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Successful business women back DADpreneurs

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Not On The High Street, an online business founded and run by women, is giving voice to a new generation of dads known as DADpreneuers. Here’s what they have to say……

—This is article #34 in our series of #100Voices4Men and boys 

The Olympian James Cracknell has declared himself to be a champion for fathers spending more time with his children. He’s joined forces with the psychotherapist and broadcaster Philip Hodson—who is one of our #100Voices4Men—and he’s backing Not In The High Street’s DADpreneurcampaign.

Cracknell, who is a father of three, said; “Making time for children is the big thing. It is so easy for dads to work longer every night to pay the mortgage. That’s the trap they are falling into. My job requires me to be away a lot and so getting to know my children and how they change on a daily basis is a real challenge.”

Another dad backing Not In The High Street’s DADpreneur project is the award-winning film maker David Bond, who created Project Wild Thing project to reconnect children with the outdoor play.

In his interview for Not In The High Street’s DADpreneur campaign Bond said:

“I’d really encourage the dads out there to think about ways they can re-jig their working lives and find things you can do that allow you to stay really connected with your family, there’s no shame in it.

“What children love is time with adults that they love, ideally outdoors, that’s what makes children happy and it always will and it always has. I try to spend a bit of time outside with my children everyday.

“I really think were going to be the first generation that says dads have got to be more engaged, or least a lot more dads will be more engaged in our generation and that will be for the massive benefit of the children they are bringing up.”

So what is a DADpreneur?

For some it is a dads who create a business around parenting or children like the dads at Lostmy.name who won a record £100,000 investment on Dragon’s Den.

For others, it’s a dad in any field of business who is actively shaping his life to try and find the perfect balance of work and fatherhood. One such DADpreneur is Jay Cooper who told us about his experience in this article: What does it mean to be a “DADpreneur”?

—Find out more about DADpreneurs at the Not On The High Street website.

You can find all of the #100Voices4Men articles that will be published in the run up to International Men’s Day 2014 by clicking on this link—#100Voices4Men—and follow the discussion on twitter by searching for #100Voices4Men.

The views expressed in these articles are not the views of insideMAN editorial team. Whether you agree with the views expressed in this article or not we invite you to take take part in this important discussion, our only request is that you express yourself in a way that ensures everyone’s voice can be heard.

You can join the #100Voices4Men discussion by commenting below; by following us on Twitter @insideMANmag and Facebook or by emailing insideMANeditor@gmail.com. 

  • Nigel

    “it is so easy for dads to work longer every night to pay the mortgage” 

    I enjoyed both these pieces. But was irked by this quote. When my three kids were little I worked two jobs, to pay the mortgage and other bills. Not complaining but get irritated by the casual way this gets said when for many young parents ( especially with the wildly inflated property prices in much of the county) paying the mortgage is not easy at all. 
    Not disagreeing with the sentiment of prioritising children but just irritated by the glib assertions that can creep into the debate.
    It is great to see men exercising choices and exploring options. But just as all men are not captains of industry , few are self employed, the majority of us are employees.

  • http://www.bloomworldwide.com Jay Cooper

    Hi Nigel. I understand your predicament. I’ve been there, holding down 2 jobs and renting out rooms to keep the wolf from the door. But I started out with pretty much nothing but some guile. I’ve developed how I work to fund my passions – I bought a Sussex farmhouse when I had no money, no income but somehow I’ve made it work. I’ve taken the same approach to fatherhood. I don’t ascribe to ‘…just as all men are not captains of industry , few are self employed, the majority of us are employees’, it sounds too much like ‘…its alright for some’. Doing this isn’t easy, but you do have choices even if you are employed. You just have to figure out how it can be done.