Father’s Day Media Explosion

I hadn’t thought about it before, but every media outlet seems to feel some obligation to acknowledge Father’s Day by writing/talking about fathers more than they do at other times of the year. Though we’ve seen a steady stream of stories about dads this year, we’ve seen some really interesting “move the conversation” forward articles and studies in the last few days:

The New Dad: Caring, Committed, and Conflicted, study conducted by the Boston College Center for Work & Family
– national study of nearly 1000 working fathers with at least one child 18 or younger at one of four Fortune 500 companies
– excellent data about the conflict working are feeling between work and family
– check out Professor Brad Harrington, the lead researcher talking about the results of the study:

Work-life Wednesday: The new dad: MyFoxBOSTON.com

The Secret of Dads Success, by Sue Shellenberger in the Wall Street Journal
How Fathers’ Teasing, Tickling, Wrestling Teach Kids to Whine Less and Be More Independent

Parenting Styles: Dad Challenges, While Mom Calms, The Juggle blog in the Wall Street Journal
“dads’ involvement is linked in research to measurable benefits independent of those conferred by mothers, including improved cognitive skills, fewer behavioral problems among boys and fewer psychological problems in young women.”

Good Men Project Founder, Tom Matlack’s response to New York Times article, It’s a Crime Men Are So Lazy
“What if you were to public a headline like: “Too Bad Women Are So Slutty” or “Too Bad Blacks Are So Stupid”? You would be roundly criticized, rightfully so, and the author fired for blatant sexism. There are women who are slutty and blacks who are stupid, but saying that ALL women are slutty or blacks stupid is the whole basis of feminism and the civil rights movement. There men who are lazy, and stupid and liars, but that doesn’t make all men lazy. Ask the 2 million men who have served our country in the wars in the Middle East. Are they lazy?

Modern Fatherhood, by Joanne Laucius in the Ottawa Citizen
“Of course men parent, and they do it magnificently. But they don’t mother. And it’s a good thing.”

Beyond the Breadwinner: Professional Dads Speak Out on Work and Family, study conducted by A Better Balance
“This report clearly shows that work-family challenges are not just a women’s issue; three out of four fathers surveyed are worried that their jobs do not allow them to be the kind of dad that want to be, and more than half say it is a source of frequent stress.”

The Fathering Gap: Pitfalls of Modern Fatherhood, by Belinda Luscombe in Time Magazine Healthland section
“Fathers from intact families are spending more time with their kids than their own fathers did, but more and more fathers are not living with their families. So those who have dads in the home are getting more time with those dads. Thus the gap in actual fathering time between those whose fathers live with them and those whose fathers don’t is getting wider.”

My Life as an NBA Superstar Single Dad, by Dwyane Wade in The Daily Beast
“I’ve had some ups and downs lately, but the memories of the unpleasant times disappear quickly, in part because of moments like the one recently when I was able to surprise my younger son, Zion, at his school with cupcakes for his fourth birthday. It was the day after we’d won the Eastern Conference finals, but that victory couldn’t compare with the huge smile on Zion’s face at that moment. I will never forget it. Bad memories vanish each morning when I walk into both of my sons’ bedrooms to wake them up for school—their laughter gives me all I need to face whatever is happening in my life.”

2011 Work+Life Fit™ Reality Check, study by Work+Life Fit
” Men and women are equally as likely to want and use work life flexibility, with men more likely than women to use
formal flextime and compressed workweeks”