Wednesday, November 26, 2008

What About the Dads

As a dad, I find it a little annoying that most parenting stuff is still addressed to moms. Parenting Magazine finally got rid of its tagline, "What Matters to Moms", but 99 percent of the articles and ads are still directed at women. Meanwhile, Adventure Aquarium is excited to enlist members with kids to provide input and assistance, but has decided to call this volunteer group its Mom's Advisory Board. Hey, what about the dads? We spend money and time on our kids, too, so you'd think people wouldn't go out of their way to make us feel unwanted.

I understand that magazines need to sell targeted ad space, but women readers probably aren't put off if there are a few more articles and ads for dads in the mix, while men readers . . . well, there aren't any right now, because we've essentially been told this rag's not for us. As for the aquarium, I understand that it's probably mostly women whose husbands work and who spend their weekdays killing time at the shark tank; but there are some stay-at-home dads, too, as well as those of us who incorporate the place into our evening and weekend duties. (I'm looking forward to a guy crashing the Mom's Advisory Board and shaking the whole place up.)

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