meta-dad

The complete Wow! Wow! Wubbzy! Shopper

Every kid has their favorite show, right now my boys get excited about all things having to do with Wow! Wow! Wubbzy! Last week it was Diego, next week- who knows! With birthdays coming up, I wanted to flush it out and see what things are available. Aside from birthdays, there is the seemingly endless need for More »

Be A Father

[youtube 9A2Ap3DyvLg]

The topic of fatherhood has been all over the news recently with people buzzing about Obama’s recent fatherhood speech in Chicago where he stated, “What makes you a man is not the ability to have a child. It’s the courage to raise one.” These are strong words, to say the least.

Evidently, the Ad Council in conjunction with a number of government sponsored offices and organizations are using this buzz as an opportunity to raise awareness about the importance and the positive impact of active fathering.

• An estimated 24 million children (34%) live absent their biological father.
• Nearly 20 million children (27 percent) live in single-parent homes.
• Children who live absent their biological fathers are, on average, at least two to three times more likely to be poor, to use drugs, to experience educational, health, emotional and behavioral problems, to be victims of child abuse, and to engage in criminal behavior than their peers who live with their married, biological (or adoptive) parents.
• Children with involved, loving fathers are significantly more likely to do well in school, have healthy self-esteem, exhibit empathy and pro-social behavior, and avoid high-risk behaviors such as drug use, truancy, and criminal activity compared to children who have uninvolved fathers. [Source: Ad Council]

While I am not surprised at the statistics in the first two bullet points, I find the other two points a bit vague since it is implied that these children (without their biological fathers) don’t have an active male role-model in their life. There are enough cases where children are being fathered by an uncle, grandfather, or other family member or friend. Regardless, the point has been made that children benefit greatly from having a positive father figure in their life.

Sited Links:
Fatherhood Involvement – Cheerleader
Fatherhood Involvement – Super Soaker

Related Links:
Administration for Children and Families
Office of Family Assistance
National Responsible Fatherhood Clearinghouse

Excellent Resource for Kids Activities

Have you ever tried to make origami but could never understand the directions? Have you run out of cool ways to make a paper airplane? Or you want to see how the Pro’s do it? Or have you just run out of craft and activities and need some inspiration? The folks over at ActivityTV.Com have done a great job at creating a site filed with video tutorials for a number of great kid activities.

Find lots of fun activities for kids, with video instructions and printables. There’s a great selection of craft ideas including gifts, games, and holiday items. Learn easy magic tricks, or try the fun and easy kid-friendly cooking recipes. Check out the simple, safe and fun science experiments or very cool paper airplanes. Other categories include cartooning, cheerleading, juggling, origami, jewelry, puppets, and more. Just follow along with the step-by-step videos.

Some of my new favorites is LegoTV, where you can see some of your favorite lego characters in actions. Of all the Instructional Channels available I’d have to say puppets section is my personal favorite. Banana Buddies. Running Rabbit. Shoe Box Monster. Come on, we’re talking about a screaming good time here.

So the next time you wake up to one of those impenetrable raining spring mornings or you just run out of tricks to pull out of the proverbial mom/dad hat, check out Activity.TV and see if they help spark some kind of fun.

(Via ActivityTV.Com)

Poetic Babies Birth Announcements

Poetic Babies out of Chicago, will create a online video message for your family and friends: the story of the birth of your child as told by you. Their deluxe package includes video services as well as traditional printed announcements and photography. Check out the sample video – it is quite nice!

meta-DAD’s Top Six CD’s For Kids

That’s right — six. I could not wittle it down to five, and I’m totally comfortable with that.

It’s the end of the year and you know what that means a whole lotta lists are coming out to round out the Best Of 2007 categories. This is not the Best Of… because some of this stuff has been around for a year or two, kinda like my kids. And now that I’m a full-fledged dad always in search of new music I have been checking out some different genres and areas I don’t traditionally gravitate too.

Elizabeth Mitchell – You Are My Flower

I wrote about this CD when it first came out because it was one of these rare acoustical efforts that travels beyond the coffee shop vibe into something really special. I’m not sure what but in the meantime, More »

Bowie and Crosby: Holiday Classic

Paul Farhi of The Washington Post did his research, uncovering the special behind the scenes about the making of this now classic seasonal performance.

Related Links:
TVParty.Com | Various Archive Interviews of Bowie