Yesterday we had the pleasure of meeting up with Stefan Korn of DIYFather.com and WebFund during a family trip to London. Some of you may know that DIYfather.com already publishes some of our Dadgets.info articles – Henry and I are both avid reader’s of their site!

It was a great opportunity to get together with Stefan and chat about fatherhood, writing, and the British weather, whilst soaking up some sunshine and tourist sights. It was particularly interesting to hear all about Stefan’s promotion of the DIYfather.com book ‘Call Me Dad’ which is now available across the globe as a fine source of information and entertainment for all new dads.

We also had the chance to talk about some exciting new ventures for DIYfather.com including a writing project that I hope to be involved with. Hopefully all will be revealed by the end of the year!

As a footnote, yesterday also presented me with the most challenging nappy change of my short parenting career. A bumpy train journey, a tiny train toilet, a small and rock-hard changing table, a very wriggly baby, and a soap dispenser within easy reach of Henry’s flailing hands. Oh, what fun we had. Having said all that, I must give credit to South West Trains for even having baby changing facilities, so well done to them!

There are some Dadgets out there that you really need but you just don’t know it yet.  Anal floss, musical toilet roll, and inflatable testicles are just a few, but the Slingbox is another prime example.  Can I have a show of hands for how many of you know what a Slingbox actually is?  I thought so.  Allow me to educate you.

You have an expensive satellite or cable channel package at home, together with a digital video recorder with hours’ worth of recordings.  Then you go away on holiday or on business or to the in-laws, and none of that televisual goodness is available.  There are none of your child’s favourite kids channels, there are none of your favourite sports channels, and when you find yourself indoors on a wet weekend you can’t even watch all of those programmes you had recorded for such an occasion.

But just wait a cotton-pickin’ minute.  What if there was a magical box that you could connect to your set top box back at home, that would give you direct access to all of that live and recorded video content anywhere in the world via the Internet?  Welcome to the Slingbox.  It exists right now and can be bought for under 70 notes.  Want to know more?  Then read more about the Slingbox here, order one for a bargain £69.99 at Expansys, and eagerly await my full review on Dadgets.info.

You were once a single man who loved to buy gadgets but then, through some mind-trickery that you still haven’t quite figured out, you decided to get married.  Suddenly, even the purchase of a novelty USB missile launcher involved many painful hours of negotiation and countless back/shoulder/foot massages.

Yet another benefit of sex

However, after a particularly potent bottle of rosé (taken orally) and a good hot helping of your fine semen (delivered vaginally), you became a dad.  Right from the start your wife was approving a whole heap of gadgets from wireless listening devices to industrial tit-suckers.   Now you need to carry that momentum forward.

You must find a way to turn every gadget into a gadget that will enhance your family life.  You need to create the perfect argument so that your wife will casually agree to you buying televisions, torches, beer fridges, and things that look pretty cool although you’re not quite sure what they’re supposed to do.

Dadget handholding, blog-style

Dadgets.info will be here to guide you along the way.  I’ll provide you with information on a whole heap of gadgets for dads, as well as helping you to craft just the right excuses to convince your wife that buying a lava lamp iPod dock is the only way to find true happiness during the credit crunch.

But why should you trust Craig Alan Williamson?  Well, I’ve been married to Dawn since 2005, I’ve been a dad to Henry since 2008, and I still managed to persuade my wife that we really needed a 40” LCD TV and a 42” Plasma.  I have much wisdom to share with you.