Fathering Magazine?

[Dragonfly]

Has anyone tried it out? I'm thinking about getting a subscription for my husband and would love to hear some opinions!

Thanks to all :D

Dragonfly

[TripkeHughes]

Please let us know what you think.

[papabliss]

Hi Dragonfly,

I don't know much about the mag, but the website (if it is the same organization) seemed to deal an awful lot with parenting issues like court battles, custody, spouse abuse, etc. Frankly, I have not been back since. I think there is much more to fathering than was presented there (on the surface anyway).

I will inspect it more and get back with you.

Cheers

[Pussycat]

I haven't explored it much, but there is a group called Dads and Daughters- I think their website is that plus .org I keep meaning to look into it further (for my dh&dd), but haven't yet.

[Dov]

From what I remember about the one issue I read, it just wasn't conscious enough for me, like Mothering is.

Men in the US seem to have this aversion to magazines devoted to themselves unless it's some mysoginist (how the heck is that spelled?!) rag selling testosterone, American gridiron, exercise regimes, hair wax (we're not really supposed to have chest hair... or facial hair... hell, we're not sposed to be over 22 these days!), Lexus autos and viagra.

I belong to a mythopoetic men's circle in southern CA, the last remaining one out of a once vibrant dozen or more in this area alone.... we had a national newspaper devoted to conscious masculinity, etc. but now? Nada.

Someday when I'm old I want to do a real Dad mag. But then it'll probably never have the readership of Mothering or the content because it'll end up with three writers... eh, now I'm depressed.

:mad:

[Greaseball]

I found it really offensive. Just a bunch of men whining about how child support payments are too high, their wives divorced them for NO REASON (yeah right), and claiming that most allegations of spousal abuse are false. Also slams women on welfare.

Also, several articles about how children raised in fatherless homes turn out to be pregnant teens and criminals. (What about kids raised without mothers - how well do they turn out?)

A classic example of men wanting to be respected as parents without having to do anything to earn that respect. I was expecting the magazine would be a male version of Mothering, but it seemed to be its antithesis. I think men would be better off to simply read Mothering.

I bet if a man were raising a child by himself and was getting child support from his ex-wife, he wouldn't be claiming that "child support payments are too high!"

[papabliss]

Hi Greaseball

I made a post about my thoughts of this mag based on the website. If you scroll up you will see my post quite a while back. I have not seen an actual magazine so I was not able to read through it, but my feelings are the same as yours based on its webpage. I was hoping the mag was better, especially since it seems a advertiser here on Mothering.

Any other thoughts out there?

[Greaseball]

Something I learned while studying statistics was that "correlation does not imply causation." Like, if 99% of people who were in car accidents have eaten bread in the past 24 hours, it doesn't necessarily mean the bread had anything to do with it.

So, when people say that most children of fatherless homes have problems, there could be any number of reasons. Such as - the reason for the lack of father in the first place. What was the reason for the divorce? Child sexual abuse? Spousal abuse? Alcoholism? A child who lives in a home where these factors were present will most likely have problems. I'm sure the problems would be even worse if the offending father remained in the home.

About children without fathers who grow up to use drugs - I believe that MOST people grow up and try some kind of drug at least once! And as for teen pregnancy, we all know what makes someone pregnant and it can happen whether there is a father in the home or not.

Of course, there are plenty of wonderful fathers, such as my dh. But when I hear men going on about the importance of fathers and how they deserve respect, I'm reminded of teenagers who demand lower car insurance rates - asking for something they may not deserve. I recoil as if from a hot flame. The only thing I can do is not read the magazine or go to the website.