What is Millennial Dad Journal?

Millennial Dad Journal is a weeklyish parenting newsletter geared primarily toward the dads of young children, written by a stay at home dad.

While the breadth and depth of content for moms can probably sustain the entire GDP of a medium-sized country, much of the “Dad Content” I’ve come across are either timelapse videos of building a racetrack in the backyard or Stu Pickles inspired comedy videos about no longer ever having a moment of peace. These are all great on their own merit, but I don’t think they capture the totality of the experience.

Who Writes This Newsletter?

My name is Lance. I’m a 35 year old dad with 2 girls 20 months apart. I live in the suburbs of Westchester County, NY.

Eventually, contributions from other dads will likely be welcome. But it’s probably a good idea to get this thing off the ground first.

What Series of Career Failures Led To This?

Upon graduating from college I spent a few years writing for millennial blogs you used to read, back when people used to read things. Once I turned 25, the age when digital content creators are deemed washed up, I secured a job at a University doing marketing and communications, which I did for 10 years. 

I simultaneously pursued a career in standup comedy from 2013-2023; ultimately deciding to leave because I felt it was in direct conflict with being a good parent and spouse, and wasn’t yet successful enough to justify the wholly consuming grind that is doing standup in New York City. A few entrepreneurial initiatives later–including a moderately successful tour guiding business, a mighty but ultimately misguided attempt at becoming a home inspector—and it became clear that the most meaningful and practical thing I could do was to reorient my career ambitions around my family. 

Initially, the plan was for me to become Corporate Dad. To leverage my marketing and communications skills to climb up the corporate ladder and make actual money, as opposed to the sort-of money I was making for most of my career. But after mixing and matching a number of different childcare options, my wife and I realized that the best thing for our particular situation was for someone to be home with the kids, at least while we were in the all-consuming 0-5 year stage. My wife has made much better career choices than I, and has a significantly better salary and future earning potential. So here I am.

What Kind of Posts Should I Expect?

Check out the archives for a sampling, but we’ll mostly cover:

Who Is this for?

At the heart of this initiative is to put something out in the world that resonates with fathers, parents, and really anyone who has a stake in building a healthy community and society. Some of the articles will try to be funny, others will aim to start the type of ongoing conversations between partners that I’ve personally found to be one of the most rewarding aspects of my marriage. Most will probably be somewhere in between. If this sounds halfway decent to you, welcome and thanks for being here.