To most of us in the northern hemisphere, August means summertime, and hopefully a little travel with our kids while they’re out of school. We love seeing all the posts from traveling families, and not just because they’re making memories they’ll recall (ruefully or otherwise) for a lifetime. When we think of the importance of travel and parenting, even if it’s just a trip to the next town over, we think of the Mark Twain quote:
“Travel is fatal to prejudice, bigotry, and narrow-mindedness, and … broad, wholesome, charitable views of men and things cannot be acquired by vegetating in one little corner of the earth all one’s lifetime.”
August is also important to us, because it’s the halfway month between Summits. It’s the last bit of calm before the school year begins, the Call for Speakers and Ideas is announced, and preparation for Dad 2.0, Part Six begins in earnest. Are you ready?
IN THE NEWS
In an exclusive interview with Glamour, President Obama says, “We need to keep changing the attitude that congratulates men for changing a diaper, stigmatizes full-time dads, and penalizes working mothers.” We couldn’t agree more.
The New York Times discussed “Screenagers,” a documentary about Generation Z’s obsession with devices. If you’re concerned that your kids are online too often, and you’re unsure what to do about it, this looks like a must-see.
In Parents magazine, Vincent O’Keefe gives us his “6 Parenting Lessons from a Veteran Stay-at-Home Dad.”
Earlier this week, New Jersey Devils defenseman Ben Lovejoy brought the Stanley Cup to his alma mater. And lots of babies rode in the seat of honor:
In America, 91% of all incarcerated parents are fathers. Over 10 million kids under 18 live with a parent who has done jail time, and 1.7 million currently have an incarcerated parent. The National Responsible Fatherhood Clearinghouse has released a new study to discuss the pernicious effects of these alarming statistics, and how we can work to overcome them.
Mark Merrill knows that being a parent is exhausting, but “exhausted Participant is an involved dad, not just a spectator.” He lists five ways you should be exhausted as a dad, and we’re fairly certain we could name at least a dozen more (not that it’s a competition).
This week we heard from a number of athletes on fatherhood:
- Ryan Tannehill of the Miami Dolphins
- Cody Latimer of the Denver Broncos
- CJ Ham of the Minnesota Vikings
- Climber Leo Holding
- Harry Kane of the Tottenham Hotspur
You’re a father, Harry! J.K. Rowling’s new Harry Potter adventure explores the magic of fatherhood.
PORCHLIGHT POSTS
- Joe Medler at Developing Dad shares his thoughts on empathy and ethnicity in “How I Understand Privilege.”
- Do you have “A Bad Case of Toddler Brain?” Spike Zelenka of Double Daddy Trouble wants to talk about it.
- Dad Enough discusses the continuing progress made by his son in “No Point Hiding.”
- Seamus ponders the definition of “Atypical” at Dadinating the Country Side.
- Nick Edwards of The Dadcade on the benefits of walking and catching’em all in “Pokémon Go, a Month In.”
Speaking of Pokémon Go, Dad 2.016 speaker Stewart Reynolds (a.k.a. Brittlestar) has created the theme song of summer:
If you have any fatherhood news or stories that you would like to share you can find us on Instagram, Twitter, Pinterest, Facebook, and Snapchat using the #FatherhoodOnFri hashtag!