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Daddy.com A guide to pointing and clicking your way through Father's Day.
celebrate Father’s Day with a predictable, easy-does it schedule: breakfast in bed (served by the kids, of course); an afternoon outing (frolic in the park, anyone?); dinner with the family at the local pizza joint, and a quiet, romantic evening at home with mom after the kids went to bed. But the World Wide Web has changed all that. Today’s dad no longer has to rely on the company of his wife and children to make the most of Father’s Day. All he needs is a
dads-all-the-time Web sites that are popping up along the Internet landscape.
day. RECOMMENDED: Dad Stays Home.com (www.dadstayshome.com): Designed especially for fathers who have left the workplace in order to be closer to their children, this domestic-dad checkpoint features such warm-and-fuzzy articles as “Awakening Your Toddler’s Love of Learning,” as well as an idea-swapping forum, shopping guides and links to other hands-on daddy sites. Dads Today (www.dadstoday.com): Billed as “The Community for Dads and Dads- to-be,” this upbeat branch of the iParenting.com Website has all the poop on pop, including dispatches and diaries from other webfathers, as well as advice columns, in which experts field such questions as “Why do fathers matter so much to daughters?” and “How do I handle my wife’s moodiness during her pregnancy?” FatherMag.com (www.fathermag.com): The father of all daddy Web sites, this formidable resource center covers the dad beat from the lemonade stand and the soccer field to the bedroom and the divorce docket. Serving up the dish on dad with articles that are alternately thought-provoking (e.g., “Teaching Children the Importance of Winning”), practical (“Second Wives, Second Families”) and outright joyous (“Loving Kids”), the site also features up-to-date news briefs, sports scores and a parent-oriented health watch. It’s even got poetry. DadsDivorce.com (www.dadsdivorce.com): While not the most upbeat of web-dad hangouts, this earnest, no-frills site nonetheless offers up a motherlode (make that fatherlode) of vital information for the matrimonially-challenged dad, including custody guides, referrals, a state-by-state law library, and an ongoing “Ask the Lawyer” column. Dadmag (www.dadmag.com): Handsomely designed and easily browsed, this smart pop stop specializes in celebrity names, with ruminations from (and interviews with) such high-profile dads as author Scott Turow, Senator John McCain, Al Roker and best-selling fatherhood guru Armin Brott (aka “Mr. Dad”). Rounding out its content with a “Dadspick” review section (covering the latest in dad-friendly books, music and video) and ongoing special features (this week: the first “Top Pops” awards), the editorial mix also doesn’t shy from candid articles about sex. And that’s a good thing. AVOID: Married Men’s Militia (www.marriedmensmilitia.com): The name should tell you everything you need to know. Self-proclaimed “the Web site that can save your ass,” this testosterone factory is more combat zone than resource site, with such belligerent “briefings” as “Preparing For Battle,” “Know Your Enemy” and “The Female Conspiracy.” Pass. Parent Soup (parent soup.com): Despite its cutesie name, this helplessly perky subdivision of iVillage.com is all-soup but no-nuts, as it audaciously plays favorites with mom. A global search for the words “mother” and “mom” on just the front page turns up no less than a half-dozen articles, while a search for “dad” or father” yield just one item: an advice column that answers the question: “How does a worried mother help her 12-year-old son deal with verbal abuse from his father?” Thanks for nothing. Mr. Momz (www.mrmomz.com): Any Web site that still tags the involved, modern- day father with the antiquated moniker Mr. Mom doesn’t deserve your double-click. Cheerio, Daddio. |
