No, they're children. When they're well-behaved at a restaurant, why should I be cold and aloof? My beef with the article is that, yes, there is a lack of masculinity in today's culture. Too bad such poor examples of that crisis were written about (e.g. stooping to address your kids as opposed to picking them up so that they're at your level - who does that?!)
You don’t have to be cold and aloof but you don’t need to sound like Bert and Ernie either.