Picture this. Twelve week pregnant woman out to dinner with a bunch of hilarious, rambunctious, and loud men. Oh, did I mention they were drinking and I obviously was not? I laughed a lot (and occasionally wanted to cover my ears!)
This was the most accurate depiction of my weekend in Atlanta at the first ever sanctioned dad bloggers conference. While it had its organizational flaws, I made some fabulous connections and sometimes connections are really all that matters. (Shout out here to the staff of Man of the House – ya’ll rock!)
SCI went as a partner with Dadlabs, who I think have the absolute best dad site out there. A mix of humor (um hello man using breast pump) and a ton of good information, their web videos are perfect for moms and dads alike.
But that’s not really why I wanted to write this evening. I wanted to write about fathers today and how things are vastly different than they were even 10-15 years ago. Dads are more involved. They want to be more involved and they can/have time/ choose to be more involved.
And this encompasses everything. Being more involved in their children’s day to day life, more involved in purchasing decisions, what’s for dinner etc. Gone are the days when the husband comes home wanting to know what’s for dinner as he sits down from a long days work. (Ok, so some of those guys still exist and to them I say “man up” and to the wives I say “get a grip on your man”)
Marriage and parenting is a PARTNERSHIP. It’s not always 50/50 and sometimes you are on the end that’s getting screwed, but that ebbs and flows.
Anyway, I digress. With men being more involved all the way around, I expected to see more companies jumping on board this band wagon. I know in reality that we’re still getting companies on board with the mom blogger wagon, so I understand the lag. But some seem so obvious. I figure the Home Depots, the ACE Hardwares, the Gillettes, Old Spice etc. would be stepping up and working with more dads. But aside from those more obvious brands I think grocery store chains need to be thinking about dads, cell phone companies (props to T-Mobile for sponsoring!), and even juvenile companies. Dads don’t want the pink or cow print carseat in the car. They want to know the in’s and out’s of how their stroller is going to work and they definitely prefer a classier high chair than the average offering.
Dads are overlooked and it’s a mistake. A huge mistake. They are consumers. Valuable consumers and more companies need to take notice and jump on the bandwagon.
If not, their loss and my gain. Booyah!
Testify…and thanks. Yes, Atlanta, at the M3 Modern Media Man summit was fun last weekend. I too have been surprised at the lack of the Lowe's/Home Depot reaching out to dads. It's only a matter of time and as some of the folks that were there, Dadlabs, Man of the House, etal demonstrate, dads and dude bloggers are starting to be noticed.