No one has yet won the Great Get-Dads-To-Submit-"Mom-Tested Tips"-to-Parenting-Magazine Contest. My new issue came while I was away, and, as usual, it was lacking in dad voices. Of course there was a cover story about dads ("How to get Dad to do his share (really!)"). Not exactly progress. Of course, the stats are pretty clear: in most families, dad does less of the housework than the mom. And the researchers I've spoken to suggest that at-home dads probably are less housework-centric than at-home moms. So I have mixed feelings. On the one hand, cleaning responsibilities are a big problem in a lot of families. On the other hand, Parenting chooses to frame it in an us-vs-them way. Typical.

(I'm reminded, of course, of Parenting's new ad campaign: "We Get Moms." Laid-Off Dad had this to say on the topic a couple of weeks ago: "Apparently this pithy little nugget was chosen over the inferable 'Dads perplex us.'")

But the reliably manly Men's Health runs a long piece by their advice-dishing bartender columnist (not on the web) in which he gives a swift kick in the ass to a working man who complains that his wife wants him to take up some of the kidcare slack ("Don't I get any downtime here?" the dad complains). Jimmy the Bartender's reply, in part: "What you have to understand is that when it comes to your home life, your wife is the starting pitcher and she throws a ton of pitches every day. Be a trouper and close out the game, would ya?" Jimmy also suggests trading places for a week: "... then tell me who needs downtime". It ain't Yeats, but it's good stuff.

Finally, more good press for super-dad Bruce Stockler, a member of the Rebel Dad Hall of Fame. (As an aside, how the heck does an at-home dad of triplets both write a book and write political humor for major magazines in his spare time? Where does this spare time come from? I'd love to purchase a nice block. I want to write a book, too.)