Top 10 Group Dad Blogs

Sometimes, Superman, Batman, and Aquaman operate independently, and sometimes they join forces in a superhero collective that is the Justice League of America. So it is with daddy bloggers. As great as they are on their own (see our Top 50 Dad Blogs), when they band together, they become the most powerful forces of fatherhood ever assembled. Here, then, is our list of the best group daddy blogs:

1. DadCentric

With the title in distressed, Soviet-hip font, the logo (a beer bottle crossed on a baby bottle, in the manner of the hammer and sickle) on a field of faded red and yellow, and an exhortation to JOIN THE MOVEMENT right on the splash page, DadCentric boasts the coolest design of any daddy blog going. And DadCentric is more than just a pretty face: The writing is just as high quality. Jason Avant describes his site as “a junta of smart, edgy, and talented writer-dads, at the forefront of a revolution whose purpose is to overthrow the outdated notions of fatherhood,” which sums it up better than I can. I will add that the “junta” includes, among others, Babble Top 50 Dad Bloggers Two Busy, Whit Honea, Beta Dad, and The Holmes. These guys put the social in socialism.

2. Digital Dads

This sleek, well-designed site is the Lamborghini of group daddy blogs — which makes total sense, as it’s one of the only daddy blogs going whose mission covers dream cars, as well as all other things Guy. Rolled out two years ago by Babble Top Dad Blogger C.C. Chapman, Digital Dads bills itself as the mancave of the Internet: “Where a Dad can be a Guy.” This is an intersection of Guy and Dad, and at this veritable Times Square of fatherhood and manhood are posts about everything from sports to fashion, cooking to sex. Well worth a peek under the hood.

3. Savvy Daddy

“When I first became a new father,” Savvy Daddy creator Tony Chen recalls, “I looked online for support and advice, but all I could find was articles about breastfeeding.” Savvy Daddy was his attempt at filling that informational void — and did it ever succeed.

One of the most popular daddy sites in cyberspace, Savvy Daddy is a must-read for all expectant and new fathers. The forums are the most robust out there, and the Survival Guide is ... well, we couldn’t live without it. Savvy Daddy is not just savvy; it’s indispensible.

4. Dad Wagon

The dads at the helm of Dad Wagon, blessed by no less an authority than Parents Magazine as “a little better than most blogs,” have some serious journalistic bona fides — these guys have written for The New York Times, the New Yorker, TIME magazine, New York Magazine, and other small-potatoes outfits — and their prodigious skill set shows in the quality of the writing. Even the “categories” are funny (“Dad + Gadget = Fail,” “Bad Dads We Love,” “The Tantrum,” and my personal fave, “What Almost Made Me Cry Today”). If you fall off this wagon, get back on board!

5. Man of the House

The phrase “man of the house” has taken on new meaning in the 21st century, and these guys are helping redefine it. “If you’re looking for disrobed starlets and 175” flatscreens,” the editors tell us, “you’ve come to the wrong place.” Although I have nothing against kickass TV sets and nubile movie stars en dishabille, there’s enough of that elsewhere. At Man of the House, a top-shelf, fully-loaded men’s magazine of a group blog, there are articles aplenty on stuff Maxim and GQ don’t cover: how to fix a toilet, how to exercise with the aim of living longer, how to be in tune with your wife’s needs, or what to buy in the “shaving” aisle at Stop & Shop.

6. NYC Dads Group

Unlike the Holy Roman Empire — which, as Voltaire famously remarked, was neither holy nor Roman nor an empire — NYC Dads Group is, in fact, a coterie of New York fathers who meet in real-time. This website, the brainchild of Lance Somerfeld and Matt Schneider, is intended to be “the destination” for Gotham dads. Many of the members contribute guest posts at the rich, robust site, on all manner of fatherhood-related topics. But the blog is only a fraction of what these guys are about; Somerfeld, Schneider, et al. are active advocates for SAHDs in New York and beyond. They sponsored a “Dad’s Lounge” area at the NYC New Parents Expo, and they’ve been featured on CBS News and The Martha Stewart Show. First, they take Manhattan … then they take Brooklyn.

7. Dad-O-Matic

If the sleek, retro design and name of this site suggests a return to the Father Knows Best fifties-era parenting models, let me assure you that this is ironic. Chris Brogan founded Dad-O-Matic and installed his favorite daddy blogger, Doriano Carta, as editor-in-chief to give voice to the modern fatherhood experience. Or, to be more accurate, voices. With almost 100 contributors — some of whom are, gasp, women! — Dad-O-Matic presents a diverse array of viewpoints, one of its greatest strengths.

8. Dad Labs

Add one part daddy blog to one part daddy forum, stir in daddy-themed video clips, let simmer over a Bunsen burner, and you’ve concocted Dad Labs. The frequent dispatches are on everything from running to co-sleeping to the BBST (the Baby Butt Sniff Test). A new video series, Good News Dad News, featuring regular contributors Daddy Brad and Daddy Clay, and broadcast from Dad Labs world headquarters in Austin, Texas, promises to be a hit.

9. Dad Revolution

The revolution will not be televised, but it will be blogged about — by fourteen talented fathers, including Adam Cohen of Dada Rocks and Babble Top 50 Dad Blogger John Taylor, a.k.a. DaddyYoDude. The content here tends toward the heartfelt and serious, with introspective posts about sibling rivalry, teaching children to serve humanity, and how not to be overprotective. As Taylor puts it, real men are emo. With their helpful, at-times inspirational dispatches, the good people at Dad Revolution are making good on their promise of “changing the world, one diaper at a time.”

10. Papa Heroes

Founded in 2011 by Rick Lipsett, Raúl Colón, and Lucilia Feliciano as an online “alliance” to protect children from risks associated with rampant technology, Papa Heroes has evolved into much more — a bona fide parenting community and one of the few with a Latino bent (there are plans underway to make the site bilingual). Lipsett contributes a comic, DaddyKnows, that is a highlight of the site.