Episode 034: We’re All Out Of Bubblegum

This week’s episode covers the following stories on 8BitDad.com and around the internets for the week leading up to June 26th, 2012: #GMCUpNorth / Philips Norelco New Face Of Dad Campaign / 8BD Advisory Panel: Things You Should Buy Before the Baby Arrives / 11 Inspirational Parenting Quotes: Star Wars – Episode I: The Phantom Menace

Reminder! You can share your stories of fatherly triumph with Hogan Hilling and Al Watts – and you might appear in an upcoming book! But you’ve got to act fast – the deadline is this Saturday – June 30!

Hilling and Watts are fathers and writers whose upcoming book and website project are titled: Dads Behaving Dadly: Chronicling the Fatherhood Revolution.

The two dads are looking to chronicle involved fathers in the United States and Canada.

In a study that’s sure to anger us dad bloggers, Niobi Way, a researcher and professor at New York University, found that the more a boy hangs out with his dad, the fewer high quality peer relationships they’ll have. Way, the author of Deep Secrets: Boys’ Friendships and the Crisis of Connection, admits that this is contrary to popular (and logical) thought.

Way noted that “the quantitative data from studying hundreds of boys show that high-quality relationships with their moms predict high-quality relationships with their friends.” This surprisingly works hand-in-hand with Way’s thesis: boys are great at relationships and want to have them…until they reach adulthood.

A father in Canada officially lost custody of his kids last Wednesday, and the “big” reason was his obesity.

The unnamed 38 year old father from Ottawa lost custody of his 5 and 6 year old special needs kids for – among other factors – being 360 pounds. The Royal Ottawa Hospital’s family court ruled that the father’s weight was, according to CANOE, the “key factor,” though his past marijuana use and violent outbursts were also considered.

According to the Superior Court Justice, the father’s “weight loss regime is itself a full-time job. So is parenting two high-needs children. One will inevitably have to give ground to the other.”