Stanford Columnist *Does* Takes Dads Seriously

I received a very nice note today from Kevin Padrez, the Stanford student who wrote a most interesting column on at-home dads for the Stanford student paper earlier this month. At the time, I said some things about the piece that were not entirely nice based upon my belief that the piece was either mostly serious and reflected a stunning lack of awareness of what parents actually do all day or mostly in fun, goofing by resorting to the tired doofus dad stereotype. According to Kevin, I got it all wrong.

Said Kevin:

In my column I was deliberately being ignorant and deliberately giving an unrealistic portrayal of parenthood in an attempt to jar their attention away from academics and jobs, and towards the possibility of having a family one day (and maybe cause a laugh in the process).

So all credit to Kevin for taking the time to explain where he was aiming his humor, even if it clearly missed me. (I'm still not entirely sure that I'm getting the punchline as he intended.) I wish Kevin -- and all of the stressed out Stanford seniors -- the best of luck in dealing with the looming real world, parenthood and all.