This just in from the Armenian Medical Network website (story available also in Russian).

I love the “failure to launch” reasoning.

Italian men become fathers at a later age than any other nationality, and do little or nothing to help their wives once their babies are born, statistics office Istat said Thursday.

Italian men have their first child at an average age of 33, compared with younger than 31 for fathers in Spain, France and Finland, Istat said.

Part of the problem is that many Italian men live with their parents for longer than elsewhere in the world, with 40 percent of 30-34 year-old Italian males still staying at home.

[From And the world’s oldest first-time fathers are… - Gender: Male -]

I can’t find the average age of first time fathers in the U.S. It’s 32 in the U.K.

I hope we can all be inspired by Obama’s message about the importance of dads in the lives of their kids. Some men take their own personal experience and triumph over adversity as an example of how all kids should pull themselves up despite the lack of the same advantages most of us take for granted. I like the fact that Obama speaks plainly about how the pain of going without a present father and that he was lucky to overcome it.   

Obama says prime goal was ‘to be a good father’
President tells East Room audience of his absent dad’s impact

“I decided that if I could be one thing in life, it would be to be a good father,” he told a White House audience, after saying that his father’s decision to walk away from his family had left “a hole in a child’s heart” that couldn’t be filled.

Obama spoke after five men, including a former addict from Baltimore, described their own struggles. The president said there was “no rule that says that you have to repeat your father’s mistakes.”

Adults who were deserted by a parent “have an obligation to break the cycle” and “do better than they did, with your own children,” he said.

[From Obama says prime goal was 'to be a good father' - baltimoresun.com]

Stories like his are often used to teach us a moral lesson that adversity creates greatness. I tend to think greatness evolves despite adversity. While Horatio Alger stories always make better news stories, most people who are “successful” come from homes with supportive, loving and involved parents.

The eating habits of American children appear to be shifting. And for a change, the news is good.

Chicken nuggets, burgers, fries and colas remain popular with the under-13 set, of course. But new market research shows that consumption of these foods at restaurants is declining, while soup, yogurt, fruit, grilled chicken and chocolate milk are on the rise.

The findings, based on survey data by the Chicago market research firm NPD Group, follow a report last year that childhood obesity appears to have hit a plateau after rising for more than two decades. That finding, reported by The Journal of the American Medical Association, has been greeted with guarded optimism, and it remains unclear whether efforts to limit junk food and increase physical activity in schools have had a meaningful effect on the way children eat.

[From Well - Kid Goes Into McDonald’s and Orders ... Yogurt? - NYTimes.com]

Well, not in our house, where it’s still a battle to get some fruit in the cereal, or to force consumption of any vegetable that isn’t deep-fried and served with their other favorite vegetable, ketchup. Our pediatrician just reminded us as well that kids should get from 16-24 ounces of milk each day. We weren’t really worrying about milk, since they eat a lot of cheese and often have cereal, but I think I was also laboring under the weight of my own delusions that kids still get milk in school like they used. Sure, they kept those little 4 oz cartons of milk on the radiator and they were often disgustingly lukewarm by the time we got to them, but at least we were being forced to drink milk two to three times a day. Now, our school has no beverages or hot lunch and asks us to send a reusable water bottle to school. I suppose there is some new device I could find that would keep milk cold until lunch time, but I haven’t found it yet.

A recent survey by Jockey brand underwear survey (Insert PR accolades here) names the following dads as intensely viewable in their underwear. This is not me talking, but rather 1000 “people” 18 or over in a random telephone survey. And the winners are:

Brad Pitt - 29%

Matthew McConaughey - 24%

Hug Jackman 16%

Will Smith - 16%

Barack Obama - 13%

The survey also actually queried whether people thought Obama would want boxers, boxer briefs or briefs as a gift for Fathers Day. I won’t titillate you with what style underwear most Americans fantasize our president wears.

I actually don’t recall getting the nomination form for this survey, which may explain why the list is so full of “non-surprises.” I gotta say, though, that since Bill Clinton, made the question “boxers or briefs” so important to the country’s future, I really don’t want to ponder Mr. Obama in anything other than a blue suit and rep tie.

A new study published online in Social Science and Medicine says that parents’ eating habits actually have little to do with what kids eat. The national study, which looked at a representative sample of 2291 parents and 2692 children found little similarity between kids’ and parents’ diets, with just a slight edge moms versus dads. However, the study did show that, especially as kids get older, peers have a far larger effect, with more similarities within peer groups. Kids do tend to eat what other kids are eating.

The study did not try to analyze why parents’ and kids’ diets don’t resemble each other more, but suggests that parents aren’t doing as good a job as they should to not only show good eating examples, but get kids to actually follow them.

Parenting advice: Watch what you eat, model good eating habits and make sure kids are eating a diet similar to the (good) one you are following. Failing that, make sure your children eat often with other kids who are healthy eaters.

Major life decisions go on hold with recessions, including home purchase and renovation, and even having kids.

Eleven percent of Americans surveyed said they planned to postpone marriage, and the same number said they are waiting to have children, according to the survey by legal website FindLaw.com.

[From Recession Kills The Mood: Americans Put Off Marriage, Children (And Divorce) Because Of Economy]

Most people however, 84% in the same study, say that the economy will have no effect on major life decisions. Bravado or reality, the truth is that marriage rates have been dropping from 2000 to 2007 and birth rates also were down in 2008 versus 2007 (CDC).

If you consider yourself an Influential, then you’re reading the right column. And if you’re reading this column at all, then you must be digital, so welcome to the Digital Influential!

A little over a year ago I started writing this column because people were always asking me what I thought was cool, which is quite ironic when you get to know me and realize that I’m pretty much not cool. I wanted to make it easier to share with my online compatriots what I found to be of interest and see if I could spark the fire of virality to help some of these up-and-coming companies succeed. After a year I can say that in some cases I helped and in some cases I didn’t, but along the way I came to realize that it’s not the outcome or the destination that counts, but more the excitement of the journey itself. I’ve used this column as a motivator to stay on top of the new and innovative, and I’ve found it to be enjoyable in and of itself. I find that I truly appreciate surfing some of my usual suspects to see what modish new sites are driving the zeitgeist. Hopefully when you read this column you become inspired to do the same, and if you do, please send me a note and let me in on the secret so we can share it with the rest of the readers and discover the new together!

Anyways, now that I’m a proud papa I find myself visiting a whole new plethora of sites that will help me to be a great dad, which is how I found GREAT DAD (http://www.greatdad.com/). The site is written to help dads figure out how to be, well, great! I discovered that there are loads of sites aimed at moms, but not as many for dads, so when I come across one I feel I have to share.

[From Jack Myers - Cory Treffiletti's Digital Influentials. MediaBizBloggers.com]

We always love making it on another list of sites that are “driving the zeitgeist,” especially by a real dad. Thanks Cory!

Should stay-at-home moms expect dad to share in the housework?

[From Should stay-at-home moms expect dad to share in the housework? | Freep.com | Detroit Free Press]

They don’t provide any answers, but I like the question. Some of the moms who commented are very militant about it being dad 50/50 once he gets home since he makes 50% of the mess and only works 8 hours while mom works 24/7. That sounds like such an old paradigm. Most dads who work 8 hours (does that exist) then come home and do stuff with the kids, for the kids, and for the family. They might not do 50% of the housework if their wife is staying at home, with all the sacrifice that implies, but most men today are “pulling their weight,” even if that doesn’t mean cleaning 50% of the toilets. When a decision is made that one person is going to stay at home, it’s good to discuss all these issues since there can be a lot of expectations on both sides. Some men will expect their wife to become a ’50s style housewife who does everything and cheerfully serves a martini at 5PM. Others will want to chip in with a big percentage because they know how frustrating staying at home can be, in addition to the rewards of being with the kids. Some men will wish they had the extra income back to hire outside help and take the burden off both parents for doing the drudgery of housework and cleaning. If one person wants to stay at home and part of that is financial cutbacks for cleaning help, who should bear the extra housework burden

The more families discuss it beforehand, the easier it will be once they are in the thick of it.

Your opinion?

Admittedly, this is 20 times more stupid, if true, than leaving a baby in a locked car. The news reports though says there is some question whether he actually new the child was being towed. Even if he did know, I would think the judge would have to either say he was basically not competent to do anything rather than try to “punish” him for his stupidity. What good does that do anyone?

DECATUR, Ill. - A central Illinois man has been sentenced to 60 days in jail and 18 months probation for running over his 12-year-old son while towing the boy on a skateboard.

Timothy W. Melvin on Monday said he didn’t realize he was pleading guilty to child endangerment. He says he didn’t mean to say he knew his son was standing on a skateboard and hanging on to a window of Melvin’s car on April 2, 2008.

[From Ill. dad gets jail for son's skateboarding death -- chicagotribune.com]

Anyone who knows me knows that I love coffee. But like with anything good, everyone is always telling me to stop drinking it or cut back severely, from my already moderate 2-3 cups per day. Everyone, even here in San Francisco, just seems to want to vilify caffeine, always citing some ancient, and debunked, link to some horrific disease.

This article in the LA Times is a good round up of the latest research on coffee. If, like many dads, you count on a good cup of Joe to keep up with the kids, this is good news for you and your overall health.

Coffee drinkers, rejoice! The heavenly brew, once deemed harmful to health, is turning out to be, if not quite a health food, at least a low-risk drink, and in many ways a beneficial one. It could protect against diabetes, liver cancer, cirrhosis and Parkinson’s disease.

What happened? Lots of new research, and the recognition that older, negative studies often failed to tease apart the effects of coffee and those of smoking because so many coffee drinkers were also smokers.

Booster Shots blog
“Coffee was seen as very unhealthy,” said Rob van Dam, a coffee researcher and epidemiologist at the Harvard School of Public Health. “Now we have a more balanced view. We’re not telling people to drink it for health. But it is a good beverage choice.”

[From Read this over coffee - Los Angeles Times]