Wow! I am so amazed at the results from my Dads Survey (and also so thankful to all the Dads who took the time to fill it in – a huge thank you Guys!)

I just wanted to share the results with you – as I know you will be blown away as well – this world is changing for the better – day by day – one Baby and one Dad at a time!

You know that the Dad’s involvement with his baby has a huge impact on his baby’s life/outcome – particularly those first two years – and now more and more - Dads are realizing how crucial it is that they are involved with their baby – in a loving way – right from the start …. It’s also so important that the new Mum realizes this – but that’s another story!

84.2% of the Respondents (Dads who filled in the survey) – were first time Dads aged between 19 and 45 years old – the majority were 35 – 45 years old, while 31.6% of them were aged 27 – 34 years old.

The following article by Simon Owens of PBS’s MediaShift provides a good overview of resarch on a link between children developing Asthma and swimming in chlorinated pools. It includes useful information for parents worried about sending their children to swimming / water play classes because of a fear of increasing their risk of developing Asthma (or making existing Asthma worse). The article concludes that the benefits of exercising in water far outweigh the yet-to-be-proven risks of developing Asthma as a result of frequent exposure to chlorinated water. Read on for the whole story ...

Cullen's ABCs have got a video blog series for kids on youtube where they countdown to Christmas by opening doors on 2 advent calendars each day. It's a bit out of date but if your kids haven't quite worked out youtube (yet) you can just wing it and show them one clip a day.

-Stef

Did you know that humming tops have been around for nearly 100 years. A German company called Lorenz Bolz patented the screw handle in 1913 and subsequently created a toy with it - the humming top. It's such a simple (and inexpensive) toy and kids love it to this day. Awesome!

-Stefan

I drive a Honda Odyssey minivan. I actually like it. Why shouldn’t I? Because it’s not manly? Please. It’s not like the 4 door Civic I drove last year, before getting the minivan, was any more manly. And I don’t care what car you’re driving, snot on your shirt and cheerios stuck to your pants are not going to be cool.

The minivan has leather interior, 5 CD changer, and doesn’t struggle when you drive up a hill with the AC on. It’s a shiny new car. So why is it so bad for a dad to drive one? I don’t get it.

When I pick up the Things at preschool every day, most of the cars are minivans. But I never, and I mean never, see dads driving them. Except me. Are all they all laughing behind my back? Or maybe they’re secretly jealous.

Do you get flu jabs for your kids? Yes? No? According to a survey just released by American drug company MedImmune, 44% of all parents in the US have their children vaccinated. So what are the pros and cons?

Flu vaccination seems to be a hot topic at the moment in the country's current political fever as evidenced by the election-themed campaign "Flu Vaccination: Choose Your Administration." It's an effort to increase flu knowledge and empower Americans to take action for their health and the health of their families.

According to the media release by MedImmune, flu vaccination is an important part of the healthcare dialogue. The decision to vaccinate or not is particularly topical as it is the first flu season following expanded flu vaccination recommendations from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), which now advises that all school-age children get vaccinated against the flu each year.

I recently got an email from a reader about the use of cleaning products in the house - YAY, my favourite subject (no, seriously). Don't know about other dads but I keep seeing these ads for all purpose cleaning products in the house that promise to remove 99.99% of all germs. Sounds great, eh? Until you realise that whatever kills 99.99% of all bacteria must be pretty lethal all round. So I'm not sure I prefer my little man to lick a surface with some leftovers from the cleaning product vs picking up the germs that were there naturally.

53% of couples don’t know the best time of the month to conceive (it’s one or two days before ovulation)
Source Clearblue Fertility Monitor

33% of dads took more than two weeks paternity leave in 2005
Source Office for National Statistics UK

59% of parents say their kids behaviour in the car ruins their concentration when driving
Source Kia Motors

31% of parents think their pre-schooler would like to be a performer when they grow up.
Source lunar Jim C Beebies programme

5 hours and 41 minutes a day is the average time new mums spend staring at their baby
Source Babies R Us

59% of parents have been given baby gifts by strangers
Source Toys R Us

45% of babies say “daddy” first while 35% say mummy first perhaps because they hear women saying “daddy” more often
Source Pampers

44 million toys are thrown away in the UK every year

Today I'm reviewing another one of those journal websites you can use to tell everyone about your baby and share recent developments with friends and family. This month's candidate is called "totspot.com".

The site has a friendly appeal and the registration process is straight forward - except that I was a bit puzzled by the choice between creating a "Child Account" and a "Grown-up Account"? In the end I tried both and still couldn't work it out. I actually thought the grown-up accounts are used for friends and family but there was no obvious method for connecting the "child account" with all my baby's details to a grown-up account. The only option is to "invite a friend" and connect that way but it didn't seem to offer any advantages like being able distinguish between family, friends and others.

Another great movie that focuses on a father and his daughter is a movie called “Dreamer Inspired by a true story”.

It’s about a man trying to save a promising race horse that has broken its leg, and get it back up to scratch so that he can breed from it. His bad luck continues though as the horse turns out to be infertile and the farm he lives on is being foreclosed on.

What is nice about this story is that the father is willing to risk everything to make sure he can still be a role model for his little girl, even though he doesn’t feel like it and feels as if his own father has let him down somewhat!

If you are looking for a feel good movie to sit down and watch with the family or your little girl keeps asking for a horse then watch this movie its great!

- Scott