DadTalk

Rise of the geek dad

A new generation of hands-on dads is swapping consoles for spirit levels.

It almost certainly begins with Bob the Builder. The only real way for a father to earn therespect of his children is to build stuff with them — no one wants Bob the Senior Administrator. Office-based dads such as me are humiliated daily because we can’t make a kite or mend the brakes on a bicycle. We do, however, enjoy more time with our children than previous generations. Recent research by the University of Oxford suggests that British dads are spending almost 30 minutes more a day with their children than in 1975. And there’s a new breed of men who would rather make things with their kids than read or play computer games.

The family construction project is sweeping in from the US and a generation of dads who have never held a spirit-level are starting to make climbing frames, model aircraft and generally showing their more manual side. Geek Dad, a book of things to build with kids, is published this month.

It’s not as geeky as it sounds, check out these fun experiments to try at home…from exploding drinks to making your own high-altitude video package.

Read the rest of this article from The Times online.