daddy blogger

Leave a comment Posted on fatherhood, parenting, People, Storytelling, Uncategorized, vegan

Live with Kelly Co-Host Contest, Top 40 Contender: 2nd Video/Next Deadline, October 5th

Live with Kelly Co-Host Contest Top 40 Contender: 2nd Video/Next Deadline, October 5th

I am so grateful for everyone who has been helping me out by liking, commenting on, and sharing my 1st video; since I made it to the Top 40 for Kelly Ripa’s Co-Host for a Day Contest, last Friday. After all, my chances of winning are definitely based on how the free market (that’s you) reacts to my video on Kelly’s website.

On October 5th, we’ll all find out if I made it to the next cut; to the Top 20. So in addition to how well my 1st video does based on the public’s views, comments, likes, and shares, my success in the contest will be based on my newest assignment:

Make a video to showcase my ability to demonstrate how to do something in 60 seconds or less, which also features my personality.

I would have chosen to feature my adorable 5 month-old daughter in the video, using the angle on me being a daddy blogger.

However, no one under the age of 18 was permitted in the video.

So I decided the next best choice was for me to feature my “Manly Vegan Protein Smoothie” which I invented 3 and a half years ago, and have been drinking every day since then.

I chose this for a couple of reasons…

It gave me a reason to feature my Rubik’s Cube coffee mug. Who wouldn’t think that’s cool?

Plus, there aren’t a lot of vegan males out there. Being such a rare demographic makes me stand out from the crowd.

But ultimately, it’s not about a smoothie; it’s about me selling my personality in 60 seconds; to prove that I can be both classy and quirky.

So on October 5th, we’ll see if I’m worthy of the Top 20. I’ll be sure to let you know how it goes.

Remember that n the meantime, here’s a reminder of how you can help me out, if you haven’t already:

  1. Click on this link to visit the LIVE with Kelly Facebook page
  2.  Once you’re there, “like” my video
  3.  Next, leave a comment on it, telling everyone how you know me and specifically why I would be the best choice
  4. After you’ve done that, share that link, promoting me as your top choice on your own Facebook page
  5.  Also, tweet that same link on Twitter as your choice: @nickshellwrites
Leave a comment Posted on Health, parenting

At What Point Can I Admit My Kid Turned Out Fine, Having Never Been Spanked?

I’m used to being in the minority. I’ve typically always questioned what society’s acceptance and endorsement of what is deemed as normal and/or popular.

So it should be no surprise that I represent the minority percentage of American parents who does not spank my child.

Instead of spanking my 4 year-old son, I follow these simple guidelines I learned from back when I was Parents.com‘s official daddy blogger for those 3 years:

1. Ignore attention-seeking behavior.

2. Pay attention to good behavior.

3. Redirect your child.

4. Teach consequences that make sense.

5. Use time-outs for serious offenses.

I have no interest in trying to convert the majority, but I do believe it is relevant as a daddy blogger to show the other side of the story to those who are open-minded and/or curious.

Before I myself converted to the minority who doesn’t spank, I used to believe that “disciplining your child” and “spanking” had to be one in the same.

I feel that up until recently, there hasn’t been enough easily attainable, professional research on the subject.

So up until now, American tradition has overruled the possibility that not only is spanking less effective than “non-spanking child discipline”, but that spanking is indeed more likely to produce negative effects on the child. This is something I’ve covered before in “Is Spanking Actually More Effective Than The Alternative?“.

This point is also mentioned here below in this video featuring Robert Brooks, PhD Psychologist, featured on KidsInTheHouse.com (The World’s Largest Parenting Video Library)…

With that being said, at what point can I admit my 4 year-old son turned out fine, having never been spanked?

As his dad, I am regularly told how well-behaved yet creative and full of joy my little boy is, by adults who teach him and watch him while I am not around.

He never gets in trouble at school. He’s a good kid. He’s intelligent. He’s not a brat.

That’s not to brag; instead, I’m saying that to demonstrate that my method of disciplining my son has been successful, and my method has never included spanking.

What age must he be before my method of discipline is accepted by mainstream America as effective? Do I have to wait until he’s a preteen or a teenager? Or should I wait until he’s lived a long life without a criminal record?

Is my son an exception to the rule? Or he is “just a good kid”? Or perhaps does my method of child discipline have something to do with him “just being a good kid”?

Must I proof that not spanking is effective by having more kids who all turn out to be good kids too? How many kids? At what point is my point legitimate?

As a parent, I am interested in using the most effective method out there; not necessarily the one that is most popular by tradition. For me, the evidence is right there in front of me every day when I see my son.

I would like to close with comedian Louis C.K.’s words on the matter.

Originally, I featured this in “I Find Louis C.K.’s Bit On Child Discipline Hard To Argue With“. Here’s a selection from his special, Hilarious:

“And stop hitting me, you’re huge. How could you hit me?! That’s crazy. You’re a giant, and I can’t defend myself.”I really think it’s crazy that we hit our kids. It really is–here’s the crazy part about it. Kids are the only people in the world that you’re allowed to hit. Do you realize that? They’re the most vulnerable, and they’re the most destroyed by being hit. But it’s totally okay to hit them. And they’re the only ones! If you hit a dog they… will put you in jail for that… You can’t hit a person unless you can prove that they were trying to kill you. But a little tiny person with a head this big who trusts you implicitly, f(orget) ‘em. Who (cares)? Just… hit–let’s all hit them! People want you to hit your kid. If your kid’s making noise in public, “Hit him, hit him! Hit him! Grrr, hit him!” We’re proud of it! “I hit my kids. You’re… right I hit my kids.” Why did you hit them? “‘Cause they were doing a thing I didn’t like at the moment. And so I hit them, and guess what? They didn’t do it after that.” Well, that wouldn’t be taking the… easy way out, would it?”

No matter what other parents choose for their own children, I can feel fully confident in my personal decision on not spanking. Thank you for your open-mindedness in reading my (unpopular) opinion on this much controversial topic.

At What Point Can I Admit My Kid Turned Out Fine, Having Never Been Spanked?

Leave a comment Posted on parenting, Storytelling

Dear Jack: The Transition From The Dadabase To Family Friendly Daddy Blog

3 years, 7 months.

Family Friendly Daddy Blog

Dear Jack,

Well, it’s been a week since I finally revealed to you that for the past 3 years, I had been the officially daddy blogger of Parents.com.

I wanted to make sure that in the midst of enlarging my blogging territory by sharing new parenting infographics, reviewing cars, and writing about life as a plant-based family here on Family Friendly Daddy Blog, that I don’t neglect continuing my letters to you.

(To differentiate my letters to you from my other posts, I will be including “Dear Jack” in the title of them.)

Because to me, that’s the heart of what I do as a daddy blogger. In other words, you personally are the heart of what I do as a writer.

Right now I’m halfway through transferring my thousand Dadabase posts over toFamily Friendly Daddy Blog.

Sure, I could Google some easy way to transfer it all over at once, but somehow that’s not tempting to me.

Evidently, it’s therapeutic for me to be forced to read through every single one of my thousand or so daddy blog posts for the past 3 years, remembering the stories our family has lived through; making us who we are today.

Seriously…

Go back to the year 2012 and see how horribly cheesy (!) I was back then. I really must have thought I was some cool 80s game show host or something.

The clothes, the hair, the corny catch-phrases.

But I understand, that’s how life is: I had to live through these experiences to become who I am today.

Looking back, it’s like I had to play this character I didn’t necessarily feel comfortable playing, but I only thought I felt comfortable at the time.

However, now, I truly am comfortable in my life’s roles.

It took 3 years of writing for Parents.com to graduate to this version of myself. I’m grateful Parents.com put up with a cornball like me for 3 years!

As for where we are now, I feel good.

I feel this change to Family Friendly Daddy Blog was important for us. The timing is right.

I’m just as curious as you are to see where this takes us, but I know this- wherever we go, we’re going to have a great time together.

Love,

Daddy

Leave a comment Posted on parenting, Storytelling

Thanks And Goodbye From The Dadabase: The Series Finale

June 27, 2014 at 12:06 am , by

dadabase

3 years, 7 months.

Dear Jack,

There is something I have never explained to you this whole time. But today, I officially “break the 4th wall”…

Part of this will be a surprise to you and part of it will be a surprise to the audience.

I’ll start with the part that is a surprise to you: There is an audience.

In fact, just a few hours before publishing this post, I posted this picture telling them about this final letter to you.

Here are some of their responses:

Jack, for the past three years, since May 2011, I have been an independently contracted writer for the website for Parents magazine.

The Dadabase has served as the official “daddy blog” for Parents.com this whole time. In other words, your life (and mine) up to this point has been in front of a “live audience”.

And now, the surprise for the audience reading this final Dadabase letter today…

This is the last Dadabase post there will ever be.

I am going back to my original website which I have operated since 2009, now rebooted as “Family Friendly Daddy Blog.” All month, I have been transitioning in preparation for the switch.

While I still will be writing weekly letters to you, there will also be a much stronger emphasis on reviewing things from a “family friendly” perspective.

The direction of The Dadabase has, by default, been heading in that direction for a while now.

I’ve now lost count of how many vehicles I have reviewed now, from a “family friendly” perpsective.

And there’s no denying that our plant-based lifestyle is something I enjoy sharing with people. So I will bereviewing vegan friendly food products and recipes as well.

But it’s not just about cars and food.

I also will be reviewing movies and toys and even travel destinations, all from… you guessed it… a “family friendly” perspective.

As a way to celebrate this past 3 years, I have collected these videos of you, which I think do a good job of showing your life, as documented, here on The Dadabase.

I am so grateful and thankful for the staff of Parents.com choosing me to begin with to be their official daddy blogger; not to mention, for keeping me around through all the learning curves I’ve been taught by immersion.

Now with 1,018 posts published since 2011 on their site, the folks at Parents.com have given me major credibility to my “aspirations to be a writer” from when I started regularly blogging back in 2005.

While today definitely serves as an ending, the series finale, it also serves as the doorway to where our family goes from here.

This is simply the last Dadabase post, not the last post from Nick Shell to his son. I’ve got plenty more to say as a writer and as a parent!

Our family will continue living our lives, documented in blog form as I’ve been doing since the day Mommy and I went public with her being pregnant with you: at Family Friendly Daddy Blog.

For those following me on The Dadabase’s Facebook page, I plan to transition the name over within the next couple of weeks once readers are used to the name change.

So now that we’ve had a chance to look back and celebrate how far we’ve come in these past three years since May 2011, let’s look to where we are going at this point…

Which again, in case you missed it, our family’s story continues at Family Friendly Daddy Blog. Starting…right now!

 

Love,

Daddy

 

P.S. Thanks for reading! Our story is far from over…

 

Leave a comment Posted on parenting, People, Recaps

So I Married A Daddy Blogger: 3 Questions For My Wife

March 17, 2012 at 9:52 pm , by 

16 months.

Since my first daddy blog post on April 13, 2010, my wife Jill has been highly visible yet never heard; other than in short one-sentence quotes in my stories. Well, after nearly two years, that is going to change.

Today, I am handing the mic (actually the Mac) to the feminine side of The Dadabase.

After all, it’s basically because of her that my blog (on WordPress at the time) was eventually picked up by Parents.com. Jill sent an email to American Baby magazine about my daddy blog “Dad From Day One” a few months after I started it; then they decided to feature my blog in their October 2010 issue; which randomly is the cover featured at the top right side of this screen, underneath the header Family Fun.

That started a short chain of events leading me to this point. But not only do I have my wife to thank for getting me this kind of exposure; she also serves as my daily editor.

Anything too stupid, aimless, or chauvinistic-sounding; she either helps me decide to redirect it or nix it all together.

Without her, The Dadabase would be a bit different. (In fact, it would simply be “Dadabase.” She suggested the “the.”)

Now, let’s do a little interview.

If this blog were The Mommybase, how would the tone and topic material
differ as you cover your version of parenting Jack?

My version of The Mommybase and parenting would emphasize my realistic
perspective of it, whereas I see The Dadabase as your positively
optimistic and often abstract perspective. Parenting is one of the
most difficult journeys I have been on in my life– it changes you so
much in ways you’d never know until you had the opportunity to parent
a child.

It’s just like when we used to laugh about how other parents
would give us advise when I was pregnant and we’d think, “Sure, that’s
not gonna happen to us,” and then a few months down the road, it did!

I think The Mommybase would also serve as a place where mommies could
find answers to those everyday questions like, what should I be
feeding my 12 month old and do cloth diapers really work? It would be
a place for mommies to relate to one another in the loving moments, as
well as the frustrating ones (because we all know that comes with the
territory).

What has being exposed to my daily articles on fatherhood taught you
about the mind of a dad?

That dads love their children just as mommies do and have a high
regard for caring for and nurturing them the best way they know how.
Granted, the best way they know how is often coming up with bizarre
antics to entertain them! Daddies sincerely want to help, but may not
know how and just need some gentle guidance from a patient mommy to
make the household peaceful.

You have the last word. What do you want people to know about you as a mom?

I love my little boy with all of my heart and thank God for his
presence in our lives. I’m not always going to do or say the right
thing and I completely acknowledge that, but I’m learning as he grows
and I would just hope that others saw me as a good mommy to him.