I’ve taken the Facebook plunge and invite you all out there to jump in the pool. I’ll stop with the summertime cliches (for now), but do want to have you all check the page out. Go to www.facebook.com/pages/FamilyManOnline/16660109690?ref=ts or, if you’re already on Facebook, look it up via the keyword FamilyManOnline. I just started the page late last night, so bear with me as I try to make it interesting. By all means, become a “friend,” add comments to the discussion board or The Wall. If you have questions, just e-mail me.

I must say that Facebook is a lot of fun because it enables to use so much of the Web’s interactivity with relatively easy-to-use applications that are all on Facebook (no need to grab them from elsewhere). I look forward to seeing you there!

One of the keys to being a meaningful dad is understanding that the little moments are deeply important. On those days I feel most frazzled by non-kid responsibilities (you know, work and such), I sometimes kick myself for not being more available to my children. I do not always have the presence of mind to slow down and take 5 to 15 minutes to play blocks or check homework or tickle a tummy, but when I do that it has a lot of impact for my child and me. 

Take a gander at these two www.fatherhood.gov videos for a slice of the “small moments” that we, as dads, can have with our children: www.youtube.com/watch?v=9A2Ap3DyvLg and www.youtube.com/watch?v=_fhnrtlckm0. The PSAs have been created by the Ad Council with the National Resonsible Fatherhood Clearinghouse and volunteer ad agency Campbell-Ewald to repond to such facts as, “More than 79% of Americans feel ‘ the most significant family or socil problem facing America is the physical absence of the father from the home.” 

As dad readers of this blog and Web site, your online comments frequently show that you are part of the solution, not the problem. You are role models for your kids and also for other guys out there who still need to understand the mutual benefits of being an actively involved father.

You want soul-searching and painstaking observation? Read one of this site’s columns for this “month of the dad.” In the meantime, here’s what I’m dreaming of for Father’s Day:

1) A Garmin navigation system for my car. I admit it, I need directions to everything — and my wife, who knows how to get everywhere, is the person who got one first.

2) The 100-song iTunes collection of the best of Stevie Wonder. I can never get enough Wonder, especially from the ’70s.

3) Given that the above two are currently out of our price range, how about just a few extra “Yes, Daddy” replies to whatever I tell my kids to do for one day? Or, better still, one dead-serious comment of “You’re a genius” from my wife? Then again, maybe the Wonder collection is most likely.

So, what are the other dads out there hankering for, this Father’s Day?

On Saturday, June 7, at 1:48pm (PST)/4:48pm (EST), I’ll be on the FOX News Channel talking about whether or not the size of families is shrinking and what factors might cause this. In my own circle, I’ve seen quite a few families with three or more kids — including my own family. Perhaps it’s a function of gravitating to a social circle that shares our ideas about family life (including a strange attraction to utter chaos).

However, based on some of the reading I’ve done on the Web (including articles at www.msnbc.msn.com/id/14942047/ and www.wired.com/science/discoveries/commentary/dissection/2008/02/dissection_0208), parents in the U.S. do seem to be having fewer kids as the decades march away from the early-20th century. Some of the factors cited are the financial difficulties of having a lot of kids, but the financial angle also suggests that wealthier parents may have such high standards for supporting their kids (such as sending them to college and grad school) that they choose to have fewer kids so they have a better chance of meeting those standards.

Other contributors to the trend include the fact that adults are waiting till they’re older to have children and, especially for working parents, the feeling that having only one or two kids will make spending quality time with those children more assured. It also appears that, as has been statistically shown throughout history, urban parents tend to have fewer children, again partly due to a higher cost of living in cities.

The segment producer for FOX, Elizabeth Prann, pointed out Kathleen Deveny’s article about life with a single child, and that piece offers an interesting perspective on one parent’s experience (www.newsweek.com/id/138538). Although she does grapple with guilt about not delivering a sibling for her child, Deveny offers some good insights about “onlies” (children without siblings) and discusses some of the benefits single kids enjoy.