About - Dad Blog UK

About John Adams and Dadbloguk

Hello and thanks for visiting Dadbloguk.com. it’s written by me, John Adams, a dad of two young daughters, Helen aged ten and Izzy aged six. I’m married to Gill and we live in the South East of England, very close to London.

John Adams of Dadbloguk. As you can see, when not looking after the kids or blogging, I enjoy a cup of tea.

Stay at home dad to school run dad

My blog tells my story as a father. It’s not, however, your usual story.

Back in 2011, I gave up my career in communications to become the main carer for my children and run the family home. My wife, meanwhile, continued to work full time and fulfilled the traditionally male role of breadwinner.

Time does not stand still. Families go through different phases and stages of development. Over the years my status has changed depending on the needs of our children. At times I have been a stay at home dad. At other times I have worked part time. These days, both my children are at school. This allows me to work from home during school hours as a blogger and freelance writer.

Even so, I remain the at home parent. It’s me that does the school runs, ensures the kids have school uniform to wear and occasionally helps out at school. I do the grocery shopping, cook most of the meals and get the kids to their various after school activities. I answer to a number of different titles, but I refer to myself as a school run dad.

Gender roles in society are gradually changing and becoming more fluid. Men are more hands-on parents than they were in previous generations. I like to challenge perceptions.

I like to demonstrate that a couple can swap tradition gender roles. A woman can be the main financial provider for her family and a man can be the main caregiver to their children. This is the world I live in and Dadbloguk shows it can work.

Being so heavily involved in my children’s lives has been a blessing and something few men get to experience. It also means my experience of parenting is not typical. My experience of parenting is closer that of many mothers’ and my blog reflects this.

Side By Side, Canadian Father Involvement Conference, Dad central, uk dad blog, dad blog , dads, fatherhood, involved fatherhood, fatehrhood conference, dad conference, dad blogger, dadbloguk, dadbloguk.com, uk dad blogger — **Taking part in a panel discussion with Judy Chu of Stanford University at the Side By Side fatherhood conference in Canada, February 2019. The discussion was organised by the Movember Foundation.**

What you can expect on Dadbloguk

I write about all manner of parenting, family and lifestyle subjects. From homework and school uniform to pregnancy and birth, regulating screen time and online safety to recipes, arts and crafts and family days out. I write about all these subjects. I recommend you explore the categories menu on the right-hand side bar as I’m sure you’ll find something that interests you.

See the video I made, discussing Despicable Me and fatherhood with Steve Carell.

Among others, I’ve also had the good fortune to meet and interview Hollywood heavyweights such as Steve Carell and Michael Douglas, plus Olympian Jo Pavey and actor and writer David Walliams. You’ll also find car reviews, articles about health and fitness and family finances.

A keen photographer

Parliament Square, Parliament Square London, dadbloguk, dadbloguk.com, dad blog uk, school run dad, stay at home dad, #MySundayPhoto, Photalife.com — **Parliament Square in London, one of my favourite photographs.**

I am a keen photographer. Alongside the family and lifestyle content I produce, I publish photographs and photography tutorials.

Over time I have received more and more feedback from readers who tell me they like the imagery I post on Dadbloguk. It’s an integral part of what I do and I’m always keen to hear from people who have been inspired to take their own images after following my tutorials.

A media commentator

As a man fulfilling the role of family caregiver, I am often asked to appear on radio and TV to comment on gender equality or parenting and family issues. You’ll find more information on the ‘in the media‘ page.

An award-winning blog

I should also mention that I have won a few awards over the years. In February 2019, I won the European Parenting Blogs Award organised by Mr Kortings Code in the Netherlands.

I also won the Gold Blog award in the Surrey Digital Awards in 2017 and 2018 and in 2016 Dadbloguk took the Best UK Dad Blog Award at the Vuelio Blog Awards. This gives me the rare, if not unique, distinction of holding regional, national and European blog awards.

Finally….

Dadbloguk is one of the few UK-based dad blogs to have followed a family from the birth of a child, through the early years and pre-school and into the school years. It has also followed my journey from leaving full time employment and becoming the main carer for my kids, detailing the challenges and casual sexism I have faced along the way from a society that still doesn’t quite know how to handle a man who has volunteered to live this way.

Whether it’s stories of making costumes for my kids, the recipes I use to cook for them, my reviews of family cars or my photography tutorials, I hope you find something on these pages you enjoy. Please do also follow me on social media where I can be found on most channels as @dadbloguk.