Today’s new Dustinland comic is about a dad trying to relate to his kid and getting shot down multiple times. I think most dads can relate. Maybe moms too. You know, once they even approach those teenage years they just turn into little weasels. But I do think they may in some ways think you’re cool — they just won’t let you know it.
Posted in parenthood
Tagged children, cringe, dad, dad life, dadhood, father, fatherhood, kids, parenthood, parenting, parents, raising children, raising kids, teenager, tween
This week’s new Dustinland comic is about childhood fading. Definitely a bit ore melancholy then my usually strips, but it’s something I want to touch on. This really did happen to me, exactly like it was in the comic. There’s a weird children’s museum in Connecticut that my son used to love when he was a little one… say 3 to 6 years old. And then I remember going back when he was getting a little bit older, and he was so excited, but when he got there… the magic was just gone. It was honestly a bit soul-crushing. Just sad.
Like the title of the comic says… you can’t go back. There is a time in life for certain things, and when that time is over, it’s over, whether you’re talking about toddler activities or a 40-year-old trying to recapture the nightlife of their 20s. Life moves on, and that’s both beautiful and sad at the same time.
Posted in aging, parenthood
Tagged aging, childhood, children, dad, dad life, dadhood, fatherhood, kids, parenthood, parents, raising children, raising kids, toddler
This week’s new Dustinland comic is about camping and my mixed feelings toward it. Which is tough, because it feels like you’re SUPPOSED to like camping. And I do… sometimes. I think I liked it more when I was younger, really. The simpler, the better. The more stuff, the more people, the more whining, the less fun.
Also peeing in the night is really annoying. Man, that tent zipper feels as loud as an electric guitar set to 11 when you unzip it in the middle of the night, waking up everyone around you with your dumb constant peeing. Damn small bladder and light, drinkable beers.
Posted in environment, parenthood
Tagged camping, dad life, family, fatherhood, hiking, nature, outdoors, parenthood, parenting, smores, tent
This week’s new Dustinland comic is about how my kid is always interrupting me when I’m in the middle of a sentence, and then about how I just know there will be two kinds of comments. Older folks whose kids are grown or younger people who don’t have kids will tell me what I’m doing wrong. And people with kids around the same age as mine will comment in agreement. However… now that I called that out in a preemptive strike, the comments will now include offended people from the former group.
Also, two new Birdys.
Posted in parenthood
Tagged birdy, dad, dad life, family, father, fatherhood, kids, motherhood, parenthood, parenting, parenting tips, parents, raising kids
This week’s new Dustinland comic is about how dumb spelling can be in the English language. This is nothing new, many people have written and spoken about it, but it is something that comes to light if you have kids. As an adult, you just accept how illogical some of our spellings are, but when you constantly have to teach your child these ridiculous letter concoctions without being able to ever explain why, it really comes back hard.
Also new this week — Birdy. Three new Shakespearean strips. Because there’s such a huge crossover with Birdy readers and Shakespeare fans.
Posted in parenthood
Tagged childhood, children, dad, dad life, dadhood, english, father, fatherhood, language, parenthood, parenting, raising kids, spelling
This week’s new Dustinland comic is about how I recently learned that my son is starting to realize the power of searching the internet. As in, you can search for ANYTHING — not just info about your favorite games and shows and movies, not just cool pics and videos. You can search people — not just famous ones. Anyone. Anything. And that… is going to bring up some interesting searches.
Hence this week’s strip. And you know, you can’t protect them from the horrors of the internet forever. You can only arm them with the understanding that even if you can see anything, maybe you don’t want to.
Also, I’ve thrown up a few more new Birdy strips – making 6 new ones in the last two weeks! Surprising I didn’t do any during the worst of quarantine but I think maybe I was too depressed. Also, I spent a shocking amount of time reformatting the archives. You really can’t imagine how long it took and how tedious it was. Of course it still looks pretty bad BUT it is more functional, and I deleted all of the comics I found to be subpar filler. So it’s solid now. 1,000 or so strips — all good. I think.
Posted in internet, parenthood
Tagged children, dad, dad life, dadhood, fatherhood, internet, kids, parenthood, parenting, parenting tips, parents, raising children, raising kids, search
This week’s new Dustinland comic is about how hard parenting is. And actually beyond that — it’s not just that it’s hard to be a parent, it’s also hard being a parent in a time where you are always being told “the right way” to parent by a wide variety of professional parenting sources that get paid to help you / inform you that you’re wrong.
I do think these parenting guides are helpful — 100%. That being said, they definitely can also make you feel like your intuition is always wrong, and that the “right way” of parenting requires an impossible degree of emotionless calm focus. On the other hand, no one wants to turn into the grumpy old man who says “when I was your age they used to hit me in the mouth with a wrench!”
Posted in Uncategorized
Tagged children, dad, dad life, dadhood, fatherhood, kids, parenthood, parenting, parenting tips, parents, raising children, raising kids
This week’s new Dustinland comic is about bad jokes. Or dad jokes. Or son jokes. But you know… for someone like me, well… let’s just say there are cliche proud dad moments, like when your kid hits a home run in Little League. For me, my son making the joke he makes in this new comic… that’s my home run moment.
Posted in parenthood
Tagged childhood, children, cotton eye joe, dad, dad life, dadhood, dads, father, fatherhood, fathers, kids, parenthood, parenting, parents, raising children, raising kids, rednex
I think the title of this week’s new Dustinland comic speaks for itself. Not to say there aren’t fun things to do with kids, or that these things in the comic can’t actually be fun. It’s just that so much of being a parent is trying to make your kid happy, only to have it blow up in your face. On the other hand, sometimes the most fun you’ll ever have as a family is just around the house, when doing nothing turns into doing something super unexpectedly amazing or hilarious. But that’s a way less funny comic. No one wants to read “6 Amazingly Fun Times I Had With My Family”. I mean…. I guess some people want to read that, but some people also collect Precious Moments Figurines.
Posted in parenthood
Tagged activities, autumn, childhood, children, dad, dad life, dadhood, fall, family, family fun, father, fatherhood, kids, parenthood, parenting, parents, raising children, raising kids
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