About
Who is Rebel Dad? I’m Brian Reid, a former at-home dad who remains interested in the question of how modern fathers can maximize their connection to family.
What is Rebel Dad? When I first quit my working-world job to stay home, I went excitedly looking for information about at-home fathers. I searched the web, browsed my way through my local bookstore, kept a close eye on my local paper and flipped through the magazines at the newsstand, all in hopes of getting some insight into the new fraternity I had joined. It was a frustrating search. There seemed to be little written about us, even less written for us. I couldn’t even find a reliable statistic for how many at-home dads there were. This site is an effort to catalog what is out there about us in the media (and in society, broadly). While others — most notably slowlane.com (may it rest in peace) have done a great job of give dads resources to find one another, I know of no site that aggregates news about at-home dads. Enter Rebel Dad.
Over the years, Rebel Dad has shifted as my interests have shifted. I am in no way an at-home dad anymore — though I take those lessons with me every day — and the content of the site now reflects a broader set of issues, from work-life balance to dad-oriented marketing to at-home fatherhood.
Why ‘Rebel Dad’? One of my early problems had to do with nomenclature. There is no good way to refer to a father who serves as primary caregiver. “Househusband” sounds dated, “stay-at-home dad” too long (and the acronym — SAHD too depressing) and otherwise problematic. “Mr. Mom” is offensive for a couple of reasons. I wanted a name for us that captured something positive, something edgy. I occurred to me that I’m at the leading edge of a social revolution (gender equity in the home!), and that Rebel Dads would be good name for us guys. It’s not intuitive enough to show up in Webster’s, but it’s good enough for me.
Other answers …
For more information on at-home dads … I pulled together a somewhat comprehensive list of the best resources out there in fall 2007. The online scene continues to evolve, though athomedad.org is perhaps the best of the SAHD-specific clearinghouses.
Questions from the media … are welcomed. I have quick access to past press accounts and statistics and am happy to speak on the record.
The number of at-home fathers … has been the subject of a couple of posts, and I have created a single page that collects all of the at-home dad statistics that I am aware of.
For links to other blogs/website … Sure. I will happily put a link to any at-home dad-heavy site along the left rail of the site. Just drop me a line.
Quick technical notes … The site was designed by ravidreams.net, who I found via elance.com. It is currently running on WordPress. Thanks to those fine companies for helping me out.