I feel like I really dropped the ball by choosing last week--the one week when every news organization feels obligated to have a dad story--to go on vacation.
Here are a few I've come across. If you spotted a notable dad story, awesome or heinous, why not post a link in the comments?
In the East Village, involved dads are so common on the streets and playgrounds now, that no one even thinks twice about it. Not a big deal at all, no sir. Except for the guys who change diapers all day but didn't make it into the Times. ["Father 'Hood", NY Times]
To such an East Village dad, I say, you want good coverage, you shoulda married a writer. DT reader Marjorie Ingall and East Village Mamele sings the praises of her baby daddy in the Forward. A story which, it should be pointed out, appeared two days before the Times'. [EAST VILLAGE MAMELE: In Praise of the East Village Tatele: Man of Many Marvels, Forward]
The Archbishop of Canterbury says David Beckham is an ideal model of modern fatherhood. [OK, everyone, start earning $30 million/year....NOW.] He's also the ideal name to drop when you want to make sure the paper'll use your quote. [timesonline.co.uk]
Not a Father's Day story, per se, but it does mention dads. Turns out law enforcement officials out west have come up with an acronym, "dipmom," which means "dad in prison, mom on meth." [sltrib via robotwisdom]
We all know that if moms were paid for their work with kids and around the house, they'd earn $134K/yr. Now it turns out dads would earn $71K for comparable work. Hours being what they are, that sounds about right, actually, on average. I'm not in it, but I was interviewed for this story, and it turned out far from my worst-case fears. That's about as high praise as I can give morning television. ["How Much Should Dads Make for Housework? Fathers Are Spending More Time on Housework and Child Care" GMA/ABC News]
Check out "The View From His Window" in The Times' City section on 6/18, about a Brooklyn father, his daughter, and gentrification.
["When we found this modest apartment in Fort Greene, self-interest quickly trumped my misgivings about taking part in the neighborhood's gentrification." very interesting stuff, thanks, Gianni -ed.]
I was glad to see the New Haven Register had an article on stay-at-home dads this year (after I grumbled about the article on moms, including those behind NewHavenBaby.com, around mother's day, thinking for SURE they would not do the same for dads).
I thought it was a little strange that the one guy appeared to have just one daughter (okay, I didn't really get to read the article) and had been a stay-at-home dad for 17 years... it led my wife and I to discuss whether a kid still needs/wants a stay-at-home parent once they hit 14 or 15.
I would send the link, but it is registration only now...
Having once been 14 and 15, I think I'd see more need for a SAHP in that age group. They're too old for after-school programs every afternoon.
In fact, I've been thinking about how we might swing having someone at home from 3 p.m. on once the oldest hits 12 or so.
Our local paper (the Ann Arbor News) actually did a really nice story on our Dad Blog BabyRoadies.
Link to the article Here:
[congratulations, Zac, nice piece. HUGE, in fact. And double congrats to Matt & the mrs. -ed.]
Not a conventional "In praise of Daddies!" article, but I thought it was pretty neat (translation: it made me tear up, the sap that I am). Girl Scouts meeting with their imprisoned fathers...
A couple other news websites also carried the article (CBS, NBC etc.)
P.S. Love your blog!
[ah, the classic "dipdags" story: dad in prison, daughter's a girl scout. And thanks. -ed.]
The LA Times did its Father's Day story on what I guess would be called the West Coast/Cali version of East Coast "grups" :( called "It takes a guru, a pricey pram and a village." Subhead: "With older and more affluent parents on the rise, the child-rearing instinct is out and a toll-taking anxiety is in." :(
[ugh, that thing is exhausting to read. And the whole thing is about unsupported strawman parents, "THEY do this" and "THEY do that". It's the sloppiest, most illogical kind of trend reporting. Oy. -ed.]
My newspaper will have to find another topic for next year. Our music critic, the father of a 15-month old born the day before the start of the South by Southwest music festival, wrote this piece:
I'd sent him a list of bloggers (daddytypes at the top, natch), and all whom I discovered through the links on your page, with the exception of Neal Pollack. I think Joe did a good job with the story, but judge for yourself.
aha, it was you. I linked to it here, too. -ed.]