This blog stays pretty apolitical, unless the subject touches on policies directly affecting at-home parents. And, in the event you haven't been paying attention, there are some gender-neutrality/work-life/parenting issues at play in the nomination of Samuel Alito to the Supreme Court. I am not qualified to go into Alito's anti-FMLA decision of five years ago, though Angry Bear does an excellent job. (Thanks, Chip.)

To something different: Time to knock off some items that have been sitting around in the "rebeldad" del.icio.us tag for a little while:

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution takes on the evergreen PTA-wants-more-dad story. I love this story. In the hyper-competitive world of child-raising, making the PTA a gender-neutral requirement of an involved family can only pay dividends.

Interesting Boston Globe Miss Conduct etiquette column on whether single dads hosting playdates should be seen as a threat. Love the response:

I've invited some of my 6-year-old daughter's school friends over for play dates, and some moms have reciprocated. A couple of her friends live only with their dads, and I feel uncomfortable letting my daughter go to a house where she and the friend will be alone with a man I don't know well. How do I respond if one of these dads invites my daughter over to play with his daughter? My husband says I'm being sexist and unfair. Am I?
R.L. /// Newton
I can't get all judgy on you, because your motive is so clearly innocent. You want to protect your kid, and who can blame a mom for that? So, no, I can't call you sexist and unfair. But I do think you should reconsider your assumptions...

The discomfort so many feel when men are around the children of others is a meaningful obstacle to bringing up children in a true gender-neutral environment, and it goes at least a little way toward explaining why preschool and elementary ed is almost exclusively female. But -- as Miss Conduct makes plain -- a little reason can go a long way.

Tags: SAHD blog dad media stay+at+home+dad