We fathers sometimes get a bum rap.
We’re often the butt of sitcom jokes where we’re portrayed as benignly incompetent parents who are lucky not to burn the house down when the mothers leave the house for a few hours, who’s idea of feeding the kids is pizza and Doritos (not that there’s anything wrong with that!), and who panic and go catatonic at the thought of diapers and poop.
Seriously, that’s not cool.
Whereas mothers have a zillion online communities where they support and help each other with advice, stories, critiques, and suggestions, the Dads don’t have too many venues for such a community. I hope that the male readers of Path of Awesomeness can create such a community. It’s for purely selfish reasons, of course. Dad’s usually don’t have easy ways to make friends – I’ve personally noticed that I only really make friends through work or our kid’s school, whereas mothers seem to make friends at the drop of a hat. Probably a man/woman thing.
But nonetheless, I want to make sure that I give a shoutout to any online site that I think does a great job of creating and fostering a network of smart, dedicated, and supportive fathers. So in that spirit, I will recommend and feature as many awesome father and dad sites that we come across.
The first of these sites that we’d like to showcase is fatherly.com. It’s a site that was founded and run by Simon Issacs and Michael Rothman, the former a founder of Thrillist Media and the latter a veteran of nonprofit marketing. There are articles on how to win hide-and-seek from a former Navy SEAL, travel hacks from professional explorers, and a tip or two about schools from a former Secretary of Education. It’s a site that is geared for the “millennial dad” but there’s advice there for any dad. The focus is for fathers with kids who’re young – in the 0-10-ish age range, but there are articles that deal with kids who’re older as well. With posts that deal with children’s education, discipline, latest gadgets, and products for dads and the family, you’ll always find something interesting and useful at this site.
