Fathers give birth to new website for dads

Fathers give birth to new website for dads

Fathers new and experienced will soon have all the parenting resources they need at their fingertips with the birth of diyfather.com on Father's Day.

The new website was conceived out of the founders' discovery that "99 percent" of written and online material seems to be aimed at mothers. Co-director and founder Scott Lancaster says diyfather.com will redress that situation.

"There is a lot of parental information out there, but we wanted a website particularly relevant for fathers, that fathers can hook into to find out about childcare - for example why your baby's not sleeping at night - but also that they can provide information too via a forum," said Scott. New dad of a three-week old girl, Scott's awakening to the lack of father-oriented material came about two-thirds of the way into his wife's pregnancy.

"I think males process information differently," says Scott. "My wife would read a book on childcare and intuitively absorb everything she needed to know, whereas I'd be reading and re-reading. I'm not really a book person, but I do like to get information online, and that's one of the motivators for creating diyfather.com."

Through Positively Wellington Business (now Regional EDA), Scott was introduced to e-Commerce entrepreneur Stefan Korn of WebFund, a Wellington web-based development and eBusiness company. Stefan is also a new dad, with an 11-week old boy.

"My experience of becoming a father and the challenges of looking after my new son Noah prompted me to come on board diyfather.com to help make a difference in the parenting space," says Stefan. "As a sort of 'e-vangelist' this combines two of my passions - cyberspace and childcare - and if this helps other fathers then we'll have done something really worthwhile,"

Scott adds, "Diyfather.com is not just about newborns - though if it's your first child that's obviously when you have the least experience - it's also for those parents whose children are going through adolescence and moving on through their teen years."

Like any newborn, the diyfather website is expected to grow and develop over time. Initially it will be a resource of articles that fathers can read or download for reference, to help them with the most common aspects of parenting, and also to share their views and give advice to other fathers on parenting.

The founders say that once the site is established they plan to introduce a comprehensive range of products and services. In the meantime dads can share their experiences with other dads and read over 150 articles ranging from dealing with wind, CPR for babies and building a bird house with your kids.

Diyfather.com officially launches Sunday 2 September - Father's Day.

Website: www.diyfather.com

ENDS

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