Tom Drapeau’s Blog

So I’ve been meaning to write this down for a little while. I’m fed up with the point of view for new dads in parenting magazines/other press. When I see an article aimed at dads, most every time its from one of the following perspectives:

- How to actually take part in your child’s upbringing, feeding, changing, etc.
- How difficult it is to be a dad and actually take part in feeding, changing, etc, when Moms have been doing just this, often alone, since the beginning of time.
- How to support the Mom.

Now, I’m all for raising my son and being a good mate. That’s not the issue. The issue is: I was already planning on doing all of the above. I take them for granted. I don’t think that men should need a magazine article to tell them to be a father. The cat is out of the bag already on that when you are rushing to the hospital.

What I really want are articles on men having careers and raising children, how men can raise their sons to become men, and how a man can still have his own adult life while being a good father.

These are all interesting topics to me, and I don’t consider them at all selfish, particularly the “how to have an adult life while being a parent”. I think more parents should tackle this problem, head on, early in life. If not, you run the risk of being just the Dad, and then soon enough, you will have a meltdown as your adult side cries out for attention.

End Rant.

I also want to add links to my blog posts from other dads out there who are blogging positively about being dads. Here is one from an AOL colleague, Richard Klein. Enjoy!

tdrapeau KidWonder, Rant