Parenting is hard. That’s not a complaint; it’s just the truth. It’s messy, exhausting, occasionally soul-crushing work that doesn’t come with a pause button. There are sleepless nights, tantrums in Target, and the weird psychological whiplash of loving your kids more than life while also wanting to fake your own death just to get 24 hours alone.
Enter Dad and Buried, a parenting blog that doesn’t sugarcoat any of it. It doesn’t offer chore charts, Montessori hacks, or photo-ready snack box inspiration. It offers something better: a laugh, a little perspective, and the freedom to admit you sometimes hate being a parent while still being a good one.
So, What Is Dad and Buried?
Created by Brooklyn-based writer and father Mike Julianelle, Dad and Buried brands itself as “the anti-parent parenting blog.” Julianelle isn’t anti-kid. He loves his son. He just refuses to buy into the myth that parenthood transforms you into a saint or that you have to pretend it does.
Julianelle takes the role of what he calls “the anti-parent,” someone who doesn’t perform parental perfection for Instagram. He uses the blog as a space to vent: about sanctimommies, about school fundraisers, and about the sheer absurdity of trying to raise decent human beings in a world that also sells toddler-sized Gucci.
If that sounds cynical, it’s not. It’s cathartic. Because for many of us, parenting isn’t just about love and milestones. It’s also about the unspoken frustrations—the stuff we joke about in private group texts but rarely admit in public. Dad and Buried says it all out loud.
Laughing Through the Chaos
What makes Dad and Buried work is Julianelle’s comedic timing. He has a knack for turning the smallest moment—say, the existential dread of assembling a toddler’s birthday gift—into a mini-essay on modern parenthood. His writing is sharp, self-deprecating, and full of the kind of honesty usually reserved for therapy sessions or whiskey-fueled heart-to-hearts.
The blog doesn’t pretend parenting is a joke. It just reminds us that humor is part of the survival kit. According to research from the University of Maryland and others, humor helps diffuse stress, promotes bonding, and improves resilience. So no, laughing at your kid’s epic meltdown in the middle of Trader Joe’s doesn’t make you a bad parent. It makes you human.
Satire as Armor
One of the blog’s strongest tools is satire. Dad and Buried often takes aim at the Pinterest-perfect world of parenting influencers and curated chaos. Julianelle writes with a sharp eye for hypocrisy and a deep awareness of the pressures modern parents are under, especially those trying to work, co-parent, and stay sane under the surveillance state of social media.
By poking fun at common parenting tropes like “screen time guilt” or the myth of “balance,” the blog allows parents to shed some of the performative shame. Because let’s face it: no one’s living up to the ideal. And pretending we are just makes everyone feel worse.
What Dad and Buried Gives the Parenting Community
There’s something comforting about knowing you’re not the only one who’s hiding from your kids in the bathroom. Dad and Buried builds that sense of solidarity. It reminds parents that you can love your children and still need space from them. You can be grateful and miserable in the same breath. Those emotions aren’t contradictory; they’re just the truth of raising kids in a world that rarely makes space for complexity.
For a lot of readers, Dad and Buried has become more than a blog. It’s a gathering place. The online community that’s sprung up around it is full of parents sharing their own stories, trading survival tips, or just dropping in to say, “Same.” And that kind of honest exchange matters. Because when the prevailing culture tells you to suck it up and smile, humor can be a quiet form of rebellion.
The Mental Health Case for Humor in Parenting
Recent studies show parental burnout is on the rise. A Surgeon general report revealed that 70% of parents say being a parent is harder than they where over 20 years ago. And another 2023 report from Pew research reports 62% feeling its harder most of the time than they expected. But there’s good news: research consistently finds that humor can help. It lowers cortisol levels, increases oxytocin (the bonding hormone), and provides a buffer against anxiety and depression.
In short, laughing about parenting isn’t avoidance. It’s adaptation.
Serious Where It Counts
Julianelle doesn’t ignore the serious parts of parenting. He’s open about mental health, his experiences with anxiety, and the importance of showing up even when you don’t have it all together. What separates Dad and Buried from snark-for-snark’s-sake blogs is that under the sarcasm, there’s genuine empathy. The humor doesn’t negate the responsibility. It humanizes it.
Responsible parenting still matters. Discipline, empathy, boundaries, and all the emotional heavy lifting are part of the job. But Dad and Buried argues that those things don’t require you to martyr yourself. You can do them with your personality intact.
Bottom Line
Dad and Buried doesn’t claim to have the answers. What it offers is something just as valuable: perspective. It’s a reminder that parenting doesn’t require sainthood or sacrifice of self. You don’t have to become a different person to be a good parent. You just have to keep showing up. And if you can laugh at the chaos while you do it, all the better.
So next time you find yourself elbow-deep in a diaper blowout or mentally preparing for a PTA meeting that could have been an email, pull up Dad and Buried. You might not find a life hack. But you’ll find someone else who’s been there and who lived to make a joke about it.
FAQs
Is Dad and Buried for all parents?
Yes. It’s for any parent who’s ever looked at their screaming toddler and thought, “Is it too late to return this?”
Does humor really reduce parental stress?
Absolutely. Research supports it. Laughter lightens cognitive load and helps parents bond both with kids and with each other.
Is there any practical parenting advice in the blog?
Sometimes. But it’s more about mindset than methods. You’ll find real-world reflections rather than rulebooks.
How do I connect with other parents through Dad and Buried?
Start with the blog comments and social media. Julianelle has cultivated a loyal following of parents who are equally exhausted and hilarious.
Can humor help my kids, too?
Yes. Homes with humor are more resilient, communicative, and emotionally agile. Laughter builds trust. And it teaches your kids they don’t have to be perfect either.
