Happy July!  Our free t-shirt drawing winner is Josh Henderson of Weaver, Alabama.  Congratulations!  Be sure you are registered as a member on the Dadsworld main page for your automatic entry into our monthly drawings.

This being the 4th of July weekend, we are busy with family and will wait until next week to unveil some of our exciting changes, including a new Dad of the Month interview, and other content changes to the site. 

I wanted to take a moment to talk about technology and frustration.  In the past couple of weeks we have had several pieces of equipment fail.  There is never a good time for these things to happen, but in this tight economy, it’s even more aggrivating.

 A Toshiba Regza 32″ flat screen television that is 2 years and 1 month old (the warranty lasted 1 year and we bought an extra year from Costco) quit working.  It wasn’t used that much, but suddenly became pixelated and unviewable.  The repair company wants $95 just to come out and tell us how much it will cost to repair.  Nice.

 Then our JVC Everio docking station for our JVC hard disc drive camcorder failed (not long after the warranty expired as well), so we can’t burn discs until we get a new one ($200), or go through the computer. 

We had tremendous internet problems with Qwest, so we switched back to Comcast who we’ve used for years.  They didn’t even try to get me on the 2 year  committment that I signed, because they knew the service didn’t work.  It was down 14 days of the 4 months I had the service, and the speed was miserable. 

Our baby monitor, that has 2 cameras so we can keep an eye on both of our children went out.  It’s the second one that we’ve gone through.  The quality of baby monitors is absolutely unacceptable. 

Our barbeque had 3 of the 4 burners rust through recently, so I had to replace them as well.  We barbeque a lot, so I guess that’s to be expected.  I know that’s not an electronic device, but still frustrating.

 The lens (15-85mm) on our Canon 20D decided to quit working, during a camping trip to the beach, a $124 repair and just 2 days ago the air-conditioning coil went out (when it was 90 degrees out) in my 2008 Ford F-250 truck.  Luckily, it was still covered by the warranty, the only thing that was!

Talk about a wave of recent technological frustration!  I know that computers and electronic gadgets are a big part of most of our lives these days, but sometimes I wish they weren’t.

More on technology in a coming post.

Be sure to spend time with your loved ones this weekend and have a great 4th of July celebration.  Be safe as well.  www.dadsworld.com

I wanted to take a minute to talk about how one’s philosophy is weaved into our culture through the dialog, text and speeches of popular books and movies.  Even movies we tend to think of as harmless entertainment.

I watched Toy Story with my family yesterday for at least the 15th time.  I enjoy the movie, along with most of the Disney/Pixar animated films.  What I don’t like is the underlying message in some of these movies. 

In Toy Story, for example, we see a very common Hollywood theme: the main human character is Andy, a young boy who is being raised by a single mother.  The villan happens to be Sid, a classic “white trash” delinquent who lives with both his mother and father.  In the movie, Andy’s mom is responsible, clean, and from all appearances, a caring parent.  Sid’s parents however, let him run wild - unsupervised and allow him access to things children shouldn’t have access to (gasoline, fireworks, guns, etc.)  Sid’s Dad is shown in only 1 scene, and he is asleep in his recliner in front of the television.  There is a deer head on the wall, and the theme of his house is one of a family who hunts (antlers, flying geese and ducks on the wallpaper, targets in his room, etc.)  Sid has an assortment of classic “white trash” identifiers in his room, the poster of “Megadork” (a clear rip-off of Megadeth), a copy of an “improvised interrogation notebook,”  a burnt “no smoking” sign, etc.  Sid is also obsessed with torture and violence. 

That’s all fine and good, but it is such a typical Hollywood re-occuring theme that it really gets old and frustrating to many of us.  The theme goes something like this:  The Dad is lazy and doesn’t care (or even know) what his kids are doing.  And those kids are little terrors.  The single mother is noble and kind, and her child is loving and sensitive.

Here is the problem: That’s not an accurate portrayal of reality.  IN REALITY, children from families with both Mothers and Fathers who are involved are MUCH more likely to be healthy, well-adjusted and successfull than children from single parent households.  There is no comparison.  2 parent households have dramatically fewer drop outs, suicides, instances of drug abuse, rapes, behavioral problems, teen pregnancies, etc. compared to single parent households.

Yet we are subjected to endless barrages of media designed to excuse single parenting, excuse out-of-wedlock births, and mock more traditional family structures.  All this does is contribute to the breakdowns we see in society.  We should be promoting the BEST of human behavior.  So why do you think companies like Disney don’t promote more traditional family structures?  Why don’t they promote great Dads more?  Well, Disney owns ABC, among other companies, so I will let you do your own research and come to your own conclusions about politics and chilrens movies.  You don’t see conservative values represented positively in many of these shows.  That will have to be the subject of another post…

I also understand that there are plenty of intact families that don’t do a good job raising children, and there are many single parents who do a great job.  But Hollywood’s M.O. and reality are at odds with each other.  You very rarely see a true portrayal in movies of reality.  Statistically speaking, there are FAR more intact, 2 parent families doing a great job raising their children than there are single parents doing the same. 

If there is an abuse or assault (physical or sexual) in a movie, you can bet that the Dad did it.  It’s NEVER the mother or someone else.  While in reality, it’s not the presence of a Dad that is the problem, it’s his absence.  It’s when Dads are NOT involved in their families, that there is trouble.  Research will tell you that most sexual assaults on minors are not perpetrated by Dads.  Live-in boyfriends top that list.   Biological Dads are the best DETERRANT to MANY problems (including physical and sexual abuse) children face, they are extremely rarely the cause.

I would just like to see the REAL DADS, the ones who are involved, loving, intelligent and capable be represented in our popular culture.  That is why I started Dadsworld, and that is why we have members in 12 countries now after being online for just over a year.  A lot of you have expressed that you feel the same way.

Be sure to spend some family time today, and honor your Dad.  At least 52 countries observe Father’s Day around the world, and it’s a day to honor our dads and their role as a parent.

Dadsworld’s purpose is to promote involved Dads and help change the media perception and portrayal of Dads.  Loving, caring and involved Dads are everywhere, and we fill an extremely important role in families.  Families are the building blocks of a civilized society, and Dads are a key component to those blocks.

We see a lot of media attention and praise given to single mothers, single fathers, same sex couples, etc. but you can’t build a successful, healthy society with those as the standard.  No.  The STANDARD is a loving, involved 2 parent family with a Mother and a Father.

Moms and Dads each fill different roles, and have different styles and influences on their children.  BOTH are necessary to raise healthy, well-adjusted children.  That’s the IDEAL. 

Way too many people are having children without a strong, committed and involved family.  That’s not fair to the children, and it’s not fair to the rest of us in society who will end up caring for and dealing with those children as they grow into adulthood.  Check out our statistics page for more details on just how important an intact family is to all of us.

I am so sick of the “anything goes and that’s okay” mentality that exists today.  We need to get down to basics, values and fundamentals.  Creating a family is a HUGE responsibility that should be taken very seriously.  I am outraged by the number of people who casually give life, only to neglect and mistreat that life.  If a person can’t make a consistent committment to creating a family and take the time and care to raise, guide, lead, love and nurture their children, then that person should not have children in the first place.  Pretty simple and obvious statement.

I hope that you are an involved Dad, or had an involved Dad.  I wish you the best.  Dadsworld.com wants people to make good decisions, and to honor those Dads who have.  The world needs more great dads, and many thanks are due to those of you who are.

Keep spreading the word about the importance of Dads, and may your own children grow up respecting Dads, and be taught many valuable lessons by you.  What you give your children will outlive yourself.  Be sure to give them the good stuff.

We had a great evening tonight, getting together with my parents and my brother and his family.  We celebrated 2 birthdays and an early Father’s Day too.  My kids really enjoy playing with their cousins, and it’s so nice to see them together. 

My son ended up having a fever (101) tonight though, and he was clearly not himself.  When we got home, he was very snuggly and he didn’t want me to put him down.  He kept telling me that he “didn’t feel very good.”  It’s very sad when your toddler is sick, you just want to help them feel better.  So, I put him to bed after giving him some Tylenol and reading him his favorite Curious George story (Curious George goes Camping).  I put a cold, damp washcloth on his head as I read to him, then I sang him some lullabies and hummed him to sleep.  I hope he feels better tomorrow.

Our daughter is doing well with her new hearing aid, although she goes through stages where she constantly wants to pull it out of her ear.  It can be quite challenging to get it back in, as she does NOT hold still well at all.  Right now though, she is getting a couple of new teeth, so she has been grouchy and feverish herself.  No fun. 

Being a parent is an amazing experience of emotions.  It’s very draining.  I now know why so many of our friends who had children before us always looked tired.  It’s not just the physical actions of dealing with your kids: playing with them, carrying them, dressing them, changing their clothes, diapers and shoes, bathing them, drying their hair, tucking them in, reading to them, etc.  It’s also the mental exertion of worrying about them, wanting them to feel well, hoping they are learning and developing well, trying to provide a stable environment for them… all very mentally tiring. 

What these strong emotions do is end up bringing you closer to your kids, which is probably the design.  We are supposed to feel a strong bond with them.  Obviously, some parents feel this bond more than others, but both my wife and I have it in spades. 

I hope you are going to have a fantastic Father’s Day this weekend, and be sure to give out some extra love.  I am taking Sunday off to spend the whole day with the family, and just enjoy being together.  That’s MY idea of a great Father’s Day.