Media, Media, Media

Lots of traffic was been driven here by Paul Nyhan's at-home dad story in the Seattle Post-Intellegencer. (Paul the guy who writes the wonderful new Family Man blog). It is a well-thought out piece that talks about a number of interesting issues, and I say this not just because Paul was nice enough to talk to me.

Unfortunately, it sounds like some folks missed the point. A local radio station called the fathers profiled "whiners," because the felt isolated on the coffeehouse/playground circuit. That's plenty frustrating: parenthood can be a hard, isolating job regardless of sex, and saying so shouldn't tar anyone as a whiner. It sounds like the Seattle Dads and the Puget Sound Dads are doing a great job of staying connected. If you're in the area, check those guys out.

Dear Abby Understands: The Yahoo! dads-at-home group last week lit up with this Dear Abby column in which a James Dobson-following mother frets that her cooking, cleaning husband will feminize her son. Abby's response is unequivocal:

With all due respect to Dr. Dobson, your husband is already a manly role model to your son. He is teaching the boy important survival skills that will be invaluable when he is older. With luck, your son will turn out to be every bit the man -- and father -- that your husband is.

One of the mosaggravatingng stereotypes out there is idea that dads are somehow not equipped to parent as well as moms -- that there is something intrinsic to motherhood alone that makes for good parenting. But I've always argued that all parents have the capacity to be great caretakers, and it is simply a matter of doing the job. It sounds like the husband of the editor of Working Mother magazine is a case in point: according to thiexcerptpt from her new book, "This is How We Do It," her husband went from ambivalent parent to fantastic at-home dad. Sounds like a book worth checking out.