We write a lot about breaking gender roles when it comes to parenting. Now we talk about it, too.Joining us on the Modern Dads Podcast are Kori Reed and Mike Becker, husband and wife and co-authors of the book, ZagZig Parenting: (Mis)Adventures of a Career-Driven Mom and a Stay-at-Home Dad.ZagZig Parenting, released this week, takes you on a journey through the married couple’s contemporary perspective on being a mom and dad when the traditional parenting roles are reversed. Using comical vignettes, they share their differences, struggles, mistakes and failures in ZagZig. They even … [Read more...]
Stay-at-Home Parents Earn Job Recognition from Hospital
Editor's Note: This article by Chris Brandenburg of our Twin Cities Dads Group explains why and how he got one of the largest pediatric health systems in the country to change its system so stay-at-home parents are no longer classified as "unemployed" in its admission systems.“She can hear, but it’s like hearing underwater,” the specialist said.The ear infections had taken their toll on my daughter, on my family and on me. To see my bright little girl in pain, to know she was having trouble at school, to know the medicine wasn’t helping -- it all led to the correct decision: tubes … [Read more...]
‘Happiest Mommy You Know’ Prey to Gender Role Stereotyping
The title intrigued me: The Happiest Mommy You Know.I live with one mom (my wife) and two possible future moms (my teenage daughters), so I read Genevieve Shaw Brown’s new book with them in mind. Brown’s mantra is that mothers should treat themselves as well as they instinctively treat their children.The Happiest Mommy You Know originated from a popular Good Morning America television segment about “The Baby Diet.” Brown explains that after preparing organic feasts for her young children, she would often eat fast food in yoga pants. But when she started eating the healthier foods (on … [Read more...]
Divide Parenting Tasks, Then Stay in Your Lane
My wife and I have a parenting style we refer to as “staying in your lane.”It isn’t for all families, but this dividing of the tasks works for us. Staying in your lane, basically means, "You do your things, I’ll stay out of the way, and I’ll do mine and you stay out of my way." Examples of tasks and lanes: I do the laundry in our house. Except for the occasional load every few weeks, laundry is in my lane. I like it this way. I have a system. I know I can’t start a load of clothes that need to be hang dried if I just filled the drying rack with other clothes. I know how many days I can … [Read more...]
Paternal Instinct Exists … Even in Gay Men
Editor’s Note: City Dads Group is proud to occasionally feature writing from members of The Handsome Father, a support community that helps connect, prepare and inspire gay fathers. In this piece, Jim Joseph writes about his desire to be a father.It’s always struck me funny how we tend to automatically give women credit for having maternal instinct. We grant it automatically; it’s just a part of our culture.With men, however, it’s been almost the complete opposite. We rarely credit men with paternal instinct, and it’s only after we’ve witnessed a super-human effort from the guy … [Read more...]