Welcome to The DADventurer!
(N.B. As of November 2020, The DADventurer is no longer active – thanks for your support over the last 6.5 years! You can read my last post about reaching the end of my dad blogging journey here.)
I’m Dave (AKA The DADventurer), a 30-something bloke who shares my adventures as a stay-at-home dad to my daughter and son. I say “adventures”, but let’s be honest, changing shitty nappies and doing the school run is hardly an adrenaline rush!
Living in Hertfordshire with the missus (Hayley), 6-year old daughter (L [previously Baby L/Toddler L]), 2.5 year old son (‘Beetle’) and sausage dog (Dax), I started my parenting blog in July 2014 as a place to share my experiences, learnings, misdemeanours, failings and random musings about becoming a dad.
The DADventurer has since gone on to be consistently recognised as one of the top parenting and dad blogs in the UK and has seen me chronicle the entire parenting spectrum – from expectant dad, to newbie dad, to stay-at-home dad, to work-from-home dad, to expectant dad, to newbie dad (again) to school run dad.
The stuff you’ll find on the blog is quite varied to say the least – I pretty much write about what comes into my head. One minute I’ll be penning something random about life with a toddler, the next I’ll be on my soapbox discussing issues faced by dads, then the next I’ll be reviewing some household gadget or working with a large family brand on an interesting campaign.
No matter what I write though, I always try to ensure that it is interesting, entertaining, honest, unique and laced with humorous undertones and the odd sexual innuendo. Some of my most popular blog posts include:
- When The Class Bear Came To Visit
- A Transcript From A Night Out With The CBeebies Presenters
- A Typical Bedtime Routine With A Newborn Baby
- I’m A Daddy With Mummy Guilt
- The Greatest Baby Products Never Invented…Until Now!
- 11 Things I’ve Learnt From Visiting Soft Play
- I’m A Dad And Dads Don’t Babysit (Unless We’re Paid)
- 4 Reasons Why Toddlers Are Like Drunks
- 5 Gross Things I Didn’t Think I’d Do Before Becoming A Dad
- 8 Things To Consider If Having Sex In The Same Room As A Baby
- What If Babies Were Superheroes?
- 6 Things That Prove Babies Are Purposefully Annoying
- 13 Random Thoughts From Watching Kids TV on CBeebies
- 5 Things I Probably Shouldn’t Do As A Dad
- 5 People I Hate Now I’m A Dad
Hahaha – some of those posts are hilarious. LOL. ROFL. And various other acronyms which I don’t quite understand.
I don’t want to sound too much of a twat by calling myself a “pro-blogger”, but I guess that’s what I am. My primary job is looking after L and ‘Beetle’, but my blog has grown to become a successful full-time business which I operate around the school run, nap times and breaking up sibling arguments. Not intending to get too braggy about things, but at the peak of my powers, the DADventurer was recognised as:
- #1 UK Dad Blog (Vuelio, June 2018), #4 UK Parenting Blog (Vuelio, October 2018) and #6 UK Baby & Toddler Blog (Tots 100, May 2018)
In addition, I’m a multi-award winning blogger and have been a finalist in numerous other blogging awards over the last few years including:
2019:
- Shortlisted for Vuelio’s Online Influence Awards 2019 in the Dad Blog category (November 2019)
- Winner of the “Home Tech Influencer Of The Year” in the Bosch Home Influencer Awards (September 2019)
2018:
- Winner of the “Best Daddy Blog” in the Vuelio 2018 Blog Awards (November 2018)
- Winner of the ‘Family & Lifestyle’ category in the BritMums Brilliance in Blogging Awards (BiBs 2018) (October 2018)
2017:
- Shortlisted for the Thirty Plus Awards 2017 in the Community Star category (October 2017)
- Shortlisted for Vuelio’s 2017 Blog Awards in the Parenting category (September 2017)
- Shortlisted for the Herts Digital Awards 2017 in the Blog category (July 2017)
2016:
- Shortlisted for Vuelio’s 2016 Blog Awards in the Dad Blog category (September 2016)
- Shortlisted for Closer Magazine’s Blogger Dad Of The Year 2016 awards (June 2016).
- A finalist in BritMums Brilliance in Blogging Awards (BiBs 2016) in the ‘Family’ category (May 2016)
As a former business consultant and now freelance writer / blogger, I regularly provide content and opinion to different publications and media outlets. This has included the likes of BritMums, BBC Local Radio, Bleacher Report, Metro UK, The Sun, The Telegraph, The Guardian and Very magazine. Also, my work has, and continues to, feature quite heavily on my mum’s fridge – although she’s not quite sure how it keeps getting put up there.
Contact
I welcome all comments, questions, suggestions, approaches, random messages and abuse. So if you have – or haven’t – enjoyed what you’ve read, are friendly / unfriendly PR folk or are a spambot offering Viagra, increased traffic or riches, you can contact me on dave@thedadventurer.com or via Twitter / Facebook.