I just read a CNN blog post by Jeff Pearlman encouraging dads to “wake the hell up.” Surprisingly, I agree with every point he makes. Especially the one about dads golfing for five hours on weekends after being gone all week for work. That may be an unpopular opinion among dads, but shit, we have to pull our weight. Turns out many of us dads aren’t doing our fair share and thus probably don’t deserve that gift mug this father’s day.

Below is an excerpt from the story, but I encourage you to read the full text here.

Really, wake the hell up. Now. I understand that most of you have 9-to-5 jobs, that you leave tired and come home tired and just wanna chill in front of SportsCenter with a bowl of chips. But, seriously, you have no remote idea: Being a stay-at-home parent is exhausting. At the office, you can hide. You can take lunch. You can pretend you’re working while scrolling the Internet for Yankees-Blue Jays and, ahem, Lindsay Lohan news. You have genuine social interactions with folks over the age of, oh, 12. People ask questions about your day — and listen to the answers.I

Don’t get me wrong, I’m no “perfect dad” and I would never claim or try to be. However, I do my damnedest to make sure that many of the child-rearing responsibilities are shared. Yeah, it’s hard as hell. And do I always want to be doing these things (changing diapers, going to the park, etc.), no, I don’t. But when we as fathers admit that there’s more we could do, that’s a start. I, for one, will try to get up with my child in the morning on more days so my wife can get some extra Zs. Guess I’m taking this whole “wake the hell up” thing literally.

This is a bedtime story the likes of which you’ve never seen before, but can definitely relate to. It’s by the brilliant Adam Mansbach. Never has a book hit so close to a parent’s heart. And now, you can see it read by the one, the only, Samuel L. Snakes On a Plane Jackson.

Here’s a sample of the story:

The cats nestle close to their kittens now.
The lambs have laid down with the sheep.
You’re cozy and warm in your bed, my dear.
Please go the fuck to sleep.

Buy your copy today.

(click ahead to :15)

This is pretty much a “Binary Response Video.” Either you’re delighted by the skill of these children, or disgusted with their overbearing parents for making them do this.

Or maybe you’re feeling a little bit of both. Either way, it’s off to guitar lessons for my 9 month old…

So this dad, Vesa Lehtimaki from Finland, has been taking pictures of his kid’s Star Wars toys for awhile. We were amazed with his results.

Thanks for the directing us to this coolness, Jon. See more examples of Vesa’s awesome work.

You can buy some of his prints here.

What’s Band of Fathers for if not for pointing out horrible parenting thus making ourselves feel better?

In this week’s episode, a zany parent from Poland uses their car’s steering wheel as a child’s seat.

At first, it seems innocent enough. But as the video goes on, a more disturbing feeling settles in. You start wondering whether this is some sort of horrible video where a child is hurt. Luckily, it doesn’t end in disaster, but when they take a full left turn, things get really stupid.

Thanks, Poland, for reinforcing sterotypes!

I’ve never been a big fan of reggae. For some reason, I just couldn’t relate. Maybe it’s because I’m a total gringo and didn’t grow up amidst the crippling poverty of an island nation. Most likely it’s the simple fact that the “dee DUH dee DUH” off-beat annoys me like no other kind of music. (This coming from the dude who freely admits to liking Celtic Women.)

But when I saw this vid courtesy of our very close friends at BoingBoing, I felt like I had to share it. The calming effects of the music—if they work for my kid—means I’ll be buying a boatload of Bob Marley songs on iTunes soon for long car rides.

What kinds of music or specific songs soothe your savage little beast?

Get it? It’s an anthem that’s geared towards men.

Dove, the brand that brought love to the ladies for years, is now catering to your man-sized hygiene needs.

There are some nice scenes in here: particularly the guy at the art show about to hit on a woman just before her boyfriend walks up (we’ve all been there). And who wouldn’t want to live a life where their wife gave them an ’80s Porsche as a surprise birthday gift (especially if it came complete with “whale tale”)?

Question: as a dad, do you like being advertised to in such a way, or do you find it a bit condescending?

The internets are all atwitter about Post-Partum Derpression for men (for our purposes PPDM). Articles have been popping up the last few weeks on The Wall Street Journal, boston.com, and abcnews, all reacting to recent study from the Eastern Virginia Medical School (and reported in JAMA). But a simple internet search will tell you that this is nothing new. It was reported back in ‘09 and ‘08 and so on. My mother-in-law brought the WSJ piece to my attention, worried that I may soon become a candidate.

There’s even a website dedicated to PPDM: PostpartumMen.com. Such a serious site that they call the condition “the baby blues.” Not cute.

While I don’t doubt that PPDM is real, I do wonder if whether it’s just another way to “categorize” typical male depression. Meaning, the men who are suffering from PPDM most likely had bouts of depression well before kids came into the picture. So is this remarkably different now that little Jimmy’s running around the house?

What are your thoughts on PPDM? Do you know someone who’s had it? Is it different from ‘regular’ depression?

From an article in the NYTimes last week, comes the news that more and more people are delaying the “major milestones” in their lives.

The median age for a first marriage was 23 in 1980; now it is 27 for men and 26 for women, the highest on record.

Lots of us are getting married later in life. Myself, at the ripe old age of 34 (I can’t imagine getting married any earlier). And these days starting a family at age 37 is no longer a head-turner. Even though my wife is considered by the health care industry to be of “advanced maternal age,” it’s becoming routine that women are having children well into their 40s. Will that make us the totally crotchety couple at our kid’s high school graduation (with questions of “Whose grandparents are those?” emanating from the graduates)? You’re damn right it will.

The “extended adolescence” article goes on to point out that parents are spending more on their adult children in than they did during the course of their kids’ upbringing:

Adults between 18 and 34 received an average of $38,000 in cash and two years’ worth of full-time labor from their parents, or about 10 percent of their income, according to the MacArthur network.

I think all this is made possible by the fact that the Baby Boomers are the most fiscally-blessed generation in history. These are the people who not only rode the rocket of the ’80s and ’90s economy, but are also receiving a long list of benefits you and I might never see: pensions, Social Security, and Medicare.

Put simply, Baby Boomers are enabling the extended adolescence of their children because they can afford to. (And for the kid’s part, “living at home” in your 20s means something altogether different when your parents own multiple homes as many Boomers do.) One look at the legions of “Trustafarians” in Williamsburg, Brooklyn, and you can see how much mom and dad are footing the bill.

However, our generation has had (and will continue) to make due with much less, especially when programs like Social Security and Medicare go broke(r). Our children will have no choice but to grow up, get married, and have children at younger ages.

Why? Because they’ll get kicked out of the g-d house when they turn 21.

You have to love an architecture firm with a sense of whimsy and fond memories of their childhood. Why? Because they go and write up a piece like this about the architecture of the living room “fort.” It’s a nicely written ode to the fort and the influences modern architectural masters can have on its design.

I don’t believe it’s truly a “fort” unless you include a few chairs for structural support and at least one quilt/comforter for the roofline (and protection from the elements). But I respect any kid/dad who builds one, no matter the elements.

Apropos of nothing much, during my single days, I actually devised a unique way to ‘pick up’ a woman at a bar by saying, “Want to go back to my place and build a fort?” It worked. Maybe too well. I only used it once because the woman was smitten and I wanted out the next day. So use that line at your own risk.

When’s the last time you built a fort? Was it for your kid or to “impress” a ladyfriend?