If you’re looking for a couple of quick dad-laughs, check out Parenting.com‘s webseries “Lords of the Playground“. Done in 30-second clips, the series features actors Matt Servitto and Jason Kravitz, who you’ve seen before on television.

The two play fathers on a playdate at the park, which isn’t far from their at-home roles as fathers. They both say that their kids are a source of inspiration for “Lords of the Playground”.

There’s tons of dads out there that love to frequent Parenting.com – why, with their mom-leaning content, their dad section that’s still got wet paint on it (and partially written by moms), and their relation to NickMom, it’s totally a haven for dads. Okay, not really, but I digress.

Parenting.com‘s Brian got a chance to interview Shaquille O’Neal about fatherhood – strangely enough, at a Tupperware event.

Parenting.com‘s Shawn Bean wanted to know why as the only dad-blogger on the site, his blog was dead last on the list. His editor fixed it for him – bumped him up the list. Since then, another dad has started blogging for Parenting.com as well - Matt Villano - and he’s ceremoniously taken on the last place spot.

Bean wonders if this is an act of parentism – that is, in Bean’s words, “the societal belief that one type of parent (i.e. a mother or a father) possesses skills, characteristics and abilities that are superior to the other.”

With a whole crap-ton of dads that still feel as if there’s a bias against them (and of course, moms that then answer “you? YOU? What about me?!”), maybe Bean’s onto something.

Recently on the nightly news, there was a story about “the cinnamon challenge,” a game – if you can call it that – where participants attempt to swallow a tablespoon of cinnamon without water. That’s literally the whole thing.

Of course, like all fun-and-games, it was great until school kids started doing it. You kids ruin everything. And get off my lawn, while you’re at it.

In a piece titled “Why Brands Should Enable the New Dad” yesterday, Matt Carmichael talked facts and figures about the recent father research by The Parenting Group and Edelman. What they found is that fathers feel that they’re doing a whole lot of grocery shopping and not getting credit for it.

Carmichael says that basically anywhere between 40% and 70% of dads say that they’re doing the grocery shopping for their household. The graphic above is from The Parenting Group and Edelman, minus our always-rude vandalism.

Most fathers don’t read Parenting.com, and there’s a reason why. Go to their website and click the “dad” link.

That’ll tie up a couple people for awhile, but the point is: there’s no “dad” link. At least, not right up alongside “mom”. Maybe it’s in “community”, since that’s what they treat fathers as. This was especially true recently, in a one-two-punch from Glen Freyer and Shawn Bean.

Wall-of-Text Warning: If you don’t absolutely love the pants off reading, do not click that “continued” button.

Shawn Bean, a dude I mentioned in Episode 003 of our podcast, is a fathers and writer for Parenting.com. He’s also had it with “that happy train song” – and who can blame him? Kid’s music is – ahem – not all that interesting to adults.

(EDIT – my buddy Jeff Bogle, owner of Out With the Kids has informed me that generalizing and saying that kid’s music is “not all that interesting to adults” isn’t cool or true. He’s right. I’m referring to the typical cartoon-character-sung classics that you’ll see on your “favorite” educational shows. I don’t mean the real singer-songwriter stuff that Jeff routinely reviews. Jeff points out that “it’s an antiquated viewpoint. It’s also trite. The genre is ripe with quality.” Sorry Jeff, and sorry internet for being a trite and antiquated liar. It’s kind of my “thing.”)

*cough*

Bean’s got a list of some good suggestions for music you can offer to your little beasts – stuff that won’t make you want to eat your own face. The best recommendation – strangely enough, the Vitamin String Quartet’s “VSQ Performs Lady Gaga” album, a more classical take on the odd-fashion-minded starlet. You still remember the lyrics, but your kid is spared from them.

Read Bean’s list at Parenting.com, but I’m going to take it a step further after the jump and recommend some other albums for you and the spawn.