Pre-pandemic we knew that occasional gaming could actually be good for a child’s health. But screen time rules were some of the first societal norms to be jettisoned with the onset of COVID-19. As schools closed and kids were forced to learn remotely, it became a lot tougher to regulate how kids sat in front of a screen. Also, we’re all going through a lot, so some extra iPad or Xbox time isn’t the biggest worry at the moment.

Still, how bad is it when your kid plays Fortnite for hours? According to a report by NBC in TODAY Parents, not all bad!

Fortnite is clearly the most popular game among the younger demographic, with several hundred million players in total. It’s a black hole that’s easy to sink into and hard to climb out of, but some experts say Fortnite does have SOME redeeming value.

And, when it comes to video games, SOME value is the absolute best you can hope for from an “expert.” Parenting and child development expert Dr. Deborah Gilboa told TODAY Parents that “there are amazing opportunities for collaboration, communication, problem-solving, perseverance and other skills kids need.”

Obviously, it’s not without risk, especially when your kids are interacting with strangers from around the internet. But, like almost anything, as long as you have some insight and supervision into it, your kid will be OK. And, with something like Fortnite, there are parental controls included, so you can cut down on the risks involved.

Fortnite has also earned more legitimacy through the evolution of eSports, which continues to surge during a time when real sports are hampered by that global pandemic thing. Not only do some colleges offer scholarships for esports, but some high schools are getting into the esports space, as high schools in Kansas are going to have Fortnite teams.

As long as you aren’t letting your kid play Fortnite for an obscene amount of time every day, they are probably getting some positives out of it. And maybe someday they will grow up with a love of gaming and join the coolest gaming group on the planet.

Finding your soulmate is something movies use as a plot point far more frequently than it seems to happen in real life. Meeting a person you want to spend your life with doesn’t happen in a split second as your eyes meet across the room – in reality, it takes time and effort to make a relationship grow and intensify. When it happens, it’s nothing short of incredible – which is why the first five seconds of this TikTok had us concerned.

We know what you’re thinking, and yes, we also half-covered our eyes before we realized what this video was actually about. A TikTok user named Emily shared a video that’s nothing like it appears at first glance, and we couldn’t be happier about that.

Emily’s video opens with on-screen text that reads, “watch my soulmate fall in love with another girl.” The first half of the video is filled with clips of Emily and her husband, the pair smiling and laughing and falling deeper in love. Given where we thought this video was going, the videos of the happy couple feel out of place.

@tinytimswifemy heart ##Bossit2021 ##xyzbca ##notaperfectperson ##foryou♬ Home – Edith Whiskers

Before long, a new face appears in Emily’s video, and when we realize exactly who this “other girl” is, we let out a sigh of relief. Emily’s husband is in fact in love with another girl, a girl who he would do absolutely anything for – his daughter.

The video continues, and in the same way we watched the love between Emily and her husband grow, we now see the love between her husband and daughter grow. The video spans several years, with the couple’s baby growing from an infant to a young girl, and in every clip of her with her dad, it’s clear there’s no place either of them would rather be.

Emily most definitely got us with some classic misdirection, but all is forgiven by the end of the touching video. With over 250,000 likes, Emily struck a chord by reminding us that love is infinite. There’s no limit to the amount of love we can give, and there aren’t many things in the world quite as pure as the love between a dad and his daughter.

After losing a loved one, certain dates take on a whole new meaning. Days that were filled with celebration in previous years are now filled with memories and reflection, but those important dates will never go unacknowledged. The Irwin family doesn’t pass up an opportunity to celebrate the life of the world-famous Crocodile Hunter, the father, and husband whose legacy lives on through them.

Each year on Steve Irwin’s birthday, his family finds some way to keep his memory alive – this year would have been Irwin’s 59th birthday, and even 15 years after his death, he remains alive and well in the hearts of his children.

Bindi and Robert, Steve Irwin’s kids, each shared touching photos of their dad for his birthday. Robert shared an adorable photo of himself as a young kid, posing for a goofy picture in the arms of his late dad. “Love you, Dad,” the caption reads.

Love you, Dad 😊❤️ pic.twitter.com/wcWOJcYfip

— Robert Irwin (@RobertIrwin) February 23, 2021

Bindi’s photo features both her dad and grandmother, two people she holds close to her heart. “My dad and grandmother share a birthday,” Bindi wrote on Instagram. “I’m thankful for every moment we got together. Their love will live in my heart forever.

 

View this post on Instagram

 

A post shared by Bindi Irwin (@bindisueirwin)

The Irwin family also used Steve’s birthday to make a very special announcement, one that honors the work the late Crocodile Hunter did throughout his life. To celebrate their dad’s legacy, they’re launching a reimagined YouTube channel for the Australia Zoo, their dad’s second home. The channel will feature new content each week from the Irwin family, as well as archived Crocodile Hunter footage.

Even after his death, the path Steve Irwin paved for conservation in Australia is being both preserved and expanded by his wife and kids. The Irwin legacy lives on, and as someone who deeply valued both nature and family, the Crocodile Hunter would have been proud.

Eddie Murphy is one of the most legendary comedians to tell jokes into a microphone or on a movie screen. He single-handedly kept SNL in existence during his breakout years, he was a major box office draw and had some of the highest-rated stand-up specials of all time. But if you ask him about his legacy, none of that matters.

Because someone did ask him, The Today Show’s Al Roker, during Murphy’s media tour promoting his “Coming to America” sequel. Murphy said when it comes to legacy, it’s not a film.

“My legacy is not my work. My legacy is my children,” he said. “My legacy are these 10 human beings that I brought into this world.”

One of those human beings, his daughter Bella, even auditioned and scored a role in the movie. And she’s playing a natural role, as Murphy’s on-screen daughter (one of them, at least). And that made filming a whole lot more special for Murphy.

 

View this post on Instagram

 

A post shared by 𝘔𝘰𝘶𝘴𝘦🐁 (@bellamurphy._)

“I can’t even put into words…you know, if you have children, your child could do like a school play, and your heart will burst with pride,” he said. “To look over on the set, seeing her, I had a big giant proud papa moment every day.”

A big part of “Coming to America 2” is Murphy’s role as a dad and his search for his long-lost son in America. But Bella and Murphy as Prince Akeem don’t have to do all the heavy lifting in the star-studded sequel, as the film also features Arsenio Hall, James Earl Jones, and Shari Headley reprising their roles from the first, and they are joined by Jermaine Fowler, Leslie Jones, Wesley Snipes, and Tracy Morgan.

The film hits Amazon Prime on March 5^th.

After a devastating winter storm, Texas residents found themselves struggling to obtain the basic necessities. Power outages and water shortages left Texans in a state of shock, and as with many disasters, people flocked to stores to stock up on emergency supplies. The stores and restaurants that had power stayed open until their inventories were depleted, and with the increasing demand, it didn’t take long for store shelves to empty.

Texas Residents packed into an H-E-B store in Austin Tuesday afternoon, stocking up on supplies to hold them until the winter storm’s effects were mitigated. Shoppers rushed through the aisles, pulling food from the store’s quickly-emptying shelves. In the midst of the chaos, everything suddenly went dark.

“All of the sudden the power goes out, and you hear curse words and people sighing,” Shelby Lasker told Austin 360.

Lasker had been waiting in line for 30 minutes with her cart full of food and other supplies when the power went out, and initially, she anticipated walking out of the store empty-handed. Just as the customers’ frustration and panic began to grow, the store’s staff made a decision.

“You just hear (people at) registers say, ‘Go ahead,’” she says. Cashiers let customers “leave with baskets of groceries, no bags. I think they could tell how upset people were.”

Power went out at heb in Leander….instead of everyone leaving empty handed, they just gave it all away….no store does more then my HEB

— ✨S✨ (@shelbylasker) February 16, 2021

As word of the Texas store’s generosity spread on social media, loyal customers jumped in to express that they were entirely unsurprised by the store’s incredible gesture. H-E-B prioritizes helping its community when times are good, and when times turned desperate, the store stepped up.

Many people don’t realize that HEB provides to its Communities on a year-round Basis. In Austin, HEB provide FREE School Supplies to Low Income Children, Sponsors After School Programs, Supply Area Food Banks, provide Disaster Relief to Texas, Mexico and other States, etc.

— Rebecca Allen (@ausreball) February 21, 2021

The company’s act of kindness went viral, sparking support for the store that showed its customers how much they care. It’s natural to focus on your own situation during times of stress, but this small act of generosity reminds us just how much it means to pay it forward.

The Dad Staff is donating to a collection of food and warming centers throughout Texas to help families in need. Impact Your World allows us to contribute to 14 organizations, including The Red Cross, Mercy Chefs, Austin Pets Alive, as well as local food banks in Dallas, Houston, and Austin. If you are able, please consider donating any amount here.

“When our daughter was born, it took everything out of me.

Labour was close to 24 hours and a difficult delivery caused me to hemorrhage and lose a lot of blood. This took the rest of any energy I had left. It was hard to adjust to parenthood as we had to stay in the hospital for an extra couple of unplanned days.

The second night our daughter, Candice, refused to sleep unless it was on someone’s chest, and walking around. We were both completely zonked. Andy took her and spent hours walking around the room so that both Candice and I could sleep.

It was the first real sleep I had gotten in days. When I finally woke up, he looked so tired and while my heart ached to see him in such an exhausted state, I had to snap a picture as I had never been more in awe with him.

To this day, every time I look at this picture, I am flooded with emotions of gratitude and love for this man.”

– Catherine Capern

Want to share a story about fatherhood? Email [email protected]

COVID has ushered in an unprecedented era of creativity. We’ve had to adjust seemingly overnight to an entirely new way of living, and for parents, keeping kids entertained without their typical activities has proved to be unexpectedly challenging. Many parents, however, have taken the challenge in stride and jumped feet-first into finding creative solutions. Mike Ross is one such dad, ensuring that not even a pandemic would slow his active family down.

“When the lockdown happened it really felt like we needed to use our own space to its fullest potential in order to keep sane and busy,” Mike told The Dad. “It felt hard to keep the kids active and motivated at times, they were (are) really missing their friends so we wanted to have some options for them.”

Mike and his wife have two sons, a 5.5-year-old and a 2-year-old. Early on in quarantine, Mike took on his first big project to keep his kids entertained at home – a backyard play-set given to him by a friend. Rather than assemble the play-set as it was, Mike decided to turn it into something that any kid would envy.

“We reassembled it and modified it slightly,” Mike said of his formerly run-of-the-mill play-set. “We added a cargo-net climbing wall (truck bed cargo net) and hung a hammock underneath. We added a climbing rope and a trapeze bar. Later we mounted the sprinkler to it… the creative juices started flowing about then.”

After successfully using the warmer months to the fullest, Mike wanted his kids to have a similar level of excitement about something they could use year-round. Prior to quarantine, Mike didn’t have a whole lot of woodworking experience – but like most dads, his kids provided both the inspiration and motivation to use what skills he had and learn the skills he needed.

Mike’s oldest son loves climbing, and his history of scaling anything from banisters to basketball nets sparked the idea for a climbing room. Mike’s wife broke the massive project down into doable chunks, and his brother stepped up to help him complete the challenging project. Though the climbing wall was technically for the kids, it truly became a family affair.

“We had been talking about it since November but had other priorities over the holidays so he (our oldest) knew it was coming and counting down the days but it wasn’t finished until the beginning of January,” Mike recalled. “Our 5yo insisted on being in the room and trying to help and was trying to get on it every chance he got (not annoying at all). As soon as it was secure and he got the go-ahead, he jumped right in and his little brother followed right behind. They were practically squealing with joy and looked like real little monkeys climbing the walls!”

“We have a chin-up bar in the doorway, a basketball net on the back of the door and a laser light bluetooth speaker in there too now. We are always thinking about new ways to play in there, they love(d) it!”

Sometimes being in the right place at the right time means the difference between life and death. During a winter that seems as full of surprises as the baffling phenomenon that was 2020, much of the U.S. can’t seem to catch a break. Texas was hit particularly hard by the abnormal weather, with freezing temperatures and snow that left the entire state in shock. Aside from the impact the weather had on necessities like electricity and water, many Texas residents themselves were unsure how to cope with the cold.

18-Year-old Caitlyn Thomas, like many Texans, was not a fan of the snow. Her dog needed a walk, but the cold made the generally enjoyable task completely unappealing. Unbothered by the snow and ice caking the ground, Caitlyn’s dog persisted – and like any good dog owner, Caitlyn relented. She bundled up, leashed her eager dog, and the pair headed out for a walk.

Caitlyn held the leash in one hand and her phone in the other, likely distracting herself from the frost crunching beneath her feet. In a stroke of incredible luck, Caitlyn’s attention returned sharply to her surroundings in the precise place and time it was needed.

“I was playing on my phone and then I look up and I see this little image in the water and I walk up to it and realize it a little boy,” Caitlyn told ArkLaTex Homepage. “It instantly clicked in my brain like, ‘Oh my gosh, I have to help him!’”

The panicked teen was unsure of how to describe the boy’s location to an emergency dispatcher, so she began pounding on nearby doors to no avail. The quick-thinking teen called her grandfather, Randy Thomas, who lived only a block away. Minutes later, Thomas arrived at the scene, not even taking the time to put on a coat.

Caitlyn dialed 9-1-1, but not wanting to wait any longer, Randy Thomas jumped in the water next to the boy. Fueled by adrenaline and the knowledge that time was running out, Thomas was able to pull the young boy from the frigid water with the help of a few good samaritans and even the boy’s dog. Though he was too cold to speak and missing his shoes, the boy was conscious and otherwise unharmed.

If one thing had gone differently for Caitlyn on that life-changing day, the story may have ended differently. An awe-stricken Caitlyn explained, “I’m just so thankful that God sent me out on a walk in that direction because I was debating on going a different way.”

The Dad Staff is donating to a collection of food and warming centers throughout Texas to help families in need. Impact Your World allows us to contribute to 14 organizations, including The Red Cross, Mercy Chefs, Austin Pets Alive, as well as local food banks in Dallas, Houston, and Austin. If you are able, please consider donating any amount here.

Sometimes, even with countless cable channels and streaming platforms and different ways to watch stuff, it boggles the mind that they keep making new shows. Especially when those new shows are just new versions of old shows!

We’re getting new He-Man shows, new Avatar shows, and now we’re getting a new Transformers show. Two of them, in fact!

On Thursday, Hasbro announced a brand new Transformers animated series that will live on Nickelodeon, and it will focus on the interaction between a brand new species of Transformers and the humans they befriend. As well as some well-known characters from the past.

“As soon as I read the creative concept, which at its core is about family, I knew we absolutely had to tell this story with our good friends at eOne and Hasbro,” said Ramsey Naito, President, Nickelodeon Animation. “The series will tell a reimagined story featuring both original characters and fan-favorites for a whole new generation of kids and families.”

Meanwhile, Netflix announced a new animated comedy series called Transformers: BotBots, which focuses on mischievous little robots who disguise themselves as ordinary objects and wreak hilarious havoc.

“We are delighted to partner with Netflix to bring an all-new Transformers story to life and explore a whole new universe with BotBots,” said Olivier Dumont, Hasbro eOne’s President of Family Brands. “Transformers storytelling has expanded into so many new avenues and we can’t wait to surprise both existing fans and new fans coming to the franchise for the first time with these fun bots who are definitely more than meets the eye!”

The toys, and their accompanying shows and movies, have been around since 1984, and it doesn’t sound like they’ll be going away anytime soon.

Unlike my Optimus Prime toy that the evil Ms. Giovine confiscated when I wouldn’t put it away during third-grade math.

They’ve been trying to get Superman right for years.

Ever since Christopher Reeve embodied the character in Richard Donner’s classic (and its classic sequel), Hollywood has been trying to recapture that magic. It was gone as early as Superman III and hasn’t really been back.

Maybe you love Dean Cain or Tom Welling’s TV versions, maybe you ride for Zack Snyder’s gloomy, homicidal hero, but none of those versions have erased Reeve’s seminal take or brought the hero back to prominence. He continues to take a backseat to Batman, Spider-man, and most recently, the Avengers.

It’s time for some new blood, and now we’re gonna get it.

Ta-Nehisi Coates, the celebrated black writer who helped shape the MCU’s Black Panther and has been at the forefront of America’s discussions about race for the past decade-plus, has been tapped by DC and Warner Bros to write a new Superman movie. The movie is being produced by JJ Abrams, who once wrote his own controversial script for a Superman reboot before Bryan Singer and Brandon Routh revived Richard Donner’s version with 2006’s Superman Returns.

“To be invited into the DC Extended Universe by Warner Bros., DC Films and Bad Robot is an honor,” Coates said in a statement. “I look forward to meaningfully adding to the legacy of America’s most iconic mythic hero.”

The first question that’s going to come up is: are we getting a black Superman now? No one knows. They don’t have a script or a director yet, and casting is a long way away. But just because they’ve hired a black writer does not mean he has to write a black character (in fact, aside from the celebrated take on Black Panther, Coates also wrote a recent series for Captain America). Especially when that character is an alien inherently different from, and often at odds with, the culture he adopts. That said, a black version would certainly be a change of pace, and would offer some interesting opportunities.

“Ta-Nehisi Coates’s ‘Between the World and Me’ opened a window and changed the way many of us see the world,” said Toby Emmerich, chairman of Warner Bros. Pictures Group. “We’re confident that his take on Superman will give fans a new and exciting way to see the Man of Steel.”

Either way, there is plenty of metaphorical space to explore with this character, who was conceived by marginalized Jewish artists as a representation of American, and human, ideals and whose own outsiderness has been used to comment on plenty of societal issues, including immigration, civil rights, and more. As a symbol for America, the Big Blue Boy Scout is well within his rights to engage with the modern state of the country, and the world. And Ta-Nehisi Coates is a gifted writer with a keen eye for human issues, and will surely write a compelling character, whether they end up casting Michael B. Jordan or some blue-eyed kid from Riverdale.

The biggest question isn’t what Superman looks like, it’s how he acts, and what kind of tone the film has. For the past 10 years, the cinematic version of the most famous superhero of all has been focused on darkness, and grit, and inner turmoil. I think it’s time to move on from that.

Superman can exist in a complicated, troubled world without succumbing to that darkness himself. He should be a hero who strives to lead by positive example, who inspires us to be better, who shows us all what we can be.

No matter what color he is.