I've been lucky enough to hear from Hogan Hilling a couple of times this week, each time sharing something worth thinking about. Since it's early in the morning, you may want to skip the cup of coffee and just read about a new BBC show on training your husband like a dog. After a moment on slack-jawed amazement, I laughed and figured this must be a hoax story. But no. It sounds like a blatantly dumb, offensive and degrading exercise in destroying good marital communication. Again, thank goodness Meet Mister Mom is tanking. I'd hate to have the American networks in a tizzy looking for more dumb-guy reality programming.

Also: ended up in a doctor's office a couple of days ago, and I picked up a brochure on the educational offerings at my local hospital, the fourth busiest birth center in the country. They had childbirth/parenting classes out the wazoo: LaMaze and breastfeeding (natch), exercise classes for new moms, classes for new siblings, classes for grandparents. But no classes for dads. What gives? Hogan is trying to change that reality in California, and I wish him the best of luck.

I know I've argued recently that there really isn't much parenting education that is really necessary, and that dads have no trouble figuring it all out. But the hospital classes are important for a different reason. They get dads involved early, they send the unquestionable message that men are important in the life of a child and that they can feel comfortable playing a major role. If you can't catch guys early, it's much harder to change behavior (hence my firm belief in paternity leave). It might be time to check with my hospital and ask why they're ignoring half of new parents. I'll keep you in the loop.

Tags: SAHD blog dad media