OK, OK, back to the, you know, blogging: there are a few things trickling out in the world of at-home fatherhood that don't have to do with my recent obsession with podcasting. I should start with Sue Shellenbarger's Wall Street Journal piece from last week. Shellenbarger writes the "Work and Family" column week in and week out and is probably one the sharpest minds out there when it comes to the question of work-family balance.

That said, her piece is one of those bits of good news wrapped up as bad news. She charts the rise of golddigging men -- guys who seek to date rich, successful women in hopes of someday being a slacker husband. She quotes a number of women who note the interest their less-ambitious would-be beaus have in money, and Shellenbarger concludes that women now have to contend with golddiggers, just as their male peers have for eons.

Now I don't doubt that there are golddigging men (or women) who are mostly interested in money, but I think the number of people like that is vastly overstated. You don't have to have a lot of relationship experience to learn that money and love are two different things. But what gave me hope from the story is that there now apparently exists a group of men who go into relationships/marriage more than happy to be the "trailing spouse." They're willing to check their careers and put ambition on hold. Here's a key line:

It's a growing concern for people in their 20s and 30s, not just because young women are earning more, but because young men feel less compelled to fit the mold of the traditional solo breadwinner.

To repeat: "... young men feel less compelled to fit the mold of the traditional solo breadwinner." To flip that around, men are more willing that ever to swap gender roles. More willing to work around their wife's schedule or aspirations. More willing to be an at-home dad. This is good news for me, even if the Wall Street Journal wants to call me a slacker.