For Your Reading Pleasure

Im like Mr. Mom except Im 6 feet 4 inches of Raider-loving menace By Tony Wade A recent report found that the number of men who are stay-at-home fathers is at an all-time high. It is estimated about 2 million men are their childrens primary caregivers. I have been a stay-at-home dad/homeschool teacher for seven years now and it was one of the best decisions I ever made. I know many people who regret not spending time with their kids as they grow up. I may regret some things when Im older, but that wont be one of them. While I really like the 1983 Michael Keaton movie, I am not Mr. Mom. That reference generally implies a man is in a foreign environment and doesnt know what hes doing. That is not my experience. When Kaci was a baby I never fed her chili or was attacked by a vacuum cleaner. Ive never had anyone say I was effeminate for being a stay-at-home dad. I do wear an apron when I wash dishes (which reads 'Id rather be playing Scrabble') but it was only after I resisted wearing it and kept having a wet spot in an embarrassing place to have a wet spot that I finally gave in. I really dont worry what other people think about me opting out of the work force and taking care of my daughter. Plus, Im an Oakland Raiders fan who is 6 feet 4 inches tall and weighs . . . well, lets just say I command a whole lot of gravity. If someone thinks Im unmanly, we can arm wrestle. My wife, Beth, is the breadwinner and Im the bread baker (actually Ive never baked bread, but it was a good analogy). We like the arrangement we have and realize its not the norm although it is more and more accepted. While we have a lot of role reversal in our family, most things are just the same as other families. If my daughter Kaci is hurt, Im more likely to tell her to 'shake it off' and Beth is more likely to comfort her. When we go anywhere as a family, I usually drive (and dont stop to ask for directions). The recliner facing my big screen TV has grooves in it which correspond to the curvature of my ample buttocks and I am the guardian of the remote controls. One last thing: Im not bragging, but stay-at-home dads generally do more than stay-at-home moms. At home moms clean, cook, do laundry, wash dishes, do grocery shopping, run errands, take the kids to soccer practice, and 1 million other domestic-related things. At home dads do all of that stuff also but in addition we take care of the chores that 'regular' dads do like take out garbage, wash the cars, do lawn work, and fix stuff. Plus, we have to somehow find time to squeeze in football, '24', and gratuitously violent movies as well. XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXx Recently former Daily Republic editor Brad Stanhope listed a number of reasons he thinks newspapers wont become extinct anytime soon by pointing out advantages that printed media has over the Internet. I agree but need to point out a few obvious ones he left out. n You can housebreak a puppy by having him do his business on yesterdays paper. Try that with a laptop. n You can Google papier m‰chŽ and learn about it, but you need a newspaper to actually make it. n Finally, while you can construct one using different fonts with a word processing program, truly menacing ransom notes are best done by clipping different-sized letters out of, you guessed it, a newspaper. Does anyone else remember . . . . . . the school crossing guard on Travis Boulevard who would make a point of smiling and waving to motorists when he wasnt making sure kids got safely where they needed to go? The older gentleman retired some time ago and I still miss seeing that guy and honking and waving to him.