Slate's Man Men recap.
The history of the Beatles as told by their hair.
And two good ones from Jeremy S.:
And the Worst Dad Award goes to this guy.
Why does female education rate cut fertility rate.
I suppose it's not a shocker, but Vitamin Water isn't good for you.
Apt. 11d 
I don’t think that guy’s at all competitive for “Worst Dad.” Maybe “Worst Successful Pediatrician Dad”? However, I would suggest the following:
1. This 50/50 stuff is crud. Do it mom’s way (unless she’s mentally ill, Sylvia Plath, etc.). Ships don’t have two captains.
2. Small children really aren’t that interesting, but in a few years the dad may be much more into sports, science fair, chess club, etc. He needs to find his niche in the family. Try different stuff.
3. To continue #2, I think this guy needs some hobbies that he can share with the kids (maybe when they’re a little bit older). They could even be electronic, like doing Wii together or CellCraft or Crayon Physics, but it needs to be something that he actually enjoys doing. My husband molds plaster stuff with the kids, invites them to do astronomy with him, has a kid help when he’s repairing a digital camera, bakes muffins with them, makes disastrous (but yummy) birthday cakes, goes to Lowes for the Saturday kids’ project, etc. The connecting thread between all of these activities is that he actually enjoys doing them.
4. Family counseling, right now.
LikeLike
5. This woman’s description of her parenting style makes me want to turn on Baby Einstein and have a Coke. I feel tired hearing how energetic, fun and imaginative she is. 95% of parents (male or female) aren’t like that at all, so expecting her husband to follow in her footsteps is not a formula for success. (I realise that this conflicts with my #1. Oops. Maybe what I mean is that I think she should have a lot of say in setting family policy (food, TV, etc.) but not expect him to be a mom clone.)
LikeLike
I think the concept of doing something you actually enjoy doing with the kids is a big and important one.
When they’re babies, that might involve taking them on a walk in the stroller in a place you enjoy. In my case, it involved using my daughter as a prop and taking pictures of her. It kept us both amused.
When they’re older, yup, it’s great if you can find shared interests and especially great if you can manipulate them into enjoying the things you already enjoy.
And, frankly, when they’re little, there’s no reason why the dad time couldn’t be some video watching, assuming the kids aren’t doing that all the time.
LikeLike
Oh, and people who actually enjoy doing the things the kids like to do (board games, or playing with trains, or pretend games, or soccer) are going to find it easier to get along with the kids. But it’s not a terrible thing to realize that different people have different talents.
LikeLike
I really think that World Worst dad needs to saved for those who abuse/kill their children instead of those that might screw up bedtime. There’s a big difference of experience between this guy’s kids (I imagine) and that of Nixzmary Brown.
But then, I have no sense of humor today. And I’m pretty sure laura’s (reasonable) response will be “yeah, julie, jeez”
LikeLike
Why does education cut fertility? Well, I think the 3 we have is the outer limit of my wife’s interest in kids, and it’s because she has lots of other fun things to do, and that’s because she is educated. People seek her opinion, and pay her for it. This has some attractions, compared to an eye-rolling pre-teen ‘yah, Mom, whatEVER’…
Also, when you are getting that education, it is a trouble to be nursing and dealing with throw-up. So if you are getting a big education, you tend to postpone babies, and when you are ready, you don’t have that many breeding years left.
LikeLike
Stephanie Mills seems happy with her choice, 40 years on: http://www.more.com/2050/7097-why-i-chose-to-be/print and that’s an educated woman’s choice, for sure. She needs to be grateful to those of us who did have children that there’ll be someone to wipe her butt in the old folks’ home, though.
LikeLike
This woman’s description of her parenting style makes me want to turn on Baby Einstein and have a Coke. I feel tired hearing how energetic, fun and imaginative she is. 95% of parents (male or female) aren’t like that at all, so expecting her husband to follow in her footsteps is not a formula for success.
I’m wary of her parenting style. My kids certainly need a lot of private time to play on their own, and Manic Spoon Lady gives off the impression that she’s constantly in their faces. My mother sometimes does that to my daughter, and my daughter has mastered saying “bye-bye” in combination with a chillingly disdainful look to get the hint across.
LikeLike
I find it helps at times to take a step back. The text is (as so often) inadvertently revealing. “Parenting is wrecking my marriage.” _My_ marriage? Hmmm. “The fact that I have to battle him just to keep a certain standard of living in the house is draining…I love my husband and I know he means well in his heart, but it comes out all wrong in practice.”
She lists his profession, but not hers. I think the fights are over more than parenting styles. Let’s see. A prominent (i.e., successful) pediatrician has a wife who battles him at home over parenting styles. I predict, if they get divorced, she gets custody, and he (successful, child-oriented heterosexual male) is remarried within 18 months. His prominent practice will allow him to offer a different woman a certain standard of living.
If she’s controlling enough to complain about his laid-back parenting style to the NYT’s parenting blog, those fights must be pretty impressive. She doesn’t seem to have heard the concept of compromise.
LikeLike
Contempt. She has it..
LikeLike