I know men that say they don't want to have anything to do with their newborn baby until he or she can walk and talk.
I know men that have never held a baby, changed a diaper or gotten up in the middle of the night to feed or console their own child.
I know men that believe raising children is solely the mother's responsibility.
I am not big fans of these men and I feel sorry for their wives. We're not living in 1950. You are not babysitting your own child, you are helping to raise them and are a co-parent!
I am beyond grateful that while Todd had never changed a diaper until he had his own child, he is the exact opposite of the men I described above. I was just away for two weekends in a row doing what I wanted to do and because it was important to me, it was important to him and he had no qualms about looking after Lucas on his own for essentially eight days. I'm one of the lucky ones!
In last week's issue of Newsweek, the cover story is all about the *new* definition of what it is to be a man and a father today. It's very interesting and very enlightening.
My friend and neighbor, Juli is a health food writer and owner of Kookie Karma. She also has a blog called Pure Mamas, where you can find useful tools on how to incorporate fresh local vegetables into your and your child's diet. I loved her post today, Such Great Dads! Thank You! because it's true, we don't give the hands-on dads in our lives enough praise and because she featured Lucas' dad in her photo collage. :) Check it out!