Dad
Top 50 Dad Blogs of 2012
Last year, when we inaugurated our Top 50 Dad Blogs list, we praised dad bloggers for “changing the way we think about fatherhood.” Indeed, a number of our favorite bloggers on this, our second Top 50 list, insist our thinking needs to be changed. They describe themselves as advocates for fathers, taking to their keyboards in order to counter dominant cultural stereotypes of dad-as-incompetent-buffoon. (You don’t believe them? Tune in to most any family sitcom on most any night of the week.) Others on the list aspire simply to entertain us with funny, relatable tales from the trenches. A few write to work through the shattering grief of losing a child or spouse.
This list features straight dads, gay dads, working dads, stay-at-home dads, geek dads, single dads, and more. In a culture where the dominant conversations around fatherhood center simply on whether dads can deign to change their kid's diaper, it's refreshing to see these guys take the public perception of parents into their own hands. We are again struck by the variety of their voices and experiences, which itself puts the lie to the notion of any one “typical dad.” A lot of our favorites from last year are back, while many worthy entrants are making their debuts. We hope you’ll enjoy laughing, crying, nodding, and discovering along with them as much as we have. As dads' online influence grows, this list will only become more and more difficult to curate — and that's a good problem to have. If you think we missed any of your favorite dad bloggers, nominate them here. – Barbara Spindel and the dad blog panel
17 / 50
Cry It Out
We’re not ready to shed tears for Mike Adamick; he topped this list last year, and he’s still got one of the best daddy blogs in cyberspace. As a Babble blogger, a prime mover at “The Poop,” the parenting blog of the San Francisco Chronicle, and the “Daddy Issues” columnist for Jezebel.com, Adamick is no stranger to tackling modern fatherhood with wit and wisdom. Here, on his personal blog, which he started in 2005, he focuses said wit and wisdom on his day-to-day operations in and around the Bay Area with his daughter, Emmeline. To go back and read the archive is to watch Emme, now in first grade, grow up all over again. We see her dad go through his share of changes too. When Emme began kindergarten last year, Adamick “wandered around the city for a few days, as if someone had just kicked me in the soul, thinking to myself, ‘Where’d my buddy go anyway?’” One year later, when Emme started first grade, he wrote, “I may or may not have stopped the car to let her out” before hustling to a cafe to enjoy the peace and quiet.
Endowed with a gorgeous banner and one of the best blog titles going, Cry It Out also allows Adamick to flash his fine photog skills – the Daily Photo, though not updated daily, is always a welcome feature, especially against classic San Francisco backdrops.
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I am humbled to be included.
Many thanks.
Mitch