According to new research, it may be beneficial for fathers to be a kid again, at least for a little bit.

For some fathers, wrestling and playing video games with their kids can lead to some light teasing on both sides, especially if you are losing. While it may not seem like it, recent studies have found that this practice of teasing can be a helpful parenting skill in improving a child’s social development.

New research from the National Communication Association found teasing can be a positive experience in child development because it teaches them “how to show affection and deal with conflict.”

“Research shows us that even very young children can recognize that teasing is not always bad; that sometimes it can be a fun way to play with friends and family,” said Carol Bishop Mills, one of the authors of the study.

Continued…

[ Click here to enter our KidDictionary giveaway]

“I wrote this book after I realized that there weren’t words to describe many of the circumstances, notions and actions I was confronted with as a parent,” Ruhalter told Baby Blog Addict. ”Over time I made up words to describe them. I hoped to empower parents with a more useful vocabulary and make them laugh. I was a little surprised, and very pleasantly so, that the book also served to make parents feel a sense of unity, giving them the comfort that so many of the moments (the precious ones and the maddening ones) we share with our children are things we all share in common.”

Here are examples of some of the words in The KidDictionary:

WISHJACK: To maliciously blow out the candles on another child’s birthday cake.

KODICK: The child who refuses to cooperate in the taking of a family photograph

INVISIBOOBOO (in-VIZ-uh-boo-boo) n: – The site on a child’s body where you unnecessarily applied a Band-Aid to appease them when they got hurt, though did not bleed.

THREEMAGEDDON (three-muh-GED-in)-n.: The supposed hellfire and brimstone that would erupt should an annoyed mother reach the third digit while counting aloud to 3 to get a non-compliant child to get his act together. “ONE !….TWOOOOOOO !!!!….. “

Check out his video here to get a closer look at the book. Eric says he is currently working on the second and third volumes of the The KidDictionary.

Moms used to get all the blogging love. But now some Dads are cashing in on the action.

Today, parenting blogs are as likely to host a display ad for an educational toy or a cosmetics giveaway as they are a post recounting little Joey’s first night in his big-boy bed.

As they initially worked their way into this arena, marketers targeted mom bloggers. Research indicated that mothers did the bulk of household shopping and largely controlled $1.7 million in consumer spending. But the last couple of years has seen a steady boost in blogging about the wonders and woes of child-rearing from the male perspective.

However, there are concerns that as mom and dad bloggers get bogged down with more and more requests to sample products and blog about them, they could become corporate shills.

A question for moms: How involved is your husband? Let us know in the comments below.

“We were all at a playground and a woman came up to us and said, ‘Did I miss a holiday?’?” recalls Ruben Koolman, who has been a member of Chicago Dads, a local social and networking group for stay-at-home dads (SAHDs), for two years.

Chicago Dads is run a little more loosely than most moms groups: The meeting time (10:30am–12:30pm), like the location, is more of an approximation than a specific. A playdate at the Museum of Science and Industry, for example, met “somewhere around the trains.”

This laid-back approach to the playdates—which have no agenda, no story time, no snack time, no obligatory anything—epitomizes the group (and probably the parenting styles of men versus women). It’s all voluntary, all free and all types of dads are welcome. “Some [of us] work full-time, part-time or work at home. Some are retired or are at-home dads,” says Cliff McIntosh, a member who returned to the workforce when his kids enrolled in school.

Check the database here for a registered dad group near you.