The Rise of the Single Father? Skepticism Before Plaudits

The local public radio station in New York reports here that the number of single fathers in New York City increased by 9% over the last decade.  For explanation of this statistic, the story relies in part on surveys and interviews with matrimonial lawyers:

Spanking Children

Time has a fascinating article on the first “real-time” spanking study, and the results are… disturbing. Bring up spanking among upper-middle-class college-educated coastal parents, and the agreement is that spanking is abusive, full stop, and parents who spank are absolute monsters. Bring it up around folks who grew up more middle or lower-class (as I did) and the mentality seems to be, “I was spanked as a kid, so what?”

How many feminists does it take to change a lightbulb?

Shut the f*ck up everyone who is not able to understand that sometimes, there’s nothing more complicated here than Funny Book Is Funny.

Nobody is suggesting that there’s a connection between Adam Mansbach’s book and child abuse or child neglect. Still, there’s no denying the reason “Go the F*** to Sleep” should be kept out of reach of children is because of its violent language and because of the way it demeans children.

Americans prefer boys to girls

For the past 70 years, Americans have indicated a preference for boy babies over girl babies.

Bad Parents and “Go the F*ck to Sleep”

Go the F*ck to Sleep is the latest all-the-rage “children’s” book. It’s a Goodnight Moon-esque text where a parent begs their child to please, for the love of all that is holy, go the fuck to sleep (here’s Samuel L. Jackson reading it). It’s crass, and the tone is one of sheer frustration (“hell no you can’t go to the bathroom. You know where you can go? The fuck to sleep”); it’s also hilarious. I’m not a parent, but I have been a live-in care-taker for a small child, and “sure, fine, whatever, I’ll bring you some milk, who the fuck cares, you’re not going to sleep” is not unfamiliar.

The Adoption Option

Author Stefanie Iris Weiss recently wrote a post titled My Uterus is Officially Closed for Business in HuffPost Living. Is she childfree? No, Stefanie is planning for children:

Childless And Successful Is Not Shameful

Almost half of the women born between 1965 and 1978, also known as Gen X, don’t have children according to new research by the Center for Work-Life Policy. A total of 3000 female and male college graduates in the US and in Britain were surveyed and revealed that although three quarters of Gen X women

AALS to Offer Childcare at 2012 Annual Meeting in D.C.

In response to a request from the AALS Section on Women in Legal Education, the AALS will reinstate (temporarily?) childcare at the annual meeting.  AALS Managing Director Jane LaBarbera sent this message to AALS Section Chair Professor Danne Johnson:

“I don’t have kids. Deal with it.”

It is true that people can be total assholes when it comes to having/not having kids. Asking someone why they don’t have a baby, or slipping them the number to a fertility doctor, is not polite! And I agree that more people should actually think through whether or not they want children; it would also be nice if we lived in a society where having children wasn’t assumed to be the Best Normal Thing once you hit a certain age and marital status.

Full WBAI radio interview on dads and the myth of male weakness

The full, uncut version of my interview with WBAI radio New York is now online; see this link through the Good Men Project. We talk about dads and daughters, about same-sex parenting, about the myth of male weakness, and about “father’s rights”.

Radio and more photos

I was on WBAI radio yesterday, doing Rise Up Radio’s Father’s Day show. Here’s an audio file of that appearance, and I’m on for about 7 minutes, from 14:00 to 21:00 or so. Talking about fathers, daughters, and the Good Men Project…  

Father’s Day note

This Sunday will mark my third Father’s Day since Heloise was born, and my fifth without my own Dad.