Monday May 21, 2012
The Wall Street Journal's Susan Gregory Thomas offered this interesting finding:
Even as men have made great strides as fathers, however, they can find themselves rudderless as spouses. "We're getting a new cultural script for a 'new dad' but not for a 'new husband,' " says W. Bradford Wilcox, director of the University of Virginia's National Marriage Project. "That married people with children now often refer to themselves as a 'stay-at-home mom' or 'stay-at-home dad' instead of as 'wife' or 'husband' signals that we now prioritize parenthood over marriage itself."
Based on this research, she postulates:
As men try to be better dads, they are running into the familiar difficulty of balancing kids, career and marriage--a problem that women have been trying to manage since the 1970s. With men as with women, it is marriage itself that often gets short shrift.
Do you think there is truth to this argument? Are men who are committed fathers less committed spouses? I suspect such dads do struggle some with work-life balance, just as moms often do. But does that make us lesser husbands?
More thoughts on work-life balance:
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Friday May 18, 2012
Every now and again I hear from a new dad who has questions about breastfeeding. It is a pretty common question that new dads have to face, and even if he has read a lot about the process, it is a brand new experience as his partner breastfeeds for the first time.
There are lots of things a dad can do to make the breastfeeding experience more successful for a new mom and baby. Lots of encouragement and patience is where it begins, but that effort can extend to helping mom sleep enough and eat right, finding opportunities to bond with the baby and doing everything possible to help mom through some of the challenges.
While this list of ways dads can be supportive of their breastfeeding partners and babies should help dads get into the process, it is far from exhaustive. The best thing a dad can do is to stay tuned into the needs of the baby and mom and work to make life a bit easier for them as they learn the ropes of breastfeeding.
More helps for new and expectant dads:
Image courtesy of Getty Images / Riser
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Tuesday May 15, 2012
The parenting world is all abuzz about the most recent issue of Time Magazine. It is partly about the article on attachment parenting but mostly about the cover which features a toddler standing up, nursing at his mother's breast, with the evocative title, "Are You Mom Enough?"
Attachment parenting is all about staying physically and emotionally close to your children, particularly for mothers. The Time article talks about the pros and cons of attachment parenting, quoting a variety of parenting experts and parents who have been practicing attachment parenting for many years. One element of attachment parenting (one among many) relates to the importance of breastfeeding as an emotionally and physically healthy feeding approach. But there are many other elements that also have positive implications.
There are many parenting styles out there, and each family should explore their options and find elements of the many styles that work best for their families and children. Attachment parenting has a lot of good and certainly is child-centered. Our children were raised with many attachment parenting principles in place and while we were not obsessive about it, we worked hard to use the concepts as we reared our children.
More on parenting styles:
Image courtesy of Pando Hall / Getty Images
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Saturday May 12, 2012
Every now and again I take the time to read a book that both entertains and makes me want to be better. A.J. Jacobs has done it again for me with his latest book Drop Dead Healthy - One Man's Humble Quest for Bodily Perfection.
If you haven't read A.J. Jacobs' other books then you are in for a real treat with this one. His other books, The Know-It-All: One Man's Humble Quest to Become the Smartest Person in the World and The Year of Living Biblically: One Man's Humble Quest to Follow the Bible as Literally as Possible are written in a similar vein, chronicling his efforts to become perfect in intellectual and spiritual pursuits. Drop Dead Healthy takes the same approach to trying to attain perfection in his personal health.
If you are looking for a great summer read, Drop Dead Healthy should be on your list. You can read my summary and review, and then get this book on your list to read soon. You will love his writing style, his adventures in learning and living healthier, and you will find yourself laughing out loud as he encounters others and develops his own sense of perfect health and wellness as a man, a husband and a father.
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