I know I can get a little preschool-centric here, which is why I found this press release refreshing. The gist is that dads continue to play an important role in the lives of their kids through adulthood ... something worth thinking about about as I try to figure out what to give my own dad for Father's Day.

My workhorse desktop computer died about a week ago, dulling my ability to explore the multimedia world of the web (and compromising my highly regular podcasting schedule), so I haven't yet listened to this public radio piece from Marketplace on "secret" family leave. The upshot is that in a lot of places (but not where I live, natch), family leave policies are much more liberal than people expect.

This makes me wonder for a moment whether I should stop shouting about more extensive (or paid) family leave and spend all my time shouting about making sure people know (and use) the meager rights they have at present. The weirdest part of the weird theladders.com survey was that at least three of four high earners were under the impression that their company gave less than 12 weeks of paternity leave, which flies in the face of the gender-neutral Family and Medical Leave Act.

So let me be clear: you are allowed to take time off to be with your kids. And you may be allowed to take more than you think. (For a more in-depth, state-by-state analysis check out this National Partnership for Women & Families report (PDF)).