Top 10 Fatherhood Stories of 2006The year 2006 has been an interesting one for fathers and fathers' rights. Look back over the year and find the most interesting and important stories involving fatherhood during 2006. Early this year, the U.S. Senate conducted confirmation hearings for the nomination of Judge Samuel Alito to the U.S. Supreme Court. What did the confirmation of Judge Alito mean to fathers and fathers’ rights? Read what Judge Alito has written and what others say about him that may have implications for dads in the United States. Matt Dubay was told by his girlfriend that she was physically incapable of becoming pregnant. She understood well that he didn't want children. But shortly after they broke up, she told him she was pregnant and wanted child support. But instead of paying up, he filed suit. His suit was later dismissed on technical grounds. Read about Dubay's lawsuit and the trends in the law that may point in the future to changes in child support laws in such situations. A comparatively new concept in visitation is something called virtual visitation, which allows dads and their kids who are separated by many miles to supplement periodic visits with teleconferencing technology. A newspaper article from Wisconsin gives more information on this innovative concept in family law. Seems self-evident, doesn't it? But this article from Seattle, Washington profiles a number of stay home dads: their time commitments, their challenges, and how they stay in touch with each other. Each year, Careerbuilder.com conducts a survey of the attitudes of working fathers. This year's survey continues trends seen from the past. Forty percent of working fathers would become stay-at-home dads if their partner earned enough to support the family. Three-in-ten working dads say they spend less than 2 hours per day with their children after work; one-in-ten spends less than one hour. Read more about how working dads say their careers impact their family life. Actor Brad Pitt, who this year became a father with his adoption of Angelina Jolie's two adopted children and the birth of his own child, told a Today Show audience, "[Becoming a father is the] best thing I ever did. You know, you can write a book, you can make a movie, you can draw, paint a painting, but having kids is really the most extraordinary thing I've ever taken on. And, man, if I can get a burp out of that [baby], that little thing, I'll feel such a sense of accomplishment." The Public Broadcasting Service during 2006 airws a new documentary called Kids and Divorce: For Better or Worse. This new program was in response to a public outcry in October 2005 following the airing of a PBS program called Breaking the Silence. Many in the fathers' rights community were outraged by the program which seemed to present an anti-father bias. Well, at least in marmosets. Princeton University researchers have been studying the effect of fatherhood on marmosets (small tree-dwelling monkeys) because in this species, fathers share in the raising of their young. They found definite positive changes in the prefrontal cortex of the brains of these animals once they became fathers and began to care for their offspring. Read more about this interesting study and its implications for our understanding of the physiology of human fathering. Business schools are getting the Generation X message that life balance is important to new MBA's. Read more from Business Week Magazine about how B-schools are teaching the benefits of balance to their students. Measure 3 on the November 7 ballot in North Dakota would have enacted some of the most progressive shared parenting laws in the United States. But the measure was defeated by a 57-43 margin. But even with the defeat, proponents believe that it will prompt reform through the legislative process. Read more about the initiative and the results in this article from the Bismarck Tribune. | 
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