When a child is born, a parent is born. It’s a simple and obvious concept.

And so our partner, WaterWipes, the world’s purest baby wipes, launched its #ParentIsBorn campaign with a party in New York City featuring well-known media influencers, celebrities, and member of our very own City Dads Group.

The campaign aims to showcase and celebrate parents’ journey, something that is too frequently overlooked amid the fuss of snapping baby photos and the routine drudgery of diaper changes.

City Dads Group co-founder Lance Somerfeld, appearing on a panel speaking to the #ParentIsBorn experience, reinforced WaterWipes messaging that there is no such thing as perfect parenting and often one must simply trust your instincts.

“Parenting is being in the trenches, but with a ray of sunshine,” Somerfeld said at one point of the night, causing heads to nod throughout the room. “When they use the word ‘parent,’ a lot of people are talking about the mom. The bar for dads is still extremely low, and I try, as often as I can, to help elevate that bar. The more society portrays parents as a team, the more it’s going to make mom’s life easier as they won’t feel as much pressure, that they’ll feel they have a partner in this, that they don’t have to shoulder all the responsibility.”

The discussion — which also featured included Motherly co-founder Liz Tenety; doula and co-founder of Birdsong Brooklyn Erica Livingston; and actor, designer and new mother Whitney Port — was by turns funny, enlightening and even chilling as the speakers recounted their moment of realizing they were born as a parent.

The panel proved encouraging and inspiring, but the night wasn’t finished when the panel concluded. WaterWipes put out a good spread of food and beverages, and even provided massage therapists. Members of our NYC Dads Group in attendance enjoyed an evening mingling with old friends and making new ones.

During the panel discussion, WaterWipes — makers of a soft and gentle moist towelette made from 99.9 percent water and a drop of fruit extract, debuted their stirring new commercial.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZIjT5FdPqxo

“Parenting is full of your highest highs and lowest lows, and we wanted to bring that to life in a way that felt powerful and true,” Sarah Lipes, brand marketing manager for WaterWipes USA, said about the #ParentIsBorn campaign. “Crashing waves signify rough times and tranquil water brings us back to those intimate, beautiful moments. As a brand that was founded by a parent, it’s important for us to accurately capture the parenthood experience and showcase the entirety of the journey.”

Many of our attending dads brought their children along to enjoy the evening, and having the kids around drove home the points of the campaign – that parenting is in fact full of ups and downs, and the journey we’re all on is something we don’t have to go through alone.

Evenings like this, with friends, food and fun, when you’re validated as a parent by others who are on the same journey, are absolutely priceless. Big thanks to WaterWipes, for a wonderful time, and reminding us of how important a time it is when a #ParentIsBorn.

All photos by Chad R. MacDonald.

Disclosure: We proudly partnered with WaterWipes and were compensated for this event and post.

Five City Dads Group chapters gathered fathers and children for some messy good times in recent weeks. thanks to our sponsor, WaterWipes, the world’s purest baby wipes, helping them to keep things clean and fresh.

Art projects, pizza and — of course — dirty diapers were no problem for WaterWipes, the soft and gentle moist towelette made from 99.9 percent water and a drop of fruit extract. Our dads and their little ones were quite thankful for this great sponsor giving them fond memories as well as skincare peace of mind.

San Fran fun for all

Mere steps from the legendary Ghirardelli Chocolate Factory, beneath the room-sized replica of the Golden Gate Gate Bridge, 14 members of our San Francisco Dads Group and their children met up at Peekadoodle Kidsclub for a morning of fun, food and free play.

“I was surrounded by other dads who were in similar situations and I was able to have adult conversations with fellow male caregivers without feeling like the odd man out,” said stay-at-home father Will V., who had his first-ever experience with our group at the event. “The group also facilitated a budding friendship with a neighbor and his son who is around the same age as mine and we have recently had two playdates together. Bonus to the event was it being sponsored by WaterWipes, I got to try a great new product and have since switched to their brand.”

Check out this video summarizing all five events:

Slices and dances in NYC

Music and the promise of pizza brought our NYC Dads Group out in full-force at The Playroom NYC.

The day started off with a movement class where dads and their kids sang and rocked out to beloved children’s songs like “No More Monkeys,” “You Are My Sunshine,” and, of course, “Eye of the Tiger.” After a cool down, the staff broke out some sweet New York slices … and the parents broke out their WaterWipes.

“My wife and I have been using WaterWipes for a long time, actually, since way before this event,” said Ben, a member of NYC Dads Group. “She’d been looking for a product without any chemical irritants and they were the best thing she found. They have a soft, natural touch.”

WaterWipes are so gentle on the skin that The National Eczema Association has awarded it its Seal of Acceptance.

Fishin’ and wipin’ in Dallas

Nearly 50 Dallas Dads Group fathers and their children Plano’s Play Street Museum for a morning of breakfast and fun enjoying its “great outdoors” theme, complete with several kid-sized cabins, a general store, a fishing boat, and an RV camper. The dads even got a little creative, coming up with a list of things they could use WaterWipes for beyond diaper and kid cleanup. Here’s some:

• Little freshening up for my pits. It’s Texas, OK?
• Multitask like a boss: clean the inside of your car while the tot finishes a car nap
• Facial hair cleanup after a good dinner of baby back ribs
• Need to cool down on a hot day? Keep a pack in the cooler
• Take household chores to the next level and let the kids wipe down the floor with them.
• Cleaning bird poop off the swing at the park

Art crawl in L.A.

Our Los Angeles Dads Group used their WaterWipes sponsorship as an opportunity to get super dirty at the interactive Zimmer Children’s Museum “Art Crawl” without worries.

In a room covered with butcher paper, kids and dads went to town with paints to create a myriad of creative pieces. Snacks for both kids and adults completed the day.

Coffee and good times in Chicago

The Chicago Dads Group took their families to a fun breakfast and morning of play at The Little Beans Cafe. Imaginative play, sports and gymnastic-style play were on tap for all.

“It is great to be in community with fellow fathers and their families. It serves as a reminder that we have the same desires for more sleep, fumbling through the best way to manage tantrums, etc.,” said Chicago dad Rich Espinal. “It was also great to have WaterWipes on hand to wipe down faces buttered with breakfast and make diaper changes a breeze.”

Disclosure: We proudly partnered with WaterWipes for these events and this post.

Disclosure: Dallas Dads Group partnered with WaterWipes for this campaign.

Dallas Dads Group strives to provide chances for dads and their kids to come together and do something fun. Fortunately, when the summer heat is on in the DFW Metroplex, we have Play Street Museum, a great chain of indoor kid oriented playspaces. Thanks to WaterWipes — the world’s purest baby wipes — we were able to book one for a private meetup for our members.

We packed Plano’s Play Street museum with 19 dads and 25 children to enjoy its “great outdoors” theme, complete with several kid-sized cabins, a general store, a fishing boat, and an RV camper, for a morning of breakfast and fun. Our kids dove right in and left no feature unused. The fishing boat was a big hit, as well as the cabins, which had plenty of stuffed animal tenants.

As the kids played, our members were able to learn more about WaterWipes and try them out.

“After a catastrophe, WaterWipes easily handled my toddler’s sticky hands and face,” said Anton, the father of a newly turned 3-year-old, who found that WaterWipes, being just 99.9% water with a drop of fruit extract, are more than capable of handling tough messes.

Other dads present liked the premise of the moist towelettes being “The World’s Purest Baby Wipes” and expressed approval at WaterWipes being awarded the National Eczema Association Seal of Acceptance.

“The water and fruit extract formula fits perfectly with our family’s preference for natural products,” said Paul, father of a 2-year-old boy.

Given this positive reaction to WaterWipes’ pure and gentle nature when it comes to the delicate matter of a newborn’s skin, we asked our dads for some suggested “off-label” uses for the product. Here’s some of their ideas:

• Little freshening up for my pits. It’s Texas, OK?
• Late nights and zero time for baths, bring out those Water Wipes!
• First aid cleanup
• Multitask like a boss: clean the inside of your car while the tot finishes a car nap
• Need to cool down on a hot day? Keep a pack in the cooler
• Sprucing up dirty sunglasses
• Buff up those shoes
• Wiping down the tabletop at your favorite fast-food joint
• Post sandbox wipedown
• Facial hair cleanup after a good dinner of baby back ribs
• Clean that deodorant stain off your favorite black T-shirt.
• No showers on a camping trip
• Take household chores to the next level and let the kids wipe down the floor with them.
• Cleaning bird poop off the swing at the park
• Wearing flip flops or going outside barefooted? Give your tootsies a good wipe down after a dirty summer day

At the end of the event, there were mostly smiles for a great time had, except for a few kids who wished they could stay longer. Our members were each given a gift bag with a premium diaper changing pad and some WaterWipes product to try at home.

If you’d like to try WaterWipes, they are available at many major online and in-store retailers nationwide. For more information, visit www.WaterWipes.com/us.

Note: Mat York of That Dad Mat contributed to this blog post.

Disclosure: We proudly partnered with WaterWipes for this event and post.

The wonderful thing about being a parent is playing with your kids. The not-so-wonderful thing about being a parent is cleaning up after your kids.

So when you’re having a big kids’ party, you can be sure there will be a lot of fun and many messes to clean. That’s exactly what happened when our NYC Dads Group held a pizza party for some of our children at The Playroom NYC. We were quite thankful that it was sponsored by WaterWipes – makers of the world’s purest baby wipes.

The day started off with a movement class. Talented performers got our dads and their kids to sing along with beloved children’s songs like “No More Monkeys,” “You Are My Sunshine,” and, of course, “Eye of the Tiger.”

Oh, yeah — this shindig was off the hook.

But with any party with young children, especially one with a plethora of snacks available, messes were made and diapers needed to be changed.

Thankfully, we had a large supply of gentle, cleansing WaterWipes on hand. WaterWipes, made with 99.9% water and a drop of fruit extract, are the world’s purest baby wipes. Plus, the National Eczema Association has awarded the Seal of Acceptance to WaterWipes.

“My wife and I have been using WaterWipes for a long time, actually, since way before this event,” said Ben, a member of NYC Dads Group. “She’d been looking for a product without any chemical irritants and they were the best thing she found. They have a soft, natural touch.”

And just like that, the most stressful part of the party — the cleanup — was taken away and we could concentrate on fun. We danced, we sang, there were disco lights and bubbles. And finally, pizza!

As veteran dads know, pizza is delicious but messy when you’re hanging with the younger set. It didn’t take long for slices to get dumped upside down onto the floor, and smeared all over little faces and hands.

It was WaterWipes to the rescue again, because they’re not only soft and safe for sensitive skin, they’re effective. Pizza mess is serious mess, after all, and you need a serious product to clean up after it. WaterWipes were more than up to the job.

“My daughter is really active,” said NYC Dad Group member Jason. “She’s always climbing, always playing in the dirt and sand, running around, so she can get really dirty. WaterWipes do a great job of cleaning her up, which we need to do a lot!”

Fully confident we could handle any mess that came our way thanks to WaterWipes, the dads and kids all proceeded to have a wonderful time singing, dancing, eating, playing with puppets, blocks, slides, trains and more. The WaterWipes Playroom Pizza Party was all of the fun, and none of the stress! We couldn’t ask for anything better than that.

Thank you, WaterWipes!

Disclosure: We proudly partnered with WaterWipes for this event and post.

One of the best things about being a part of the Chicago Dads Group is getting together with other fathers and their kids to watch them play and make new friends.  Whether you call them playdates, outings or adventures, we love them.

Our good friends WaterWipes, makers of the world’s purest baby wipes, treated our dads and their families to a fun breakfast and morning of play at one of our favorite local spots, The Little Beans Cafe. With cafe amenities for the parents and older siblings, imaginative play spaces for the tiny tots, and some sports and gymnastic-style play for the not-so-tiny tots, Little Beans is perfect for the whole family.

We had some epic make-believe going on in the “Tiny Tots Town” with all the dress-ups and play buildings. It is always a blast when kids get their dads in on the play. We also had some creative tabletop tennis, and an impromptu ultimate ninja competition go down with some of our bigger kids (sometimes even our dads fit that category). Everyone was having a blast.

Lucky for us, we never had to stop play for too long for a diaper change. With WaterWipes on hand, our dads could flag their toddler down and get them changed and back into action with the efficiency of a race car pit crew. WaterWipes gave us the confidence of knowing not only are we there to help our kids when they need us, but that we are taking care of their skin as we do. WaterWipes are made with 99.9% water and a drop of fruit extract so they are soft to the touch and gentle on sensitive baby skin. Additionally, WaterWipes have been awarded the National Eczema Association Seal of Acceptance — so you know the whole family can use them with skincare confidence.

“We love WaterWipes! They are soft on her skin and that makes my job so much easier,” said James Currie, a Chicago Dads Group father of a 2-year-old. “They give me peace of mind knowing I’m keeping her new skin clean with gentle and pure elements.”

Another one of our fathers, Rich Espinal, said, “It is great to be in community with fellow fathers and their families. It serves as a reminder that we have the same desires for more sleep, fumbling through the best way to manage tantrums, etc. Little Beans Cafe was an ideal venue with toys, activities, and places for parents to relax. It was also great to have WaterWipes on hand to wipe down faces buttered with breakfast and make diaper changes a breeze.”

WaterWipes are available throughout the U.S. online and at many major retailers. For more information, visit www.WaterWipes.com/us.

Disclosure: We proudly partnered with WaterWipes for this event and post.

Have you ever wanted to do a big art project with your kids at home, but dreaded cleaning up the table, walls, kids, brushes, and pets afterward? It can be stressful just thinking about it!

Thanks to WaterWipes, an Ireland-based company founded by a concerned parent seeking a better baby wipe, we had the perfect opportunity get super dirty at the Zimmer Children’s Museum “Art Crawl” without needing to worry about the cleanup!

The Zimmer Children’s Museum is an interactive museum that allows children and parents to explore everything from water play to shopping for groceries. There is even a small model plane! The Zimmer regularly hosts events like Etch-A-Sketch Day, safety awareness days, and a summer camp.

For our L.A. Dads Group, they set up a whole room covered in butcher paper with every color of the rainbow for kids (and dads) to paint to their hearts’ desire! There was also an art table for older kids who didn’t want to run around in their underwear getting covered in paint, and snacks for both kids and adults.

And the best part of the day? After all the fun was done, our fathers used WaterWipes to clean off little faces, ears, hair, hands, toes and more! WaterWipes are the world’s purest baby wipes made with 99.9% water and a drop of fruit extract. They  were even awarded the National Eczema Association Seal of Acceptance.

“WaterWipes are great. We have been using them since our first child was born three years ago,” said Kevin “Kwick” Wick, father of a 3- and a 1-year-old. “They are very pure – just water added and that’s pretty much it.”

WaterWipes are available through many major online and brick-and-mortar retailers nationwide. For more information, visit www.WaterWipes.com/us.