Melanie Morgan

What was most striking about an in-depth study of 33 dads, by the Boston College Center for Work and Family, was its conclusion: Despite the challenges and stigmas, the snooty moms and questioning relatives, the fathers surveyed were intent on staying home, satisfied with their choices. “What struck me was how thoughtful they were about parenting,” the center’s executive director, Brad Harrington, told me. “How it had changed them as individuals, how it had changed their perceptions of what a father should be.” Which is why he ended the study with a pointed recommendation: That we break from the “conflict/burden paradigm” that describes so much of the chatter about parenthood today.