Featured Blogs: Dad Talk

Looking for a dad centric view of the world, check out Dad Talk. In a sea of blogs about products and potty mishaps, Dad Talk takes a look at issues. Dad Talk is the creation of Brett Levy, an entrepreneur and father of two, living in Chicago. After becoming a dad, Brett searched online for a site that took a father’s eye view of things. Not finding it anywhere, he started Dad Talk to “repackage news from around the world and cast it from a dad’s point of view” which makes for interesting reading. Brett’s past work as a journalist serves him well as his posts are not only very well written, but he invariably finds an interesting angle (a Dad’s angle) in broad variety of subjects. A random sampling of posts take on issues from education in the U.S. to men’s health, and, crucially, what’s in his freezer.

Clever Parents: what’s your favorite activity to do with your son?

DadTalk (Brett Levy): As my son ages, our favorite activities evolve. Now that we’re in Chicago, I’d have to say our favorite activity is to go for walks together. We explore the lakefront and marinas along Lake Michigan. Because Seth is very verbal for a boy, we talk almost nonstop about school, boats, trains and just about everything imaginable. I really savor those moments.

CP: What are your favorite books to read to your son?

DT: Because my wife reviews children’s literature at bookbuds.net, we get hundreds of books in the mail each year. That makes it very difficult to determine a favorite book to read. Probably my favorites are “Slinky Malinki” and “Hairy Maclary and Zachary Quack,” both by New Zealand author Lynley Dodd. The writing is so lyrical and funny that Seth memorized the words when he was about 2 years old. I can still hear the words in my head, “It was drowsily warm with dozen of bees…” I also love reading “Big Red Tub” by Julia Jarman to Seth, because he seems to soar into space along with the bathtub. He’s starting to prefer more advanced books, but I will enjoy reading these books to our 15-month-old daughter Lael soon.

CP: What’s been the biggest surprise about fatherhood?

DT: I was more or less ready for the sleepless nights, projectile vomiting, dirty diapers and hard work. I really wasn’t really surprised by those things — well, actually the projectile vomiting was a bit of a stunner. But two things really got me: 1. I never realized what it meant to NOT have a dad growing up myself and 2. What a mess kids can make. I now realize that I like things clean, and I have to remember to not let the continuous mess drive me crazy.

CP: What’s the most challenging aspect of fatherhood?

DT: Being at work instead of spending time with my kids is the biggest challenge for me. While I like work, I can’t help be affected by knowing my kids are growing up so fast. It drives me nuts that I can only spend such a small amount of time with them.

CP: You list wine making as a hobby, tell me about that.

DT: Ah, that’s from my “old” bio — I need to update that — and before Seth passed 2-years-old. All our winemaking equipment is in storage for a few years until our kids get older. We started making fruit wine because our property in California had a peach, apricot, pear and kumquat tree on it. We became so busy as parents, the last batches of wine were never bottled and used as fertilizer in our back yard.

CP: What other blogs/sites do you like?

DT: My favorites are easy:
My wife’s two blogs of course: www.bookbuds.net and www.cybils.com And these: http://daddychip.blogspot.com/, http://www.pkmeco.com/familyblog/ http://www.bluesloth.net, and http://citizenofthemonth.com/

The first three are parenting blogs by parents who really impress me. The last is a humorist/satirist who is probably one of the most underratedwriters around.