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
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Honea Express
“Honea” rhymes with “pony,” so the title is a pun on the surname of the blog’s founder, Whit Honea, husband and father to two young boys who also blogs at DadCentric and Babble. We enjoy reading him wherever he blogs, and Honea Express is a ride through the wild frontier of family, kids, and fatherhood.
The well-organized reviews and giveaways section is one of the site’s highlights, with Honea writing about this stuff like the creative writing major he was. But the Honea Express, which came in at #12 on last year’s list, is at its best when Whit, a lover of books, coffee, whiskey, and the Beatles, turns his attention to the everyday heartbreaks parents face. See, for instance, the lovely and eloquent tribute “When Stuffed Animals Die,” written after the family’s dogs destroyed his younger son’s beloved Mickey Mouse doll. “We have lost loved ones throughout the years, and learned from pets the concept of passing, and while a stuffed mouse may not belong in the same line as those that meant so much, the happiness he brought deserves to be acknowledged,” Honea writes. “He was the toy we would have kept forever.”
With writing this good, here’s hoping this Honea doesn’t ride into the sunset any time soon.
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I am humbled to be included.
Many thanks.
Mitch