BRATTLEBORO — Local fathers and those who love them have a new resource on the Web for all things Daddy, in the form of a blog on local businesses, restaurants, childcare and family-friendly events in the greater Brattleboro area.
Or maybe that's five new resources: the winners of Brattleboro Memorial Hospital's new DaddyViews blog contest, five fathers representing a range and depth of experiences now share space at DaddyViews.com, with the bloggers committed to posting several times a week for at least a year.
First-person topics so far have taken up post-baby sex, ways to calm a fussy baby, working well with one's partner, and how to get needed sleep.
According to Nicole Zinn, BMH's communication and graphic design specialist, whose department organized the contest, the goal is to provide a one-stop shop forum for busy dads and families in Windham County and the surrounding area.
“Dads today are getting more involved in exchanging and sharing ideas, particularly online. Our goal is to help facilitate dialogue between local dads and families on health-related topics and more,” Zinn says.
Winners are Caleb Clark, Jesse Eldridge, Michael Luciani, Matt Schibley, and Stephen Washkevich. BMH also gave each of the winners a Sony Bloggie camera for use on the site.
According to Zinn, Clark and Schibley are both first-time fathers. Clark became a dad after 40, and Schibley will offer a younger parent's perspective.
As Luciani explains, his two sons are six years apart, and require very different parenting lessons: “I try to be good scaffolding for them as they learn to do things on their own - from riding a bike to using Facebook for the first time.”
Eldridge says his life completely changed after entering a new relationship with a woman who had a 4-year old daughter, whom he has adopted. “I went from a 20-something-year-old, with no real direction in life, to a responsible adult with a family to take care of. I am not her 'real father,' but I am the father figure in her life,” says Eldridge.
Washkevich is a stay-at-home parent to his two children while his wife leaves the house to work. “I quickly had to pick up the skills necessary to manage an infant and a 4-year-old from dinner to bedtime, and breastfeeding visits in between. It was a sharp learning curve,” he says.
Full biographies of each blogger are on DaddyViews.com. Zinn says readers can join the BMH Facebook page (www.facebook.com/bmhvt) to be notified of new posts and join the conversation.