Edwin Lyngar is tired of seeing the same old stereotypes of men in movies, TV, and commercials. I’m always relieved when the latest football, baseball, or basketball season is over. As a man especially, I can’t ever escape the background noise. Sports show up on every gas station beer display, every soft drink container, and […]
Emily Rapp lost her son last week. She shares what she would and would not want to hear from people trying to comfort her. My son Ronan died last week before his third birthday. He’d been sick with a terminal illness for his entire life, but as a friend of mine wisely noted, “Death and […]
Being a single father for a while forced Edwin Lyngar to realize how valuable an equal parenting duo can be. When I was a younger man in my first marriage, I thought the majority of raising kids was the mom’s job. I don’t hold those outdated views anymore for a lot of reasons, but I […]
Michael Erard offers his critique of a new magazine for dads. I first came across a mention of Kindling Quarterly, a brand new magazine that bills itself as “an exploration of fatherhood,” via a Facebook post whose accompanying thread turned decidedly anti-hipster and anti-Brooklyn. But a magazine—on paper! (not a blog)—about the adult male part […]
When professionals told Lynn Beisner she was a good mother, she wouldn’t believe them. She discusses why the best parents are usually the ones who feel most incompetent. I held the large white envelope with trembling hands. In it was the all-important evaluation of my parenting. It would likely determine the outcome of my young […]
Originally appeared on Kiki & Tea. Republished here with permission. I’ve been encouraged to write about what it’s really like to be a stepmother. This is from my experience, from the forums I’m a part of, and talks about what it’s like to be a stepmother while the mother is still around, without any children […]
Sarah Laing is not damaged, she does not find it impossible to form relationships with men, and she doesn’t want your sympathy. She just wants to know why her father doesn’t want to know her. I don’t have any tattoos. I haven’t developed a drug addiction. I’m in a stable relationship with a wonderful man. […]
This originally appeared on Eat The Damn Cake. Republished here with permission. “What made you decide?” asked my friend Brenda, on the phone. “Um,” I said. I thought for a while. “I should figure it out,” I said. “I should try to think of the moment.” It eluded me. I could explain the reasons not […]
Parents can not always control what happens to their kids, but they can help them cope. When my daughter came out of my body and was placed on my chest, bloody and blue, ears stuck to her cone-shaped head, eyes that were open but saw nothing, I whispered something to her. Tired, sore, and on […]
A father’s love for his daughter is not the same as his love for his son, says Robert Wilder. I am sitting in an indoor arena on the red-bricked observation deck. In the arena, my former student Anya, a junior at Stanford, is walking on the soft brown dirt. Dressed in black, she is directing […]
What are we telling young boys if the examples of fatherhood they see everyday are parodies of incompetence? Every time I see a promo for the new Scott Baio sitcom, See Dad Run, I gag a little. I can hardly believe that a) Scott Baio is still working, and b) they’re still pushing this “Idiot Dad” […]
This originally appeared on Mamamia. Republished here with permission. My father was born in 1911, at home in a terrace house in the Sydney, Australia, suburb of Paddington. He was at least six weeks premature and was no bigger than my grandfather’s hand. They kept him in a shoe box and wrapped him in cotton […]
