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• Judgment Day: Sending Sick Kids to School

  My younger son has been sick all week. Croup. The middle-of-the-night sound of him hoarsely fighting for breath wakes one instantly to a state of full alert. We've been down this road seven times now (Down syndrome awarded him tiny respiratory passages that are overly susceptible to infection), so it, like everything else, was weathered with only a modicum of whining. On my part, the whining. But my point: he brought this home from school (no one else in the house is sick), and therein lies my quandary. When do you keep a sick kid home and when do you send him off to school? Read More... Posted Jan 11 2008, 09:03 AM by Karen Murphy with | with 6 comment(s) Filed under: school, SAHMs, sahds, sick kids, daycare, illness, kids who stay home

• Sure I'm A Sad Wad But I'd Much Rather Be A SAHD WAHD

  Every morning when I leave the house, I put on my fedora, tuck a newspaper under my arm, grab my briefcase the kiss my sons goodbye. Every morning my 5 year old pleads with my to stay home and not to go to work, hugging my leg and asking why I can’t work from the house. Every morning I back out of the driveway and honk the horn at my sons as they plaster their faces against the living room window and wave madly until I’m out of view.  Read More... Posted Jan 10 2008, 04:32 PM by makeitadouble with | with 4 comment(s) Filed under: SAHMs, sahds, WAHMs, WAHDs

• Achtung! German Hausfraus are Actually Men

  The big news in this report is supposed to be that way more fathers are becoming temporary stay-at-home dads in Germany than officials expected. By the third quarter of a new maternity leave incentive program -- which is intended to encourage more Germans to procreate and reverse their declining population -- nearly 10 percent of the applicants were fathers. That's great, love to see it, equal time, blah, blah. But what I'm sitting in a depressed puddle of my own ruggedly independent red white and blue urine about is the program. Get this:   Read More... Posted Dec 16 2007, 01:02 PM by Madeline Holler with | with 3 comment(s) Filed under: germany, Iraq War, European Union, SAHMs, sahds, maternity leave, euros

• Are Dads the New Moms?

  And if so, when do I get all my retroactive paid vacation and Christmas office parties? Oh, and Post-It notes. I could really use a big drawer-full of free Post-It notes for all those little mommy (I mean PARENTAL) love notes in preschool lunches and reminders to order a Costco cake for the birthday party, send seven birthday gifts to other people's kids, pick up soy butter and little containers of applesauce (red NOT blue or orange) from the grocery store and copy playdates from email correspondence to the family calendar, call my mother/mother-in-law and all those little but imperative things mothers do. Errr, I mean, fathers. Read More... Posted Sep 17 2007, 06:31 PM by Jessica Ashley (Sassafrass) with | with no comments Filed under: fatherhood, sahds, trophy husbands, trophy wives

• SAHDs Worth Less Than SAHMs

  Um, sorry, stay-at-home dads. Apparently not only are you unmanly, but the work you do just doesn't cut it. In fact, according to a new stupid study by Salary.com, you deserve less phantom money than do the reviled-but-evidently-harder-working-than-you stay-at-home-moms. See, the thing is, you're not working enough overtime. You're only putting in some 80 hours a week at this Dad Thing, while the stay-at-home moms put in more than 90. It could be that you're more efficient at your work, couldn't it? Why yes, and it also could be that you're watching too much Scott Baio. So you only don't get $128,755, while SAHMs don't get $138,000. Read More... Posted Aug 03 2007, 07:24 AM by Karen Murphy with | with 2 comment(s) Filed under: dads, SAHMs, sahds, salary

• Family Leave: Two Dads Tell Their Stories

  I hope all of you out there enjoying your lattes and tuning out Dragon Tales are ready to hear this: Some states in our fair union are actually granting paid family leave. And get this, even men can get it. I know, I know. It's all a bit much, isn't it? Validating men who actually want to stay home to feed babies pumped breastmilk, answering a thousand or more questions an hour and experience the wonderment of child-rearing in its purist, poopiest and sweetest moments.  Giving them a portion of their paycheck so the family doesn't have to subsist on grandparent handouts or college tuition savings accounts for papa to be in the picture. Or even (and this might be sort of a stretch) wiggling out the bricks of the big old wall of the patriarchy (and some playgroups) where women return to work after becoming mothers or parents actually equitably share the primary caregiving responsibilities. It's a crazy world, or at least left coast. This inside view of how dads in two families in California are making it work during family leave time is sweet and honest and a damn good appendix to my long list of reasons why I hope Obama works his charm on parenting issues here in Illinois before heading to the big house. Seriously, I want my husband home when we (eventually) have a second child and I don't think he should suck up his sick time or vacation time or our savings to be there. And if by some Democratic miracle it ever does happen, the only thing I'll worry about is what kind of clothes he's picked out for the defenseless child to wear all day. Posted Jul 04 2007, 09:23 AM by Jessica Ashley (Sassafrass) with | with no comments Filed under: parenting, daddies, sahds, family leave

• Paid Family Leave: Two Dads Tell Their Stories

  I hope all of you out there enjoying your lattes and tuning out Dragon Tales are ready to hear this: Some states in our fair union are actually granting paid family leave. And get this, even men can get it. I know, I know. It's all a bit much, isn't it? Validating men who actually want to stay home to feed babies pumped breastmilk, answering a thousand or more questions an hour and experience the wonderment of child-rearing in its purist, poopiest and sweetest moments.  Giving them a portion of their paycheck so the family doesn't have to subsist on grandparent handouts or college tuition savings accounts for papa to be in the picture. Or even (and this might be sort of a stretch) wiggling out the bricks of the big old wall of the patriarchy (and some playgroups) where women return to work after becoming mothers or parents actually equitably share the primary caregiving responsibilities. It's a crazy world, or at least left coast. This inside view of how dads in two families in California are making it work during family leave time is sweet and honest and a damn good appendix to my long list of reasons why I hope Obama works his charm on parenting issues here in Illinois before heading to the big house. Seriously, I want my husband home when we (eventually) have a second child and I don't think he should suck up his sick time or vacation time or our savings to be there. And if by some Democratic miracle it ever does happen, the only thing I'll worry about is what kind of clothes he's picked out for the defenseless child to wear all day. Posted Jul 03 2007, 08:03 AM by Jessica Ashley (Sassafrass) with | with no comments Filed under: parenting, daddies, sahds, family leave

• Attention Dads: Harlequin Seeking Models

  Here is an idea for all of you stay-at-home-dads to pick up some extra money. Are you sexy, sensitive, beautiful and fit? If so, Harlequin Enterprises - the one with the soft-core romance novels is looking for men to model for the covers of their books. Apparently, their core audience (the average reader is 42 and female) isn't buying the 19 year old Guess model as the hero of a novel who is the CEO of a mutli-million dollar corporation. Go figure. Just because someone likes to read trashy novels doesn't automatically make them stupid enough to believe that the billionaire investment banker has the time to spend 20 hours a week in the gym and has worked his way up the corporate ladder without getting any grey hairs. Here is an idea for all of you stay-at-home-dads to pick up some extra money. Are you sexy, sensitive, beautiful and fit? If so, Harlequin Enterprises - the one with the soft-core romance novels is looking for men to model for the covers of their books. Apparently, their core audience (the average reader is 42 and female) isn't buying the 19 year old Guess model as the hero of a novel who is the CEO of a mutli-million dollar corporation. Go figure. Just because someone likes to read trashy novels doesn't automatically make them stupid enough to believe that the billionaire investment banker has the time to spend 20 hours a week in the gym and has worked his way up the corporate ladder without getting any grey hairs. Read More... Posted Mar 24 2007, 06:11 PM by Sarah, Goon Squad Sarah with | with no comments Filed under: sahds, side jobs, real men

• K-Fed Cleans Up, Steps Up

  Kevin Federline is joining the ranks of America dads who are cleaning up their acts, stepping up to the plate, and raising the children they helped bring into this world.  And from what I've been hearing, he's doing a pretty admirable job, too. While his estranged wife exorcises her demons in rehab, Kevin has been caring for Sean, 18 months, and Jayden, 6 months, with the help of a nanny and his mom.  The l'il Feds even tagged along with Dad to a paid Vegas gig over the weekend, where sources told People he was subdued, "not the wild, crazy Kevin who used to come to Vegas," even arriving late for dinner with friends, because he wanted to tuck his boys into bed for the night. People around him are saying that Britney's breakdown has helped the father of 4 prioritize his life, and that he now "wakes up with a purpose each morning."   When I'm wrong, I am willing to admit it.  And I admit - I think I was wrong about you, Kevin Federline.  Your music sucks, there's no two ways about that.  But as a dad, and a human being, you seem pretty cool. You keep on keepin' on, and those little boys may grow up to be very fine people, indeed.  As a Dad, you clean up real nice, K-Fed. Now, about those clothes/shoes/jewelry/hair/facial hair/bad tattoos....   Posted Mar 06 2007, 08:01 AM by Alisyn with | with 5 comment(s) Filed under: celebrity, Kevin Federline, fatherhood, sahds