Dad
Top 50 Dad Blogs of 2012
Last year, when we inaugurated our Top 50 Dad Blogs list, we praised dad bloggers for “changing the way we think about fatherhood.” Indeed, a number of our favorite bloggers on this, our second Top 50 list, insist our thinking needs to be changed. They describe themselves as advocates for fathers, taking to their keyboards in order to counter dominant cultural stereotypes of dad-as-incompetent-buffoon. (You don’t believe them? Tune in to most any family sitcom on most any night of the week.) Others on the list aspire simply to entertain us with funny, relatable tales from the trenches. A few write to work through the shattering grief of losing a child or spouse.
This list features straight dads, gay dads, working dads, stay-at-home dads, geek dads, single dads, and more. In a culture where the dominant conversations around fatherhood center simply on whether dads can deign to change their kid's diaper, it's refreshing to see these guys take the public perception of parents into their own hands. We are again struck by the variety of their voices and experiences, which itself puts the lie to the notion of any one “typical dad.” A lot of our favorites from last year are back, while many worthy entrants are making their debuts. We hope you’ll enjoy laughing, crying, nodding, and discovering along with them as much as we have. As dads' online influence grows, this list will only become more and more difficult to curate — and that's a good problem to have. If you think we missed any of your favorite dad bloggers, nominate them here. – Barbara Spindel and the dad blog panel
13 / 50
Laid-Off Dad
Doug French’s firstborn son was 15-months-old when Dad lost his job (or, as French puts it, when “the large, corporate stink-palace that signed my checks decided it didn’t want to anymore”).
He kicked off his blog in 2003, but a lot’s changed since then. He was married and jobless; now he’s the co-founder of Dad 2.0 and divorced (he also blogs at When the Flames Go Up with his ex-wife, Magda). He’s made the move from New York City to Michigan. And he’s become an integral part of our Babble Voices blog community. What has remained constant are the humor, the intelligence, the pop culture insight, and, oh yes, the occasional poem on his blog, which ranked #6 on last year’s list.
“I really enjoy performing the day-to-day daddy duties much more than having to pay someone else to do them,” French says, proving that there can be a silver lining to being laid off after all.
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I am humbled to be included.
Many thanks.
Mitch