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- Dadmag's Best And Worst For 2000
(it was a very mixed year)
by Buzz McClain
(12/14/00)
Best Suspicions, confirmed:
A 17-year study by the International Center for Child Welfare in Paris concluded that children derive a majority of their social and intellectual well-being from their fathers and very little from their moms. But the study suggests the fathers must become involved in the child's life within the first two years to be effective, and that it might be best that women are the one's to leave home to work while fathers stay home.
- Best Book About a Dad (with an asterisk):
In "Fifth Quarter: The Scrimmage of a Football Coach's Daughter," Jennifer Allen describes her yearning for the attention of her NFL coach father, George, in a household dominated by three brothers and a zany French-Tunisian mother, Etty. The dad wasn't home much - he spent more time with his Washington Redskins than he did with his family - but he raised the new senator from Virginia, George Jr., and his daughter proves a gutsy writer. Still, "Fifth Quarter" is a cautionary tale that should be heeded by dads whose mistress is the office.
- Lamest Advice in National Parenting Media, like duh:
"And no matter how gruesome the odor, don't holler insults into the air, cringe, or fan your face." - AmericanBaby.com, giving tips on diapering for dads. At least they notice there are two parents involved.
- Worst Trend, domestic:
The term "man sharing" popped up this year in a number of newspaper stories, most of them post-Monica reaction features. It seems women are getting accustomed to "man sharing," and that infidelity "is a necessary evil," according to one writer in the Chicago Sun-Times. Going forward, it seems, a typical household may be one where the father of the children resides only when the urge strikes. We'll be worse off than we are now.
- Worst Suspicions, confirmed:
A study of divorced children by psychologist Judith Wallerstein, documented in her book "The Unexpected Legacy of Divorce: A 25 Year Landmark Study" (Hyperion), concludes that 40 percent of them never marry. They also are less likely to go to college (90 percent of college students have a father involved in their lives) and are more likely to have sex, take drugs and drink alcohol at 14.
- Dad of the Year, celebrity:
The National Fatherhood Initiative picked country crooner Tim McGraw, dad to Gracie, 3, and Maggie, 2, and wife of yummy mummy Faith Hill, as "Father of the Year." McGraw's father was Tug McGraw, star relief pitcher for the Philadelphia Phillies, but didn't know it until he found his birth certificate and saw the name of the man listed as "father." Tug's baseball card was hanging on Tim's wall at the time.
- Best CD, kids:
Daddy A Go Go, the North Carolina outfit fronted by John Boydston, wound up on the Amazon.com "Top Ten Best Kids' CDs of the Year" list by coming in No. 7 with the disc "Monkey in the Middle." Not bad for a guy with one hand on the Telecaster and the other on the "record" button in his basement. The surf music-meets-power pop collection of kids tunes was a dadmag.com pick this summer.
- Most Troubling Statistic:
40 percent of households with children are without the biological father. That represents nearly 25 million children in the U.S.
- Worst Atonement:
In the Weekly World News, Adolph Hitler's son, Alphonso Nuarb, 54, apologized for the evil deeds of his father and pledged a somewhat feeble, considering what his dad did, $1.8 million to Israel in a statement made in Buenos Aires this summer. He also said his father died in 1957 of a heart attack and that his mother Eva died in 1974, raising some doubts about Alphonso's credibility.
- Worst Case of Child Abuse, international:
Elian, of course. He was abducted by his dead mother's brother's uncle and kept from his real father - divorced from the mother, but still - until Janet Reno had her jackbooted strong men kick down the door and take the boy at gunpoint.
- Worst Outcome of Child Abuse, international:
Elian was sent to a Communist "retraining" school upon his return to Cuba to "unlearn" his experiences with free society and forget that trip to Disney World.
- Best Insight of an Older Dad,
celebrity: Mel Gibson, 44, says he's "matured." Being dad to baby No. 7 (Tommy, just a year old) "is different in your mid-40s. I'm a little more cool and I can enjoy fatherhood more." In the same interview he weighed in on "The Three Stooges": "There's something very primal about them. Putting a guy on a barbecue spit and lighting a fire under him -- it's lowbrow and primitive and you can't help laughing. Women don't go for that knuckle-dragging humor, though."
- Best Intentions, taken too far:
Alvin Stelmont won $28 million in the Australian lottery this year but refuses to give his daughters, ages 20 and 18, a nickel. "I want them to develop some character," the now-retired roofer said. The 20-year-old will develop not only character but blisters on her feet: Her car was repossessed because she fell behind on payments.
- Best Father Scene in a Movie (animation):
We know it came out last year, but we didn't see it until it was on video this year (we're babysitter impaired): In "Toy Story 2," when the evil Zurg tells Buzz Lightyear he's his father, it's a hilarious royal send up of the Darth Vadar-Luke Skywalker scene from "The Empire Strikes Back."
- Worst Cry for Attention, juvenile:
Calvin Schwuab, 10, of Toledo, is suing his mother to see him. The boy has lived with his father for seven years following the divorce, but the mother has refused to see the lad since 1992, and will not return his phone calls or letters or open the door for him. Calvin wants damages, or his mother's company. The case is modeled on a British suit filed by a 15-year-old that is still pending.
- Dad of the Year, non-celebrity.
He left work early to pick up his son at school to get him to travel-team soccer practice twice a week-across town and in rush-hour traffic. He drove his daughter's ballet carpool twice a month, doing the grocery shopping until rehearsal was over. He volunteered to be on the PTA school grounds improvement committee-which meets to clean up the playground, sacrificing five NFL Sundays to do it. He helped with homework and special projects (always on deadline); he taught baseball and football techniques; he let his shoulder get cried upon; he cooked Saturday breakfasts; he booked endless family activities for summer vacation (when all he really wanted to do was nap on the couch); and he never complained about his unglamorous lot in life. He held a responsible job and never made the headlines once all year. Who is he? He is legion. He is everywhere. He is "dad."
Content in DADMAG.com is meant to be distributed freely to interested parties. However, any excerpts from the stories in DADMAG.com must credit DADMAG.com. Copyright 2000, DADMAG.com, LLC. All rights reserved. Site Development - Andexler.com
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