Dad Blogs Exposed! ~ Dad For Beginners

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This week on Dad Blogs Exposed, we are chatting with Colin Reed from the blog, Dad For Beginners. Here’s what he had to say about fatherhood and the blog life.

CD: Why did you start blogging?

CR: Obviously, I started blogging for the money, women, and fame. I repeatedly attempt to exploit my son and amateur parenting techniques for seemingly limitless income on my site! More seriously, blogging for me is a coping mechanism. It is a way to vanquish any guilt I harbor from mistakes I’ve made as a father by writing about them in the hopes someone will learn something valuable. Having a child alters more than your day-to-day lifestyle, it alters your worldview and sometimes the only way I can express the bizarro world that is my new reality is through writing.

CD: What can people expect from your blog? Do you have a specific goal or do you write whatever you feel?

CR: I didn’t set out with goals for my website. As I’ve gone along, I’ve incorporated recurring themes or motifs that help me maintain consistency but overall, I just want to be engaging. Readers of dadforbeginners.com can expect a healthy helping of cynicism with subtle traces of hope for the future as I morph from a furry and confused caterpillar into a butterfly of fatherhood…albeit a pitiful, sickly, and decidedly non-majestic butterfly.

CD: What has been your biggest challenge as a father?

CR: My biggest challenge as a father has been vacating my former lifestyle in favor of the lifestyle of my newborn mass of fleshy tissue a.k.a my son. My wife has an expression in her native Romanian describing someone who’s perceived to be the center of attention. The phrase “Buricul Pamintului” loosely translates into English as “the belly button of the world.” It is a term used to more appropriately describe someone who requires all the attention of those surrounding them. My son is now the belly button of my world and that has been challenging.

CD: What one piece of advice can you give to a new Dad?

CR: My best advice for a new father is don’t take advice from new fathers. And make sure you’re at the birth. It is truly an amazing sight to witness your child being born.

CD: Do you have any long term goals for your site?

CR: I believe that my site can be long-lasting and fruitful. I’ve experienced more in the last 6 months than I could have ever imagined. My son unknowingly provides me endless material to write about. My goal is twofold: maintain whatever is left of my sanity and maybe influence someone who’s not yet experienced what I have.

CD: What is your social media weapon of choice and why?

CR: Facebook. This is a no brainer. Facebook posts have 3 to 4 times the lifespan of Tweets and Stumbles and a far greater likelihood of being shared. The Facebook crowd is far more family oriented and serious than any other social medium.

CD: How has blogging affected your life?

CR: Since I’ve been blogging, I’ve become rich beyond my wildest dreams. I’m a Southern California celebrity and I’m taking it nationwide. In other words, I’m straddling the poverty line and my mom thinks I’m funny.

I want to thank Colin for his time in answering all my hard hitting questions and hope you’ll stop by to check him out on Twitter and Facebook as well!

Introducing Kindness Canada!

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I’m excited and proud to announce a project that we have been working on for a few months now, that is finally coming to fruition. The new website is called, Kindness Canada, and is hopefully going to be a place that will inspire the kindness in everyone.

The initial goal is to start off small by asking you all to submit your stories of kindness, either in written or video form. I don’t know if you are like me but I know that every time I read an uplifting story, I get inspired to want to get out there and do something kind for someone else. And that is the goal of Kindness Canada. It is to take the every day kind acts that we see and hear about and turn them into an inspirational and interactive storybook for all to read.

We have also created “The Big List of Random Acts” but need your help in filling it out. You are invited to submit your random acts of kindness and each week we will add a new random act to the list.

There is much more in the works for the site, including events, random act blitzes and finding a way to start giving back. In the meantime, I hope you will consider submitting your kindness stories, posts about what kindness means to you and your random acts, so that we can turn this into something inspirational and spectacular!

I would like to give a quick shout out to the people who made this vision a reality. Our Kindness Ambassadors are Rebecca Stanisic from A Little Bit of Momsense, Amber Rehman from Fatekeep and Patricia Oliver from Positively Pampered Patty. Finally, a very special Thank You goes out to the man behind the web design of both this page and the Kindness Canada page, Mr. Shawn Merrikin of Shawn Merrikin Web Design & Hosting. Without him, I would completely lost and that is not just lip service, as I would be quite literally lost…

All that’s left to do is to let the Kindness Revolution begin! You can check out the Kindness Canada Website and also follow us on Twitter @KindCanada and our KC Facebook Page. I hope you enjoy the new project as much as I have enjoyed putting it together!

The Small Victories

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It seems like only a few weeks ago that we were working on which shoe went on which foot. Yesterday, you zipped up your own coat for the first time and seeing the pride in your eyes, further fueled the pride in my fatherly heart.

It’s these small but very significant victories that make being your parent the incredible journey that it is. Every single day you do something to amaze me and I have a feeling that this is going to continue for the rest of our time together.

I hope you never lose your sense of adventure and your willingness to want to learn new things. It’s in watching you strive to achieve our goals that I find the strength to go after mine, in an effort to prove to you that your efforts are never in vain. Your presence has made me a better man and I am thankful every day for you.

Movember Is Back, Baby! Let’s Do Some Good!

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Ladies & Gentlemen, It’s Mo-Time!!!! I’m so excited to have Movember back because it gives us a chance to raise funds and awareness for Men’s Health issues. Our team looks a lot different from the rag tag group of underdogs that raised over $12,000 last year but that definitely isn’t a negative thing. We lost a few good men but gained a few new MoSistas this season and I’m thankful that we have some women who want to help out the cause. And no, they won’t be growing mustaches…

I really wanted to keep this message short and sweet, so let me just say this: We are still looking for members to join our team, so please feel free to link up with us if you are flying solo. Our team is located Right Here! You can also use that link to donate if you feel inclined to do so. I highly recommend the donating part because there are not a lot of fundraisers that are geared towards men’s health and this one is personal to me and is one of the best.

That’s all I have to say for now but don’t worry, there will be more! If you are reading this and you happen to work for a business that would like to be a corporate sponsor, I will put a 2 month ad in my sidebar for any business that donates $150 or more! This fundraiser really means a lot to me and I hope you will join us in raising funds and awareness for this great cause. Thank you so much!

SUPPORT OUR TEAM HERE!!

The RBC Believe in Kids Pledge ~ #RBCKids

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I was just introduced to RBC’s “Believe In Kids Pledge” via some short videos they have put together and admit that they may have tugged at the old heart strings a little bit. Here is a bit about the program, from the RBC Commitment to Kids page:

The RBC Believe in Kids Pledge is a five-year, $100 million commitment to improve the well-being of at least 1 million kids and youth. We believe kids are our future: for our economic prosperity, the health of the planet and the hope of humanity. We believe kids need and deserve our complete commitment so they can be healthy in mind, body and spirit. That’s why we support a wide range of charitable and community health, education, arts and sports programs for children and youth. Because we believe in kids.

I was asked to watch three videos, featuring inspirational stories from children who have been helped by the RBC funded programs, and was asked to share one of them with you. This task was nearly impossible as they were all worthy of sharing, but here is my choice and I will explain why after you watch it. Although, I’m sure most of you will understand why.

With my history of mental illness, Jacob’s story resonated with me on a number of levels, but especially the part where he actually gets help for his illness. All too often, especially with children, help is either not offered or easily accessible, so the illnesses go untreated. I love that RBC is trying to do something to help with this issue and I am always going to be a supporter of anyone who wants to make a difference in the mental health field.

The RBC Believe In Kids Pledge combines the RBC Children’s Mental Health Project, the RBC After School Project and a commitment to Sports, to form an amazing program that is sure to help children across Canada. I hope you will take a minute to check out the RBC YouTube channel, so you can watch all three stories, because they are all worth watching.

This post content is sponsored by Royal Bank of Canada, however the views and opinions expressed herein represent my own and not those of Royal Bank of Canada or any other party and do not constitute financial, legal or other advice.

The Sting Before The Tears

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I can still remember fighting back the tears on the long drive home with my Dad. I had just blown my chance to play softball for Team Ontario, a team he coached, and we both knew it. Just a kid, it felt like my whole world was coming to an end. How was I going to look my buddies in the face and explain how I couldn’t even make a team that my Dad coached?

The real truth, though, is that I didn’t belong there in the first place. I had a surgically repaired knee and a skill set that was slightly below the other players. We sat silently as I stared out the car window, feeling the familiar sting of emotion rising up inside of me. I wasn’t accustomed to crying in front of my father and I wasn’t about to start now. I wondered why he wasn’t saying anything and remember getting upset at the silence, even though I had nothing to say that wouldn’t have ended up in tears.

My Dad was good like that. Many years and many disappointments later and I’m thankful that I was lucky enough to have someone who understood that sometimes the best thing to say is nothing at all. As we got closer to home that day, he reached over, grabbed my shoulder and gave it a consoling shake, as parents often do. It was only an instant but was enough to tip my teetering emotions from controlled to suspect. I started to feel that sting you get in your chest when you try to fight the emotions away, and I lost the fight. He allowed me to continue staring out the window, trying to hide my tears as if he didn’t know what was going on.

This is one of my favourite memories of my father and I think it sticks because it’s a lesson that I hope to pass on to my children through my actions as a father.

HP Slate 7 Tablet ~ Giveaway

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While I’m working on my review of the HP Split x2, I thought it would be fun to give something back to my amazing community of readers! I convinced the folks at HP to give me one of their new Slate 7 Tablets, so that I can turn around and give it to one of you. I have previously worked on the HP Envy x2 laptop/tablet hybrid and with the Split x2 review going well, I have no doubt that this product will be amazing as well. Here is some info about the Slate 7:

The HP Slate 7 tablet (available on HPShopping.ca for CDN$169.99) is a sleek, 7-inch diagonal touchscreen tablet that weighs just 13 ounces, making it an ideal affordable device for people on-the-go. Stay on top of your busy schedule with onboard apps and capture photo and video to share with the video webcam on the front and 3 MP camera on the back. Running on Android 4.1 (Jelly Bean), the Slate 7 provides access to the Google Play Store which offers a multitude of exciting apps right at your fingertips. The Slate 7 is also the industry’s first tablet to feature Beats AudioT for the best-sounding richest audio available on a tablet. Printing is a breeze with the built-in HP ePrint app that allows you to email important documents and memorable photos to any ePrint-enabled HP printer and have them waiting for you at home or the office.

HOW TO ENTER:

I’m giving you two chances to win this time around. To enter, leave a comment telling me what you would use the HP Slate 7 Tablet for the most.

For a 2nd entry into the draw, use the form below to sign up for my mailing list and then leave a separate comment with the email address you used to sign up. Easy!

Draw closes Friday, November 8th at 9pm EST and is open to residents of Canada, excluding Quebec. Winner will be chosen by Random.Org and will have 48 hours to respond to email notification or a new winner will be chosen.

Congrats to our winner, Andrew P.!

Dad Blogs Exposed! ~ Ask Your Dad

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Welcome back to another exciting episode of Dad Blogs Exposed! This week I am talking to blogger extraordinaire and funny man, John Kinnear, from the blog Ask Your Dad. Here’s what John had to say about blogging and fatherhood.

CD: Why did you start blogging?

JK: I started blogging at the urging of my wife. I have been writing since before I can remember, but most of it was filed in various shoe boxes and stored in the garage. After I got married and had a kid, my wife urged me to share some of the writing I had done with our friends and family through a blog. It grew from there.

CD: What can people expect from your blog? Do you have a specific goal or do you write whatever you feel?

JK: I hope that people can always expect a laugh. I try and stay funny whenever possible. My kids make that pretty easy. I don’t really have an agenda per se. I do have a rule that I try and follow. I try not to give advice. I just talk about what has and hasn’t worked for me, and if people can laugh at it while finding pieces here and there that help them through their own parenting journey, then I think that is awesome.

CD: What has been your biggest challenge as a father?

JK: Two things. Putting my phone away. Letting go of fear.

CD: What one piece of advice can you give to a new Dad?

JK: Decide what kind of dad you want to be before your kid arrives, and then work every day to fail less. I fall short of being the dad I want to be every single day, but my kids don’t see that. They don’t see the ideal dad that I see in my head. They see me. They see me trying. And that matters more than what I see.

CD: Do you have any long term goals for your site?

JK: Not really. I have long term goals for my writing, but not necessarily my site. I’d like to write a book or five. Not necessarily short form or memoir like I am doing now, but something with a bigger story to it. I haven’t found that story yet, but I am toying with one that revolves around teenage Frankensteins that fall in love and then get to go to a magical wizard school where they are selected to fight other classic movie monsters in an arena death match. You know, something simple that will relate to a larger audience.

CD: What is your social media weapon of choice and why?

JK: I enjoy Facebook Pages a lot. I’m on Twitter and I dabble on Google+, but most of the conversation outside of my blog takes place on the Ask Your Dad Facebook Page.

CD: How has blogging affected your life?

JK: Ha. Someone actually recognized me the other day. This really pretty lady and ran up, gave me a hug, and thanked me for a post I wrote. That will probably never happen again, but I felt pretty good about it as soon as I was able to get my wife to stop punching her in the face. Kidding… Stevie, my wife, thought it was just as cool as I did. Speaking of my wife, I think that is the other strange, and a little unfortunate way that blogging has affected my life. I get way to much credit and she doesn’t get enough. (My opinion, not hers.) The truth is, out of the two of us, Stevie is the parenting rock star. I’m an active and engaged dad, but she is a freaking jedi-ninja-parent. If I am a practitioner of good parenting, then she is the alter at which I worship. But even with her level 99 mom skills, at the end of the day, we both just try and fail less.

I would like to thank John for his time and hope you will take some time to check out the Ask Your Dad Blog. You can also find John on Twitter and Facebook. Later!

john-and-stevie

13 Things About Her

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She is…

The provider of light in times when I see only darkness

Driven to want more from herself, even though she is perfect as she is

Forgiving. Almost to a fault

Unaware of how beautiful she really is

Kind. The deep down variety

Passion

Unwilling to settle for the status quo

Not afraid to be vulnerable

Inspiring

A leader in every sense of the word

Perfection, in my eyes

An amazing mother to my children

The reason I am the luckiest man alive

Disney Infinity ~ Review

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As someone who has played video games for his entire life, I have been salivating over the release of Disney Infinity since it was first announced. We finally got our hands on a copy and, not to ruin the suspense, my son loved it!

I’m not going to lie, we were so excited to open it up and start playing, that I took zero pictures of the experience. Watching my kids’ faces light up as they watched the intro video would have been enough for me to recommend the game to people and we hadn’t even played it yet. They just stared in amazement as all their favourite characters appeared on the screen and it reminded me of the magic that Disney brings into our lives.

My son is only five, so it took him a little longer to figure out the buttons and object of the game but by the second time he played, he was a seasoned pro. The thing I like most about this game compared to most others is that it allows kids to explore lands and teaches them to figure out situations by themselves, without the fear of their character dying before they have a chance to solve a problem.

Obviously the other benefit, and slight detraction as a parent, is that you can purchase all of their favourite characters, which all do different things. The detraction, obviously, is the cost of new characters for the parents. Birthdays and Christmas are an easy way to counteract the hit on your wallet and this game is totally worth the investment, in my opinion.

Oh, and yes, I let my kids play video games, especially when they can play something like this game that opens up their imagination and let’s them create whatever they want. We set specific times and lengths that they can play and it works well for us.

There you have it, Disney Infinity is an excellent alternative to all the good vs evil games out there and will open up your child’s creativity in an amazing way. Now if you’ll excuse me, there are new characters coming out in a week and I need to check the couch for spare change…

Disclosure: A copy of the game was provided to me to facilitate this review.