I am cursed to be a fan of the miserable New York Jets. However, my new (temporary) favorite team is the now the Green Bay Packers. The Packers showed incredible support for punter JK Scott as he awaited the birth of his child. Packers punter JK Scott was supported by his team (photo: Keith Allison, flickr used with permission) According to Sports Illustrated, the Packers punter and his wife, Sydney, are expecting  a baby any day now. This proved worrisome when Scott traveled

Having fun with my son and Pokemon Go Gotta Catch ‘Em All! I admit I can sometimes be a contrarian. I’m normally that guy who complains against the latest fad. But I’ve come to embrace Pokemon Go and enjoy playing it with my son. I think it is a great game for dads and kids to play together. Nick had heard about the game and wanted to play. He’s too young for a cellphone, so I downloaded the app to mine. Now, we spend time walking and catching Pokemon together. We spend time

Occasional solo parenting, right from the start, helped strengthen our bond As you might have deduced from my lack of blogging, this has been a crazy summer in the Behson household. I traveled to a conference in DC and then almost immediately flew off to London for a family vacation. Then, Amy and Nick flew back home, while I continued on for a faculty retreat at FDU’s study abroad campus in Wroxton, England. Then, Amy directed and performed at the Depot Theatre in Westport,

Please join me, click on this picture, and share your work-family story at the It’s Working Project. Join me in sharing your work-family story at the It’s Working Project. It will help spread the word about involved fatherhood (and you can even win a copy of my book!) The awesome folks at the It’s Working Project (led by the incomparable Julia Beck) do amazing work in promoting the needs of working parents. One of the most important things they do is curate the “Portrait Proj

The Adam LaRoche situation stirred controversy. However, it also validated involved fatherhood (Wikimedia/creative commons) The Adam LaRoche situation, even with its controversy, validates how far we’ve come in recognizing the importance of involved fatherhood. Baseball and fatherhood are my two favorite topics, so when the curious case of Adam LaRoche and his fatherhood-related exit from the Chicago White Sox broke last week, some asked me for my thoughts. After all, the las

Many people believe the stereotype that moms are naturally inclined to parenthood and that dads are less capable parents, despite all the accumulating evidence to the contrary. There are, however, two things dads can’t do as well as moms: 1. Giving Birth One of the  things dads can’t do (Wikipedia: creative commons) 2. Breastfeeding One of the things dads can’t do (flickr: creative commons) That’s it. Almost all of the remaining difference in parenting capabilities can be att

The “Daddy Wars” haven’t yet heated up. Let’s stop them before they start. Stop the daddy wars before they start. Support your fellow dads! (flickr: creative commons) Women are under a lot of pressure to be “perfect parents.” There’s so much unfair societal pressure, comparison and judgment of those who do things differently. No matter what moms do, there seems to be some “queen bee” mom or some aspect of the media telling moms they are doing it wrong. Breastfeed or bottle fe

Fatherhood and empathy. Torsten Klaus’ very authentic and readable book of encouragement and advice. One of the cool things about publishing a book is that you get to become “book friends” with other authors in your field. A few weeks ago, Torsten Klaus and I exchanged books. I want to share some of the wisdom and perspective from his book, The Empathic Father, which I recommend. Here’s my Q&A with Torsten, focusing on his advice on fatherhood and empathy. 1. Your book covers

Believe it or not, I’m not the only one writing about fathers’ work-family concerns. Today, I’d like to share three really smart and well-written first-person accounts of work-family struggles by some of my fellow dad bloggers. Enjoy Today, I’m sharing three work-family stories from some of my favorite writers. I’ll be back next week with news about/links to my recent media appearances. “The Third Row” by Larry Bernstein, “Daddy Lives Work” by Aaron Yavelberg, and “Dads Don’t

…but then it occurred to me that never again would he be seven years, one month, and six days old, so we had better catch these moments while we can. -Bill Bryson I’ll miss fun times like these while Nick is little… My wife Amy was recently in a play in which her character’s family was, after many years, selling their family farm. In one scene, she’s reflecting with her teenaged son about the memories they shared in the house, and she dreamily reminisces about the bedtime sto

A few weeks ago, I asked a group of fathers to share the stories of their paternity leaves (or lack thereof). A few had very supportive employers with generous policies, some had nightmare situations that led to them find employment elsewhere, and most were unsupported and left to rely on their accumulated time off. Mick and I during my paternity leave. I wish all dads were so fortunate. As tends to be the case with paternity leave- there is no standard benefit and experience

Programming note. Today, I am at the main event of the White House Summit on Working Families in DC. Obama, Biden and a host of bigwigs in government and business are here. I will report out to you soon. Dads are the greatest untapped resources in the lives of American kids- Kyle Pruitt We live in a “Modern Family” society, but our policies are stuck in “Leave It To Beaver” mentality- Thomas Perez On June 9th, I was honored to participate in the first ever White House Summit

Last week, I was a featured panelist at the NYC Regional White House Summit on Working Families. It was an amazing day filled with star power, inspiring speeches and a refreshing emphasis on the importance of supporting fatherhood. Here are some of my reflections on the day. My panel at the NYC Regional White House Summit on Working Families The concerns of fathers are sometimes under-represented in conversations about work and family. However, despite the fact that the Summi

If we want to be remembered as good dads, we have to both put in the hard work of being a good father and also carve out time for fun, memorable shared experiences with our kids. Here are some ideas on how to maximize the latter. Star Wars is one of our family traditions Flying in an airplane is much safer than covering the same distance riding in a car. Yet, most people are more afraid of flying than driving. One of the main reasons why is “Availability Bias,” in which thing

Last weekend, Nick and I spent some time working on four short, easy and fun science experiments. Here’s a photo-essay. Nick really enjoyed the science experiments in this book My friend, Mike Adamick, recently wrote “Dad’s Book of Awesome Science Experiments,” a follow-up to his best-selling book of kids’ projects. These science projects are easy to do, teach quick lessons, and were really fun. Here are some photos from our experiments. Enjoy. Disclaimer: Adamick sent me a f

With Spring Training in full swing, I want to highlight a baseball-related fatherhood story–how one MLB player chose being a role model to his kids over the temptation of using PEDs. I figured that ultimately I would be in a position in which I’d be forced to impart one of two lessons: “don’t do it like dad” or “follow in my footsteps.” I chose the latter. – Gabe Kapler Gabe Kapler’s decision to eschew PEDs was made, in part, based on his concerns about being a good father an

Here’s a roundup of the guest posts featured at Fathers, Work and Family over the past year. Enjoy this incredible collection of fathers’ voices discussing work-family issues. In blogging, just like in my college intramural softball days, I’m lucky to have surrounded myself with great friends I Get By with a Little Help From My Friends One of my goals in starting this blog was to build a community of busy, involved working dads who could share their experiences, insights, cha

Too many dads feel alone in their work-family struggles. If we spent the time on building informal support networks with fellow dads, we’d be better able to help each other. Here’s one way we do this in my neighborhood, and suggestions on how you can network for fatherhood. Beer Fire! A fun a useful way to network with other dads (While I am away on a short family vacation, I thought it would be nice to post a favorite FWF article of mine from the very first week of the blog.

Hey Dads! Yes, it’s overblown, but Valentine’s Day is an important opportunity to emphasize romance with your wife and to role model positive expressions of love to your kids. Valentine’s Day reminds us to cherish this relationship… … and to nurture this one Happy Valentine’s Day to all the wives*, moms and women out there. After all, we wouldn’t be dads without you. (I especially want to recognize my amazing wife, Amy, who brings me so much joy and with whom I am deliriously

I learned many life lessons from my father, and I sure hope I’m passing these along to my son. Last week, the fun lifestyle website DailyPlatofCrazy.com ran a feature for articles about men looking back at their childhoods with their fathers. Please click on the screencap below for my contribution to the series. It’s about baseball, Star Wars, and the values I learned from my dad and am trying to model for Nick. My contribution to the Fathers & Sons series at DailyPlateofCraz