Vincent Daly, Author at CuteMonster.com

Snack Attack! review and giveaway

March 29, 2011March 16, 2011 by Vincent Daly

Board Games provide a wonderful opportunity for kids and parents to engage in play time together. Yet finding a board game for young children that captivates their attention can be challenging. Enter Thinkfun, a company “committed to creating products that naturally inspire learning, spark creativity, and build problem solving through play.” I had the good fortune to visit Thinkfun and view their products at the NY Toy fair this past February. After I made an inquiry, they sent me Snack Attack!, a spin, match and stack multi-player game for kids 4 and up, to review. Read on for the review as well as how you can enter to win a copy of the game.

Star Wars Craft Book

August 10, 2014March 10, 2011 by Vincent Daly

Star Wars™ meets Arts & Craft. The Star Wars Craft Book by Bonnie Burton promises to provide craft making fun for all skill levels in your very own galaxy. In a subtle way, it’s an homage to the special effects artists of the original films whose craft making skills transported countless millions to new worlds of adventure. Indeed, the Force may be strong with this book.

Dreaming Big

March 19, 2013March 9, 2011 by Vincent Daly

The premise of following’s one’s bliss should never be undervalued or underestimated. Pursuing one’s dreams is a simple concept to comprehend yet utterly unattainable to achieve for much of the population due to a variety of reasons. External pressures such as the economy, family, religion, and politics all factor in to stifle ambition. But often internal pressures like the fear of failure present a greater obstacle. As a parent, one holds the key to unlocking a child’s potential. Conversely, parents can inadvertently destroy dreams by way of tendency towards risk aversion. What steps might a parent take to allow one’s children to dream big?

New Pocoyo and Thundercats for 2011

March 11, 2011March 4, 2011 by Vincent Daly

On my visit to the 2011 NY Toy Fair, I was fortunate to meet with Bandai to preview their upcoming toy line for Fall 2011. The preschooler favorite Pocoyo gets an innovative flexible race track set while the legendary “Thundercats” have been reborn with a whole new set of toys reflecting the upcoming all new animated series premiering later this year.

CuteMonster Art Wednesday #6

March 2, 2011 by Vincent Daly

The above illustration was of an imaginary superhero battle I waged as a child. I created the image to be used in conjunction with an article for “Comic Book Literacy”, an important documentary film conveying the idea of how comic books can play an integral role in engaging kids to read.

Addicted to Celebrity Parents

March 1, 2011 by Vincent Daly

I’ve always found the deep rooted fascination with celebrities to be disturbing. A once frowned upon pastime of gawking has become an acceptable mainstream activity fueled by the media via Reality Television, Celebrity Gossip, Entertainment News, and countless numbers of web sites. In addition, many highly trafficked Parenting web sites such as Babble.com have tapped into this insatiable feeding frenzy goldmine by offering up Celebrity Parents as a featured source of content for their readers. Schools are overcrowded yet Celebrity A’s daughter’s latest booties for Spring gets the headlines. What can a parent do to break the cycle of consuming empty calories for the mind?

Playschool: The Sequel

January 9, 2014February 26, 2011 by Vincent Daly

I took my 2 year old daughter to her playschool a few weeks ago. In many ways it was a blast from the past as I had taken my now “big boy” 4 year old son to the very same location when he was two years of age. The owners/operators were still the familiar friendly duo of ladies singing tunes, creating crafts, doling out snacks, and finishing up with story time. Even the parents in attendance gave me a striking feeling of deja vu as the faces may have changed but the characters remained the same. Yet there was a distinct difference. I was not the rookie parent in the room anymore. At four and half years into parenthood, I felt the confidence and swagger of an experienced veteran Dad. “Step aside rookie parents, Big Poppa’s in the house!” Yet my glorious self-coronation as King of all Dads would need to wait. My daughter threw down the gauntlet by declaring in no uncertain terms, “Daddy, I have a squishy diaper!”

CuteMonster Art Wednesday #5

February 23, 2011 by Vincent Daly

The above illustration was inspired by my deep desire in 2010 to possess an Apple iPhone 4 since it was scheduled to be released around the same time as Father’s day. I believe my argument was quite compelling.

Balancing Act of Fatherhood

February 15, 2011 by Vincent Daly

I sometimes wake from a deep slumber without any predisposed thought to my current place in life. Time in effect is meaningless. I’m not a husband, father, or any other descriptive label assigned to define my existence. I’m just simply me. The guy trying to figure out the big picture. Then some sight or sound disrupts my stream of consciousness and much like a well oiled machine the disparate pieces of my existence click back into place forming the man I’ve become with all the inherent responsibilities as well as the joy of fatherhood. Certainly I’ve evolved as a Dad but yet I wonder if the uninhibited man of the past which continues to resurface during my early waking state shouldn’t still have a say at the table.