Father’s Day is fast approaching (June 15). If, like me, you’re looking for unique gifts for the dads in your life, check out the Father’s Day 2008 Gifts at Amazon. They’ve got just about anything you can imagine and have a great selection of gifts below $25.
You also get free shipping when you spend more than $25.
Well worth checking out.

A short time after I wrote my recent post “Graco thinks dads are stupid” I was contacted by the Graco company. I must say I was a little surprised at first to hear that they wanted to speak with me, but I willingly took the opportunity. I exchanged a few brief emails with a company representative which culminated in a phone conversation with their public relations manager.
Before the call I was unsure of what to expect. I didn’t think they would have cared beyond the fact that, in my opinion, their slogan “Ask moms who know” stinks. In my post …read more

Seeing as how many toys end up in kids mouths, it’s important to make sure that:
1. the toys are not from China
2. the toys are clean
While making sure that things are relatively clean is clearly important, what if the cleaning agent itself is harmful to a child? Over at GNMParents.com they’ve got a great post on cleaning kids toys naturally. In addition to these simple clean up steps, many people have the natural cleaning trifecta of lemon juice, vinegar and baking soda already in their homes.
If you’re worried about dust mites in things like stuffed animals, freeze them in …read more

The New York Times reports that there are yet more problems with lead levels in Chinese-manufactured toys.
“Amid a fresh wave of toy recalls yesterday, a consumer advocacy group said it had found hazardous levels of lead in many toys made out of vinyl plastic, potentially expanding the scope of testing and recalls of contaminated toys.
A random testing of more than 50 plastic toys found high lead content in 11 of them, according to Mike Schade, a campaigner for the Center for Health, Environment and Justice, which helped organize the testing.”
Among the results of the …read more

My brother had said that many of the baby products out there are aimed at parents instead of children. Over at Babylune, they seem to agree that the true necessities for raising kids are on the minimal side of what many stores and manufacturers woud have you believe.
“The truth is that the only new things a baby needs are a crib matress and a carseat. They need about 3 outfits, a few sleepers and about 10 onesies/bodysuits at a given time.”
It’s an interesting comment made in light of a child’s birthday and subsequently “drowning in new toys.”

My family and I spent this weekend at my cousin’s wedding (congrats Joe and Holly!) which provided me some valuable time with my older brother. He lives 400 miles away, which makes time together hard to come by, but always enjoyable.
My brother is a stay at home with two kids, aged 2 and 4, and is a major role model for what I consider to be a great father and successful stay at home dad. I’ll be posting more about him in the future, but I wanted to relay a point that he made about all the baby and …read more

In an unbelievable commentary on society, Consumer Genetics of Sunnyvale, California is now selling paternity and genetics tests that can be “performed” at home. I put performed in quotes because the home part involves pilfering anything from a strand of hair from a brush to ABC (already been chewed) chewing gum and sending it in to their labs.
Questions of paternity are among the largest concerns on the minds of fathers and expectant dads everywhere, but apparently it fairs significantly on the minds of the mothers, too. Wow.

Following the lead of a few fathers outside of Boston who have begun selling bulletproof backpacks for school kids, I’m submitting a patent for Kevlar diapers. My design is actually a protection mechanism for parents against the explosive digestive tracts of young ones, while Joe Curran and Mike Pelonzi are selling My Child’s Pack ballistic bookbags to protect school-aged children.
While I’m joking about the diapers, these guys are serious about the backpacks. The pair got the idea for the bags after the Columbine school shootings, and have the packs on the market just in time for back to school shopping. …read more

OK dads, make your life a LOT easier and get a Toddler Gate. Personally I have used a gate exactly like this for several years and it has made my life so much easier, especially when the child begins to discover the stairs. When my kids learned to crawl they would go explore cabinets, book cases, and using a gate like this helped confine them to a couple of rooms where I could watch them a lot easier. It is a lot safer too.
I remember when my gate broke and I had to go without one for a day or …read more

Looking for gift ideas? Why not try Netflix? If you aren’t sure what it is then it is time you learn.
Netflix – Rent, watch and return DVDs from home – Try free for two weeks
I have been doing Netflix for over a year now and have had minimal problems. At times my mail service is slow but the actual Netflix service is superb and the website is rated like #1 for user friendly. You just browse online in their movie archive and under each movie there is a Add button. You click on it and it gets added to your queue. You can rearrange your list as often as you wish. I have …read more