An alert Rebel Dad reader sent me this fine column preaching the gospel of Ann Crittenden. But what caught both the reader's eye -- and mine -- was that the entire column was written without any gender-based assumptions about who the stay-at-home parent would be. Such a balance isn't nearly as common as it should be, and it comes in marked contrast to a book I pulled off the library shelf today: Daddy Smarts: A Guide for Rookie Fathers. It's written by a guy I've spoken to before, and who I presume is a fairly intelligent go-getter. Yet his guide devotes zero time to the prospect of a dad staying at home and little time to the idea of mom at home ... but a whole chapter on daycare. Hardly as "Daddy Smart" as the title would suggest.

I also missed this Bergen, NJ newspaper piece about men's groups. It's a generally nice article that spans a range of men-for-men support groups, including the suddenly very high-profile New Jersey dads group. The trend of men being men without being macho is one worth watching. The fallout can't be anything but good.