RebelDad

Posted on 01. Apr, 2004 by Brian Reid in General

The fine folks at the Albany Times-Union are the strong contenders for the Rebby, the my imaginary award for the best journalism on at-home fatherhood and/or work family balance for their three-part series on modern child care.

They kicked off the series with this piece on at-home dads last Sunday. The story hits a good many strong points — including touching on the impact on women — and quotes Armin Brott, who doesn’t seem to show up in fatherhood stories as often as I would expect.

The second two stories in the series (Tuesday’s article on the “family scramble” and Monday’s bit on patchwork arrangements) are also noteworthy, for two reasons.

For starters, they acknowledge that making parents equal partners is a tough decision in today’s work world, and creativity and sacrifice are key components of achieving a satisfactory balance. But the other unspoken point is that childcare is a family issue — not solely a mom issue. Over and over again, the series hammers home the idea that it is right and normal for childrearing duties to be shared. This shouldn’t be a blockbuster, stop-the-presses kind of realization. But in a world where Parenting mag brags that “We Know Moms” and Time’s “Case for Staying Home” is made exclusively to women, the gender-neutrality of the Times-Union series get a standing ovation here.