A Commercial Dads Can Be Proud Of

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Please note: I am NOT recommending you go out and buy a Google Nexus 7 here. In fact, I’m not even really sure what that is and most likely will never be able to afford one.

My reason for writing today is because of this great commercial I just watched for the Nexus 7. Ever since I have joined the wonderful world of Dad Blogging, I have had the opportunity to voice my opinion on certain subjects that I would normally have kept to myself. Or bored my wife with.

One of those topics is the poor representation of fatherhood by media, hollywood and corporations. Brands like Huggies and Oscar Mayer know what I’m talking about and they have also heard the backlash from the rising Dad Blogging community.

That’s why I found it refreshing to see an ad featuring a father and son doing something that father’s and son’s do. It didn’t have any gimmicks or crazy “Dumb Dad” moments. It was simply an excellent display of a parent enjoying time with his child and having a camp out in their backyard. Have a look for yourself:

Seriously amazing. I understand that it’s not an exact portrayal of everyone’s experience with their father but it was a mirror of my upbringing and also of the way that I am trying to raise my kids. On top of all that, it has given me a great new activity to try out with my son. We’ve been waiting for my daughter to get a little older before attempting the camping thing but this looks great in the meantime.

That’s really all I wanted to share with you today. I hope other brands will start to take notice and see what at least some of us consider to be powerful and effective marketing to Fathers and Parents alike.

For the record, I’m not crazy “boycott all non-dad friendly ads” guy, I just really detest the brands that make us Dads look like imbeciles to try and sell their product. I love Moms. I have one and there’s another one raising my children. They deserve everything they get and more. It’s just nice to see a company portray Dads in a positive parenting light for a change.

I also want to say Thanks to Bryan and Zach from 8 Bit Dad for bringing this one to my attention. I like to talk Dad here but these guys are “The modern parent’s source for fatherly opinion”! (You guys can pay me via PayPal (US Funds))!

I hope you all have a great day and thank you for your continued support!!

Cheers!

Not Your Ordinary, Everyday Bunnies

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Just a short post today as I get myself back into the swing of things after a long and very enjoyable vacation! My daughter has recently discovered the joys of music and dancing but there is one song in particular that she can’t stop listening to.

Seriously, she literally will not stop listening to it and if I turn it off, we get an epic meltdown every time!

That song is called Sleeping Bunnies by The Derry Hares and my little one can’t get enough of it. It’s so amazing to watch her dance and sing to the song that it almost makes you forget that you have listened to the song 31 times in a row!

I decided to take a video of her so you can all see just how much she loves it and got an added bonus when my son noticed the camera and decided to join in. He is a spotlight hog just like his Dad!

So without further blogging, here are my kids doing their interpretive dance version of Sleeping Bunnies.

Cheers!

Munchkin® Canada Grows With Your Baby {Review & Giveaway}

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I’m proud and very excited to have been chosen as one of PTPA’s Brand Ambassadors for Munchkin Canada! My little ones and our Day Care have been using their products for a couple years now so it seemed like a perfect fit. I love the variety they offer and how durable their products are, which is important when you care for 6 kids on a daily basis.

I received a wonderful package of goodies from Munchkin and my kids went right to work by ripping the packages apart and rifling through all the amazing new products. I think their favourite items were the Click Lock™ cups. My kids are really into cups for some reason (no, seriously, they are weird about cups right now) and this was a very welcome sight!

 

 

 

 

 

Munchkin’s new line of Click Lock™ Cups are just right because they just CLICK. These cups feature a simple click-and-lock lid to securely close for a leak proof seal – guaranteed. Parents will see, hear and feel the cup lock, so they have triple assurance against dribbles and drips. Munchkin is so confident these new cups are mess-free, we are backing up the promise with a 100% replacement guarantee.

Click Lock™ cups are available in an assortment of vibrant colors, fun artwork, licensed characters, and styles including sippy, trainer, straw, flip straw and Big Kid™ spout-less. Because sometimes things in life just click!

A couple of Mommy & Daddy’s favourite items were:

Large Dishwasher Basket:

Product Features:

* 40% larger capacity holds more items
* Patented accessory cleaning technology
* Unique slide-and-fold top for easy loading and unloading
* Straw cleaning rack holds 10 straws of various sizes (Awesome!)

 

 

Bath Fun Bubble Blower:

Product Features:

* Battery-powered bubble maker
* Conveniently works with any bath bubble solution1
* 8 rotating wands for continuous bubbles
* Strong suction cup mounting with grippy feet to rest on tub ledge
* Can be used both inside and outside the tub
* Requires 2-AA batteries*

 

 

There were so many great products this month that it was hard to pick only a few. Our daughter is teething right now and really loved the Orajel® Teethers as well. My son is a fish and loved using the bath crayons for his hour long bath! He comes out when he notices his prune hands, haha.

I’m also happy to be able to bring you a giveaway for one of Munchkin’s amazing products! This month I am offering Munchkin’s Nursery Projector & Sound System to one reader. Here are some details on the projector.

 

A voice-activated system with soothing sounds, dreamy images and a comforting nightlight that helps provide an ideal sleep environment – because getting baby to sleep quickly is the stuff that dreams are made of. It’s the little things®.

Product Features

* 10 soothing sounds, including Mozart, lullabies, and white noise
* 3 image discs
* Rotating projector head allows for projection onto the ceiling or wall
* Voice activation feature allows baby to self-soothe
* Optional nightlight and 3 timer settings let Mom customize for baby

 

 

Contest is open to residents of Canada. Just fill out the Rafflecopter form below for your chance to win!

Good Luck! Remember to check out Munchkin Canada on Twitter and Facebook for great deals and more!

I am participating as one of Munchkin Canada’s Ambassadors and I received a package of Munchkin products in exchange for my participation in this campaign. Opinions expressed belong to me and are NOT influenced in any way.

Disney’s Diamond Collection Giveaway

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I’m happy to have the opportunity to work with Disney again and this time we’re teaming up to bring you their Diamond Collection Package, which includes the following titles:

“Pocahontas” & “Pocahontas II”
“The Rescuers” & “The Rescuers Down Under”
“The Aristocats”

This is a great collection to add to any household and your kids are sure to love it! I don’t really have much more to say about this because these Disney movies always speak for themselves!

All you have to do to enter the contest is to leave a comment on this blog post telling me what your favorite Disney movie is. It’s as easy as that!

The contest closes Aug 17th and is open to residents of Canada (excluding Quebec). I will choose a winner using Random.Org.

Best of Luck!!

Cheers!

Big Brother Is Coming To Canada and I Can’t Wait!

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Photo from http://bigbrotheraccess.com

You may not know this about me but I am a Reality TV junkie. I know, I know, it’s nothing but senseless drivel that further dumbs down our society and takes away from the actual film and television makers who slave over their product. Still, I like it.

I’m not saying I watch all of them, although this new Here Comes Honey Boo Boo show looks great….(Not Really Though). Of all the Reality shows out there, only one of them has kept my attention for longer than 2-3 seasons. That show is Big Brother!

I remember about 4 years ago, I had sent an email to ask if Canadians were allowed to apply for Big Brother and got a big fat NO! I knew the answer before writing but I’ve never been one to follow traditional “rules”. Enter last months news about the upcoming production of Big Brother Canada and I couldn’t be more excited!

I’ve seen every season so far and although I’m not as impressed with the new trend of mixing in old players with new players, I do still enjoy the show and am excited at the prospect of a fresh start here in Canada.

I was reading some of the details over at Big Brother Access and the more I read, the more excited I get. It seems like casting was going to begin in July but has been pushed back to August and will most likely run until sometime in January 2013.

Either way, I’m keeping a close eye on the details so I can get myself ready to enter the BB house! Oh yeah, I’ve already decided that I am going to be on the show…Do you hear that producers?! Yeah, I’m talking to you John Brunton!

The only downside was when I suddenly came to the realization, while watching Big Brother 14 the other night, that I am no longer one of the young, buff house guests. That’s right, I’m pretty sure as a 33 year old, slightly out of shape male, that I would be considered one of the “Old Guys” on the show…No matter, I’m still in!

Now that we’ve got that out of the way and decided that I am in fact already going to be on the show, the application video seems like somewhat of a formality. It’s still necessary though so I’ll put the question out to all of you to help me decide what to do.

What should I do in my Audition Video to get noticed for Big Brother Canada?

I appreciate all your help and hope that I don’t get kicked off first!!

You can read more about Big Brother Canada on their host site, Slice. You can also follow along with updates from their Twitter and Facebook accounts as well.

UPDATE! You can now apply for BB Canada by going to their Application Page and going through the motions! Good Luck!

Cheers!

Bieber, Prostitution, Trophy Dads & My Rap on The Life of Dad Podcast

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Recently, I was happy to accept an invitation to be a guest on the Life of Dad Show Podcast with Tom Riles and Art Eddy. For those of you who haven’t heard of Life of Dad, it’s like Facebook for Dad bloggers. There are a lot of great Dads writing over there and I’ve heard that the guy who runs their twitter account is handsome and awesome! (PS – It’s me, come and say hi @LifeOfDadShow)

On this particular podcast, which is about 30 minutes long, we talk about Trophy Dads, Justin Bieber, Ellen, Ping Pong, Prostitution, Canadian Geography, the Montreal Canadiens and I close it out with a rap that I wrote specifically for the podcast. Each podcast ends with the guest rapping and I was challenged to a rap off, which you will see I clearly won, lol.

It was a jam packed show and has inspired me to look into starting my own podcast. I’m not going to promise it will happen but it’s at least on the table.

So, without further ado, here is my day with Life of Dad. PS – If you’re looking for the rap, it’s around the 28:30 mark, although I don’t why you would want to hear that….

Dad Blogs Exposed! – Honea Express

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This week I’d like to introduce you to Whit Honea, who started his Dad blog, Honea Express, way back in 2005 before Dad blogging was cool.

One of the first things I read by Whit was his post entitled “When Stuffed Animals Die” and from that moment, I was hooked! Not surprisingly, that post also got him named as a BlogHer Voices of the Year winner.

The thing I like about Whit is that he isn’t afraid to show his emotions. In fact, he himself will admit that “Every time I speak about my kids on a conference panel I wind up crying in front of everyone”. It absolutely shows in his mesmerizing posts about his family.

His writing skills are beyond anything I could dream of achieving in my lifetime, which I why I like to read his stuff and take away as much as I can. After all, there’s a reason why he’s been published by the likes of Babble, AOL, BabyCenter, The Stir, MamaPop, The Disney Blog, CBS: Los Angeles, Man of the House, UpTake & Orbitz…..Yeah, that’s a lot of writing.

Another great thing about Whit is that you can tell he cares about the people that read and take the time to comment on his stuff. The way he responds to the comments on his site and his twitter feed (@WhitHonea) show how invested he is in his craft.

Just in case writing for his own blog and the others I mention wasn’t enough, you can also catch Whit writing over at DadCentric, co-owning a production company called Limey Yank Productions and oh yeah, working on a book! Here’s an excerpt from his blog.

Not too busy though, right? I can barely find the time to write 3 posts a week so reading all of these jobs is a little overwhelming to comprehend. The best thing is that his work clearly isn’t suffering from it.

Most recently, Whit was involved in The New Face Of Dad campaign from Philips Norelco. It’s a great campaign that showcases some great Dads and really captures the way most Dads feel about parenthood. Here’s the full New Face Of Dad video and you can check out Honea Express for Whit’s personal video.

I really hope you take a few minutes to check out Whit’s blog, Honea Express, I promise you won’t be disappointed. You can also find him on Twitter @WhitHonea and on his Facebook Page. He’s also got an upcoming project with Limey Yank Productions that will be going live soon.

You can also let him know you popped in by showing him some love in the comment section below.

That wraps up another edition of Dad Blogs Exposed! I hope you enjoyed reading it as much as I enjoyed writing it! Til next time!

Cheers!

The Smile That Stopped The World

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It’s no secret that as our children get older, they need us less and less. I’ve already begun to see the signs of this with my 4 year old son as he sets out on his path to independence. He recently started his first “no parents allowed” swimming class and it is devastating and exciting all at once.

For some reason, even though I’d been through this with my boy, I thought that my little girl would be, well, my little girl, forever. Every day that passes I see her learning more and gaining the ability to do the little things that Daddy used to help with.

She can do up her own seatbelt in the wagon now, Daddy used to help with that. She doesn’t need Daddy to help her much at the park any more because as she says “No, I Can Do It!”. She doesn’t even need me to help her down the stairs any more, even though I still stand there, hovering over her, sometimes even hoping she’ll slip up a bit so Daddy can catch her.

That sounds harsh and it’s not that I want her to get hurt, it’s just that I want to show her that I am still useful. I want her to need me as much as I need her to need me. I know there’s a next stage of her life, where she’ll need me for a lot of other things, like riding a bike or eating an ice cream cone but I’m just not ready to go there yet.

There’s something about the sincere joy in her eyes when she sees me come in the door from work, that makes my heart ache for the day when I walk in and she just nods and carries on with her day. I dread the day when her excited screams of “Daddy, Daddy!” change to a “What’s Up?” as I enter the room.

She doesn’t know it but she has the ability to stop my world on a dime with a simple unforced cuddle. With a smile, she takes away all my worries and troubles, even if just for a split second, which is long enough.

I’m not sure what brought this on tonight. Whether it was the terrible things happening in the world right now or the realization that kids get older and need us less; or maybe a combination of both.

There is one thing I do know though.

I danced with my little girl this afternoon and as I twirled her around in my arms, in that moment, we were both completely and utterly happy. Most likely for different reasons but happy all the same.

I realized today that it’s okay for my kids to get older and it’s okay for me to be scared about that. What really matters is that I take a moment every now and then to stop and truly appreciate everything I have in them.

There’s no way of knowing what’s in store for them, so all we can do is show them that we are here for them when they need us. To give them all the love that a parent possibly can and hope that someday they are able to share that love with a family of their own.

Kids may grow up and need us less but until that happens I am going to continue to enjoy the moments that bring my world to a stand still.

Cheers!

Send In The Clowns…And Bring On The Fear!

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People have a lot of fears. Some of them are strange, like Coprophobia, which is an abnormal and persistent fear of feces. Others are more common, such as Arachnophobia, which everyone knows is a fear of spiders.

The one that seems to straddle the fence between weird and normal however, is Coulrophobia, which is better known as a fear of clowns.

A member of my household, who shall remain nameless, suffers from this phobia. There’s no crazy story behind the phobia about how a clown tried to murder him/her. It’s just one of those things that strikes you whenever you see one.

The problem with this particular phobia is that once you have kids, there is no escaping it. Kids love clowns! They make them balloon animals, play funny instruments, perform hilarious pratfalls and most importantly, they teach children about the joys of Hamburgers, French Fries and Play Land’s!

Come to think of it, how could anyone be afraid of clowns? They are so lovable and funny! What has a clown ever done to anybody to deserve this sort of discrimination?! They slave and slave to look their very funniest, so that your kids birthday parties are a giant success and this is the thanks they get? Give me one good reason why I should fear one of these pillars of society!

Oh yeah, I forgot about him…. Sorry Ronald, as long as this guy is around, you’ll have to keep working double time to convince us that you are not evil.

Question Time! Do you have a phobia? If so, what is it? Don’t worry, no one will judge you, just consider this a safe space to share your darkest fears!

Cheers!

The 5th Annual Gil Read Memorial Fastball Tournament in #Ottawa

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I’m very happy and even more excited to announce that The 5th Annual Gil Read Memorial Fastpitch Tournament is all geared up and ready to go! The tournament will take place at the Carp Fairgrounds in the Village of Carp, Ontario, home of the Carp I4C Victory Fast Ball Club.

The tournament will run from July 27th to July 29th and features some of the best fastball in Eastern Ontario and Quebec. The games will begin Friday the 27th at 7pm. A day pass is $5 and a weekend pass is $10 with kids under 12 free.

For those of you who don’t know, and there’s probably a lot of you, The Gil Read Memorial Foundation is a charity that my family set up shortly after my father passed away. Our goal is to help less fortunate children compete in sports and we’re proud of the work we do in his honour!

I could go on forever about my Dad, as you all know, but I want to focus on the tournament this time around so I’ll leave you with a link to the About Gil page on our website, as well a Guest Post I did about him for the Big Brothers, Big Sisters of Ottawa website.

A little bit about the venue. Carp, located approximately 20 minutes west of Ottawa, has been a fast pitch community for many years. In the early 1990’s, The Carp Valley Pride made their home at the Carp Fairgrounds and boasted one of the top lineups in all of Canada. It was an easy choice for us and we know you’ll love it there.

We have 10 teams entered in this years competition, ranging from local to long distance: Carp I4C Victory, Kars Aces, Fitzroy Harbour West Carleton Electric, Ottawa Taylor Blitz, Stittsville 56ers, Toronto Gators, Donnaconna Blue Sox, Cornwall Pickups, Chisasibi Comets & the Elkland, PA Thunderbellys.

As far as fan entertainment goes, we have a lot lined up for you! There is a Beer Tent on location, sponsored by our friends at Molson’s. We also have Hamburgers, Hot Dogs, lots of Water and other snacks available throughout the weekend. We have lots of prizes available as well and all the wonderful volunteers are available and willing to help out in any way possible to make this a great experience for you and your family!

Please feel free to bring your kids out to the event as well, as the diamonds feature a Splash Pad and Park on site, along with plenty of open space for the kids to run around and play. Not to mention that they are the future of our sport and we love to see them out there enjoying themselves!

We are always looking for new volunteers and we are especially in need of Corporate Sponsorship, as this is what helps the Foundation continue in providing for our local kids.

If you’re interested in helping out with sponsorship or volunteering, please feel free to email me at [email protected] or find me at our Twitter page @GilReadMemorial and I’d be happy to talk to you!

Thank You for your continued support and I hope to see you at the Ball Park for some great Fastball for a great cause!

Cheers!!