Worst Commercial of the Year Candidate: AT&T
Posted on 12. Apr, 2010 by Brian Reid.
I can’t do much better than Playground Dad at expressing my absolute, jaw-dropping wonder at AT&T’s latest incarnation of the bumbling dad. What’s remarkable about the commercial is not only the general fact that it plays up a tired and outdated stereotype, but that it goes out of its way to show that this is an exclusively dad problem (the issues only begin after mom leaves). And — of course — the solution (parking the kids in front of the modern-day boob tube) can hardly be the uplifting message that AT&T wants to broadcast.
30 seconds to take us back 30 years. Sigh.
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Welcome, Daddyshome
Posted on 12. Apr, 2010 by Brian Reid.
Nothing makes me happier than to announce the slick web presence of the most important dad group you (probably) haven’t heard of: Daddyshome Inc., a 501(c)3 nonprofit dedicated to supporting fathers who serve as primary caretakers for their children.
Their website, daddyshome.org, just launched today, and they’re busy building in a number of resources, from information on how to form a group to stats to a speakers bureau. Most importantly, they are doing their best to make it easy to found local groups, build those groups and list those groups.
This marks something of sea change. At-home dads, in general, have never had much of a national community, even as the explosion of new media technologies has made it easier than ever to connect with dads across the country and across the world. There are exceptions — the At-Home Dad Convention continues to chug along, some 15 years after it was founded and 5 years after it was left for dead — but, in general, there not been a center of gravity for dads.
This isn’t altogether surprising. Much of what constitutes the “at-home dad community” has been individual labors of love: Peter Baylies‘ brilliant At-Home Dad Newsletter, the once-great slowlane.com site built by Jay Massey, the now-defunct beingdaddy.com. And when the creative forces behind those efforts moved on (as most fathers will), the community sort of evaporates. (I’m no exception. The slowdown in posting over the 18 months before the relaunch did a number on my readership … and therefore any community.)
Thar doesn’t mean that there aren’t great resources. If you don’t visit athomedad.org, you’re missing out. The forums at dadstayshome.com remain vibrant. I’m still here, as is a huge and growing list of dadbloggers.
But Daddyshome Inc. fills a real void, and it is build to have staying power — setting it apart from past efforts — and it’s great to have them aboard. Congrats to Peter, Mike and Matt for working so hard for so long to make this a reality.
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Desperate Househusbands Hit Prime Time
Posted on 07. Apr, 2010 by Brian Reid.
Once upon a time, I used to be able to watch enough TV that nothing in the dad-o-sphere slipped by me. The kiddies were tucked in their beds way before prime time kicked in. Nowadays, not so much, so I missed the latest at-home dad to jump into the boob tube: Parenthood’s “Joel Graham“.
(I should say one thing up front: I haven’t seen the show, so I am basing my opinion totally off of Wikipedia and the show’s website. So, loyal TV-watchers, if I make egregious errors of fact or float opinions that are utterly unsupportable, let me know and I’ll back down. But from what I understand, I’m on pretty safe ground here.)
First, the good news: as far as I can tell, screenwriters have now gotten past the idea that dads who stay home are just off-the-charts, bumbling failures as parents. This is a major victory, and the fact that an at-home dad, cast in a comedy (update: commenter Mer notes that this is technically a drama, per NBC), can be portrayed as anything other than clueless is a great victory for at-home dads and fathers in general. Maybe even a bigger victory than Daddy Day Care. But I digress. (Also: the bad-news flip side of this is that from what I can tell, the go-to-work mom fits the cold-hearted, career-woman stereotype. Which is really unfortunate. Also: is Erika Christensen old enough to credibly play a TV mom? But I digress, again …)
Anyway, the major plot point with SAHD Joel is the sexual tension with the local “supermom” (and the ensuing spousal tension). This is not an entirely new concept; Little Children (both the perfectly good book and the even-better movie) was centered around the endless possibilities you create when you set a hot dad on a mom-dominated playground. The issue I had with Little Children (and, therefore, Joel) is that as appealing as the idea is, I’ve yet to meet an at-home dad who has come anywhere close to being propositioned (or even flirted with) by *anyone*, let alone a Kate Winslett or an Erinn Hayes.
So while I appreciate the shift in popular culture from dads-as-morons to dads-as-sex-objects, I’m not sure that Parenthood is going to make the cut when I finally get TiVo (this summer, perhaps). In fact, I’m kind of rooting for the show to fail (which may not be wholly unlikely) because — if Desperate Housewives has taught us anything — Joel will eventually cheat or end up in an otherwise compromising position, and at-home dads just don’t need that silly stereotype reinforced. It’s taken the better part of half a century to get the whole incompetent-parent thing behind us. I’m not sure I’m ready for another battle.