Two Dads, No Sads

It is possible that there will be no chance of hurting a mother's feelings and everyone could be right in the future when they say a baby looks just like his dad.

Scientists at the M.D. Anderson Cancer Center in Houston did some chemical reprogramming of dad cells; mixed it with surrogate eggs and embryos; managed a bit of selective breeding; and presto, chango, science creates babies with genetic material only from only from the dads.

The original idea was to try and figure out how to save endangered species. However, as with all science, it opens up possibilities far beyond the original hypothesis to everything from  allowing gay fathers to have children reflecting both of their genetic makeups to breeding [for example] the brains of an honors student with the body and athletic ability of an all pro defensive lineman.

That Time of The Month

New research found women, 18 to 22, spend fewer cell phone minutes on their fathers during their ovulation phases. Other research "discovered" they were more than four times as likely to call mum during the same time. Given the "flexible sensitivities" of many daughters during this time, I don't think we will need more research to answer the question of whether this is a problem for the fathers.

Just Do It

The British charity Working Families sponsored two years of research and guess what? According to the research, as reported by The Guardian, fathers who work at work and around the house are happier than those who don't vacuum and iron and wash dishes and take care of the kids and .... Why would that be?

Apparently the answer isn't news. The study also fits with a 2007 study that suggested doing the laundry gets men more sex with their partner; and a 2009 claim that more housework means more and happier sex for both moms and pops. Oh, and it also confirms the dreams of the Cambridge Women's Pornography Cooperative, at least as demonstrated with their Porn for Women (2007) and Porn for New Moms (2009).

Dad Swing the Hips, Daughter Don't!

Today's best advice for fathers is to talk about sex and dance with your daughters. No definitive position yet on whether to do the two simultaneously.

The value of a father dispensing the birds and bees blather comes courtesy of a recent bit of research that chicks on the cusp of their third decade believed they would have been more responsible (and made better boyfriend choices!) if they'd been able to discuss with their father at least a bit about the bumping of uglies.

And the value of dancing to connect with one's own little ladies is exemplified by the lasses who posted their dad as backup dancer in their remake of Justin Bieber's immortal "Baby" (as in Baby, Baby, Baby, Baby, Baby, Baby, Baby, Baby, Got You On My Mind — repeat endlessly)



All because what you want to avoid is BABY, BABY, BABY until the right time ... and you'll know the time is right when you're both ready (sort of a "blue pill" for the joint daddy-daughter soul).

Getting Paid Doesn't Depend on Doing a Job Well

One of the things that the marvels of science often disguise is that researching things can just be a job. It is important to remember, of course, that some jobs interest us, some don't, and some people do their jobs well and others not as much.

So today we disparage [some} science and by extension the scientists behind it. Apparently, some folks were paid to come up with statistics to support the rather unsurprising pronouncement that supportive dads produce happier sons, which seems like a good thing. Others with advanced degrees spent lots of money and time with various groups of girls so they could write papers announcing that a biological father's absence is somehow related to earlier puberty in his daughters. Then there is the blah, blah, yadda, hmmm from "experts" who have been paid to arrive at various rationalizations for the social belief that there is some sort of biological imperative in men to prefer fathering boys.

The only good to come from some folks doing a bad job poorly: it gives other people something to write about -- so, again, thanks.

Don't Preach, Market

In a shining example of do what we preach, not what we do, 2.3 percent of the fathers as Japan's labor ministry take paternity leave. According to a recent Reuters' post, the goal for the fathers taking paternity leave in the country as a whole is 13 percent. The idea is that the more men who stay home with the kids (and risk problems with their coworkers), the more who will decide (or whose wives will decide) to have more kids.

The current birthrate is just over one child per woman, low enough apparently, to encourage someone to come up with the 13 percent policy. Is science at work here? Maybe they should try the sort of marketing that makes hits out of Adam Sandler bombs about fathers. [Earlier: Not So Grown]

Talk To Not About Your Dad

Be concerned for your prepositions. They are a small, but (surprisingly) very important part of life

For example, a recent study in Britain found that kids who spoke TO their fathers — particularly about things important in their lives — were happier than those who didn't. On the other hand, John Franzese Jr. is currently talking ABOUT his father in a courthouse in NYC and nobody seems happy at all. Nobody it should be noted except the Feds who seem plenty glad to have the wayward son rat out the 93-year-old former Colombo family underboss (father) on his way to die in prison for his crimes.

Search or Research

Should you look too hard at "research" that supports your position? Probably not ... unless you have a conscience ... or want thinking people to take you seriously. So, somewhere there is probably statistically relevant data on the pressures on the single pop. However, until then we point you to the news that

Single Dads More Stressed Than Single Moms

which headlines an article discussing how the Korea Association of Single Parent Family interviewed 8 lone mums and 9 single pops. From those talks they generalized to an estimated one and a half million or so single-parent Korean households (and from there lets guess that's true in the rest of the world as well).

Nine guys. Survey says more money, less confidence in their parenting. Pass it along as scientific. Or not.

Dances with Schlock

Silly.

This week's objet d'eBay, a schlocky daddy-daughter dancing memento, arrives the same week as a ridiculous hypothesis that fathers deliberately (perhaps unconsciously) dance in an absurd manner. Mass retailer Hallmark is selling the schlock, a researcher/dancer/twitterer from Hertforshire is selling the theory that men don't cut but fold and manipulate the rug to show they are no longer of good breeding stock. It's a marriage made in parody heaven.

Sad: SAHD. Mad: MAHD(?)

Scot pop Paul Stevenson was wandering through his life as a father of three when the Tourette syndrome that may have always been latent manifest itself in the wake of a friend's suicide. Does he embarrass his kids more than most dads? Well just wait until they are teens.

What is noteworthy — politically speaking — regarding the article is the reference to Stevenson as "busying himself as a stay-at-home dad," as if referring to a man as a "SAHD" is the kind way to define someone as without a paying gig. Similarly, the term doesn't mean a man who looks after his kids, which is how it was used in an article seeming to proclaim one-half of all British men are staying at home to dad, (the article discusses a percentage of men who were studied and took at least a few days off to stay with their newborn). So what's going on in the lexicon with SAHD? Has it lost it's way or it is just being used in a sloppy manner by lazy reporters?

Or Not to Be

It's a race to the non-birth.

An Israeli researcher, Dr. Oren Hasson, posits the existence of "super sperm." SS have the speed and power to fire past a woman's biological defenses and fertilize an egg multiple times, ruining its fetal capacities. At the same time, researchers around the world are pursuing the dream of male contraceptives that can be ingested, not worn.

What's a father-to-not-be to do, other than wonder what would happen if he actually did take up an increasingly complex job?

Sniff, Sniff

How do the little imps smell?

A recent study by French researchers reached the conclusion that dads treat better those children who look and smell more like them. They were in Senegal for the one study and will be issuing their results from a similar test of folks in France. And, for many reasons, being treated better is key, not least because if you smell better — and children, I'm talking to all of you — you might get a father-made mega toy made from toys, like those created by artist Robert Bradford. If, on the other hand you smell (and behave) poorly, you might end up doubley maced by your dad and with a 20-foot chain around you.