Brentus's blog

Happy Holidays everyone! Here's hoping they include some great Dad & family time. We all know how stressful this time of year can be as well, so take it easy and join us on Dad Squad if you need a friendly ear or some advice on surviving the mayhem...

Have a great festive season!

A big shout out to all Dads in Australia and New Zealand and anywhere else that celebrates Fathers Day today!

Have a good one! And keep up the good work

Big News for NSW and QLD Dads!

If you haven't heard about this one, you might want to check it out. Over Father's Day weekend this year (31 August to 2 September), up near Byron Bay (or down near Byron Bay if you're in Queensland), in a place called Bangalow, there will be a 'Fatherhood Festival'!

Considering how unusual it is to have events put on specifically for Dads, this should be something pretty special. They've got lots of entertainment, stalls, events for Dads, kids and familes, all in one of the most idyllic destinations in the state.

I will be trying to make it up there to spread the word about Dad Squad - not sure if I'll be able to yet, but will give it a good shot. If anybody else is thinking about going, let me know and perhaps we can catch up!

Check out the web site at:
http://www.fatherhoodfestival.com/

Brent

Calling all Dads or Dads-to-be! Dad Squad needs you!

We are actively recruiting new members who are enthusiastic about contributing to the Dad Squad community. If you are a Dad, we'd love to hear from you.

We don't have many members at the moment, but don't let that put you off. Log on, let us know about your kids and what your interests are, and kick off a couple of discussions.

It's all free, we're not out to push any agendas - this is just a place for Dads of any background to hang out and socialise. Talk about guy things. Perhaps throw around a few ideas or questions. All that good stuff.

Registration requires a valid email address to discourage spammers.

If you have any trouble registering or logging on, please send me an email at dadsquad@dadsquad.com or contact me via the contact form.

Hope to see you on the boards soon!

Brent

Tonight I am on Dad duty, looking after our sick little bubba. Lily isn't happy tonight. She's had a dry cough for the last week but today it started getting chesty. We took her to the local clinic and she was diagnosed with a cold and a throat infection. I suspect it is a little deeper than a throat infection as the cough is quite chesty, but we have some antibiotics for her so hopefully that will clear it up.

It was a good day today all the same though. Lily isn't too unhappy despite being ill, and it is a great pleasure being home with her and Allison during the day instead of at work.

Who helped you and your partner out the most in your early days as a Dad? Did you make use of the government sponsored groups such as Tresillian and Karitane or the Parents Hotline? Were you able to make it through without any outside assistance?

We're collecting your feedback! The members of Dad Squad are interested in using our collective brain power to help support some of the invaluable community groups devoted to helping parents, and we're looking for feedback from you.

Please leave a comment on the poll letting us know which group in particular was the biggest help!

The poll (and results), can be found at:

http://dadsquad.com/support-poll

Hi there! As you probably noticed, I changed the look of the site header recently - made up a little logo and made things a little more reflective. Hope it looks ok. I had to make some compromises to get it working in all the different browsers but I think it works okay in most. I'm afraid I'm no graphic designer...

I went a bit silly tonight and set up a bunch of products on CafePress.com with the new DadSquad logo. They are all up there at cost price (no markup). If you feel the urge to help us advertise, check it out at http://cafepress.com/dadsquad ! (I don't seriously expect anybody to buy anything, but it was fun making up the products).

Note that all the prices are in $USD.

Today we have added a "News section" to Dad Squad. This section consolidates the latest Dad-related news from around the world into one place for your convenience! The link is available in the menu on the left.

At the moment we're just including general "Dad" news... If you have any suggestions for interesting topics that Dads might be interested in including on this page, let us know!

I've just posted a review on the Angelico high chair by Swallow.

If you have any suggestions as to other products you would like to review, or would like to submit a review yourself, please let us know (or log in and create the review straight away!)