Publisher Spotlight: Real Men Drive Minivans
Part of my job is to check out the bloggers who sign up for Lijit every day. This is always one of the best times of my workday because I get to see such an interesting cross-section of what people are blogging about and how they go about conveying their passion to others. Of course, when I see a URL that pops out at me, I become even more intrigued. This was the case with PJ. His blog is called Real Men Drive Minivans and he’s a proud daddyblogger. (Hey, if real men can eat quiche and wear pink, I’m pretty sure they can drive minivans and use their kids as blog content…)
In addition to blogging about his son, PJ shares a Wordless Wednesday series and writes extensively about his adventures in the kitchen. I reached out to PJ and asked if he would be kind enough to answer some questions for this profile. Read on to find out what real men think of blogging…
How long have you been blogging and what made you start?
I’ve been blogging since January 2008 with an NFL football blog, but kind of dropped the ball on it shortly after my son was born a few months later. For a number of reasons, I didn’t attempt to revive that site, but rather launched my current blog, Real Men Drive Minivans, as a creative outlet while being a stay-at-home dad. Initially I wanted to get into blogging to learn more about web 2.0 and social networking, and now I’m using it as a way to learn new skills for an eventual return to the workforce.
What has been the greatest thing you’ve gotten from blogging?
I’d say the relationships I’ve managed to develop in a short period of time with some other dad and mom bloggers out there. As a new parent trying to find my way, there is a ton of information out there and some anecdotal evidence that the decisions we’ve made so far have been good for our son.
Of all the posts you’ve written, what has been your favorite and why?
Recently I’ve been participating in Fatherhood Fridays over at Dad Blogs where us daddy bloggers link up our individual blogs with posts relating to fatherhood every week. As part of my contributions I’ve been writing a series of posts examining whether or not fathers matter anymore. Aside from the generalizations made about stay-at-home dads, there are a lot of poor characterizations of fathers in the media. I’ve already posted two times in this (number to be determined) series and I have at least two others planned for upcoming Fatherhood Fridays. My first post “Don’t fathers matter?: Kneeling on concrete” that I published on March 20th is kind of what got my fire going to discuss this issue, so I would have to say that, at least for now, it is one of my favorite posts.
With all the media attention surrounding mommybloggers, what are your thoughts about the future of daddybloggers?
I think we’re still trying to find our voice. There are a lot of stereotypes being perpetuated about dads–that we’re dolts, we get lost in the supermarket, we don’t know the difference between a frying pan and a Santoku. The rhetoric is even worse for stay-at-home dads–we’re lazy, we’re unemployable, we’re destroying the family dynamic. While this may all make for a funny TV commercial, the dads I’ve met through blogging are highly focused on the very important role they play in their families. I really enjoy reading some of the mommybloggers as well and they deserve all the accolades they receive. My hope is that in time, we daddybloggers can take the momentum we are building to fight these stereotypes.
How has Lijit helped you to become a better blog publisher?
I’m still pretty new at this but I really like interpreting the stats and looking for trends. I spent nearly twelve years in the financial services industry, so I’m a bit of a numbers geek. My blog is still pretty new and I’m just now expanding my focus beyond the content to capturing my target audience.
Thanks for your time PJ and if you’re interested in searching for more of what PJ has to say, please use the Lijit search on his blog and follow him on Twitter.
