All's well that ends well: the very strange and very silly New York Times "Desperate Househusbands" story I tackled last month has come to a rather pleasant conclusion. Though the paper failed to run Barry Reszel's thoughtful letter, it did run four others from local dads (read 'em here).

In none of those four pieces did any writers agree with the dads-are-miserable take presented in the original piece. All four presented different perspectives that could have (and should have) been included in the article. Among the thoughtful points:

Another improvement would be for more employers to value the parental responsibilities of their employees by supporting programs like paid parental leave and allowing flex-time and part-time work arrangements.(Joshua Burstein) ...

As a former stay-at-home dad myself, I can say the best relationships they can have are with the children they are looking after. (Frank Deale) ...

Naturally, we men need to negotiate awkward male-female dynamics when we're the only guy in a roomful of women. But as a man who has served my share of pizza at lunchtime, schmoozed with moms at the bus stop and read stories to a classroom of kids sitting at my feet during Children's Literature Week, I can tell you that the rewards far outweigh having to bear all the jokes about emasculation. (Roger Mummert)

So the final word on whether SAHDs are living lives of quiet desperation goes to the guys actually doing the gig, not to a couple of malcontents. And the verdict: this ain't a bad life at all.

(And while we're on the subject of Robert Mummert, check out this five-year old Fast Company story -- featuring Mummert -- on "designed marriages." It's a heck of a thoughtful look at the flexibility of modern marriages.)