SPREADING THE LOVE: A SPECIAL HOLIDAY MESSAGE FROM FODDER 4 FATHERS

Scene From "How The Grinch Stole Christmas."

Tonight, I find myself being moved by the spirit of the season. No, it's not because someone spiked my eggnog (although, now that I'm thinking of it, that wouldn't be such a bad idea). And it's not because MTV played Do They Know It's Christmas and We are the World, back to back. If anything, it's because, lately, I've been a douche. True, I've been a well-meaning douche; a douche with a purpose, but a douche none-the-less. And the thing is I don't want to be a disposable douche. And I certainly don't want to be the douche that continually misses the mark.

So, in the spirit of the holidays (Christmas, Hanukkah, Kwanzaa), I'd like to stop detracting from the hard work of others, and give credit where credit is well overdue. Why? Because, whether I agree with your platform or not, if you spend your days trying to make the world a better place for new and older, more experienced parents alike, you deserve my admiration. And in many instances I have failed to give credit where credit is well overdue.

I’m opinionated. I’m passionate. I’m misguided at times, but I always seem to come back to what’s important – the task of helping others, specifically new dads, prepare themselves for the best job in the world. But, there are thousands, if not millions of other bloggers, and authors, and website owners and parenting experts with the exact same agenda (for lack of a better word). And, at the end of the day, no one’s out to hurt anyone. We all want the same thing...

We want happy kids and well-equipped parents, and schools where no kid has to be bullied, and government bodies that don’t over step their bounds. We want information to be free flowing so parents can make informed choices, and open forums where professionals can provide services to those who are in need. We want freedom to have our own unique point-of-view and the respect of our peers- enough so that they don’t try to contradict each and every word we say- and we want to be able to have a sense of humor and not have it attacked for being something other than that. And we want to be able to talk about serious topics in kind, respectful, and meaningful ways. But, most of all, we just want to be able to talk about the joys (I use the word loosely) of parenting.  And I, for one, would never want to get in the way of someone’s joy of talking about one of the most amazing topics in the world today.
 

So, in the spirit of giving, I would like to thank all the authors, birth coaches, breastfeeding consultants, behaviorists, bloggers, circumcision critics, doulas, doctors, experts, entrepreneurs, humorists, parenting pages, moms, dads, psychologists, teachers, nannies, radio hosts, podcasters, sleep specialists, and anyone else who attempts to use whatever practical knowledge they have at their disposal to make the world better place for both parents and their kids. Whatever brought you here (the World Wide Web), we appreciate your efforts, whether we agree with your parenting politics or not.

And a special thank you to all the guys, stepping it up to be the best dads that they can be. Babble may not recognize your efforts, but us up n’comers do, and we thank you for paving the road so that we may follow in your footsteps.

Finally, to anyone who may disagree with the unique position we take almost daily in our blog, on our Facebook page, and on Twitter, we would like to apologize to you… but we can’t. We do what we do, and we do it with honesty and integrity and a sense of humor that is uniquely our own. But, don’t feel so bad; my wife will be the first to tell you my apologies suck anyways. I do, however, promise to work on that as I’m a dad now and, well, it may not be my best quality.
 
In short, a happy, healthy, holiday to you and yours. And in the words of Tiny Tim, “God Bless us, every one.”

HAPPY HOLIDAYS

-That Douche from Fodder 4 Fathers.