Free Republic

Tere's a growing movement to make girls' toys less girly. Petitions have been signed and complaints lodged — sometimes even by those as young as 5 — about why girls deserve more than princesses and pink. And toy companies are beginning to listen, offering educational or scientific toys marketed to girls. The latest: a new LEGO collection of female scientist figures. That's great news! But here's the thing: Boys deserve more variety too.

Dear Ken, Please thank Gladys for accepting my phone call on your behalf. I suspect she will be busy taking many, many more phone calls from stay-at-home Parents like me who take exception to your assessment of our ability as parents to provide caregiving services to our children. Your various statements trashing parents are appalling to say the least, what on earth were you thinking Mr. Dryden? What gives you the right to judge my ability as a caregiver and parent? Did you not raise your own children, or did you foist that responsibility onto someone else? Regardless of your...

More Men Go From Boardroom To Playroom ANNANDALE, Va. -- The job comes without a paycheck. The hours are long. The rewards can be priceless. It's not something you put on your resume, but millions of men have decided to give up their careers and become stay-at-home dads, Washington, D.C., television station WRC reported. Some mothers may resent the attention to stay-at-home dads, since they've been doing it for centuries. But the station looked at the growing trend because it's a option many couples may not have explored. This is about children, parents and a difficult choice. That choice was...

North American Report/Fatherhood At-Home Dads Gather and Bond by Kristyn Komarnicki in Des Plaines, Illinois At a November 21 convention in suburban Chicago, 100 American men gathered to network, listen to experts, and exchange strategies for improving job performance. But any resemblance to corporate America ended there. Dress was casual, the atmosphere noncompetitive, and topics included ways to support working spouses, tips on defusing a two-year-old's temper tantrums, and the desire to see more diaper-changing tables installed in men's restrooms. Giving voice to the growing ranks of men engaged in full-time fatherhood, the third annual At-Home Dads Convention in Des...

When Eric and Jody courted during graduate school, they assumed that when the time came to raise a family, Eric would work and Jody would stay home with the kids. Six years later, things looked different. "I liked my job, but Jody loved hers," says Eric. "Jody made lots more money than I ever could have. It became clear to each of us that she should work and I should stay home. We came to this decision through a lot of prayer and by discussing it with our church friends ad nauseum."Three children later, Eric is passionate about being a...

Data show that just over 20% of preschoolers in married-couple households are cared for by their fathers--up from 17 percent in 1997, according to the U.S. Census Bureau. _________________________________________________ TUSTIN, Calif. (WOMENSENEWS)--On a cloudy Tuesday morning eight fathers and a gaggle of toddlers and preschoolers converge on the Cedar Grove Park playground for their weekly playgroup. Between shooing their tots away from mud puddles or chasing them across the wide field that borders the play area, the men swap advice on nap times and getting their little ones to eat veggies. Occasionally, a curious mom at the park will approach...

WASHINGTON (AP) - Nearly 10.6 million children were being raised by full-time stay-at-home moms last year, up 13 percent in a little less than a decade. Experts credit the economic boom, the cultural influence of America's growing Hispanic population and the entry into parenthood of a generation of latchkey kids. Of the 41.8 million kids under 15 who lived with two parents last year, more than 25 percent had mothers who did not work and stayed home, according to a Census Bureau report. That was up from 23 percent, or 9.4 million children, in such situations in 1994, a bureau...