#PayItForward: Tribute to Dads for Father's Day

Most Fridays, I will share with you a post from another blog that I find particularly moving, interesting, or funny. They will be posts that fit the DKL mold... ones I think people who read this blog would enjoy. Another blogger I follow started something similar. I also wanted to do this because someone paid it forward to me, giving me tons of new followers. So this is the least I can do...

In honor of Father's Day, I'm featuring three of my favorite dad bloggers. Over the past few weeks, they've written very powerful posts about fatherhood, being a dad, growing up, and being there. Two of these bloggers took hard looks at their dads. The other one took a hard look at himself. Enjoy:

First up is James from EduDad. He is a Canadian teacher and musician. (The same guy who wrote and performed the awesome DKL Theme Song.) His posts are short, but always leave me thinking long after I've read them. This one was an honest, raw, and powerful look at his relationship with his dad, and what he learned from it:

Visiting my dad in the psych ward tore me down like watching a monument crumble. That visit was a turning point in our relationship. It didn’t get better; it just got different. ((You can read more of this post here.))

Next is  Scott, at Dads Who Change Diapers. He's a stay-at-home dad who has made it his mission to document every men's restroom that has a changing station. I'm rarely a fan of posts from parent bloggers that tell me to do something or act a certain way. It annoys me. These posts are only effective if they're not preachy. Well, Scott was not preachy. He was right. He opens our eyes to a simple but effective way to engage our children. And he does it by telling a very emotional story about his dad:

I guess what I’m getting at is this: Don’t be THAT dad. I have vowed not to be. And it’s made a huge difference between me and my son. I spend a little more time praising and a lot less time criticizing. (Keep reading by clicking here.)

Finally, Jimmy from Founding a Father provides me a unique perspective. Since he's the dad of tween girls, his blog serves as a glimpse into the future. As the dad to a five year-old daughter, I often use his blog as a textbook. An entertaining textbook. (Or a cautionary tale depending on the topic.) But this post was simply a reminder that on this journey we call life, we often get lost trying to find and define ourselves. He realizes the most accurate and important definition of himself is dad, and he spins a post that is both poignant and funny:

When I thought I needed to discover who I was and why I was on this planet, I found out I didn’t need to search at all. The answer was right in front of me, staring me in the face. Actually, it was staring me in the face at 6am on my day off asking me to make them breakfast. (You can click here to keep reading.)

I hope you enjoyed these posts from these talented dad bloggers, all of whom I consider friends. Please check out their Facebook pages, which I linked in the blurbs above. And follow them each on Twitter for some good and funny conversation: James @SaskaDad, Jimmy @jetts31, Scott @DiaperDads