At the beginning of each school year, my two boys hand me the always-fun-to-fill out "school  health and emergency form". I always scribble in at-home dad as my occupation.

Yesterday's The Scotsman (UK) noted that Alan Whyte of Scotland did the same thing when he got his birth certificate for his son Logan, by writing in "house husband".

They told me I had to put in a paid profession, but I was determined my son would know that this was my job and eventually I persuaded them," he says proudly. "I think I was the first bloke in central Scotland to be recorded as a house husband.

The article is the standard story we see here in the states, with "problems" of isolation, how this is a "growing trend" and of course a sample negative reaction from one dad who needed some public vomit help.

Struggling to mop up vomit from his child, himself and the surrounding walls, he called out to passing neighbours for help, only to hear them soothe: "There, there, it's all right, mummy will be home soon."

The story also  notes a "new" (released May 07, possibly reflecting 2005)  stat of 20,000 at-home dads in Scotland, up from 10,000 two years earlier (2003?) and 5,000 1996. The research is said to be from homedad.org.uk/ a UK support group. That site showed the numbers are actually from from Office of National Statistics which reported 200,000 UK dads at home..

Nearly lost in the article is Edmund Farrow's  fabulously retro DadsDinner daddy web site complete with a Housdad's Handbook. His site has the best tag line ever: Leaving a man in charge of children doesn't always mean a dogs breakfast.

I added Ed's creation to my blogroll and took off  Jay's Allen's "The Zero Boss site" who shut his blog down this summer with no explanation.  Jay had abandoned his blog once before due to personal problems. Rumor has it he trekked out west to breath some of that fresh non-blogger air.  If you were a Zero Boss fan don't rule out his return to virtual reality again.

How's this for a new novel idea, man has job, man has baby, man writes book about taking care of baby. or in PR speak   It's the battle-cry of a red-blooded male thrust into a world he always thought was for someone else. Adam Keeble of New York City is the latest guy/dad to take this topic on: His working book title? I Got You Babe

Filmmaker Dana Glazer has had quite a summer.  It started off with a stunning 431,868 hits on his youtube video on dads (It was featured by their home page on Father's Day) and gave a nice plug to his upcoming Evolution of Dads documentry.

Since then he has ramped up his work schedule for his movie and sent me his account of his adventures below, expect to see these folks in his movie.

1. Sociologist/auther Scott Coltrane - Visited NYC a couple of weeks ago and and we interviewed him extensively.

2. State Trooper/SAHD Kevin Knussman - who has been a focal point in the media due to how he sued the State Troopers of MD on account that they wouldn't allow him to paternity leave when his wife became very ill and he was forced to be the primary caregiver for their newborn. The case lasted 10 years and garnered national exposure, including a mention in a book by Hillary Clinton as well as a radio address by President Clinton.

3. We also got some footage of the DC Rally on August 18th that revolved around some angry dads who feel that the court system is working against them regarding custodial battles.

4. We also filmed more on-the-street interviews with people in and around NYC asking questions that pertained to perceptions of what a father should be, SAHDs and peoples' relations with their own dads. Some of the findings I mentioned in our blog.

5. We're currently planning a trip to Kansas City, MO to film the SAHD  convention as well as profile the National Center for Fathering.

6. We are also planning on hopefully interviewing Senator Dodd, who is  currently pushing some legislation to expand paternity leave.

7. Below is new video of SAHD Dallas Hayes who pulls no punches on the "Mr Mom Crap"

If he gets half of the heavy-hitters in fatherhood and a-list celebrities he is lining up (I promised not to mention them here) he is on the way to a first class documentry on par with films such as Supersize Me, Spellbound, and Sicko. As usual I will keep you updated.

- Pete

The short answer is housework and possibly even sex.

The long answer is from a new world-wide study published in the Journal of Family Issues which finds "married men do less housework then cohabitating men."  [live-in boyfriends]   Their "key finding" stated:

Couples with an egalitarian view on gender—seeing men and women as equal—are more likely to divide the household chores equally. However, in married relationships, even if an egalitarian viewpoint is present, men still report doing less housework than their wives.

In reading thoughout George Mason University's 27 page research paper there was nothing on at-home dad's division of labor except for this gem...

[This] leads to the question whether the relative-resources perspective—that places financial contributions in an exchange relationship with household hours—is in itself gendered. 

I didn't understand the last sentence either, luckily they knew we wouldnt either and translated to:

Are men more likely to see money as a way to “buy out” of housework, and women more likely to view money as power within the relationship that is not as directly tied to hours of housework?  

Reading this, I suddenly remembered a free-wheeling discussion on sex and the at-home dad headed by Brian Reid of Rebel Dad during the At-Home Dad Convention a few years back. During the discussion one mom sitting among the dads suddenly jumped up and said, "when my husband cleans up the house, and has that supper ready for her on the table that's all I need... I am ready for sex".  

Judging from the several other dads who nodded in silent agreement that day I think a better topic could be Effects of Union Type on Division of Household Labor and Sex.

Parenting Magazine accepted this book excerpt as fit to print in their next (Sept) issue. It's from Not that You Asked by Steve Almond. If the title below was say, 6 ways this new mom killed her baby daughter, would they have still approved it?  Is it me?  Or is this really a cute dad piece?  I've already handed this off to the  proper authorities.

                  -- and --

    (and so on with Death 5 and 6)

Gotta love this: Here's the Miss Manners column syndicated in today's papers.  

Seems that this at home dad is tired of having his wife call him at work. 

 "Calls intrude on Mr. Mom's job"

I am a stay-at-home dad, and my wife calls often during the day. I love her dearly, and don't mind hearing that she loves me, but I hear about her day and problems. And while I am busy with our 3-year-old, holding the phone on my shoulder, I hear her typing something on her end.

I really feel insulted and upset. Is it poor manners to keep someone on the phone while you keep working?

I finally had to hang up on her yesterday when she called and kept me on the phone while I was trying to play baseball with our son in the yard, and she wasn't constantly talking, just coming up with spurts of what came to her as she Googled something.

She does ask about my day, but sometimes it seems an excuse, especially since she knows my schedule and calls at least twice a day.

 She wants to talk. It is just not easy to talk and care for a child, or play with him. She knows this intellectually. What can I do?

Miss Manners: Gentle Reader: What a nice reversal this is of "Honey, don't call me at the office."

Well, maybe not so nice, now that Miss Manners thinks about it. It sticks you with that insulting assumption that domestic work, including child rearing, is so unimportant as to be easily interrupted. And your wife clearly needs a more challenging job.

Ask her to e-mail you instead. And during the transition period, apologize that you didn't answer the telephone because you left it indoors when you were out playing baseball, can't hear it when you're running

Hogan Hilling, following up his past book "The Man Who Would be Dad" is now offering us "The Modern Moms Guide to Dads". During his "proud dads" program in California the moms were "confused by their husbands' behavior"   With this book due out in September he clears up the mysteries with "Ten Secrets Your Husband Won't Tell You". 

For those who haven't seem Hogan "perform" here's a profile on him from a 2000 At-Home Dad newsletter. Ill post a review when I can get a hold of a copy.   preorder

What started out as a small burgers and beer get together for a local Northern Illinois dad  turned has into a 5 state hoopla.  It seems that  Todd Krater's (the man behind the  amanamongmommies blog)  original plans spiraled out of control when he discussed his house party idea with his friends. One dad suggested he call it "Dadstock", another photoshopped the poster at left and suddenly he's got dads from 5 surrounding states (as far away as Massachusetts) promising to show up.  So if you are looking for  "a couple hours of piece and quiet" drop by Todds house on  June 30th, 2007. So far  no word if Neil Young will be showing up yet. details