It is morning and the sun’s nimble digits have just started to part our blinds.

It is Sunday, so I can’t be at the keyboard long since my Mini Me’s are already up and raring to go terrorize the neighborhood playground. But I bought myself a moment with a single orange sheet of construction paper, and so  for the moment, The At-Home Toddler Daughter is content to  diligently engineer “Swinging Paper Robots,” while I write. (a process that consists of, 1. Folding an orange piece of construction paper exactly in half.
2. Screaming “LOOK DADA I MADE A SWINGING PAPER ROBOT! repeatedly and unrelentingly for the next who knows how long.)

It has been a strange and humbling and somewhat self-validating sort of a weekend since I wrote this and then this, that and the other happened.

The other:

It has been my first, and widely welcomed, experience with attempting to field a barrage of comments. Engagement, they call it. Or at least that’s what they call it when you respond. While the experience has been surreal, mostly flattering, and all sorts of strange, there is one recurring comment I feel compelled to address “publicly” in the off chance that this brief bit of exposure has gained me some semblance of a “public” for a few days. This sentiment keeps rearing it’s, not quite ugly but sorely misinformed, head:

“Way to go Dad! If only there were other real dads out there like you! -Debbie”

As flattering as that may seem or may have been designed to be, I want you all, anyone and everyone, to know that I am not some Good Dad Lone Ranger.

I am not particularly special, I am just a husband and a father, head over heels in love with his family, who happened to be able to afford a laptop one summer.  Of course I appreciate the recognition, and I am no crusader for any Dad’s Lib movement, but I can’t help feeling that it is an injustice to countless other dedicated, passionate and present Dads the world over, to single me out as one of the only Dads who spends most of his days at eye level with his ankle biters, and cherishes the opportunity.

So I just wanted to pause here a minute, and encourage you to read through the posts that I have showcased below. In them you will find the writings of  just a handful of some of my most revered Dad friends.  Some have received international acclaim, some I picture humbly scribbling post notes on the backs of napkins in some small, midwestern, railroad depot some where.  All of them are heavily dedicated Dads who champion their own gorgeous families and personal causes, through aesthetically assembled words and poetic turns of phrases, daily. I thank you in advance for reading and sharing and engaging them with your thoughts and ideas and responses to their posts.

Thank you all for a rather wacky weekend.  And for continuing to lend me your ears over here. (eyes?) Now, to the playground we go, my girls and SWINGING PAPER ROBOT in tow!

 

 

2014-04-28 07.49.13

Ciao for now,
Dada Mike

 













Chop chop!
I have a fast-paced tech career in the mobile advertising industry.

By day, I write massive amounts of code and construct cutting-edge mobile ads for many of the world’s top brands. I also develop innovative ad technologies with the pioneers and world leaders in location-powered mobile advertising.

Read more »

The Bear and Freddie’s Boots
It’s 102 in the shade and there ain’t no shade.

I’m trudging along behind a red International Farmall tractor in the middle of a tobacco field. The tractor grumbles rhythmically. The engine’s stutter punctuated by a clanking rain cap over the exhaust as it crawls along the rows.

Read more »


Waiting in Traffic to Punish my Kid
There is construction on the road I take home from my office at 5 o’ clock. I keep forgetting that there is construction on the road that I take home from my office at 5 o’ clock. Once you are on the road that has construction, getting off it will only delay you more.
Read more »

The Green Ball of Gratitude
I was going to do a lot of other stuff today. I had great plans, long meaningful lists, spellbinding, heartfelt stories. Perhaps a retrospective piece hot-linking popular posts here, assembling a beautiful collage of whimsy, hope, dreams and tears.
Read more »


The Most Interested Man in the World
One of the joys of being an adult is the ability to make your own decisions. To decide what you want to do, how you want to spend your time, and who you want to spend it with.

And then you have kids, and pretty much all of your autonomy goes out the window.

Read more »

9 Ways You Can Help Your Stay At Home Husband
If you are a stay at home parent then you know there are things that you and your working spouse handle things differently.

But, you both work long hours, your day doesn’t just come to an end at night, and you have to get up the next day and do it all over again and again, and again.

Read more »


Make It a Disney FROZEN Day: Special FROZEN Lunch and Toy Ideas To Do With Your Kids!
A few days ago, my family and I had the chance to have an amazing weekend together experiencing Disney’s new movie FROZEN. We made some unforgettable memories together complete with Sven Sandwiches and Olaf Banana Snowmen. Christmas break is just around the corner so I thought I would tell you a little bit about what we did and give you some ideas for how you can make your own FROZEN memories this holiday season!
Read more »

The Secret Behind My Awesome Dance Moves
I have learned to just accept it over the years. I’m in NO way a competent dancer. Ask my high school prom date whose shoes looked 30 years old after me stepping on her feet so much. I can’t pop, drop, and lock it, I can’t gas pedal, and I can’t do the cha cha slide. I can do a mean version of the Apache dance from Fresh Prince though. In fact, it used to be very common to see the entire kitchen at work doing it during busy Saturday nights.
Read more »


a note to my daughter, as she graduates…
As you graduate from high school, and transition to college, I just wanted to say a few things.

1) Treasure the memories that you have made. Discard the ones that you don’t like, but never forget the lessons they have taught you.

2) Friends will be with you. Along the way, you will make new ones, like some that you have now, there will be those who will be with you forever.

Read more »

DEAR MUMS, PLEASE TALK TO YOUR HUSBANDS
I am over the sexist parenting memes that only mothers seem to post. And for the most part, most of the mums I know who post or share these on social media, their husbands aren’t on Facebook, Twitter or Instagram so I have to ask, what’s the point? Do you really want all your friends and family to know what a good a mother you are, or how bad a father your partner is?

Read more »


Love Bombing: This Saturday: Let Your Kids Decide!
Love Your Children!
Do you know the saying: When the children are happy, then the parents are happy too? I think that’s right!
Spend this Saturday with the motto: Let the children decide!
Read more »

Mister & Me #194
View comic »


Being a parent: a game of tag I’d rather not lose
Growing up I really liked playing tag. I was a fast kid, very capable of outrunning most of my opponents. It was exhilarating running and running until eventually they gave up and I was able to catch my breath again.

But every once in a while there’d be an older, bigger and faster kid chasing us down and while I could keep pace for longer than most, they’d eventually close in. At that point, tag was no longer fun, it was scary.

Read more »

Another birthday would have been nice, even another day
“I never get sick. But the day I do, I will die.”

I always humored my dad and chuckled along in customary admiration whenever he boasted about his hyper-evolved immune system, borne of “5,000 years of Chinese evolution.” He took great pride in never taking a sick day, and availed himself of every opportunity to remind us that this was the true metric of one’s strength and vitality as a human being. Of course this claim had nothing to do with the fact that he was a mere 130 pounds.

Read more »


Dad Groups

Dad Bloggers

National At-Home Dad Network