The Adventures of Baby Arthur

A good friend of mine from the other side (a.k.a. Jersey City) organized and orchestrated wonderful play date this past weekend. There was no shortage of kids, food and spiked iced tea (PIMS!). Don't worry, the spiked iced tea was for the adults. Nearly all of the children were aged from 8 through 20 months, with the exception of one 3 year old. While the children predictably spent most of the time wandering about with only a vague awareness of each other, there were definitely times where it seemed like they wanted to socialize!

Take Arthur and his new friend Solomon. While they were resisting the urge to dive into the 3 inches of water, they seemed to be conspiring something! The rest of the time, Arthur was fighting for survival against Solomon's physical domination. You can't really tell from these pictures, but with only 2 additional months of age, Solomon is a towering, hulking toddler mass that runs like a torpedo.

Strong work by Jersey Girl in pulling this off. Emails were flying back and forth the days prior to this event to iron out the details. But I have to admit, there were two things about these emails that got me feeling a little weird. First, I was the only male on the email. Second, everyone on this string frequently referred to the collective as "mothers" (e.g. Yay! We have 5 mothers coming!). I was beginning to think I should stay home! I'm very glad I went, but if body language is a cue, it was plain to see that other dads could sense the female domination of this type of gathering.

Much has been made about the changing role of men in child rearing and family life. Within the past month or two, I have noticed many postings, articles and discussions on this topic. Take this interview with Stay-At-Stove dad, a blog about a father's role as the family cook. (That's something I can relate to!) Stay-at-home dads are increasing in numbers to the point where DaddyTypes thinks there's too many of them. It's not Manhattan, it's Dadhattan! Stay-at-home dad's may only be increasing in numbers now, but these RebelDads have been around for a long time. The common rationale is that it's our state of recession that's causing this proliferation of stay-at-home dads. We all have to make due, like this Big-Hearted Boy who sold his toys to help his out-of-work dad.

While the recession's contribution to this phenomenon cannot be denied, I think the evolution of our society is playing a bigger hand. Women are now our equals. I'll admit it, Liz is bringing the big bucks in this relationship! That's fine by me, but my Dad wouldn't have been able to sleep at night if the same were true with my Mom. While the traditional man didn't play much of a role at home (especially Asian men), I think the modern man does take a greater interest in raising his children. If women are bringing in the bacon just as much as men, it's only fair that men should share in the child rearing as well as other traditionally female at-home duties. I think it's all about being fair and having respect for each other.

I'm all for progress and I'm glad to do whatever I can to help. Now, as for the reverse stereo-types of women dealing with this new male role, I'll save that for another day.