As the father of two boys (ages 11 and 6) I'll bless the whole notion that kids can get very out of hand at restaurants. What I'll also add is that what you see at the table next to you (screaming kid, madly coloring on the tablecloth, food flying, wait-staff dodging ninja-star flatware) is what that child's parent(s) allow at home.

Kids need limits.

While I'm blessing notions, I'll also bless the sainted and patient wait-staff.

If you follow the link from the story, the one that is for O-Liely's "naughty list" of stores, you will indeed find a list of national stores and their "holiday greeting" strategy. However......

If you scroll down on that page you will also find the following:

"Bill's Winter Reading List

Here's a list of great books for the WINTER HOLIDAY season. "

Emphasis added. Guess the O'Leily staff are anti-Christmas?

So, with our nation at war, the work of the Congress will stop for an extra 2 weeks to help out this nincompoop?

Anybody have any ideas what we do about this?

Hey- remember that scene in "Rebel Without A Cause" when Natalie Wood kissed her father on the mouth (gasp!).

Remember how he lost it, started screaming at her never to do that agai and that she was too old for that sort of thing? That was the single most uncomfortable, sexually-charged moment I had seen in film up to that time (I had yet to see a drunken Kevin Kline at the key party in "The Ice Storm")

Lesson? I'm not sure. The dad was clearly dealing with incestuous feelings for his daughter. But, the clear lesson, is this: let the kid decide when to cut off physical affection.

I wonder if they sell that in mens sizes? Because I'd wear one of those.

......for the kudos. However, I've been a blue-collar, high-school-educated father (early on) and a college-degreed professional father (now). And those are two very different worlds.

The conclusions of this article are masturbatory and classist (disclaimer: I am a feminist and avid reader of Broadsheet). So educated fathers are more involved in parenting than their uneducated (read: blue-collar) bros?

Umm, yeah.

Blue collar jobs require overtime and physical, sometimes back-breaking, labor, neither of which are conducive to a dad bounding in the front door after a day at work ready to wrestle with the kids.

I'm not saying we shouldn't cheer involved fathers. But let's reserve a shot in the arm and an atta-boy for all the fathers who eye their kids from an easy chair, shoes off, getting a well-deserved breather, wishing they had the energy for a playful tussle in the front yard.

I agree with your last paragraph. I didn't read the study itself, but did read the Star Tribune article. My comment about tussling with the kids was a response to the Broadsheet article, not gender politics in general.

I play with, read to, check the homework of, and eat with both my boys. I cook virtually all the meals in my home (wife, two kids, and a hamster). I sort, wash, fold, and put away our laundry. I take out the trash when it's full, not when I'm asked. In short, I'm a Broadsheeter's Dream Date. And I still don't do as much as my wife does.

So, I agree. Blue collar women are often called upon to do a lot around the house after what are usually very tiring work days. The guy in the La-Z-Boy with his boots off is tired, sure. But so is Mom who got home when he did and is still vertical and stirring the Spaghettios for the kids.

Andy St Clair: Reader of Maddox, Fighter of Polar Bears, Vanquisher of Household Spiders, Feminist, Pirate.

Thanks for the interview Rebecca.

Is it sexist to assume the personality Maddox is self-satire and the personalities Paris Hilton and Jessica Simpson are not? (see Rebecca's May 19 Salon article "Return of the Brainless Hussies")

Because if it is, Rebecca and I are sooooo sexist!

Wait.... not sexist. Sexy.

Where did Emanuel publish this piece? Or is it a Salon exclusive?

Because it is absolutely blistering in the way great humor and great truth usually are.

I was in a class that was getting a tour of our college library. The librarian was showing us all the sections, which included the Women's Studies section. Some asshat in the back of the group harrumphed, "So where is the MEN'S studies section?" I knew this asshat from other classes, so I held my arms out to the whole building of stacks and said "The whole REST of it is men's studies!" (asshat)

This pertains thusly to the matter up for discussion: everything is male sex. Let's find a way in for women! So there's a series of wink-wink nudge-nudge PSAs that try to get women to vote. So what? Have some fun! Butterfly ballots! Hanging chads! Sex Sex Sex!

I'm a feminist. And this article is one of the reasons feminists get accused of sucking the fun out of everything.

We still use butterfly ballots where I live. And an Nov 7, I'm going to deflower me some punchcards!

I just come here for the hotties.

On the list of Awesome Things Said By Real Presidents, "It's bad in Iraq. That help?" just cracked the Top Ten.

Haven't seen the movie, but O'Hehir's description of "island" chaos (yeah, I know Yucatan isn't an island), violent savages chasing a lone male figure through the jungle, "civilizing" ships appearing on the beach just at that moment, totally reminded me of Lord of the Flies. I'll watch the movie just to see if this is partly a commentary on that book.

Umm, yeah.....

Take it easy. America is a shopping world. These girls are American girls. They're going to be fine. Or, we're all going to Hell. But at least they'll have company.