On Friday, our community of nurturing, active, and engaged dads got together for our usual weekly playgroup on the Samuel Seabury Playground on the Upper East Side. A dozen dads were milling about chasing their toddlers, providing snacks for their kids, splashing in the sprayground with their child, while others shoot the breeze as their baby was napping. NYC Dads Group is a diverse community – as was demonstrated on Friday morning: a dad who home-schools his three kids, a couple of work-from-home dads, one dad enjoying his last few days before his paternity leave ends, a bunch of stay-at-home dads, and a couple of working dads carving out some quality bonding time with their children on a beautiful day!
We were joined by Andrea Peyser, a reporter for the New York Post to capture a small glimpse of what our dads group is all about. The result: Disrespected Diaper Dads Mum No More.
Overall, this snarky reporter published a positive piece on fatherhood. Our belief is that the more articles published on dads spending time with their kids, the better. There were some good points and quotes, and some not so much. Yes, our community of dads has almost doubled within the past year. Yes, more and more dads are spending their “waking hours planning menus and scheduling naps” as well as “frolicking openly (with a gaggle of other like-minded dads) on a playground” we do “attend parent & me classes and educational workshops just like moms groups”, and I do consider our group a “dad-ternity: a fraternity of dads” because we have such camaraderie. Hopefully, other parents will realize that we are more than just an at-home dads group as depicted in the article- a welcoming & all-inclusive community of expectant, new, and veteran fathers! We were hoping they would include one of the group photos that they snapped with all of the dads and children of the NYC Dads Group…but, how can you not love this picture of my friend Josh K. with his adorable daughter’s Stella & Violet!
Thanks to Andrea Peyser and the New York Post for recognizing the wonderful and amazing role of fatherhood! Participating in the wild journey of parenthood with our wives/partners and taking the opportunity to be tuned into our children’s lives is priceless!
We would appreciate you sharing the article with other parents….
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