Senator Sam Brownback and Congressman Lee Terry this past week introduced legislation that would, among other things, eliminate the inequity that gives tax credits to parents with young children, but only if those parents use commercial day care centers to raise their kids. The government currently denies the tax credit to families where kids are being raised by their own parents.

I have written about this in the past, in 2003 and 2004.

Three cheers for Sen. Brownback and Rep. Terry!
- posted by Michael @ 10:32 PM

 
Does this sound healthy to you?

"A study by the Kaiser Family Foundation on the media habits of young people found that on average, 8- to 18-year-olds watch nearly four hours of television a day...."

Now remember, that means for every kid watching 2 hours a day, there is either one kid watching 6 hours, or two kids watching 5 hours.

Not what I would recommend for a teenager, let alone an 8 year-old....
- posted by Michael @ 3:21 PM

 
I am not kidding, USA Today printed today a FOURTH letter about house cleaning, in response to the article about my life as an at home dad. It appears that pride in cleaning toilets has swept the nation!

This all reminds me of a conversation I had with a cleaning woman when I was practicing law more than a decade ago. It was 1 or 2 in the morning, and we were both working on the 20th floor of a beautiful Phoenix office building.

I commented that her work looked hard. She replied that she was cleaning toilets--2 shifts a day--so that when her daughter grew up, her daughter could work at a desk like me.

Little did this cleaning woman know that a decade later, college graduates would BOAST to the nation's most-read newspaper that they clean toilets for a living!

But it's not just funny, it's sad. Because it also reflects what is wrong with our society if parents can read a 1500-word article about parents spending time with their children, and the only thing they take away from it is how it plays into their own marital division of toilet cleaning and carrot chopping.

Some people just don't get it.

And a P.S. Among the things I would rather do than housework is volunteer work. On that front, a HUGE win today.
- posted by Michael @ 12:22 AM

 
Interesting article in the NY Times on battling with children to eat a variety of foods. This is the best link I could figure to get you there without making you register at nytimes.com, which I recommend anyway, since it is one-time and it is free.
- posted by Michael @ 8:42 AM

 
USA Today feedback and letters

My feedback is running about 90 emails favorable to 5 negative, but USA Today printed three letters about the at home dad article they wrote, all criticizing me for not cooking or cleaning more.

It's too bad I don't get to respond on the same page as those letter writers, but USA Today included my web address, so I will respond here.

First, it is clear that these three people somehow missed the point of the 1,500-word article: it is about the KIDS, not about who cleans somebody's toilet.

Ed Doderer of Toms River, NJ, for instance, seems embittered that we can eat burritos out while he's home chopping carrots. I don't know enough about his life situation or choices to comment (and why on earth would I care to comment on his dining choices anyway?), but I will never apologize for the success I've had or the money I've made. Before I became a full time father, I worked my tail off for every penny I made and banked. Now I work my tail off raising my children.

Carolyn Lee of Colorado Springs, meanwhile, is bitter that, as she puts it, "Stay-at-home moms have 'homemaker' attached to their job description, which includes house cleaning...." She should take that up with her husband, not me, because I think it's ridiculous to couple child-rearing with house cleaning. Raising the kids is important. Making money for the family is important. But why should one necessarily be linked to cleaning toilets? Let the wage-earner come home and blow off steam by being the Tidy Bowl Man. I am home for the kids, not for the windows. She's mad at the wrong person.

Finally, Deb DeLuca of Roswell, GA, is also mad that she has to clean toilets while I'm busy reading to my kids or teaching them to ride bikes. She, too, is mad at the wrong person. I am trying to LIBERATE you, Deb--free yourself from your plunger and tell hubby to do it, for Goodness Sakes! (Just kidding--again, if Deb wants to clean toilets, I'm all for it. I choose to do things I find more valuable with that time.)

And those things are to focus on:

1. My kids; and

2. My nonprofit work: Psoriasis Cure Now and Throw Away The Key. Pleae check them out and get involved if you agree with our goals.

I'll take that over cleaning toilets any day.

--Mike

UPDATE 10 pm: Just read an op-ed from last Sunday's Washington Post that includes some passages that come to mind over this silly little dispute about house cleaning. Here's the key excerpt from this piece, by Mark Trainer, which is worth reading in its entirety:

"A woman who forgets sunblock for her children or lets them out in mismatched clothes looks to the world like something less than a mom.

"Flip that sentence to apply to fathers, and try to keep a straight face. To be a father in America looking after children during the day is to escape expectations entirely. We are the ghosts in the machine of childcare. I don't think climbing the wrong way up the sliding board is so awful. I don't care as much about which preschool my daughter gets into as maybe I should. The progress of my daughter's potty training certainly isn't something I want to talk to you about. (She'll get it when she gets it.)

"... Maybe we father-caregivers are the antidote to all that parenting stress. Maybe we're the ones who can bring some individuality and eccentricity back into parenting without feeling the need to look over our shoulders to see if we're being judged to be playing our role properly. Study us closely, moms. We may be better at this than you think."

Not sure I agree with every word, but maybe it's a good thing that my "individuality and eccentricity" says forget the toilets and windows and laundry--I'm here to focus on the KIDS! ;)
- posted by Michael @ 6:08 PM

 
USA Today treated my family great in Thursday's editions. I am grateful.

If you are reading this, please check out the USA Today piece (don't forget the related articles, with great pics of my kids!), then please check out two other sites of great interest to me:

Psoriasis Cure Now, a nonprofit fighting for more psoriasis research funding; and

Throw Away The Key, an anti-crime, victims' rights nonprofit.

(I run them both when my kids are asleep.) Thanks!

--Mike Paranzino

UPDATE, 6/18, 9 am: THANKS FOR ALL THE KIND EMAILS ABOUT THE USA TODAY ARTICLE. PLEASE BEAR WITH ME AS I REPLY TO THEM IN THE COMING DAYS.

Also, as I am sure you have noticed, the site needs a lot of work and updating. I had pretty much given up due to lack of time, but I am inspired to try again. No promises, but we'll see if I can get this site into shape by Labor Day. Thanks again!
- posted by Michael @ 11:01 PM