Photo courtesy of Richie Williams
Alex, Richie, Abby, and Destiny Williams
These days, every mom at the playground has a blog. But in February, St. Louis got its first dad blog when 31-year-old Richie Williams began publishing St. Louis Dad.
Williams, a senior network administrator for the Orchard Farm School District in St. Charles, says he started the blog to write about fatherhood, to be closer to his two young kids, and to connect with other dads. After joining the Dad Bloggers group on Facebook, he found another reason: He was the only St. Louisan there. “I felt like local dads needed a voice,” he says, “and it doesn’t take me a lot of time to write an article, so I felt like, why not fill that void for the St. Louis area?”
His topic tabs include About Town (where he writes about attractions, kid-friendly restaurants, and the like) and Apps and Tech (where he covers being a parent in today’s digital world). His most popular post, “What Being the 24/7 Dad Means to Me,” describes how technology—including FaceTime—allows him to connect with his kids throughout the day. Last year, he used the app 1secondeveryday to capture and share 365 seconds of 2014, including the arrival of his baby son, Alex.
His wife, Destiny, proofreads every post, and Williams says he wants her to see them first anyway, giving her full veto power. (“I would never want to post anything that would make her uncomfortable,” he says). He’s also been recruited as cameraman for his daughter’s YouTube show, Abby Doodles TV; she set up a space in the basement with a table and a curtain. “She’s only 4, so it’s not really in-depth or anything,” he laughs. At this rate, though, it’s just a matter of time before Abby follows in her dad’s footsteps and starts her own blog.
St. Louis Dad’s Five Must-have Tech Tools
- A SmartPhone: “Apple, Android, and Windows all work great and are the perfect way to capture your most precious, funniest, or saddest moments. Plus, they can connect you to other parents or emergency personnel.”
- Cloud Services For Photos: “Working in IT, I have seen more crashed and smashed phones than I would like to admit. The first thing I am always asked is if I can recover the photos and videos that were saved on the phone because they were never backed up.”
- YouTube Kids App: “My daughter loves YouTube, but she doesn’t know how to read or write yet. This app can easily recognize my daughter’s voice and search based on what she tells it to look for, so there’s no longer any, ‘Daddy, I want Frozen videos...’”
- Find My iPhone App: “If you let your kids play with your phone or tablet, this is a must. This little app has helped me more times than I can count, telling me where my phone or iPad has disappeared to—typically the couch cushions.”
- A Good Phone Case: “My son will knock my phone out of my hands or grab it and just throw it. I’d recommend reading customer reviews to determine the one for you.”
➡ You can also connect with Richie Williams through his Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram accounts.
