Thursday, November 09, 2006

The Truth

I spend a lot of time cheerleading for fathers in this space -- arguing that involved fatherhood is fun and poignant and important. And it is. But it's also tricky. Expectations for fathers are changing quickly, at home, in the workplace, and in our own heads.

The impact of those changing expectations is tough to articulate. Which is why I'm glad my erstwhile colleague Paul Nyhan, from the Seattle Post-Intelligencer, posted on those challenge in his Working Dad blog:
... Me? I'm dog tired from the grind of shopping for groceries, cleaning the kitchen, drawing baths for the kids, putting them to bed, feeding them breakfast, driving them to child care, working eight-plus hours, training for a marathon, watching a quarter of the game between my beloved New England Patriots and Minnesota Vikings, carving pumpkins, feeding the dog, walking the dog and doing laundry. (And my wife does even more.)

We all know moms have done this for a long time. But, dads are far behind and face a whole slew of different challenges. Being a parent of two toddlers is exhausting, and the most rewarding thing I have ever done, but there is something else going on, a misunderstood loss of balance as dads struggle to create a new model, literally on the run. ...
It's worth reading the whole thing, and if it resonates (or if you object), leave a comment over there. I'm curious to see if any discussion will break out on this one.

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