Dad O' The Week: Jon Armstrong

Jon Armstrong is a Blogger's Blogger: his site Blurbomat is part daddyblog, part socio-political forum, part pop culture observatory, part photo gallery, part diary. Jon lives and works in Salt Lake City. He's a dad to one daughter and one dog, and is married to Heather, who, as it turns out, also has a blog. Jon recently sat down with me and answered a few questions. Well, not really. I emailed the questions to him and he emailed the answers back. I'm assuming he was sitting down. But he may not have been.

Leta - snowboarder or skier?

I'd love it if she were a snowboarder. I wonder if she'll even want to try, given the strong aversion to winter clothing that both she and her mother exhibit.

You're not shy about letting conservative Utah know how you feel. Yet it's pretty clear that there's a lot you like about living in Salt Lake City. Are you worried that Leta's going to come home from school one day and announce that she's joined the John Birch Society?

Not really. I think parents influence their children to a point. My father was very conservative, but we had very lively political discussions at the dinner table. I think because I was one of the younger kids in my family, my older siblings helped to shape my politics. Our neighborhood skews more liberal and by the time Leta is old enough to care, it may be a non-issue. I'd be more shocked if she said she wanted to join a church. Not that there's anything wrong with that.

Your recent posts about your struggles with getting health insurance sparked a lot of comments and brought out the inevitable trolls. Have you ever gotten to the point where you wanted to cut out comments altogether?

Actually, the worst comment day was the day we put up the ads on dooce.com. The insurance conversation was really helpful and while it got a little crazy, the Brokeback Mountain/gay stuff was even worse. Having a registration system combined with a trust system helps greatly.

Now that you've ditched the corporate world, how has your experience as a dad changed?

Anybody who stays home with kids is a saint. Period. I've grown much closer to Leta, and been able to experience some amazing moments in her development. I think that's pretty rare for a parent in our two-income country. I think that in some ways, I've stepped up the discipline, but I've also stepped up the diaper duty. I'm exhausted at the end of the day. But it's a good kind of exhausted. Instead of The Man making me stressed out, I just pass out from trying to keep up with Leta.

What's the absolute stupidest parenting tip you've gotten?

That is such a loaded question. I'm claiming the fifth!

Fair enough. How about the flip side of that question: what's the best parenting tip you've received?

Blurbomat covers a lot of bases - personal, political, pop culture, tech, and you're handy with a camera. Is there anything that you refuse to write about?

There are things I won't write about. I think having some boundaries is good. Although you wouldn't know it from my wife's site. :-) She's a good counter to my uptight ways.

There are, at last count, a gazillion mommyblogs out there, yet very few dads opt to share their experience with The Internets. Why do you think that is?

Men aren't big on self-expression? Most men don't stay at home with their kids? Men are archetypically lame communicators? If it's not one of those three, I'm guessing that it might have to do with how women multi-task. Women are about 6000% more efficient with their time around kids than men are. Without fail, every women I've seen with kids and a task list will complete the tasks well before the men do.

Granted, this is all a big generalization, but I think it's time for men to realize that women kick our asses in the time management/children arena.

You've also lived in L.A. Which city's NBA team's name makes the least sense?

It's really a tie between the Lakers and the Jazz. How's that for diplomacy?

The best parenting tip, and the hardest: Have a schedule and be consistent. It's very difficult to tell family and friends that we're leaving the party at 6:30pm. But Leta has been a great sleeper from about four months on. When I hear parents tell me their children won't go to bed before 10 or 11 at night, I'm very grateful that we chose a hard, but now satisfying path to make sure we always put Leta to bed at the same time, every night and did so from a young age. It's made a huge difference in our quality of life as a family.