Kick back and do a little reading

Another Father's Day come and gone - and with it goes the one time of the year where you can count on an abundance of coverage about fatherhood issues. There were lots of good stories in our pages and elsewhere. I wanted to point out some interesting reads for older parents, the best of what I could find from the Father's Day coverage. I should point out that I thought the overall coverage was good, with a little bit less of the cliched caricature of dads as the bumbling, emotionless, clueless shadow in the lives of their children.

Here are some stories that I recommend related to older parenting:

The Washington Post ran a feature by Philip Lerman, 51, whose son, Max, 5, is "on the spectrum" for autism, and how he is dealing with that. It's beautiful. Read it. Quoting:

"As I confronted the possibility that Max was On The Spectrum, the strangest thought occurred to me: If he is, then so be it.
I adored this boy whose main utterance sounded something like 'Joe Biden Go Baaden-Baaden,' this child who called everything "baw." Whatever he was, I would love him no less."

Lerman is the author of the recently released book "Dadditude: How a Real Man Became a Real Dad."

The Houston Chronicle's Claudia Feldman wrote about "A new age in fatherhood," with a subhead that reads: "Ready to teach and to learn, men in their 50s are reaping the rewards of having children and say it's worth the risks." Includes a bit of discussion about the "mortality issue," i.e. of knowing you'll be getting elderly just as your kids hit their prime.

And finally, Slate, the online magazine, wrote a story about fatherhood's effects on a man's body and brain under the headline :"Stretch Marks for Dads." Read the story and you'll find out that "evidence is accumulating that pregnancy and parenthood leave their marks on men's bodies. Women are not the only ones who are built for parenting, and recognizing that is good for fathers and the rest of us, too."


Let me know if you've seen a good story that we should add to this list.