Check out this podcast I found on NPR’s June 9th episode of Tell Me More. Just in time for Father’s Day, a roundtable of “Daddy bloggers” discuss what’s new in the land of dad cyberspace. Keith Morton, who blogs at African American Dad; Jeff Steele, who blogs at D.C. Urban Moms and Dads, and Jason Sperber, who blogs at Rice Daddies discuss topics that have dads buzzing on the Web, including whether the image of President Barack Obama has put more pressure on them to perform in the husband and father department.
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The blogosphere is full of mom bloggers who are very active and organized. So it was nice to see the blogger dads organize and come up with a place where dads feel comfortable visiting. From what I could find out, this is a fairly new site and was started by bloggers Pete Janelle and Joe Schatz. If you are a parent, you can join the community and get to reading posts like “What I Really Want for Father’s Day”. I’ve included an excerpt of what dad-blogs.com is all about:

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The first dad blogger on the list for All About Dads Week, is the author of The Busy Dad Blog. Just after reading the title alone, I knew this would be a blog that I could really relate with. But after reading the posts I found out the Busy Dad was way busier than I am which made me wonder how he was able to put together such a well thought out blog. To get the real deal on the life of a busy dad, check out his site. I’ve included an excerpt from his About Me page below.

I swear the last thing I remember was throwing down a couple of pitchers with the boys, and pondering my biggest worry in life: how not to appear too hung over at the office tomorrow. Then I awoke, holding my breath in front of this Diaper Genie contraption cursing myself for not leaving enough tag end to tie it off. How did I get here?

Better yet, where do I go from here?

That pretty much sums up my initiation into the world of fatherhood. Somebody shoved a scepter into my hands with the letters D-A-D on it, pushed me onto the stage and said “dance, fool, dance.”

One awesome 7-year-old boy, a lovely wife, two dogs, and a picket fence later, I’m still shuffling my feet trying to find my rhythm as a kick ass dad. And as with any endeavor of this magnitude, it deserves to be documented. So I started this blog.

What is Photo Phinish?

This weekend I had the opportunity to watch my son ride his bike without my help. I was in awe as he rode down the street because this was only his second lesson. The first lesson was grueling and I paid the price with a sore back due to two hours of bending over to help him pedal. After that lesson I just knew it would be a while before he caught on. I’d be showing him how to turn and he would be looking at the rabbit running across the street. It took some patience from each of us and I knew it was going to be a long summer.

After the first lesson, about a week passed because I wanted to let him decide when he was ready to go back out. He jumped on the bike and with very little assistance from me started pedaling. I watched in amazement and gave myself a pat on the back for being such a great teacher. But when reality set in, I knew he was riding solo because he was ready to do it. All he needed was a little guidance in the right direction. Once he understood the concept of pedaling, he was on his way.

I guess that’s what parenting is all about. You give your kids what they need and pray that they are listening. They will fall, make mistakes and run into curbs, but if you’ve given them a solid foundation, success isn’t far away.  Next year, I’ll see how he does without the training wheels.

The first dad blogger on the list for All About Dads Week, is the author of the blog African American Dad. I came across Keith’s blog when I was searching for black bloggers to add to my reading list. He had a post on potty training his son Dev and was able to offer me some advice for my son. Here’s an excerpt from his about us page. Go check it out at fatherdad.com. I can guarantee, you’ll enjoy reading about his journey through fatherhood.

When my son was born his body temperature was a bit low. In order to get it to normal he was taken away and put under a special baby-warming heat lamp. While the treatment was being explained to me I thought of flame broiling burgers at Burger King. My kid was going to be delicious.

After being out of my sight for a few seconds I decided to go looking for him. I found my brand new little guy across the hall wearing a tiny diaper and a gauze cap. He seemed vulnerable in the small room as he was slowly being warmed up. I looked him over, counting fingers and toes, and took in the fact that we shared a face. And I noted that his navel was gross.

In an instant it was like the weight of the world landed upon my shoulders. I suddenly realized I was going to be responsible for helping him become a good man – a good black man. I knew my life would never be the same again.

Eventually I built up the nerve to touch him (after a little encouragement from the nurse that had come and gone) and I placed my pinky finger in his munchkin hand. In a voice that he seemed to recognize I whispered to him that I would be there for him no matter what obstacles he may face in this life. I told him how difficult becoming a black man would be, but that together we would make it. I’ll never forget those first moments I spent alone with my son as his dad. They inspired me to continue to do everything I do today!

I graduated Cum Laude with a BA in Urban Studies from Hunter College and I recently became Business Director of a start-up charter school committed to giving quality educations to inner city children, and an a viable alternative to parents that believed they didn’t have one. This is in addition to my work with Malecare, Inc as a program director/developer. My wife Shalawn, is a licensed Medical Social Worker and psychotherapist, and my four year old son Devin is, as of this writing, unemployed.

This week as Father’s Day approaches, I’ll be highlighting some of the dad-based blogs I’ve found in the blogosphere. I enjoy these sites and can relate to a lot of the topics discussed because my two boys have definitely taught me a lot about myself. Over the last couple of years the role of fatherhood has changed. No more are the “Leave It to Beaver” days, when dad was the sole financial provider in charge of disciplining the boys and keeping the yard together. Us new dads are a lot more involved and in my opinion I think the kids benefit greatly from the additional interaction they receive.

I enjoy the time I spend with my family and my boys are excited to see me when I walk through the door. I know at some point, that may end, but I’m going to take it all in while I can. Times have definitely changed and our kids need a male role-model more than ever. I pray that I can be that person for my kids. I want them to always know how much I love them and to know they can come to me despite the reaction they may receive.

If there’s one thing I’ve learned over the last couple of years, it’s that this fatherhood thing is no joke. Kids will definitely put you through a test. But I can’t really hate too much because I’m sure my parents have some stories of their own. Be sure to come back each day for a new post. If you have a story or memory you’d like to share feel free to leave it in the comments area.

Wikipedia on Father’s Day

The President has long noted that skyrocketing health care costs will be disastrous in terms of our long term national debt unless we pass real reform.  In this Weekly Address, the President also explains how he will cover the upfront costs of reform by eliminating over-payments from Medicaid and Medicare and driving down costs contributing to government’s health care expenditures across the board.

source

When the economy is rough, people have to tighten the strings when it comes to giving. Scholarship programs are either funded less or cut, making it harder for you to pay for your college education. Finding scholarship money for college can take a lot of time and effort. There are essays to write and applications to fill out, but the end results are definitely worth the time.

I received and email from BlackStudents.com informing me about the 2009 Scholarship Guide and wanted to share it with the readers of this blog. It looks like you have to sign up online to get the guide and someone most likely will call you to get more information, but it’s FREE so it may be worth it. If I decide to sign up for it, I’ll post my opinion of how helpful the guide was to me. Below, I’ve posted the link to the site and some extra info on what’s included in the scholarship guide.

FreeEducationGuide

Free Education Guide gives you access to over 1,900 colleges and university’s across the country and even includes scholarship information to help you pay for it! There’s no excuse good enough to ignore your dreams!

A college degree is as important as ever these days! The path to earning that degree starts with having information on how to go about it! The 2009 Free College Education Guide can be the roadmap to a better and brighter future.

* A free guide to over 1,900 college and universities!
* Scholarship and grant information to help you pay!
* Information on how to earn your Bachelors or Masters degree in just 24 months!

If it ain’t one thing it’s another. Even at the young age of 33, I’m on a small dose of pressure medicine. It runs in my family (with both parents), but I hope to kick the pill soon. I’ve been slacking on the exercising and I could get a little more sleep, but that’s something I’m working on. I’ll do better. I have people depending on me. Check out this article published on Monday in the Archives of Internal Medicine.

source – www.chinaview.cn

WASHINGTON, June 8 (Xinhua) — Middle-aged adults who sleep fewer hours appear more likely to have high blood pressure and to experience adverse changes in blood pressure over time, according to a report published Monday in the Archives of Internal Medicine.

Almost one-third of Americans have hypertension or high blood pressure, a condition that contributes to seven million deaths worldwide each year, according to background information in the article.

“Identifying a novel lifestyle risk factor for high blood pressure could lead to new interventions to prevent or reduce high blood pressure,” the authors write. “Laboratory studies of short-term sleep deprivation have suggested potential mechanisms for a causal link between sleep loss and hypertension.”

Sleep deprivation is associated with increased activity in the sympathetic nervous system, which controls the body’s stress response. Over time, this activation could contribute to high blood pressure.

Kristen L. Knutson of the University of Chicago and his colleagues studied 578 adults who first had their blood pressure and other clinical, demographic and health variables measured between 2000 and 2001. In 2003 and 2005, the researchers measured sleep duration by using surveys and wrist actigraphy, in which a sensor is worn on the wrist to record periods of rest and activity. Blood pressure, demographic and self-reported sleep information were measured again in 2005 and 2006.

Participants (average age 40) slept an average of six hours per night; only seven (1 percent) averaged eight or more hours of sleep. After excluding patients taking medication for high blood pressure and controlling for age, race and sex, the researchers found that individuals who slept fewer hours were significantly more likely to have higher systolic and diastolic blood pressure.

Sleeping less also predicted increases in blood pressure over five years, along with the onset of hypertension. Each hour of reduction in sleep duration was associated with a 37 percent increase in the odds of developing high blood pressure.

“Consistent with other studies, we observed higher blood pressure levels in men, particularly African American men,” the authors wrote. “Also, as described in a previous report from this study,

African American men slept much less than white women. These two observations suggested the intriguing possibility that the well-documented higher blood pressure in African Americans and men might be partly related to sleep duration.”

“In summary, the present study provides evidence for a link between the duration and quality of sleep and high blood pressure levels using objectively measured sleep characteristics,” they concluded. “Intervention studies are needed to determine whether optimizing sleep duration and quality can reduce the risk of increased blood pressure.”

Editor: Fang Yang

I was watching the Today Show and saw this segment about the Financial Cost of Cancer. It tugged on my heart because growing up my family faced a similar situation when my dad had a brain stem stroke. The financial recovery from dealing with this type of situation can last for years and it takes making some tough decisions to get out of it.

What happens to those who try to do the things “the right way”, only to find themselves in a situation of financial ruin? It’s all ready tough enough dealing with the fact that your loved one is sick, only to have the hospital creditors bugging you about their payment. We need some type of health care reform and we need it soon. People are suffering and no one seems to know what to do. President Obama has pledged to have some type of health care reform by the end of the year. But with trillion dollar deficits, I have a hard time seeing how it will get done. Maybe someday all Americans will have access to the same heath care benefits as those in Congress.

We shouldn’t have to choose between doing what it takes to keep a loved one alive and food for our family. But it’s a sad reality of what people are having to do every day. What’s out there to help those who’ve been placed in this situation? If you know, feel free to share with us.