Stay-At-Home Dad Blogs Emerge Online
BOSTON (CBS) - Dads are emerging as a new force on the homemaking scene, and you can read the blogs to prove it.
Trey Burley is part of a growing group of guys: stay-at-home dads who juggle kids, housework, and a work-at-home gig too.
Burley says his life is exhausting but rewarding, and he writes all about it on his blog, DaddyMojo.net.
Just like the "mommy bloggers" out there who advertisers love connecting with, dads are also spreading the word about everything from razors to toilet repair.
"More men are getting into the blogging part of parenting and social media," Burley says.
WBZ-TV's Paula Ebben reports.
With an array of sites like The Daddy Files, DaDa Rocks, The Busy Dad Blog and Urban Daddy, dads are becoming some of the most popular bloggers on the block.
Branding and marketing guru Derrick Daye explains that mainstream companies are taking notice.
"What we have here is an important emerging market of two million plus men," Daye says. "Marketers that want to connect with these stay-at-home dads must take the time to understand them and evolve."
New statistics show men are now the primary shoppers in almost one out of every three households. That's more than double the number two decades ago.
"In the traditional context of marketing to men, you're thinking about tools, trucks, sports gear," Daye says, "wherein this shift of marketing to men, manufacturers are discovering there are new opportunities."
Examples of this new marketing trend are easy to find.
"Look at Kolcraft, for example," Daye says. "They are manufacturing Jeep branded strollers. We have a manufacturer out there called Diaper Dude and they manufacture camouflage diaper bags."
Meanwhile, another typically mom-filled arena is starting to develop for dads: playgroups.
"There are some [play] groups on Facebook or Meetup and I've networked with some there," Burley says.
To Burley, it's an interesting new frontier for fathers and worth it both financially and emotionally.
"It's more work than I thought it would be, but it's also much more fun," he says.
If you'd like to follow a "dad site," just do a web search for "dad blog." Many women enjoy following them, too, for a chance to uncover a dad's perspective on things.
Being an at-home Dad isn't all fun and blogging, of course.
Some men say they've been excluded from mothers' groups and others talk of being questioned by police when they're seen hanging around the playground.
