I don't know why Rose is surprised that his trophy wife is so totally into the minutiae of child-rearing.

Anybody who's masochistic enough to blow out their vagina by pushing a 6-11 pound object through it is going to have to justify their stupidity by convincing themselves that it was all worthwhile. One way to 'prove' to herself that it was all worthwhile is to lie to oneself and say that watching Barney repeatedly is somehow transcendental and a 'great bonding experience.' Come on, Mr. Rose-- you must be famniliar with this. You sound like the kind of guy who went through the same delusional self-justification about how good your fraternity so you can convince yourself it was worth the 30 whacks with the paddle and being dressed in your mother's knickers.

And if the trophy wife isn't really so masochistic, then she deserves an Oscar for playing the doting mother. The fakers who just want to lock in their mealticket (that's you, Mr. Rose) by popping out a kid always overdo it and turn into helicopter parents. They just try a little too hard to show they're REALLY REALLY into motherhood, so they can avoid ever getting a real job, rather than being a kept woman. And Mr. Rose-- you really are just a walking ATM to her. Don't delude yourself that young hotties like wrinkly old dick. The best favor you can do for her is to kick it and leave all the money to her-- walking ATMs are great, stationary ones are better.

I'm sure your kids (the new ones) once they're old enough, are going to need a boatload of therapy thanks to you. You're entitled to your feelings, but why on earth would you put something like this out there for your kids to see someday? Here is proof positive for them to turn to to say "My Dad was so self-absorbed he didn't take joy in the little things in life that were important to me. I wasn't loved unconditionally. I was a bother. Why was I born?"

Oh - and your older kids? Not that they probably hadn't figured you out long ago - can shake their heads and say, what a loser.

Wow! I can't believe all the cranky letters! I thought this was hilarious. I laughed out loud from the beginning to the end. I have no doubt the guy loves his kids. Some of us just get tired of the daily grind of "kid shenanigans." It doesn't mean we don't love them. We just feel old and worn down! I have two teenage girls who just graduated from high school this month. (It's a second marriage for both my husband and I--one child is my stepdaughter.) I'm completely exhausted...the thought of doing it all again is formidable to say the least, and I'm 13 years younger than my husband. (Some of my friends have 2 or 3 year olds.) I give Dan a lot of credit for keeping his sense of humor and having the energy to write this piece! Happy Father's Day, Dan!

As Laurel962, I didn't believe the "sons" responses. They just didn't have, what Judge Judy calls, "the ring of truth." What twelve-year-old reads these kind of letters anyway? None I know of. And the author's cagey "10 to 20 years younger" is just lame.

First, if you're going to post an article about your personal life on the INTERNET you have to realize that people are going to respond.

I don't care about any schmo with two sets of kids. (Hey, there is a small possibility that I am making assumptions about just who the writer is. But I don't think so.) Did you actually think to yourself, "I did such a wonderful job the first time around the world deserves an encore"? Two sets of children? Come on. Let me guess; Your wife is half your age.

Obviously it's a free country, but I don't want to hear any self-pitying, b.s. article about your tribulations. They don't mean squat to me. Now, an article from your first set of kids about how they feel about being replaced and erased by cuter versions of themselves. That's an article I would pay to read.

Call the whaaa mulance....

Should have thought about all this before you decided to have the "second" round of kids with the second wife.

You wanted it - now you have it.

I just wonder if he was like this with his first kids...

I really feel sorry for this man's wife and kids. I would like to know what gives him the right to pollute the world with a second set of brats? What a worthless human being.

I generally appreciate the irreverent "I am not adopting the normal parenting hysteria" article as much as the next guy (and I am a guy/dad). I too hate the seemingly new parenting as some sort of zealous religion craze that replaced the “do whatever you want as long as you don’t die” style parenting that our parents practiced. But something about this piece just depressed the hell out of me. I realize that the author is exaggerating a bit for the sake of humor and to make a point. But I really hope that he’s not nearly this jaded, this put off by the whole process.

If he is, I really feel sorry for his kid(s). Part of parenting in all its glory, as many readers have said in one manner or another, is all of the excruciating, repetitive, sometimes boring movement into the mental and physical world of the child. The child can throw a ball against a wall for hours. We need the stimulation of a book or the internet. So we throw the ball against the wall with the child until we are about to break because we are parents. The child is amazed again and again by what is novel to him or her and what is unbelievably mundane to us. Yet we feign amazement because the child wants us to share his or her joy. It’s all in the job description and if you can’t muster the energy, then you picked the wrong profession (the second time around).