That magic day has come and gone. You know, the special day when newspaper editors everywhere search for Father's Day trends. The happy day when papers across the country are full of grinning at-home dads boasting about how they lost nothing but their corporate shackles by staying home. (OK, no one used the phrase "corporate shackles" this year. Beer to anyone who gets it in an at-home dad story in the next 365 days.)

Of course, this also means I can't keep up with the deluge (especially with some other projects on my plate), so I'll be rationing the links throughout the week. Apologies in advance.

To start, the San Francisco Chronicle ran a couple of stories, starting with this this mini-profile of at-home dads, who all had generally positive things to say. Paradoxically, one day later, the paper ran this story on how "emotional closeness with children eludes many dads". To whit: "Fact is, says Brown University anthropology Professor Nicholas W. Townsend, most men still embrace the traditional '50s Ward Cleaver role of primary breadwinner." The overall gist is that at-home dads are a catchy story, but we're not part of the social frabric yet. The story is built off of Townsend, who has a book out. As I learn more about the prof, I'll let you know.

The one other piece I'll mention today is this Tacoma News-Tribune article. I'd known the author was fishing for stories a couple of weeks ago, and the final story came out pretty well, with a sociological edge to it that's often missing in these stories. ("'Men are going back to traditional role models at home, more like it was at the turn of the last century,' [sociologist Scott] Coltrane said. Unlike the 1950s, which Coltrane calls an economic and societal anomaly, dads who stay at home now are more 'embedded' in their families' lives."

And finally, since we've been a bit comix-obsessed over here at Rebel Dad, let me direct all to a sweet Baldo strip today. To be honest, Baldo doesn't usually appeal to me, but I have to give credit when credit is due.