Washington Post: 'Fathers and Druthers'

Article here. Excerpt:

"So how was Father's Day for you? Did you get a new tie and a Sinatra record? Oh, you got a game for your Wii and the new Death Cab for Cutie? Cool. Pretty great to be treated like a king after a long week at the office, right? What, your wife's got the full-time job? No, it's your partner, Fred, who does? Still, family's first and it's a great day for . . . Your ex got full custody and you spent the day pretending it was any other Sunday? Sorry to bring up a sore subject. So remind me again: What exactly was it we were celebrating a couple of days ago?

Fatherhood isn't just challenging; it's changing. It's probably been changing ever since Adam had to confront his sons' challenging behavior, every generation doing it a little differently. But some ideas of what a father is have hung on pretty tenaciously: He's a provider; he's a role model. Here are some others: He's not big on expressing love; he's probably off working somewhere during the piano recital; he can barely boil water or wash his own clothes, so don't even think of leaving the kids alone with him."