Cool Dad Resource: Mob Boss Teaches New Dads How to Swaddle

New dads have it rough. Generally new dads have a lot less experience with babies than new moms do and they are virtually ignored by the purveyors of baby advice in the media. The result is that dad either has to figure it out by himself through trial and error (and what fun that is!) or he can read through the “pink and blue” stuff written for mom.

Sensing an untapped market, Jason Baxter decided to come up with a better method for teaching new dads. He figured that dads needed something informative, but also something catered to them. With a background in developing online educational programs, Jason also knew the power of storytelling in educating. And what better story to help educate fathers than America’s most famous ‘Family’ story, The Godfather. Developing a parody of the famous gangster epic, Jason and his team created The GoodFather, a custom-boxed CD-ROM set with hundreds of lessons, tips, information, and definitions for dads. Also included is a Baby Name Book with 15,000 names and a Baby Card Maker that allows dad to create custom baby cards from pre-built templates.

Pop in the CD and the GoodFather’s “Associate” guides dads or dads-to-be into the family estate to ask for the GoodFather’s guidance with the “baby you can’t refuse.” To learn all there is to know about taking care of a newborn, dads search by topic name, the index, or by moving through the lessons one at a time. The lessons, some supplemented by audio triggered from a flying dagger—this is the ‘Family’ after all–are written from a father’s point of view and are interspersed with biting insults from the GoodFather himself. To make it dad-centric, Jason and the team at Dr.MOZ worked with a ‘legion of GoodFathers’ – a core group of about 15 father and grandfather reviewers and scores of other dads who Jason interviewed. The team at Dr.MOZ included computer programmers, graphic artists, instructional designers, and nurse-midwives to ensure the material is medically sound.

Clever Parents caught up with Jason, er… Dr.MOZ, to discuss why educational materials for dads are needed, managing development teams across the country, and the importance of entertainment value.

Clever Parents: What does Dr.MOZ stand for?
Dr.MOZ: It is believed that the Algonquian Indians’ word “Moz” (which loosely translates to “twig eater”) was the source for the English word “Moose.” Born and raised in northern Maine, Dr.MOZ is the last doctor still making house calls and spreading health with his interactive elixirs. Deathly allergic to lobster, Dr.MOZ left his Maine swamps and now calls Sonoma, CA his home. Did I mention that Dr.MOZ is a moose?

Clever Parents: How did you come up with the idea for the gift-set?
Dr.MOZ: Our “GoodFather” line was inspired by the birth of my girlfriend’s nephew Jeremy. We were fortunate to be present for his birth in Indianapolis at the time, and we spent a good deal of time watching new fathers pacing through the hospital hallways. Many of the young men were about to be second-time fathers and were attempting to feed, change, and dress their babies while their wives were in the delivery room. It appeared that many of the dads didn’t have the “baby time” and experience needed to do the job, despite the fact that many of their children were nearly toddlers.

I spent the better part of the next year interviewing fathers (of all experience levels) and researching parenting resources available for men. I learned that the products on the market needed (a) useful information created especially for men without the usual “guru dad” delivery found in many books (b) just the necessary facts without the “pink and blue” banter (c) entertainment value!

We had a few other parody ideas in early development as well, but I decided that The Godfather mobster epic was the most entertaining option. Who would have guessed that a mob boss could teach a new dad how to swaddle his newborn?

Clever Parents: Did you do your own illustrations?
Dr.MOZ: No, I’m afraid my stick-figure talents wouldn’t cut the mustard for this title. Before launching Dr.MOZ, I was a Creative Director for an international educational software company so I had a fair amount of experience producing interactive titles with people located in different time zones. There were two illustrators, two animators, a graphic designer, and an art director all behind the GoodFather’s graphics.

This doesn’t include the voice actors, sound engineers, writers, editors, nurse-midwives, programmers, and product testers involved in making the product. We had people located on both US coasts working on the GoodFather who still have never met each other in person, so it was fun to show everyone how their great work came together in the final product.

Clever Parents: How many fathers and grandfathers participated in the making of the CD?
Dr.MOZ: Our “legion of GoodFathers” included about 15 fathers and grandfathers from around the country that I went to on a regular basis for everything from topic ideas to lesson testing. There were an additional 35-40 others that were interviewed for daddy info during development in city parks, restaurants, airports, and anywhere I could find them. Once the material was collected and organized into lessons, it then went through our licensed nurse-midwives for additional rounds of editing to ensure that everything was medically sound.

Clever Parents: What’s next for Dr.MOZ?
Dr.MOZ: I can’t release too many details about unreleased Dr.MOZ products at the moment, but I can tell you we’ll have a fun new line of products with “a healthy dose of fun” for toddlers and babies coming soon!

To buy, click the Amazon.com graphic on the Dr.MOZ site and your order will ship directly from the Dr.MOZ studio - upgraded 2-3 Day Priority Mail at no additional charge. Buy here for $34.95. Buying from outside the U.S.? International shoppers click here.

Screen shots of The GoodFather, more about Dr.MOZ, and general Tomfoolery at www.drmoz.com.

The Buzz on Dr.MOZ:

“If you’re a new dad and have neither the time nor patience to wade through a 350 page book…you’ll enjoy this great resource.”
~ Jason, father and DadCentric blogger

“an exceedingly clever primer to help guys get comfortable with all that birthin’ babies stuff from the get-go. And surprise–they’ll actually enjoy it.”
~ Liz Gumbinner, Mom and founder/editor of Cool Mom Picks

“It’s a light hearted introduction to ‘everything baby’ without the pink teddy bears and blankies. Definitely the coolest thing on the market for modern dads.”
~ Josh Spear, trend spotter and JoshSpear.com founder with no kids

“the coolest thing we have seen so far on how to break them into this new way of life is The GoodFather CD-ROM”.
~ Lizabeth Sorensen, Mom and Editor-in-Chief of ThriftyMama

“had I browsed the GoodFather…I would have discovered how to swaddle, change, and feed the monster without incident.”
~ John, new dad and editor/writer of Gizmodo

Check out more Dr.MOZ buzz at www.drmoz.com