Men on Parenting

The men took on parenting issues in the Sunday papers. First, there was New York Times columnist David Brooks hammering the 12 urbanista parents in Manhattan who dress their babies in black and give them tee shirts that say, “My Mom’s Blog Is Better Than Your Mom’s Blog.” (article requires a Times subscription). David, David. A little sense of humor? That’s funny! And you’re kind of missing the point here. Most parents don’t give a hoot what their kids wear if it doesn’t give them a rash. They’re a whole lot less interested in toxic aluminum foil than they are in good schools and safe streets. Trust me. And then daddy Jonathan Turley, GW law professor, took on the Great Toy Gun debate. His boys play with toy guns, and he seems to be just clueless enough to take his boys and their guns to the local playground, where he is shocked, shocked to find that other parents are annoyed. I don’t know. Maybe it’s the shoot-em-up culture that is particularly virulent in Washington? Just a guess. When our son Daniel was a kid, we started out with a no-gun rule. He created guns out of sticks. Then, he talked us into a toy gun after the Pirates of the Caribbean ride at Disney World one year. Fine, except when we tried to carry the gun onto the plane. What were we thinking? And Professor Turley: what were you thinking?