As I noted last week, this is suddenly a boom time for celluloid at-home dads. But it's also time to start bracing for at-home dads to take over the small screen, too. I was all set to begin posting about Tom Scavo, the Desperate Housewives guy who announced that he was going to be an at-home dad on the season finale, which brought me much close to the edge of my seat than any of the who-will-live-who-will-die melodrama. That show premiers Sunday, and I've seen at least one interview with a cast member that suggests they'll follow that strand of the story.

Of course, I bet they'll blow it, but I'll be watching.

Then I learn 7th Heaven is heading toward an at-home dad plotline, too. I'm not a 7th Heaven watcher, but loyal reader T.J. says Kevin will make the leap over the next couple of episodes. Journalists like to say that three examples make a trend ... can anyone think of another TV SAHD?

What makes me happiest (I think) is that these characters are being rolled out as a normal part of a larger universe, unlike the ill-fated Daddio, a show that focused on the at-home dadness. The more ordinary, the more the media treats at-home fatherhood like a sensible discussion point, the closer at-home dads get to normalcy. As I've said before, I look forward to the day when at-home fathers are so much a part of the care landscape that this blog is unnecessary.

So the dumb New York Times piece on college women has become one of the hot topics in the blogosphere, and many people have written smarter and more extensive posts than I (I'm all about speed, not depth). You could spend the rest of the day reading them, but there are two pieces worth reading. Ms. Musings covers the story and asks for some real, probing journalism:

I'm willing to bet we'd be a lot further along in our discussions if the media focused half as much on the persistent obstacles to egalitarian child-rearing as it does on women who choose to stay at home. Why should it be left to feminists, academics and social scientists to probe why traditional gender roles remain unchanged?

The multi-part series (think big) I'm imagining would obviously cover issues such as the lack of affordable childcare and compare U.S. support for families against that of Western European countries. It would also investigate the broader social context, including countervailing forces such as the Christian right and the current political and social philosophy of the Bush administration.

And the series would included the voices of -- brace yourselves -- current fathers and future wannabe fathers (hey, it's my fantasy). Other than Yale's dean, Peter Salovey, no other male is quoted in the most recent Times story. Unfortunately, this is the norm.

The second must-read is Jack Shafer's piece in Slate, where he argues that there is no evidence to suggest that the front-page trend of college women planning for lives as at-home moms exists at all.

Tags: SAHD blog dad media yale TV