

Damon's a douche.

1. Free agent and Red Sox Nation favorite Johnny Damon accepts a contract with the New York Yankees. Red Sox fans everywhere feel betrayed.
2. Stay-at-home mom from Massachusetts creates "Damon Sucks" bibs (pictured) and sells them on eBay.
3. Damon's agent Scott Boras has eBay remove the auction and threatens the stay-at-home mom's eBay status unless she stops selling the bibs.
4. Stay-at-home mom gets lawyers and stands up for herself, garnering a lot of publicity in the process. And she's still allowed to sell her bibs.
5. "Asked about the dispute at Yankee Stadium this week, Damon said he was unaware of it and referred questions to Boras."
6. [paraphrase] When the multi-millionaire was asked if he was aware he looked like a complete douche bag all over the AP news wire trying to prevent a stay-at-home mom from making a couple of bucks on eBay selling baby's bibs that criticized him, Damon claimed ignorance, skillfully passing the buck and blaming his agent. [/paraphrase]

Internet baby gear-seller hits nerve with Damon's people [AP via good friend and Yankee fan Dan]
Get a Damon Sucks bib here for $10 at owenandmama.com
Or for some reason you could pay over $89 at eBay

Dads who blog are the best.

Father's Day has come and gone, and in its wake are plenty of articles in newspapers around the country about dads. But this year it's all about the dad blog articles (some of which even mention this humble blog). All of them take a slightly different perspective and are all worth checking out.

21st-century dads turn to blogs for help [Seattle Post-Intelligencer]
I'm offering a "virtual road map to the challenges of modern fatherhood". Kick ass! Plus it's here that Greg from Daddytypes reveals he gets 30K hits/day. Goddamn that's some good traffic.

Hey dude are you there? It's me, daddyblogger. [Austin American Statesman]
The article where I reveal that blogging helps with the isolation I've felt being a stay at home dad. Whahhh.

Rise of the Daddy Blog. [NY Daily News]
Who says K-Fed and Jack Black don't read dad blogs?
OK. They probably don't. But they're always welcome here.

Preschool of Rock

A friend of mine sent this article to me a week or so ago, and I have to admit it hit home with me. Getting your child to like the music you like (or maybe the music you think is worth listening to, or really the music you want them to like) is no easy task. The author's scheme is a daily "music hour" with his kid to introduce him to decent kid's music, and slowly incorporate the music he likes - which sounds like a pretty good idea.

And his description of Dan Zanes is right on the money.

Preschool of Rock [NY Times Sunday Magazine re-posted at Doug Henwood Talks - thanks Brian.]

Even expectant monkey dads get fat.

Well, I guess now is as good a time as any to announce to my blog world that the modern day mom is expecting again, and we'll have another little one around the house at the end of July. We're pretty excited, even though the idea of having an infant again hasn't really set in for me. It was difficult enough the first time without a two-year-old to deal with. But I've done it all before right? So I'm hoping those two things will offset each other and it will be about as challenging as it was before. At least that's what I keep telling myself.

(Oh. And if any friends or - hopefully not - family haven't heard yet, then I'm sorry you had to read about it on my blog. But thanks for reading the blog by the way).

So anyway, it wasn't any surprise that this news story I read tonight struck a particular chord with me. I've heard about the dads get fat when the moms-to-be are pregnant thing before, but to be honest I've gained the most weight since Madame was 9 months. More weight gain isn't something I need. Actually, I've started getting back to the gym recently, but I'm thinking my days at the gym are going to take a severe dip in August. I wonder how fat two-time monkey dads get.

(And for the record, I don't believe in "sympathy weight", unless "sympathy weight" is just another way to describe the phenomena of "Oh, you're getting a double-double? Well then what the hell. Make it a double-double animal style and a fry well-done for me too.")

Like human dads, monkeys gain weight when mate is pregnant. [Scripps Howard News Service]

Also on MDD: Oh. That's why I'm turning into a fatty.

Welcome Bloomberg readers.

I had a quote in this article in Bloomberg News yesterday (it's towards the end), so there's a chance that some of you are visiting for the first time. If you are, welcome. There's lots of dad and kid related stuff on my site which you are more than welcome to check out, just use the search box on the left or browse through my categories. And if you've got a suggestion or a comment, please leave one in this post. I'm always happy to hear from new people.

KKR, Wal-Mart Bet on Moms' Love of Status Strollers (Bloomberg.com)