City Dads Group members took to social media Tuesday to support efforts in Washington, D.C., to convince U.S. lawmakers of the importance of paid family leave and erasing the stigma of fathers taking time off to care for their children. Nearly 50 of our dads and other fatherly friends used #Dadvocates, #PaidFamilyLeave and #PaternityLeavePledge on Twitter and Instagram to tell their stories about the need for parents to receive paid time off from work to care for their children, especially in those critical early … [Read more...]
Paid Paternity Leave Gave Me Special Bonding Time with My Newborn
My husband, Matthew, and I chose the surrogacy path to fatherhood. When we started our journey in November 2014, my employer provided six weeks of paternity leave to primary caregivers; Matthew’s only provided one day for the birth of a child. Fast forward to January 2017. My employer, American Express, extended parental and paternity leave to 20 weeks to all care givers! In addition, it was paid paternity leave -- at 100% pay -- and your job remains protected for the duration -- well beyond the protected, unpaid 12 weeks of leave made available to parents through the federal Family and … [Read more...]
Dreams Need to Stay Alive for Parents as Well as Their Children
My wife approves of my keeping one mistress. She happily walks in on me as I’m cozying up with an Abraham Lincoln biography, a Wall Street Journal op-ed page or the latest edition of Time magazine. If she’s out of town, I’m never alone long. I'll quickly get intimate with Charles Krauthammer, Neil deGrasse Tyson or an elegantly stated case against the anti-fossil fuel argument. But only one at a time: I don’t have the stamina I used to. These late-night visits to the native English language are my after-hours escape and salvation. You see, I’m an English-language copywriter living in … [Read more...]
Role Model of Working Dad is Attentive, Flexible, Successful
By the time I decided to become a father, I knew the kind of dad I wanted to be. One who was present. One who there to see my daughter grow. A dad who changed diapers, took her to playgroups, did school runs, helped out in class, and was generally immersed in family life. I was lucky enough to live this as a stay-at-home dad for five years, before returning to work. I don’t know where this idea of being this kind of dad came from. It certainly wasn’t from my own father, who was far from being present, and certain wasn't my role model. I still maintain that seeing the movie Mr. Mom at a … [Read more...]
Jogging Helps This Father Manage Busy Parenting Life on the Run
Jogging for a good, hard 35 minutes around my neighborhood in southeastern Jerusalem is no different than dropping acid except for the lack of hallucinations, flashbacks and induced schizophrenia. Running simplifies life as it clarifies thought, dousing everyday trivialities in strong, bright colors whose pleasing afterglow continues for hours. There’s not much more to jogging than putting one foot after the other, heel-toe, heel-toe. But these steps, run in a pair of worn-out L.A. Gear sneakers, create the mental callouses I need to weather life’s little tempests. When I begin my run, … [Read more...]
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