Doin’ It for the Dads
Daddy Power!
Much as moms might like to think that they’ve cornered the market on blogging, especially when it comes to their kids, the fact is that dad bloggers are out in force — so much so that, more than a year ago, Child’s Play Communications launched a Digital Dads program to complement our Team Mom and Web Mom blogger networks.
As an extension of that focus, from today through Saturday Child’s Play is participating in the Modern Media Man (M3) Summit in Atlanta, a new conference designed specifically for men — especially dads — who blog.
According to the conference Web site “This is the best opportunity of the year for men and daddy bloggers, whether they’re stay at home dads, work at home dads, business professionals, the lone entrepreneur, marketer, advertiser and public relations professional to gather in one spot and plot a new course toward progress.”
Child’s Play is sponsoring the event for two of our clients: Toy State, which makes great ”lights and sounds” licensed cars, trucks and other vehicles, including Road Rippers remote control models, for kids, and Shred Sled, manufacturer of the Shox Scooter and the Shred Sled caster board — all products we thought were particularly great for dads and kids to enjoy together.
Why are today’s dads blogging about family life? The current unemployment level is one factor, as we’ve noted in other posts: More dads are at home because they are out of work, and as a result they are getting more hands-on in day-to-day parenting. Others simply take a more involved role in parenting than did men of other generations. In any case, many of them are blogging about it, in part as a way to network with other dads in similar scenarios.
Marketers, are you interested in reaching dads this holiday season? Let us know, and we’ll put you in touch with our network.
Moms, does your husband/significant other blog about being a dad? Why — and how do you feel about it?
Oh Dad, Poor Dad
It’s not news that moms may have a tougher time finding work if they’ve taken extended time off to raise their kids. Now, however, stay-at-home dads are feeling the pinch. To the work world, time away is just as – perhaps more – detrimental for a man than for a woman.
Just a generation ago – when my own child, CollegeBoy, was growing up — the stay-at-home dad (Mr. Mom as he was known then) was a true anomaly. Yet in 2009, a record 7.4% of fathers in married-couple families with children under 18 were home while their wives worked, according to unpublished Bureau of Labor Statistics data cited in yesterday’s Wall Street Journal article on this subject.
According to the story, stay-at-home dads “face a bigger stigma” among potential employers than stay-at-home moms. Dads who are attempting to return in the wake of the recession are feeling the impact big-time when competing for what positions exist, as it was primarily jobs held by men that were eliminated – leading to what some have labeled a “he –cession.”
How do you feel about dads leaving work to stay home with their kids? Do you feel that it’s only fair that dads take a turn – or do you feel it’s moms’ responsibility? When SHOULD it be the husband and not the wife who makes the move home? And do you think it’s acceptable for employers to think less of a man for taking time off to care for his kids – even if their logic is that as a result he is behind his peers on current industry knowledge, skills and contacts?
Mom Tech Survey
Dads are responsible for all the tech purchases in the family, right?
No way.
A survey of more than 1,000 moms and expectant moms released Friday by BabyCenter shows the significant role moms play in making home technology decisions.
According to the study, while men respond to specific features when shopping for technology, it’s the practical side of tech that appeals to women. “While men are drawn to screen size, processor speed and other numerical specifications, women look more at price, ease of use and energy efficiency,” the BabyCenter survey concluded.
As BabyCenter president, Tina Sharkey, summed it up, according to an MSNBC story, ”It’s not about the toys, it’s about the tools.” Moms look for tech tools that will help them manage their families’ daily lives and record their children’s experiences for years to come.
This makes a difference in the categories of technology that women and men shop for. The article reports that while husbands are more likely to be interested in high-definition TVs with the sharpest, biggest displays or in the coolest desktop systems, wives are more intrigued by camcorders, digital cameras, laptops and multi-room home-monitoring systems, including Webcams.
Moms, who shops for which kind of technology in your house? Companies, who are you directing your marketing efforts to, and will these research findings make a difference in your approach?
Like Mother, Like Daughter
According to a recent study by Ohio State University, women are more likely than men to follow the parenting practices of their mothers. As a result, “We really need to learn a lot more about how fathers learn to parent,” said study co-author Jonathan Vespa.
More than 1,000 young parents were chosen from a group whose own parents had participated in a nationwide survey initiated in 1979. For the three behaviors researched — spanking children, giving physical affection/praise, and reading to children — women closely followed what their mother did, while men did not.
The researchers also discovered significant changes in behaviors among this generation vs. the previous one, with parenting today involving much more reading and affection to children and less spanking.
What parenting approaches will today’s young boys pick up from their mothers — and what from their dads? And should companies be developing products and services that tie into these different choices?
Taking Measure
Some time back, I blogged about a poll conducted by Parenting magazine that indicated many moms were fed up with their husbands. More recently, there was an interesting segment on NPR radio on how moms and dads evaluate their roles, and the resulting tension that can produce between them.
Referring to the Parenting poll, Jeremy Adam Smith, author of “The Daddy Shift: How Stay-at-Home Dads, Breadwinning Moms, and Shared Parenting Are Transforming the American Family,” said that anger arises when working parents compare themselves to others. “The mom is measuring the dad against other dads, and the dad is measuring himself against other dads, and that can create feelings of inadequacy and anger.”
Lisa Belkin, author of The New York Times Motherlode blog, added, “I think that women are measuring themselves against both their mothers and their fathers. They are doing their mom’s job and they’re doing dad’s job. If they are working outside the home and bringing in an income, they’re their fathers. And then they come home and they feel this obligation to be their old-fashioned mother…and then you’ve got dad who’s comparing himself to his dad, and he’s feeling pretty good about it. But mom’s looking over at him and saying, ‘yeah, but I’m still chasing two role models here,’ and there’s a lot of anger.”
Readers, what do you think?
