The Tribune previewed Jeremy Manier’s story on its Web site Thursday and Friday. Here are edited versions of what some chicagotribune.com visitors had to say in response.
I’m a full-time working mother with a 2-year-old daughter. Because of his schedule as a firefighter, my wonderful husband spends more daylight hours with our daughter than I do — and he’s fabulous. …
Hopefully by the time the next generation of working parents arrives, we won’t hear the WAD remarks because it won’t seem so remarkable for a dad to be doing most of the same things a mom does. Unfortunately, we can’t share the breast-feeding duties with them!
Ginnie Flynn
Chicago
As moms have been increasingly counted on to work outside of the home, it has been increasingly incumbent upon dads to step up their contributions on the home front. How could I watch my wife go to work each day and see her paycheck deposited into our checking account each month and then expect to be patted on the back if I change a diaper?
Barclay Burns
Chicago
I had my first child seven months ago, and I find it funny how, whenever my husband watches our baby while I go out to do something, people say he’s “baby-sitting.” I’ve never heard it referred to as baby-sitting when I’m home with the baby — apparently it’s just expected.
My husband watched the baby by himself overnight several weeks ago while I went to an out-of-town wedding for a close friend, and you’d think he had cured cancer the way people exclaimed over his triumph of keeping the baby alive while I was gone for 36 hours. … Perhaps I would get such accolades if I did something like, say, tighten a screw on a piece of machinery?
Jennifer Ollanketo
Appleton, Wis.
Jeremy Manier’s hypersensitive plea for “gender blindness” is one more politically correct attempt to fix what ain’t broke. His cutesy WAD acronym is not, as he whimpers, a manifestation of unfairness to mothers whose parenting is taken for granted, but a simple corollary to WAG moments (“What a gal!”) that regularly occur when people pay tribute to women they see changing the oil in their car or crawling on top of the roof with a tool belt.
What you are characterizing, Jeremy, are elements of culture, not grand societal injustices. I personally can’t conceive of being gender blind, which may account also for the fact that I regard such appeals, when they’re made by men, as being highly suspect.
Marianne McGrath
Dauphin Island, Ala.
It is a shame, but since so many Dads did what my idiot father did 40 years ago and walked away before I was born, I guess our expectations of men are quite low. That is why I am looking to treasure my Mom not only on Sunday, but every day I am still blessed with her.
Kevin M. Murphy
Chicago
My beautiful 6- and 4-year-old daughters were both adopted from China, so it’s not uncommon for us to attract attention while out and about. I’ve experienced the “What a dad” phenomenon when it’s just me with the girls, and I happily accept it as part of the deal (insert my wife’s eye-roll here). … The reality is my wife does it all, and she does it with grace, modesty and humor. I simply can’t give her enough credit for the contribution she makes to our family every day.
Charlie Simpson
St. Charles
