As a professional full-time gay man, I'm obligated to write about the Netflix's recent reboot of Queer Eye for the Straight Guy. I sat down with my husband recently to watch the first episode, and after I did, I had a few thoughts. My first thought: I hated it. I'll back up a bit. The original series aired on Bravo from 2003-2007: a kitschy and colorful little show in which five fabulous gay men kidnapped a slovenly straight dude and taught him the ways of the Gay Force. The gays would give the straight slob a makeover: a cool haircut, some better outfits, tips on healthy eating and … [Read more...]
Parental Burnout: Strategies to Help Every Mom and Dad Avoid It
Parental burnout is real. A Belgium study of more than 2,000 moms and dads, published in 2017 in the journal Frontiers in Psychology, found that 12.9% of mothers and 11.6% of fathers in the group had what the authors labeled as "high burnout." At least once a week, these parents experienced feelings of exhaustion, were less productive and competent, and emotionally withdrawn -- symptoms the researchers equated to what professionals feel when they hit the wall at their jobs. While her book may be titled Mommy Burnout: How to Reclaim Your Life and Raise Healthier Children in the … [Read more...]
Boys Playing with Dolls Helps Prepare Them to be Nurturing Fathers
Scrolling through my Facebook feed the other day, I found a post that made me both incensed and sad: Today my 7 yr old nephew was bullied by an adult male member of our family because he has a baby doll. He was called a freak, snide remarks were said to his face, and he was asked how many times he has been in first grade. He was made to feel like he was somehow less of a boy and human being because he has a doll ... All on the morning after we had to put down our family dog. The Christmas before he got his baby sister, my ALL-BOY rough & tumble, monster truck loving, camo wearing, … [Read more...]
The Vanishing Illusion of Safety in Wake of Yet Another School Shooting
She clings to the green monkey bar on our backyard play set with her little fingers. The nail on her right index finger is an angry purple-blue. The scar from a lost battle with the small iron trap door in the ground by our mailbox that conceals our water meter, which is as endlessly fascinating to a 1-year-old as it is hazardous to appendages. I stand below the bars, my hands resting on her hips. She presses the souls of her pink and black sneakers against my chest, smiles her heart-melting smile, and giggles as she pushes herself up. Her waist at bar level, leaning forward to peak over … [Read more...]
2018 At-Home Dad Conference to Visit Orlando, Fla., in September
Roll over, Mickey Mouse, and tell Donald Duck the news -- at-home fathers will be taking over your town this September. Orlando, Fla., will host The National At-Home Dad Network's 2018 convention Sept. 13 to 15. HomeDadCon 2018, as the conference for at-home fathers is dubbed, will be the nonprofit organization's 23rd such annual event. Registration and details for the conference have not yet been released, but the organization has started taking hotel reservations at the event's venue. HomeDadCon brings fathers who are their family's primary caregiver together for professional … [Read more...]
Remain Calm and Find Your Chill, Parents. Here is How to Do It
It's a scary world out there, parents, especially if you take everything -- EVERYTHING -- you see and hear in the news or on the Internet to heart. Sometimes you just have to step back as a parent and say "whoa." But how? In the latest of our “City Dads Sessions” video series, our intrepid Los Angeles Dads Group co-organizer Trevor Mulligan asks several fathers for their best parenting tips, and as a result we got these great tips on how to "find your chill" when all seems to be going to hell in a handbasket. Here is what they had to say: Thanks to these dads who take time for … [Read more...]
Friendship Worth Spanning Distance, Damning Expense, Braving Cold
Friendship: What is it? Where do we find it? How do we keep it? According to Facebook, a friend is someone we may have met for a minute, added to a list and left to the algorithm. According to Marc Antony in Shakespeare’s Julius Caesar, friends (like Romans and countrymen, respectively) tend to lend their ears and are often prone to peer pressure. According to my youngest son, friendship is a compass that points to where your heart is, regardless of time or distance. Sorry, Bill, but I’m with the kid on this one. “I’m not tired,” said that same kid, lying through his eyelids, … [Read more...]
Paid Family Leave Movement Gaining Some U.S. Momentum
The United States is the only industrialized nation without a federal paid family leave law, but that might be changing -- albeit slowly and only at the state level. Four states, mostly recently New York, have added laws to make sure private employers allow workers to take time off with at least partial pay so they may care for a new child in the family or for a sick loved one. Washington state passed a law years ago but never enacted it because of funding issues. Connecticut's legislature introduced bills in 2017 that only received symbolic debate in the state's capital, though Democrats … [Read more...]
WaterWipes Launches #ParentIsBorn Campaign with City Dads Group
When a child is born, a parent is born. It's a simple and obvious concept. And so our partner, WaterWipes, the world’s purest baby wipes, launched its #ParentIsBorn campaign with a party in New York City featuring well-known media influencers, celebrities, and member of our very own City Dads Group. The campaign aims to showcase and celebrate parents' journey, something that is too frequently overlooked amid the fuss of snapping baby photos and the routine drudgery of diaper changes. City Dads Group co-founder Lance Somerfeld, appearing on a panel speaking to the #ParentIsBorn … [Read more...]
Bipartisan Parenting: Turning Presidential Racism into Teachable Moment
On the same day President Trump reportedly said “s---hole” countries in Africa were inferior sources for future American immigrants, my 12th-grade daughter was starting to read Joseph Conrad’s Heart of Darkness in English class. The juxtaposition was too much.Conrad’s British novel indicts the racism of European imperialism in Africa in the late 1800s, specifically during the ivory trade. Ironically, however, many readers consider the novel a racist text because of the way it backgrounds Africa, stereotypes the “primitive” natives, and treats the whole continent as a blank slate for the white … [Read more...]
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