RebelDad

Posted on 18. Oct, 2005 by Brian Reid in General

I don’t know if I should be creeped out or puffing out my chest. But the New York Times says that the “schoolhouse” is the latest, best business networking spot, driven by “the wave of involved fathers.” The story ends up focusing largely on the networking part of things, talking to parent after parent from ritzy private schools who talks about the deals being struck and the lucrative friendships being forged.

There’s not a whole lot on whether father’s are really more involved than in the past — the author just makes the statement and moves on. That’s probably a good thing: the idea of active fathers makes so such sense intuitively to the New York Times that they don’t feel they have to bother to defend their statements on the rise of active dads.

And, of course, there is the caveat that NYT trend stories are not always to be trusted. But I’ll choose to accept this one. (Thanks to Daddy Types, who dug this one up.)

Quick Desperate Housewives Over-Analysis: If things continue the way they’re going, I’ll retire this feature. It seems for all the world that Tom is a capable at-home dad whose role reversal is hardly worth any attention. I may eat my words, but I must give credit where its due: on a show that traffics heavily in stereotype (often to great comic effect), they have still managed to avoid introducing a doofus dad.

As an aside, the show’s voiceovers were dedicated to fathers, and were — as are all of the voiceovers — a bit on the treacly side. The one at the front of the show suggests that working dads felt no guilt or regret at being away from the kids all day, a statement I can only wish was true.