Father Friday - Best of the Week from Blogger Dads

I was hanging out at the new, best hashtag on Twitter (#dadstalking) today.

Yeah, I know, at first glance it looks like Dad Stalking (which, let's be honest, is pretty creepy) and not what it should be pronounced as, Dads Talking. But don't let that get in the way. It is an awesome place where dads can talk, tell stories, commiserate, share a beer, and much more. Its like a huge virtual bar, without the smoke, the bad lighting, or the horrible cover bands.

I was only able to spend about an hour there today, but what an hour. As I interacted with dads from around the country (and the globe) I began looking at their blogs and realized that sadly, I did not have time to read all the great dad writing going on out there in Blogtopia. There are some truly awesome guys who are using their considerable writing skills to describe the ins and outs of this joyous responsibility called fatherhood. For every post I read, I know I am missing dozens of equally awesome ones.

That's when it occurred to me that if there was some way to read what each dad thought was his best, funniest, most helpful, most touching blog post from the past week, then I wouldn't be missing any of it. I would have a sort of "greatest hits" album each week of the best the small army of Dad Bloggers out there have to offer.

And just like that, with a puff of smoke and the draining of a Summer Lager, Father Friday - Best of the Week, was born. The rules for participation are quite simple.

1. You need to be a father. New father, old father, soon to be father, want some day to be a father, father...doesn't matter. You just need to be a dad.

2. You must own and maintain your own blog.

3. If you meet the requirements for rules one and two, look back over your posts from the past week, from Friday to Friday. Re-read them all.

4. Choose the post you feel was your particular BEST for the week. It can be funny, helpful, sad, dramatic, deep, light...whatever. Pick the post that most reflects you and what your awesome blog has to offer.

5. Follow the host. That's me. It's quick and painless and I always follow back.

6. Put your blog address and a short description of the post in the Linky link located below. Be short but concise.

7. After you are on the list, surf the posts of the other dads and follow as many as you can. Read and above all else COMMENT! We all know that comments are to bloggers what a keg of Dear Park water is to a desert nomad.

8. Grab the code below, create a new post on your blog, and enter it so you can share the growing list with all your followers. Then just sit back and let it grow!

That is it in a nutshell. Since this idea was literally just hatched a few hours ago, I have not yet had the chance to create a button to display on your site, should you so choose, but I will. It is my hope that this will take off and that each week we can have dozens, if not hundreds, of links leading the weary web traveler to the best of what dads have to offer from their blogs for the past week.

Happy linking and be sure to TELL YOUR FRIENDS!