I am a stay-at-home dad and my wife is a physician, so gender roles in our home are usually fluid and negotiable—unlike in the “real world.” “Dad, why does that sign say ‘Men Working’? Isn’t that sexist?” My 13-year-old daughter and I are driving to the store, and there is road work ahead. “Yes,” I sigh. […]
Gender roles are changing and dissolving all around us; so should the questions we ask. Men and women should simply do what works. “You must be the most politically correct man in America!” Nearly two decades ago, one of my wife’s male colleagues uttered these words upon meeting me during her medical internship. His traditional […]
This originally appeared on The Huffington Post. Republished here with permission. Do you remember the first time you babysat? If you are a woman, chances are a vivid memory just popped into your head, replete with an anxious yet exhilarating feeling that accompanied your first venture into both childcare and entrepreneurship. If you are a […]
I’m a full-time stay-at-home dad. Is my ultimate paternity leave from academia disqualified from being called a “success” story? Does that depend on who defines the word? Paternity leave can be a tricky topic, as former football star Boomer Esiason recently discovered. Now a CBS analyst and WFAN radio show host, Esiason caused a firestorm when […]
We must improve our assumptions about dads and domesticity if we’re ever going to solve the problems plaguing female breadwinners and derelict dads, says stay-at-home dad Vincent O’Keefe. Last week I had the torturous pleasure of chaperoning five 13-year-old girls around an enormous amusement park for 10 hours. So imagine my irritation later when I […]
Vincent O’Keefe shares how a cop and a traffic controller showed him that silence can often be the most effective form of communication. “The man in the red blazer seems to be in charge,” I said to my widowed father-in-law, Frank, as we entered the large hospital’s u-shaped drop-off zone. A cacophony of vehicles and […]
Vincent O’Keefe, a full-time stay-at-home dad, offers his take on the new romantic comedy What To Expect When You’re Expecting. On the promotional website for the film What to Expect When You’re Expecting, Heidi Murkoff, author of the classic advice guide, declares: “As a passionate dad-vocate, I’ve been determined since the start of this process […]
