He loved me, this I know, but distance and ill-feelings between adults kept him away. Years later, I made my piece with it. To this day, though, it bothers me still to see fathers – whether married or not – who refuse to be present in their children’s lives.

Now comes a new reality “drama” aimed at getting a few of these potential Darwin Award-winners to sack-up and be dads. VH1 Dad Camp airs its first episode on May 31 at 10:30 p.m. EDT. VH1, formerly known as the “adult contemporary” version of MTV, has teamed with the National Fatherhood Leaders Group to bring in psychologist Jeff Gadere to work with six fathers and their pregnant girlfriends to attempt to get them to be “dads” by the series’ end.

Whether this show has the mettle to bring other real-life sperm donors to “fatherhood” is a question that will only be answered with time. But what it will most likely achieve is shining a light on the reality that being a dad means something more than showing up when it’s convenient – you know after late-night feedings and diaper changes, after the umpteenth illness punctuated by projectile vomiting, and after potty training. Being a dad means being there for those times, and for the times in between and later. It means seeing your children every day. It means telling them you love them. It means disciplining them and teaching them to learn from their own mistakes.

Just as important, and not to be overlooked, it means being there for the mom. Not every relationship that involves a child is going to work out. I lived this reality. But responsibility for your children doesn’t end when the love fades. It never ends. Share the burden of raising the child, and make it easy on the moms, because no matter what, every single-mom is doing the work of two parents at all times. Be kind, and be respectful of her time and priorities.

It takes work, but every father can earn the title “dad”.

A little hair, a little make-up, still white trash.

We’ve all heard the sordid tales of female teachers having sexual relations with younger students. It seems it happens quite a lot (per capita and compared to never) down here in Florida. Well, turns out that it doesn’t just happen with teachers and students. There are other grown women, perfectly capable of getting laid with men their own age, that turn down the white trash corridor towards the dark side and end up in bed with either their own relations or teenagers. In this case out of Venice (the white trashiest area of Sarasota, FL) a 36 year old woman had sexual relations with at least three underage boys after providing them with drugs. Oh, bonus points – she picked them up at a skate park. Predator, not cougar.

What the hell is wrong with these women? She’s not wholly unattractive. The picture doesn’t show anything from the neck down but judging by her face she can’t be too bad. Of course, she could be really bad. There really is no good way to tell. The best we can do is just guess, let’s say she’s not too shabby. A little flab around the middle, a nice ass and some medium size boobs that have never been sagged by childbirth. She’s lonely, she doesn’t have the confidence to talk to men or go out, not to mention not having enough scratch to pay her way due to her most likely minimum wage position at a fast food joint or simply unemployed. So she does the next best thing in her mind, she poaches young boys who don’t know any better. This is so she can exact control. But what about the risk?

Clearly, she’s not bright enough to consider that. In her mind, she’s doing these boys a favor. Her sex, which she is offering for basically nothing, lacks the challenge that teenage sex generally presents. Chances are, these boys weren’t exactly self confident winners, they were probably low self esteem losers. All it took was one inquisitive parent checking the text messages of one of the boys to uncover the sordid affairs, I’m glad that at least one parent was paying attention. This winner was soon arrested and now we have landed here, more fodder for White Trash Wednesday.