#dadvworld

Tech is harming our social skills?

So the general consensus is that mobiles and other tech is harming our face to face social skills.

(more…)

At least that’s what all the top bloggers who have all the good stats say! To be fair they’re right, but then I’m very competitive, not with others in the blogging world but with myself. If I achieve a certain number of views one month, I need to try and beat it the following month. This is part of the fun for me, I enjoy investigating my stats, what’s working and what isn’t.

I’m no expert in analytics and the first 6 months of DADVWORLD.COM have included a house move that took a lot longer than it should have, several interruptions in internet accessibility, once having to go more than a week without being online, in 2016 that’s a disaster and my effort levels have fluctuated as life has sprung up surprises as it will always do. Basically I’d say it’s taken me 6 months to finally settle on how to run my blog. Trial and error will continue as I compete with myself to take my blog to the next level.

Right, what have I achieved in my first 6 months?

At the time of writing this, 25th August 2016, this will be my 43rd blog post. Can’t believe I’ve written that many!

Blog Views – Average 1K views per month

Facebook Page – 371 Likes

Twitter Followers – 1661

Instagram Followers – 861

DA Rating – 15

PA Rating – 29

Now these numbers represent a host of factors. The time and effort I’ve been able to commit, the niche I’m in (Dad/Parenting Blog) and the experience I’ve gathered in a short time. If you’re an even newer blogger than myself and you look at these stats and have no idea whether they’re good or not, that makes 2 of us. Some people blog for fun, some as a career and some purely to earn money. This means that you could never really compare yourself to anyone, however I know when I first started blogging I wanted at least some ball park figures however inaccurate I have now found them to be, so this is why I’ve shared mine.

Now it’s not all stats, despite still being fresh to the scene I’ve managed to run a promotion for DC Comics and one of their YouTube series, I’ve promoted brands such as Bakerdays and Jacamo and I’ve also become a contributor to The Dad Network where I write blog posts for their website too. I’ve built a small community of online friends and blogging has given me the confidence and opened the door to the world of YouTube. DADVWORLD.COM now also has a YouTube channel where you can keep up to date with our family adventures on a weekly basis, new EP out every Sunday.

Both the blog and vlog have now started bringing in a little pocket change. I’m not earning enough for the Mrs to quit work and shop everyday just yet but something I started for myself and my family is now looking very likely to becoming a full time career.

My vision was always to use the first 12 months to find my feet, learn and try as many different things as I could to build knowledge of exactly how to conquer the world of blogs and vlogs, I will continue with this mentality then move into the second year hopefully with some real purpose, putting into play everything I’ve learnt enabling me to then maximize my social platforms to build my brand.

I also wrote a post after only a month of blogging letting other new bloggers know what I’d discovered so far, read it here To, Newbie Bloggers. From Newbie Blogger.

It’s building slowly but surely and good things come to those that work hard and go get them :D

As always, I appreciate you reading and always enjoy reading your comments and feedback, interaction is key for me – See you online @dadvworld

Stay at Home Parent AKA Unemployed

A stay-at-home dad (alternatively, stay at home father, house dad, SAHD, househusband, or house-spouse) is a father who is the main caregiver of the children and is the homemaker of the household. – Wikipedia

(more…)

What age should a kid have a phone?

At what age have you, should you or will you introduce your child to the world of smartphones?

(more…)

Bakerdays, why haven’t you been in my life before, how have I not come across a company that post out cakes with next day delivery?!

Luckily for me it happened to be the wife’s birthday so cake was always on the menu. The choice at Bakerdays is vast. Not only is there plenty of choice but their cake ideas are fantastic. Donetta loves a bit of Snapchatting so I went with the Snapchat theme and picked out a personal photo to go with it. Not only that but I also chose some text, all this on a 5 inch cake. The 5 inch cake is awesome purely because it gets posted through your letter box, that’s right, posted through your letter box, cake!

So moving on from the absolute coolness of having cake mixed in with your gas bill and local takeaway menu, the cake came packaged nicely, smelt great and tasted beautiful.

Donetta opened the box (Watch here) and revealed a little tin with the Bakerdays logo on which I think is cool. There was a pack with a couple of candles, a party  blower thing (that’s the technical term) and some balloons, nice touch Bakerdays! Even further there was a card inside with a little message telling us to enjoy our cake, Oh we did! So more than just a little cake in the post, there was real thought put together with the entire package.

Here’s a few reasons why I will use Bakerdays again and probably again after that too…

Order before 2pm for NEXT DAY DELIVERY

Cakes stay fresh for 14 days – We didn’t need 14 minutes!

Easy to order

Loads of unique design ideas

  All in all we were impressed with both the service and the product and based on our experience would be happy to recommend Bakerdays :)

Have a look for yourselves…

www.bakerdays.com bakerdays facebook bakerdays twitter

  Thanks for reading as always, treat yourself to some cake and see you online @dadvworld

Luckily for us, our children’s grandparents are well aware that we are in control of the parental decisions in our family. Donetta and I are strong characters and that is a trait respected by our parents, who had a hand in making us that way of course.

Since becoming a parent I’ve forgotten I’m also a son. It’s a strange feeling, I don’t feel like a son anymore, I feel like a Dad, top of the family food chain, along with Mum of course, protector of all that I’ve created and have been blessed with, King of my castle. A son needs a protector, a son is second in line of said food chain, a son is more of a Prince than King. I’m in this strange moment of life now where I’m both, I still seek guidance from my parents but also need to parent my way.

I’m in no way saying this is a problem, even if we couldn’t agree with our parents on anything, which isn’t the case, it’s a fortunate position to be in, we have family around us and that’s always beneficial to raising a child. There’s an old saying ‘It takes a village to raise a child’, maybe in today’s society not quite a village, but a whole family certainly!

I don’t know what it is with us, but we are rarely given advice by our parents on parenting, whether that’s because we’re doing such an amazing job already, or our parents know that as much as we welcome their opinions they know we will do exactly as we decide anyway, I don’t know. Maybe it’s because they know our family is very open, if we needed advice we’d ask for it. The advice I tend to remember, throughout my life anyway, has always been for me to think things through then decide what’s best for my family and I. Do you even need any other advice? That’s a pretty sound piece to live by.

I’m well aware however that this isn’t the case for all parents. Some parents are constantly being told to do things differently by their own parents, told they’re doing it wrong and the grandparents force themselves upon their own child, taking over their moment to learn parenting for themselves. There’s a huge roll to play for grandparents but they must play it right! Sure they’ve got all the experience but does that give them the right to steal yours away, how will you become a better parent and learn if not allowed to. I mentioned our strength of character earlier because I could imagine there are others out there without this trait and having their early parental experience sabotaged by the grandparents. I’m sure this happens, I’ve seen this happen.

We have one parenting rule in which all decisions are made, if we’re unsure for only a second it’s a no.

Let me explain. Basically parenting is making decision after decision after decision, so when an option is presented, such as, will Corben be OK eating that? Can the girls spend the afternoon in town with friends? Just for example, there has been much tougher decisions believe me. We ask ourselves, do we have any doubts regrading Corbens nut allergy, if either of us do then he doesn’t eat whatever it was. If we have any doubts over the girls maturity or safety then it’s a no. Alternatives are presented and we make new choices with new decisions and that’s how we parent. Sure there’s more to it all than this but hopefully you get the idea.

What we will also be certain of, is that every decision is our decision. I couldn’t imagine ever leaving any decisions to anyone else, if something went wrong how would you feel! At least if you make the wrong decision you can own it and learn from it.

Back to the grandparents, they have the experience, not only in bringing up children but in life, it counts for a lot. My argument however would be that all that experience isn’t always relevant in today’s world. We’ve all heard the ‘Back in my day’ scenarios. I sometimes see it from my peers, 30 years old commenting on kids playing with tablets and iPhone’s rather than on their bikes or in the woods. Had an iPhone or Netflix been available when I was a child would my parents have dealt with my usage limits any differently to how I do with my children? It’s 2016, times have changed and are changing at a rate never experienced before. Parenting in the 80’s and 90’s isn’t parenting in 2016 is it. Obviously playing out, being active is massively important, that won’t ever change, but technology is today, extremely important and if you don’t open your mind to that fact, you may well be left behind.

I can’t say how to Grandparent perfectly, I have no idea how it feels to be one. I guess being there to support and giving your child space to raise theirs is all I could suggest. I’m very happy with how our family is but I know others may need some space. As I’ve said to every single person that’s ever asked my advice on parenting (which isn’t many), do it your way, it’s the only way you know you will have done your best.

  I’d love to hear your stories, feel free to comment, message, tweet – Even send me pictures, show us who’s Grandparenting perfectly, share your experiences even if negative, maybe we can change that!

As always, thanks for reading @dadvworld