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SUNDAY, NOVEMBER 22, 2009
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NEWS ABOUT: fatherhood

fatherhood stories: 16 news summaries

OPINION



 Daughters 
 Are Great, 
 But ... 

Retro preference for sons is alive and well

(Newser) - Aaron Traister is thrilled to have a daughter—“I was just as excited about my daughter as I was about my son,” he writes. “And she's even better out of the belly.” But the nagging preference for male children in our society has him doubting his... More »

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gender pregnancy fatherhood parenting parents baby female girls daughter gender bias cultural preference for male children

 Obama Owns Up: Michelle 
 Made More Sacrifices 

Many men 'still a little obtuse' about imbalance in household dynamics

(Newser) - The men in many families need to be "knocked across the head every once in a while" to realize how much more work their partners are putting into child-raising, President Obama says, and the Obamas are no exception. "There's no doubt that our family, like a lot of... More »

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Barack Obama motherhood fatherhood Michelle Obama working mothers President Obama women's issues

BOOK REVIEW

 Guys, Take a Page 
 From Chabon's 
 Manhood for 
 Amateurs
 

Michael Chabon's essays on fatherhood, manhood paint him as quite a catch

(Newser) - Michael Chabon throws his voice into the widening pool of “daddy diaries” with Manhood for Amateurs, which offers “poignant meditations on manhood, fatherhood, and aspects of his own childhood.” The Pulitzer Prize-winning author emerges from the essays “as a prince among men,” writes Heller... More »

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fatherhood parenting father book essay Michael Chabon Jay-ZTV fathers Ayelet Waldman

 Help—I'm Jealous 
 of My Own Kid! 

Dads wrestle with idea that youngsters have it better than they did

(Newser) - You’re trying to give your kids the best: karate lessons, top schools, the latest video games. “You couldn't be prouder, really,” writes Christopher Noxon in Details, until “it hits you: you’re jealous.” Your childhood was never this good, and now, as your kid expands... More »

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fatherhood parenting father son women's issues

(Newser) - Tom Brady has a busy life even if you don’t include answering questions about his ex-girlfriend, kid, wife, and his return to football after a devastating injury. But a perfectly literal statement about his sport sums up his approach to everything else. “The game goes on,” he... More »

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NFL fatherhood New England Patriots football injury Tom Brady Bridget Moynahan celebrity marriage

 Obama: Absent Dad 
 Taught Me Value 
 of Fatherhood 

President's Father's Day essay urges father to 'step up' and take responsibility

(Newser) - President Obama came to realize the value of fatherhood through its absence in his own life as a boy, he writes in an essay published in Parade for Father's Day. "The hole a man leaves when he abandons his responsibility to his children is one that no government can... More »

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Barack Obama fatherhood Father's Day Malia Obama Sasha Obama Barack Obama Sr. President Obama

 Depression 
 in Dads 
 Hurts Kids 

More research needed into effects of fathers' mental health, experts say

(Newser) - With modern fathers often more directly involved in parenting than previous generations, researchers say it’s time to pay closer attention to the impact of paternal mental health on children, the BBC reports. Existing evidence suggests that children of alcoholic or depressive fathers are likely to suffer psychiatric or behavior... More »

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fatherhood parenting depression mental health alcoholism father men's health

Parenting
for Dummies:
What Not to Do

Bad parents proudly cop to their worst-of moments in books

(Newser) - Move over, arguments about organic baby food. A new set of books celebrates a less perfect kind of parenting—stories from moms and dads who mess up, and don't mind copping to it, the Wall Street Journal reports. Parents who let their toddlers watch too much TV or have read... More »

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motherhood fatherhood parenting book confession

OPINION

Dads May Hatch Schemes to Leave Golden Nest Eggs

But best a man can leave is his good name

(Newser) - From King Lear to Tom Daschle, a father’s desire to provide for his children could leave them with a rather dubious inheritance—“a legacy of embarrassment,” Stephen Amidon writes in the New York Times. "Inheritances can be tricky things. Even those given with the best of... More »

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fatherhood inheritance father Tom Daschle legacy

Lance Fathers Baby the Old-Fashioned Way

Cyclist already has 3 kids from IVF

(Newser) - Lance Armstrong won the Tour de France seven times, beat cancer, and dated a rock star—but he’s never made a baby the traditional way, until now. The cyclist and his girlfriend are expecting their first child in June, AP reports. Armstrong froze his sperm when he was diagnosed... More »

 Single Men Seek Fatherhood,
 Partner Optional

Unattached males are choosing solo parenthood over childless lives

(Newser) - The ranks of do-it-alone dads are increasing, and many of these men are becoming single fathers by choice, reports the New York Times. There are no specific statistics, but evidence suggests that both gay and straight single men are increasingly seeking fatherhood. “I absolutely would want a partner, but... More »

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adoption fatherhood parenting gender roles single parenting surrogates single father

 Spade Dad to Playmate's Baby 

DNA test calls a Spade a Spade

(Newser) - Paternity testing proves comedian David Spade is the father of a girl born last week to 22-year-old former Playboy Playmate Jillian Grace, with whom he had a brief fling, People reports. "He plans to go see the baby during his first break from shooting Rules of Engagement," a... More »

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fatherhood paternity test Playboy celebrity parents celebrity baby David Spade Jillian Grace

 Obama Slams
 Black Dads on
 Father's Day 

'Too many fathers are AWOL,' he says at Chicago black church

(Newser) - Barack Obama sharply critiqued black fathers today at one of Chicago's biggest black churches, the New York Times reports. “Too many fathers are M.I.A, too many fathers are AWOL,” he said to a mostly black audience, including his wife and daughters. “I say this knowing... More »

Depressed Dads Make Kids
Less Literate

Sad fathers don't read as much to babies, whose vocabs suffer

(Newser) - About 10% of new fathers show signs of clinical depression—a rate twice that of other men—and that can have a noticeable effect on their children, an American Psychiatric Association study finds. Sad dads interact less with their progeny, which means less bedtime reading and a smaller vocabulary by... More »

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fatherhood parenting depression literacy reading infant vocabulary toddler

'Toxic Sperm' Linked to
Child Ills

Gene material in sperm may be hurt by heavy drinking, smoking: study

(Newser) - Men who smoke or drink heavily may transmit genetic abnormalities through their damaged sperm, leading to child health complications, miscarriages or stillbirth, researchers have found. The effects of environmental toxins on paternal health—long held to be far less important than that of mothers—may play a crucial role in... More »

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fatherhood health alcohol sperm smoking conception childbirth toxin genetic abnormalities

(Newser) - Modern mothers spend more time with their children than those in the June Cleaver era, a new study concludes. Diaries compiled for the study show that, despite working more, today's moms spend less time on things like housework, leisure, and sleep to devote four more hours per week to interacting... More »

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motherhood fatherhood families parenting women children mothers

16 Stories