We have asked that they be equal partners in parenting, that they do more than simply take the casserole out of the oven when mom is at card club. Most modern fathers have been on the scene since the delivery room. He sits at the kitchen table and draws whatever it is they want to color - a jet plane, a basket of flowers, a cobra, a kitten. My husband rents 'Spaceballs,' and he and the kids curl up under an afghan and laugh like crazy. I talk about the origin of musical theater and the themes of race and class prejudice. I rent 'My Fair Lady' and 'West Side Story' to watch with my children. It is clear that men don't share the standards we relentless mothers have established. (The child could read, just not that well.) Still another father tells his 4-year-old son to be sure to pack a napkin in his lunch, and then fails to notice that it is a sanitary napkin. Another takes his children to the pool every summer night his wife is away because it is easier than bathing them.
One father spends a precious morning hour with his preschoolers, who will be asleep when he returns from work, taking them out for Slurpees and bubble gum that has a free tattoo in it.
